the creation praises the Creator

Psalm 148

Praise the Name of the LORD

 ¹ Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens;
   praise him in the heights!
²Praise him, all his angels;
   praise him, all his hosts!

 ³Praise him, sun and moon,
   praise him, all you shining stars!
⁴Praise him, you highest heavens,
   and you waters above the heavens!

 ⁵ Let them praise the name of the LORD!
   For he commanded and they were created.
⁶And he established them forever and ever;
   he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.

 ⁷Praise the LORD from the earth,
   you great sea creatures and all deeps,
⁸ fire and hail, snow and mist,
    stormy wind fulfilling his word!

 ⁹ Mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars!
¹⁰ Beasts and all livestock,
   creeping things and flying birds!

 ¹¹Kings of the earth and all peoples,
   princes and all rulers of the earth!
¹²Young men and maidens together,
   old men and children!

 ¹³ Let them praise the name of the LORD,
   for his name alone is exalted;
    his majesty is above earth and heaven.
¹⁴He has raised up a horn for his people,
    praise for all his saints,
   for the people of Israel who are near to him.
Praise the LORD!

Why does this Earth abound with such color, such wonder? Why do birds’ feathers lay in such brilliant patterns and still beat the wind to defy gravity and take flight? How is it that a small seed can become a mighty tree, and that tree can bear fruit with its own array of intricate hues? Have you considered a verdant field? Blades of grass and pine needles and leaves, thousands of them, each a unique part of a grand tapestry, dancing in the breeze, and serving the forest’s creatures. Why is it all here?

As I write this a glistening winter frost covers the yard. The morning sun lights each crystal and the cold world suddenly looks radiant. My little part of the Earth is extraordinary. Somewhere else, right now, a great whale maneuvers a deep ocean current. Clouds bring snow, or dazzling lightning, or thunderous hail. A mountain casts a rugged shadow where still another astonishing creature rests. I’m overwhelmed by the magnitude and the scope and the creativity of it all. But why is it all here?

Because life formed in some primordial soup millions of years ago, and then things just sort of developed into what they are? Ludicrous! The sun and moon, the shining stars, the fathomless ocean deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, apple orchards and cedars, snakes and sparrows… oh what an artistic and inventive God we have! God designed and created it all because He is a God of creation, and all of it returns praise to Him for its very existence. “Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created. And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.” And don’t forget, His splendor tops it all!

We too are God’s brilliant creation, and we too must respond in praise. This Psalm’s bookends are the Hebrew Hallelu Yah. Give praise to God. These should be the bookends of every single day we’re granted to exist in this remarkable world God made. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Make me know the way I should go

Psalm 143

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David.

¹Hear my prayer, O LORD;
give ear to my pleas for mercy!
In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
² Enter not into judgment with your servant,
for no one living is righteous before you.

³For the enemy has pursued my soul;
he has crushed my life to the ground;
he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
⁴Therefore my spirit faints within me;
my heart within me is appalled.

⁵ I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all that you have done;
I ponder the work of your hands.
⁶ I stretch out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.
Selah

⁷ Answer me quickly, O LORD!
My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
⁸ Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.

⁹ Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD!
I have fled to you for refuge!
¹⁰ Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
on level ground!

¹¹ For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life!
In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
¹²And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies,
and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul,
for I am your servant.

Much has been made of David holed up in a cave, fleeing his tormentor Saul, and that’s the first image that came to mind as I read Psalm 143. “My enemy… has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.” That cave must have felt dark and cold like a grave. If you think about it, good hiding places are by nature dark.

The early church classified this as the last of the “Penitential Psalms”, following Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, and 130. In that light, the words take on more relevant meaning for me. From the beginning David contrasts the ultimate righteousness of God with our sin. As a lament over the sin condition, this psalm is about a lot more than fleeing Saul.

The miracle of grace is that verse 2 is a confounding paradox. In the same verse, David notes the depravity of man (there is not sugarcoating, no softening of his declaration) and asks a holy and righteous God not to judge us for our sin, as if we could have it both ways.

The enemy who pursues and crushes could then be considered not Saul, but Satan. And what does sin cause us to do? We hide from God. Remember, good hiding places are by nature dark. Verses 9 and 10 are excellent strategy for overcoming sin’s temptation. Flee to God, not from Him. Learn His will. Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Moreover, the final imprecatory verses sit much better with me not as a call for God to crush a loony pursuer but instead for God to cut off our tempter Satan, to destroy the adversary of our soul.

Guard your heart today. Run to your righteous protector God. Learn His will and follow His ways.

the foundation of confidence

Psalm 138

Give Thanks to the LORD

Of David.

 ¹ I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart;
   before the gods I sing your praise;
²I bow down toward your holy temple
   and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
   for you have exalted above all things
   your name and your word.
³On the day I called, you answered me;
   my strength of soul you increased.

 ⁴ All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O LORD,
   for they have heard the words of your mouth,
⁵and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD,
   for great is the glory of the LORD.
⁶ For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly,
   but the haughty he knows from afar.

 ⁷ Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
   you preserve my life;
you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
   and your right hand delivers me.
⁸The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
    your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.
   Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Psalm 138 is the first in a closing set of eight Davidic Psalms (which also means we’re getting close to the end of the book!). In reading this memorable Psalm I’m struck by the confident language David uses in verse 8, and reminded of one of the more arduous activities in my profession: grant-writing. In order to support our research, we write funding proposals that describe what we want to study, how we hope to do it, and how much money it will cost. Grants tend to be the lifeblood of the university (for better or worse), so I’ve been to plenty of courses and workshops on how to write better grants. One common piece of advice is to use confident language. Don’t write, “With this research we hope to learn if there is a relationship between X and Y,” the experts say. Instead, write, “With this research we will determine the relationship between X and Y.” Apparently, reviewers are more apt to give funds to researchers who are surer about what will happen.

Read verse 8. David does not write “The LORD might have a plan for me, and if all goes well, if all the pieces fall into place like I hope they might, then that plan might actually happen!” Instead, David states, simply and confidently, “The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me.” This is faith. It is assurance of what will happen because if anyone is worthy of our trust, it’s God.

Don’t mistake David’s confidence for haughtiness or pride. Notice his testimony in verse 6 when he describes himself as “lowly”. All the “doing” in the psalm is done by God, not man. In fact, you could even interpret the whole of this psalm that we must be low in our own eyes for God to be able to work in us. And work He will!

Precious Unity

Psalm 133

When Brothers Dwell in Unity

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

 ¹Behold, how good and pleasant it is
   when brothers dwell in unity!
²It is like the precious oil on the head,
   running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
   running down on the collar of his robes!
³It is like the dew of Hermon,
   which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the LORD has commanded the blessing,
   life forevermore.

This is a short psalm about a single subject: unity. Unity is announced as good and pleasant in verse 1 and is referenced as “it” in the two examples that follow in verses 2 and 3. For anyone who has ever tried to rally a group of people for a cause, unity is a sweet word. Moreover, anyone who has been involved in church administration or planning understands that unity in a body of believers, if it’s in accordance with God’s will, is unstoppable. This psalm might have been composed for David’s coronation as king (2 Samuel 5:3), a time when unity would be apparent and precious.  

The word pictures given to describe unity are interesting. Oily heads and beards sound a bit unnerving now, but we must recognize their place in traditional recognition of priests and kings. Mount Hermon (verse 3) is still there today. It’s a 9,230 feet-tall mountain at the border of Syria and Lebanon. The image of verse 3 comes from the fact that snow melt from this mountain fed (and still feeds) the Jordan River, such that Mount Hermon is sometimes called “mountain of snow”.

Consider two observations about this mountain that speak to unity.

Matthew 16 and Mark 8 mention Jesus and His disciples traveling to Caesarea Philippi, which was at the base of Mount Hermon. There, Jesus spoke in startling terms about the days ahead of them, and made this memorable statement to Peter: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Oh, what a beautiful declaration of unity, the church built upon the Rock of Ages against which nothing can prevail. This is the power we have when we work together to seek God’s will. It is, as the Psalmist writes: good, pleasant, precious, life-giving, eternal.

Today, the summit of that same mountain is controlled by Syria, while parts of the slopes are in the Golan Heights region, controlled by Israel. The mountain itself is a modern symbol of perhaps the greatest disunity on Earth. What has the so-called “Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” brought the world in our age? Nothing  good, pleasant, precious, life-giving, or eternal.

Pray for unity among Christians and for a world that desperately needs the united message of eternal hope we could bring.

Mercy for the Climb

Psalm 123

Our Eyes Look to the LORD Our God

A Song of Ascents.

 ¹To you I lift up my eyes,
   O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
²Behold, as the eyes of servants
   look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
   to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
   till he has mercy upon us.

 ³ Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us,
   for we have had more than enough of contempt.
⁴Our soul has had more than enough
   of the scorn of those who are at ease,
   of the contempt of the proud.

Some think these “Psalms of Ascents” were actually sung in the order they’re presented in the Bible during the climb to Jerusalem for holy days and festivals. It’s not difficult to imagine the image of upturned eyes navigating a rocky uphill path singing, “To You I lift up my eyes, O You who are enthroned in the heavens!”

The remainder of the short psalm addresses God’s mercy. Biblical images of servant and master are often misunderstood. Here, the master lovingly provides for the servant just as our God provides for us. His mercy is needed when the attacks of the world wear us down, as in the closing two verses. The concept is subtle. When we have had “more than enough”, we might first think that we need God’s sympathy, or His compassion, or His consolation. We must, however, be ever-mindful of our status apart from God and recognize that before all else we need not His coddling but His mercy.

The Stone the Builders Rejected

Psalm 118

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

 ¹ Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
   for his steadfast love endures forever!

 ² Let Israel say,
   ”His steadfast love endures forever.”
³ Let the house of Aaron say,
   ”His steadfast love endures forever.”
⁴ Let those who fear the LORD say,
   ”His steadfast love endures forever.”

 ⁵ Out of my distress I called on the LORD;
   the LORD answered me and set me free.
⁶ The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.
   What can man do to me?
⁷ The LORD is on my side as my helper;
   I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

 ⁸ It is better to take refuge in the LORD
    than to trust in man.
⁹It is better to take refuge in the LORD
    than to trust in princes.

 ¹⁰ All nations surrounded me;
   in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
¹¹They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
   in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
¹² They surrounded me like bees;
   they went out like a fire among thorns;
   in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
¹³I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
   but the LORD helped me.

 ¹⁴The LORD is my strength and my song;
    he has become my salvation.
¹⁵Glad songs of salvation
   are in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,
 ¹⁶the right hand of the LORD exalts,
   the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!”

 ¹⁷ I shall not die, but I shall live,
   and recount the deeds of the LORD.
¹⁸The LORD has disciplined me severely,
   but he has not given me over to death.

 ¹⁹ Open to me the gates of righteousness,
   that I may enter through them
   and give thanks to the LORD.
²⁰This is the gate of the LORD;
    the righteous shall enter through it.
²¹I thank you that you have answered me
    and have become my salvation.
²² The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the cornerstone.
²³This is the LORD’s doing;
   it is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴This is the day that the LORD has made;
   let us rejoice and be glad in it.

 ²⁵Save us, we pray, O LORD!
   O LORD, we pray, give us success!

 ²⁶ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
   We bless you from the house of the LORD.
²⁷The LORD is God,
   and he has made his light to shine upon us.
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,
   up to the horns of the altar!

 ²⁸You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
   you are my God; I will extol you.
²⁹ Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
   for his steadfast love endures forever!

Did you know you just read a record-breaking Psalm? We know Psalm 118 is a Messianic psalm because it is the MOST-QUOTED psalm by the New Testament, with references in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Hebrews, and 1 Peter. The historical significance of Psalm 118 is also interesting. Some scholars believe the Psalm could be from the time of Moses during the Exodus, and some content that is was written by Moses himself.

The repetition of phrases suggests that these are lyrics meant to be set to music, which might explain why so many have written songs with these words:

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good / His love endures forever,”

“This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made,”

and others, including a less-familiar song from Jars of Clay:

“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Hallelujah!”

This is the verse (v. 22) that gets me. Such glorious praise, ascribing to God his strength, such honest confession (v. 18) and recognition of the untouchable righteousness of God, and then this verse about the stone! Like so many Messianic verses, it had a dual application to its contemporary context and to the coming Messiah. The stone was Moses, rejected by his people but used to establish a nation and foretell the Messiah (Deut. 18:15). The stone was that nation, Israel, rejected by her neighbors but steadfast as a covenant people chosen by God. And the stone is Israel’s spotless lamb, Jesus (Acts 4:11, 1 Pet 2:7). The Messiah the people rejected, the one worthy of all this praise, has become the cornerstone, the foundation upon which our very lives are built because of our new standing with God!

It is another layer of revelation of the humility of Christ to know that He, a mighty stone, worthy of prominence as the most important stone in the most important building, allowed Himself to be rejected for the sake of the very ones purporting to construct the building.

Two Women and an Expanse of Praise

Psalm 113

Who Is like the LORD Our God?

 ¹ Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD,
   praise the name of the LORD!

 ² Blessed be the name of the LORD
   from this time forth and forevermore!
³ From the rising of the sun to its setting,
    the name of the LORD is to be praised!

 ⁴The LORD is high above all nations,
   and his glory above the heavens!
⁵ Who is like the LORD our God,
   who is seated on high,
⁶who looks far down
   on the heavens and the earth?
⁷He raises the poor from the dust
   and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
⁸to make them sit with princes,
   with the princes of his people.
⁹He gives the barren woman a home,
   making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the LORD!

The phrase that bookends this Psalm, “Praise the Lord”, might ironically be more familiar and more meaningful in its original Hebrew: “Hallelu Yah.” We’ve taken it as hallelujah, a powerful one-word expression of our praise and esteem for Almighty God. The rest of the Psalm takes the single-word expression and gives it even more meaning by trying to describe the utter expanse of God and the resulting expanse of our praise for Him. This expansiveness is illustrated several ways:

Temporal: “From this time forth and forevermore”

Spatial: “From the rising of the sun to its setting”, or all the way around the world
                “Glory above the heavens”, or higher than we can comprehend

Authority: “High above all nations”, “Seated on high”

Our God is so completely boundless that all of His children are compelled to praise Him at all times in all places.

A more subtle illustration considers the timelessness of God. The text of verses 7 and 8 were uttered in a beautiful prayer by Hannah in the Old Testament (1 Samuel 2:8), and the theme was reiterated in another beautiful prayer by Mary in the New Testament (Luke 1:46-55). Take a moment right now to expand this timeless expanse of praise by one more day in your own life by offering to Him in prayer your description of our exalted, expansive God.

To do Valiantly

With God We Shall Do Valiantly
A Song. A Psalm of David.
1 My heart is steadfast, O God!
I will sing and make melody with all my being!
2 Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn!
3 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
4 For your steadfast love is great above the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
6 That your beloved ones may be delivered,
give salvation by your right hand and answer me!

7 God has promised in his holiness:
“With exultation I will divide up Shechem
and portion out the Valley of Succoth.
8 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet,
Judah my scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin;
upon Edom I cast my shoe;
over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

10 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Have you not rejected us, O God?
You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
12 Oh grant us help against the foe,
for vain is the salvation of man!
13 With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes.

- Psalm 108

Psalm 108 features a reprise of two previous Davidic Psalms. Verse 1-5 were first seen in Psalm 57:7-11. Verses 6-13 are from Psalm 60:5-12.

Matthew Henry suggests the repetition is a model for us that “we may in prayer use the same words that we have formerly used, provided it be with new affections.” With little historical context it is difficult to determine what David’s “new affections” might be, but, compared to the source Psalms, there is a noteworthy lack of lament in Psalm 108. Psalm 57 featured David lying down amid fiery beasts! Here, David wakes the dawn with jubilant music of praise.

What follows is smack talk of the highest order. Did you catch the part about mopping the floor with Moab?! For a people maligned by so many enemies who were so close, these verses about trust in God must have been a comfort like no other.

At verse 10 the declaration of trust in God becomes an appeal to God and a reminder that we must never get ahead of the God who is infinitely trustworthy. When we do, He might not go out with our armies. For us, the battle might not be literal, but the admonition is no less relevant. Especially in times when we have no reason to lament, we must never get ahead of God, or we might find ourselves feeling strangely alone. When we remain in lockstep with our Savior, we can proclaim the great battle cry of verse 13: “With God we shall do valiantly.”

The East, the West, and the Bracha

 Psalm 103

Bless the LORD, O My Soul

Of David.

 ¹ Bless the LORD, O my soul,
   and all that is within me,
   bless his holy name!
² Bless the LORD, O my soul,
   and forget not all his benefits,
³who forgives all your iniquity,
   who heals all your diseases,
⁴who redeems your life from the pit,
   who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
⁵who satisfies you with good
   so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

 ⁶The LORD works righteousness
   and justice for all who are oppressed.
⁷He made known his ways to Moses,
   his acts to the people of Israel.
⁸The LORD is merciful and gracious,
   slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ He will not always chide,
   nor will he keep his anger forever.
¹⁰He does not deal with us according to our sins,
   nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
   so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
¹²as far as the east is from the west,
   so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
¹³As a father shows compassion to his children,
   so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
¹⁴For he knows our frame;
   he remembers that we are dust.

 ¹⁵As for man, his days are like grass;
   he flourishes like a flower of the field;
¹⁶for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
   and its place knows it no more.
¹⁷But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
   and his righteousness to children’s children,
¹⁸to those who keep his covenant
   and remember to do his commandments.
¹⁹The LORD has established his throne in the heavens,
   and his kingdom rules over all.

 ²⁰Bless the LORD, O you his angels,
   you mighty ones who do his word,
   obeying the voice of his word!
²¹Bless the LORD, all his hosts,
   his ministers, who do his will!
²² Bless the LORD, all his works,
   in all places of his dominion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!

Psalms 103 and 104 go so well together, it might be wise to pause here and read ahead for tomorrow. The resounding theme so poetically delivered calls upon us to bless the Lord for what He has done and who He is. Personally, my study of this Psalm has been of great benefit; it has freed me from a curious little textual hangup I’ve had for some time. The issue I’ve had is with the word “Bless”.

I’ve heard people say, and pray, and sing the first lines of this Psalm, “Bless the Lord,” and always been a little bothered. The Lord has blessed me, more than I can say. I have blessings beyond measure. How, then, can I bless the Lord? Really, I have nothing to offer Him that He hasn’t given me in the first place.

In Hebrew Psalm 103:1 reads Barakhi Nafshi et Adonai. Related Hebrew words - barukh (blessed), berekh (knee), and b’rakha (blessing), paint a picture of gratitude and humility in the face of all God has done for us. Hebrews recite “brachas” to acknowledge God as the source of all blessing. When we recite a bracha to God, we do not try to imply that we are capable of giving Him a tangible blessing; instead, we humbly acknowledge what He has given us and reflect it back to Him. In fact, some translations render the word in this Psalm as “praise”. I now like the idea of the bracha, though, and consider it a privilege to celebrate the blessings I’ve received from God along with Him.

Finally, we could not mention this Psalm without also celebrating verse 12, which extols our remission of sin. Enjoy these additional verses as you reflect on a God who has put away our sin forever: 2 Samuel 12:13, Isaiah 38:17, Isaiah 43:25, Zechariah 3:9, Hebrews 9:26.

That one extra verse

Psalm 98

Make a Joyful Noise to the LORD

A Psalm.

 ¹Oh sing to the LORD a new song,
   for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm
   have worked salvation for him.
²The LORD has made known his salvation;
   he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
³He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
   to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
    the salvation of our God.

 ⁴ Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth;
    break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
⁵Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre,
   with the lyre and the sound of melody!
⁶With trumpets and the sound of the horn
    make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!

 ⁷ Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
   the world and those who dwell in it!
⁸Let the rivers clap their hands;
   let the hills sing for joy together
⁹before the LORD, for he comes
   to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
   and the peoples with equity.

Just back from two straight weekends camping, the words of this Psalm resonate with me. I drove along a winding mountain road beside a rocky creek, and I could see it clapping its hands (v. 8). I woke up in a valley, in the middle of a necklace of rolling hills shrouded in morning mist, and I heard those very hills softly singing for joy together before their Creator (v. 8). Like the trumpet of verse six waking the land with a bright reveille, the land itself praises God, sometimes with the babble of a brook and sometimes with the roar of the sea (v. 7), but always with an organic celebration of God.

Why, then, does there have to be a verse nine? All this praise and joy, and then that word… “judge”. I must admit that of all the praiseworthy qualities of God, this is one I often fear. Since I know that based on my own track record, I will fail this judgment, my inclination is to just take a pass. “Um, no thanks, God. I think I’ll just skip the judgment this time, if that’s okay with You. Maybe next time. Thanks. Okay, bye.”

Then I’m reminded by beautiful Psalms like this one that I should celebrate ALL of God. In a world of corrupt police officers and judicial systems, I must praise God that we have a Judge who is indeed wholly righteous and equitable (v. 9). That doesn’t get around my misgivings about my shortcomings. Instead, it becomes another call of thanksgiving for the mystery and miracle of grace.

Praise God today. The God of love, and salvation, the God who brings joy and celebration, but also the God of judgment. ‘Tis so sweet to have a judge worthy of our complete trust. ‘Tis sweeter still to have a home with Him in Heaven thanks to His righteousness, not ours.

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