AWESOME AND PROFOUND RESPECT
Psalm 99:1-3
The tendency today is to bring God down from His exalted position as Creator and King over all creatures, and make Him on a level with us. We show respect to our judges and address them as "Your Honor." The man appointed to preside over a meeting we call "Mr. Chairman," but the King over all kings, the Supreme and glorious God, men want to address as though He were a human friend. Our English language has the pronouns Thee and Thou which we can reserve for God as one far above us. But men want to address Him as though He is on our level.
We do well to consider what He Himself wrote through the psalmist in Psalm 99:1-3. Listen to this: 'The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble: lie sitteth between the cherubim; let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion; and lie is high above all the people. Let them praise Thy great and terrible name; for it is holy." This ought to fill us with reverence and awe and warn us to speak of Him and to Him with profound respect, and not as we do to each other.
Let us remember those cherubim that guarded the way to the tree of life after man fell, when he attempted to climb up to God and decide for himself what was good and evil for man. God dwelt behind the veil in the temple and might not be approached as a man in man's ways.
Yes, those cherubim stood on the mercy seat of the ark, and on it the blood of Christ was symbolically sprinkled. But should not that fact raise and not lower God in our estimation? What lofty love does that not display? Sing solemnly with profound respect:
God is King forever; let the nations tremble;
Throned above the cherubim, by all the earth adored;
He is great in Zion, high above all peoples;
Praise Him with fear, for holy is the Lord.
You cannot show the Holy One too much respect and love. The very way in which we approach Him should be one of praise and acknowledgment of the fact that He is holy, that is, set apart and above all creatures. Bow your head in prayer but also your soul before the Exalted God.
Read:
Psalm 99
Psalter versification: 266:1
(Words and Music of the
Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number
49
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Jeremiah 16:16-21
;
Jeremiah 17
;
Jeremiah 18:1-23
1 Thessalonians 4
;
1 Thessalonians 5:1-3
Psalm 81:1-16
Proverbs 25:6-8
****
Quote for Reflections
“Little Matters of Life”: “Another thing essential to growth in grace is watchfulness over our conduct in the little matters of everyday life. Our tempers, our tongues, the discharge of our several relations of life, our employment of time—each and all must be vigilantly attended to if we wish our souls to prosper. Life is made up of days, and days of hours, and the little things of every hour are never so little as to be beneath the care of a Christian. When a tree begins to decay at root or heart, the mischief is first seen at the extreme end of the little branches. "He that despises little things," says an uninspired writer, "shall fall by little and little." …We must aim to have a Christianity which, like the sap of a tree, runs through every twig and leaf of our character, and sanctifies all.” -J.C. Ryle
WORSHIPPING GOD AT HIS FOOTSTOOL
Psalm 99:4,5
Satan, the father of the lie, told Eve, and through her told Adam, that God is a liar. He told them that if they would disobey God, they would not die as God had said, but would become like Him, knowing that which is good for them and evil unto them. But how different is that which God says through the psalmist in Psalm 99:4, 5, where we read: "The King's strength also loveth judgment; Thou dost establish equity, Thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at His footstool; for He is holy."
Instead of saying the truth about God, Satan made man believe that he can be God's equal. He denied the whole truth wherewith the psalmist began this Psalm, namely, that God reigneth and is high above us.
And do not ever forget that every time we sin, we say by that act that we know better than He does what is good and what is evil for us, that we are above God and need not bow before Him and His will. We say that in every sin we commit.
How important it is that we listen to God and not to the devil and our flesh. How important that we sing:
Merciful and mighty, He delights in justice,
For He reigns in righteousness and rules in equity;
Worship and exalt Him, bowing down before Him,
Perfect in power and holiness is He.
God reigns over all that which He made, and He judges all men and angels in strict justice. He does not waver to any degree at any time. We are going to have to take hold of that truth, if we are going to understand and appreciate what He did for us in His Son. Because He loves strict justice, He sent His Son to suffer our punishment and to fulfill the law for us.
What a calling we have then to humble ourselves at His feet and to worship Him as one Who is high above us. We must look up to Him, for we are at His feet in His grace.
Read:
Revelation 4
Psalter versification: 266:2
(Words and Music of the
Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number
171
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Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Jeremiah 19
;
Jeremiah 20
;
Jeremiah 21:1-14
1 Thessalonians 5:4-28
Psalm 82:1-8
Proverbs 25:9-10
****
Quote for Reflection:
Herman Hoeksema: "Our
immediate concern is ... with those who , while they loudly and emphatically
proclaim that ‘Jesus saves,’ yet deprive Him of all power to save unless the
sinner gives his consent. This is a great evil, and a very general and prevalent
one in our day, all the more dangerous because those that thus preach Jesus
ostensibly emphasize strongly exactly that which they, nevertheless deny: that
Jesus saves. The name of Jesus is on the lips of many a preacher today, who,
nevertheless, proclaims a Jesus that is impotent to save ... For they do not
mean that Jesus actually saves, but that He is willing to save provided the
sinner gives his consent, will let himself be saved by Jesus; if not, their
Jesus is powerless to save. In other words, they do not find in their Jesus
absolutely all things necessary to save a sinner, and that, too, not a willing,
but an unwilling sinner that is dead through trespasses and sins. And,
therefore, it is not only proper, but urgently necessary for the church that
prizes and would preserve the truth as it is in Christ, to emphasize that Christ
is a complete, a perfect and only Saviour, and that He is not only willing, but
powerful to save even unto the end. His name is called Jesus, ‘because he shall
save His people from their sins’" (The Triple Knowledge, p. 454).
EXALTING THE LORD OUR GOD
Psalm 99:9
A word or phrase may be repeated for emphasis. That word or phrase may also be repeated in order to help us remember it. Both of these are true concerning the phrase in Psalm 99:3, namely, "for it is holy," referring to God's name; in verse 5 stating "for He is holy"; and in verse 9, where we read: "For the Lord our God is holy."
This last time the psalmist says this in connection with the truth that God answered the holy men of old, who called on Him, and forgave their sins. Now, that He is holy means that He is set apart, He is in a class by Himself. Not only is He cut off from all sin; but He and He only is God.
In what way does forgiving the sins of those that call upon Him make Him holy? In the sense that He is the only one Who can do that, and that He did it in the holy way of sending His own Son to suffer our punishment and be raised as Our Head, and through Him conquered death and the grave. In our salvation, as well as being the sovereign God Who rules all things, and in righteous judgment establishes equity, He is in a class by Himself, the highly exalted and only God.
Our versification sings it thus:
Holy men of old in Him alone confided;
He forgave their sins,
Although they felt His chastening rod;
In His holy temple worship and adore Him,
Faithful and holy is the Lord our God.
You may notice that in verse 9 we are called to worship Him "at His holy hill." That means at His temple. And that temple was built on a hill in Jerusalem. This was not incidental or accidental but by the design of God. He is high above all creation. His typical dwelling place must also be a place to which we ascend. And when we are told to exalt Him, the idea is that in our minds we are to see Him as the sovereign God Who is high above all things and worthy of the highest praise and worship. Look up then to Him and worship Him as God alone and our only hope of salvation.
Read:
Exodus 15:1-19
Psalter versification: 266:3
(Words and Music of the
Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation:
(Scottish Psalter) Psalm
23
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Jeremiah 22
;
Jeremiah 23:1-20
2 Thessalonians 1:1-12
Psalm 83:1-18
Proverbs 25:11-14
****
Quote for Reflection:
"Worship should be somewhat like its object --Great praise for a great God. There is no part of Jehovah's greatness which is not worthy of great praise. In some beings, greatness is but vastness of evil: in Him it is magnificence of goodness. Praise may be said to be great when the song contains great matter, when the hearts producing it are intensely fervent, and when large numbers unite in the grand acclaim. No chorus is too loud, no orchestra too large, no psalm too lofty for the lauding of the Lord of Hosts." C. H. Spurgeon on Psalm 145:3
ENLIGHTENED BY GOD'S WORD
Psalm 119:129,130
There is a great deal that we understand; and the older we get, the more we understand the things around us. But that which above all we should understand, we by nature do not even want to hear about, much less understand.
Man must not only know but understand why he was created and what his calling is before God, Who made him and continues to give him every heartbeat. Man must know and understand that he was created for the glory of God (Isaiah 43:21), and walk in love for Him so that, with all he comes in contact, he can praise and glorify God.
This explains the psalmist's words in Psalm 119:129, 130, where we read: "Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them. The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple."
Truly he who understands his calling will say with the psalmist that God's testimonies are wonderful. Satan led man to believe that they were bad for man. After man succumbed to that lie and fell into the darkness of sin, God's words bring light when these words enter not simply the fleshly mind but into the soul. If they do that, we will be very understanding people.
Listen to how our Psalter versification states it:
Thy wondrous testimonies, Lord,
My soul will keep and greatly praise
Thy word by faithful lips proclaimed,
To simplest minds the truth conveys.
Never mind college and university degrees and praise of men. Strive to be a man or woman of spiritual understanding, and go where by faithful lips God's word is proclaimed. Live very close to the word of God. Then you will not only understand what your calling is, but also how desperately you are in need of Christ and His blood. Only in that way will you understand what He accomplished for you and what it is to which He will one day bring you.
How much of that word of God do you read every day? That will show how sincerely you too can call God's law wonderful.
Read:
Psalm 119:129-144
Psalter versification: 337:1
(Words and Music of the
Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number
207
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Jeremiah 23:21-40
;
Jeremiah 24
;
Jeremiah 25:1-38
2 Thessalonians 2:1-17
Psalm 84:1-12
Proverbs 25:15
****
Quote for Reflection:
"When we say, that men are not justified by works, we deny not that the keeping of the law is true righteousness: but as no one performs it, and never has performed it, we say, that all are excluded from it, and that hence the only refuge is in the grace of Christ." John Calvin
LONGING FOR A SANCTIFIED WALK
Psalm 119:131, 132
One thing that we will learn when we understand God's law is how far short we come as far as keeping it is concerned. In fact, in the measure that we understand God's testimonies, we will with the psalmist say, "I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for Thy commandments. Look Thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as Thou usest to do to those that love Thy name" (Psalm 119:131, 132). For to open one's mouth and pant is to strive to obtain an essential of life, namely, oxygen. It is feeling the serious need for it.
So the child of God, who loves God's name, that is, loves God as He truly is and is revealed in His word, will gasp for mercy when he understands what God's law requires. For that he longs for God's commandments means that he longs to be able to keep those commandments because he loves God and considers His testimonies to be wonderful.
Surely we need God's mercy, because we fall so far short of our calling. When we understand God's law, we understand the punishment which we deserve for not keeping it. We understand how much we walk in hatred toward God rather than in love to Him. We understand that what we formerly called little sins, or, perhaps, mistakes rather than sins, were desperately wicked deeds in God's eyes, works of hatred. The more we understand God's law, the more the light of that law will expose the blackness of our souls and need for God's mercy to save us.
There is, however, more to remember. We need God's grace to supply us with strength to keep His law. In fact the word the psalmist uses is better translated as grace instead of mercy. It takes God's grace, and it was in God's grace that He came to fallen Adam and Eve, who were trying to hide their sin by their own works, to assure them that He would put enmity in them against Satan and sin. In His grace He was going to make them love His name.
Let us with the psalmist then sing:
I thirst for Thy commandments, Lord,
And for Thy mercy press my claim;
O look on me, and show the grace
Displayed to all who love Thy name.
Read:
Psalm 42
Psalter versification: 337:2
(Words and Music of the
Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number
310
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Jeremiah 26:1-27
2 Thessalonians 3:1-18
Psalm 85:1-13
Proverbs 25:16
****
Quote for Reflection:
… To show that neither His
covenant nor Himself had changed, God had His apostle proclaim in the first
sermon preached to the church of the New Testament: "For the promise is unto
you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the
Lord our God shall call." Infant baptism is based on this truth of the covenant.
Because our children are included by God in His covenant, God demands that we
rear them in His fear. – David Engelsma
A SMILE FOR THOSE IN TEARS
Psalm 119:135, 136
Some years ago signs were displayed in public places that read: "Smile — God Loves You." And indeed there are times when we do not smile with the assurance that God is smiling down upon us. The psalmist in Psalm 119:135 expresses it this way: "Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant; and teach me Thy statutes." Now the shining of God's face is the displaying of His love. And plainly the psalmist was eager to have an assurance of God's love upon him.
But surely we err if we say that God loves everybody who reads that sign. If that were the case, would He not save everybody? If someone you love is attempting to commit suicide, would you let him do so, if you had it in your power to stop him? Can the sinner prevent the almighty God from saving him from going to the lake of fire? Can the sinner change the unchangeable God and stop His love?
No, His love makes them so that, as we read in verse 136, "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not Thy law." There you have the evidence that God's face shines on you. You know God loves you when He works such tears in your eyes. And did you notice that after the psalmist prayed for God's face to shine on him, he added: "And teach me Thy statutes"? The reason for this is that God loves those only who keep His statutes. He does not love them because they keep His law, even though He loves them when and while they keep it. No, He loved them eternally in Christ. In fact, we keep God's law because He loves us. His love makes rivers of water run down our eyes when we witness sin. Therefore, we pray that He will teach us His statutes. Having that knowledge we know that His face is in Christ shining down upon us. Those to whose eyes tears come because they see sin, including their own sins, can smile assured that God loves them.
Sing that truth then in this Psalter versification:
O make Thy face to shine on me
And teach me all Thy laws to keep;
Because Thy statutes are despised,
With overwhelming grief I weep.
Read:
Luke 18:1-14
Psalter versification: 337:4
(Words and Music of the
Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number
120
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Jeremiah 28
;
Jeremiah 29:1-32
1 Timothy 1:1-20
Psalm 86:1-17
Proverbs 25:1-17
****
Quote for Reflection:
… believers should learn to
forget the wrongs that have been done them,—that they should not, when injured,
break out into hatred or ill-will, or wish to commit an injury on their
part,—but that, the more the obstinacy and rage of wicked men was excited and
inflamed, they should be the more fully disposed to exercise patience. – Calvin’s Commentary
(Luke 6:29-30)
OUR EVERLASTING DWELLING PLACE
Psalm 90:1,2
What Moses wrote in Psalm 90:1, 2 might seem strange to us. There he wrote, "Lord, Thou host been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God."
That last part we can understand, namely, that He is God. But that He is our dwelling place is something else. Had he written, as David did in Psalm 46, "God is our refuge and our strength," we would say that he presents an important truth. But, God is our dwelling place? Is that not an insult? Moses wrote these words when the Israelites were dwelling in tents. God is a tent? He is a dwelling place that wears out and cannot stand the winds and hail of the storms?
No, God Himself inspired Moses to write this, and it is a praiseworthy statement. The idea is that in Him we have our life and its comforts. As Paul said, according to Acts 17:28, "In Him we live, and move and have our being." Apart from Him there is no life and no existence. As Moses writes in verse 2, God existed before any creature was brought forth. From everlasting He is God.
Take note of that fact that He is GOD. He is not a creature, but the Creator of all things. Our dwelling places were made by men, whether they were tents or houses of wood and stone. But God as our dwelling place is eternal, living before there were any mountains or trees, and before there was an earth and a world.
This means that He needs nothing that is outside of Himself, and that all that which we need comes from Him. As His children we have an endless store of blessings. All our spiritual life as well as our physical existence comes from Him and through His Son. The forgiveness of our sins comes from Him and life everlasting.
With confidence we may sing:
Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place
Through all the ages of our race;
Before the mountains had their birth,
Or ever Thou hadst formed the earth
From everlasting Thou art God,
To everlasting our abode.
Read:
Psalm 90
Psalter versification: 245:1
(Words and Music of the
Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number
354
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Jeremiah 30
;
Jeremiah 31:1-26
1 Timothy 2:1-15
Psalm 87:1-7
Proverbs 25:18-19
****
Quote for Reflection:
Quite suddenly it happens, and we call it "accident;"
Yet all the while we know it well- This thing was heaven-sent. 'Twas not by chance that it occurred, It was a planned event; And all our human care and thought, Could not change or prevent. How good to know-come joy or pain, It is our Father's will. It is not ours to question, "Why?" But hear Him say, "Be still!" And when we hear His loving voice, The restlessness departs; The chafing and frustrations cease, And His peace fills our hearts.
"My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."
A RETURN TO THE DUST
Psalm 90:3
Sooner or later we are going to die. This is so because it pleases God to reach down and cause it to happen. Through Moses He declares in Psalm 90:8, "Thou tumest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men." And by return he means return to the dust out of which man was created.
A versification of Psalm 39:4, 5 states that truth this way:
My end, Lord, make me know.
My days, how soon they fail;
And to my thoughtful spirit show
How weak I am and frail.
To Thy eternal thought
My days are but a span;
To Thee my years appear as naught,
A breath at best is man.
We do well to take note of the fact that God commands death to overtake us. Men will at times pray God to prevent death that threatens a loved one. But the correct view is that rather than overruling death, God sends it and commands it to come to us. Death is not something against which He must work. It is a tool with which He works. And as the sovereign God that He is, He has a right to send it to destroy our earthly bodies. He had that right before we fell. Be surely has it now since we fell into sin. He told us that the day we sinned we would die. And as the holy, sovereign God He may return us to the dust.
But always we should look at all God's works in the light of the death of His own Son, Who died as our covenant Head and representative. The souls of those not chosen in Him are plunged into everlasting torment. What happens to their bodies at the moment of death is minor compared with what happens when Christ returns. But those for whose sins Christ died have, the moment that their bodies enter death, in their souls everlasting blessedness and joy with Christ.
They can expect their bodies to be raised and brought back to life. This time it will be a body more glorious than Adam's was. With that in mind God says to the believer's bodies, "Return to the dust!" For He intends to say to it pretty soon, "Be glorified with the glory of My Son!"
Read:
Ecclesiastes 12
Psalter versification: 105:4, 5
(Words and Music of the
Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number
55
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Jeremiah 31:27-40
;
Jeremiah 32
;
1 Timothy 3:1-16
Psalm 88:1-18
Proverbs 25:20-22
****
Quote for Reflection:
Psalm 73:26
"Moreover, we
believe and teach that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was from all
eternity predestinated and foreordained of the Father to be the Saviour of the
world. And we believe that he was begotten, not only then, when he took flesh of
the Virgin Mary, nor yet a little before the foundations of the world were laid;
but before all eternity, and that of the Father after an unspeakable manner."
Second Helvetic Confession "The pleasures of being forgiven are as superior to
the pleasures of an unforgiven man as heaven is higher than hell." R. M.
M'Cheyne
MAN'S MOMENTARY LIFE ON EARTH
Psalm 90:4
All men are aware of the fact that one by one we all return to the dust from whence man came. All men, however, do not confess what Moses wrote concerning God in Psalm 90:4, namely, "For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday, when it is past, and as a watch in the night." Few there are who are with Moses ready to say of those who die, 'Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are like sleep: In the morning they are like grass which groweth up In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth."
Yes, they will agree that life is short, and that the last years of life are not at all like the early or midlife years. But holding on to their foolish evolutionistic idea of how man came into being, they do not subscribe to the truth that there is a God Who made man and carries him away as with a flood.
But here is a truth we had better believe and sing:
Man soon yields up his fleeting breath
Before the swelling tide of death;
Like transient sleep his seasons pass,
His life is like the tender grass;
Luxuriant 'neath the morning sun,
And withered e'er the day is done.
Let us maintain that tremendous contrast made by Moses. Man's life is very short, while God's has no beginning or end. Man's life is like a drop of water in the vast Pacific Ocean of God's life. And that is true even of Methuselah who almost reached a thousand years, dying when he was 969 years old. Appreciate then the fact that God's love for His people is as infinite as His being. It also has no beginning or end. And because Christ is the eternal Son in that triune God, He can and did give us victory over death and everlasting life and glory.
Read:
I Corinthians 15:41-58
Psalter versification: 245:3
(Words and Music of the
Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number
9
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Jeremiah 33
;
Jeremiah 34:1-22
1 Timothy 4:1-16
Psalm 89:1-13
Proverbs 25:23-24
****
Quote for Reflection:
Moreover, we believe and
teach that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was from all eternity
predestinated and foreordained of the Father to be the Saviour of the world. And
we believe that he was begotten, not only then, when he took flesh of the Virgin
Mary, nor yet a little before the foundations of the world were laid; but before
all eternity, and that of the Father after an unspeakable manner.
—Second Helvetic
Confession
VISITED IN HOLY WRATH
Psalm 90:7-9
Some people die of cancer and others of heart attacks. Some are killed in an automobile accident or plane crash. Or it may be a fire or storm, to mention only a few possibilities. But we do well to remember that all these arc secondary causes. They are the way in which God brings death because of the primary reason, namely sin, which moves God to anger and wrath. Listen to what He says through Moses in Psalm 90:7-9: "For we are consumed by Thine anger, and by Thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in Thy wrath; we spend our years as a tale that is told."
To help us commit this truth to memory, sing this versification:
Man in Thy anger is consumed,
And unto grief and sorrow doomed;
Before Thy clear and searching sight
Our secret sins are brought to light.
Beneath Thy wrath we pine and die,
Our life expiring with a sigh.
Let us bear that in mind. Not only is death, but all our sicknesses and diseases, all our losses and tears, are here because of sin. Through them God is speaking to us.
Yes,He loves us, and His wrath and anger do not stem from hatred towards those whom He chose in Christ. Them He loves. We ought to keep two truths in mind. In His grace He uses these to bring us out from under the curse and into the new Jerusalem with all His blessings and glory.
What is more, in all these miseries and sorrows here below He in love is teaching us. With death and all that leads up to it, He is chastening His people. He chastens us to bring us out of our sinful walk to a walk of righteousness. Hebrews 12:9-11. What is more, this suffering and death, which is punishment in the sense of chastisement, not only makes us aware of what we deserve, but also how undeserving we are of His blessings. All these underscore the truth that we are saved by grace and not by our works. They help to make us appreciate Christ's suffering and death in our stead.
Read:
Hebrews 12:1-13
Psalter versification: 245:4
(Words and Music of the
Psalter)
Daily Meditations
on
the
Heidelberg Catechism
****
Song for Meditation: Psalter number
76
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One
Year
Read today:
Jeremiah 35
;
Jeremiah 36:1-32
1 Timothy 5:1-25
Psalm 89:14-37
Proverbs 25:25-27
****
Quote for Reflection:
"One great reason of the carnal security into which we fall, is our not considering how singularly we were fashioned at first by our Divine Maker." John Calvin