Daily Meditations for May by Rev. J. Heys

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May 1

CHOOSING WISE COUNSELORS
Psalm 119:23,24

    If someone files a court case against you, it would be wise to get legal help from one who can give you good advice and represent you as unjust charges are hurled at you before the judge. And as a child of God in the midst of a world where Satan uses crafty, clever men to try to get you accused of holding on to false doctrines, and of being guilty of walking in a sinful way, it is an act of wisdom to do as the psalmist writes in Psalm 119:23,24. He points out that "Princes also sit and speak against me but Thy servant did meditate in Thy statutes. Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.

    Turn to the word of God. Meditate in His statutes. Let His testimonies be your counselors. The point is that we had better know and quote the Scriptures for our defense. God must be our counselor as He speaks through His word. When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness He quoted God's word, and each time He not only shielded Himself from Satan's arrows by it, but used it to pierce Satan.

    There are two activities which the psalmist tells us to perform when we are attacked or tempted to leave God's word and law, and to join those who err from God's commandments. We should meditate in God's statutes so that we know fully what they say to us. And we should seek the counsel which God has provided for us in His word.  Then we have weapons of defense but also of offense to drive our attackers away.

    The day is soon coming when princes, that is, government officials, are going to sit and speak against us. Yea even princes that are church officials will speak against us because we delight in God's statutes, laws, and testimonies.  Satan is working hard to destroy the church of Christ and to produce the false Christ which Scripture calls ''the man of sin."

    Let God's word counsel you as how to resist Satan and drive him away. Find comfort and hope in God's word and sing with the psalmist:

    I on Thy statutes meditate.
    Though evil men deride;
    Thy faithful word is my delight,
    My counselor and guide.

Read: Romans 7
Psalter versification: 323:4

 Daily  Meditations
  on the Heidelberg Catechism
 

Song for Meditation: Psalter number 329
Why not sing along??

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:

Judges 13
Judges 14
John 1:29-51
Psalm 102:1-28
Proverbs 14:15-16

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Quote for Reflection:

 

   "Almost every night I woke up, and the devil is there and wants to dispute with me. I have come to this conclusion: when the argument that the Christian is redeemed from the curse of the law doesn't help, (I roll over and ignore him). The rogue wants to dispute about righteousness although he himself is a knave. No man should be alone when he opposes Satan. The church and the ministry of the Word were instituted for this purpose, that hands may be joined together and one may help another. If the prayer of one doesn't help, the prayer of the other will." Martin Luther


May 2

POWERFUL HELP FOR THE HELPLESS
Psalm 121:1,2

    Could you find a better place for one to be when injured severely than in a fully equipped and well-staffed hospital? Consider then what the psalmist says in Psalm 121 :1, 2.

    There we read, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.'

    Imagine that! The almighty God, He Who made this vast creation, this large earth upon which we live, the starry hosts, these bodies millions of miles away from us, and the spiritual realm we also call heaven, is our help. What power! What wisdom! Therefore, what help there is then for us in all our sins and miseries!

    And when the psalmist speaks of looking to the hills, he calls our attention to the fact that we have almighty, certain help for all our spiritual as well as physical needs, for all the needs of our souls as well as of our bodies. For these hills are Mt. Moriah on which God's house was built by Solomon, and Mt. Zion where God's throne stood, and where the kings from David onward reigned as types of Christ.

    The significance of it all is that we can look for help to Christ, Who now is at God's right hand with power over every creature in heaven and on earth, and who died for our sins on the altar of the cross, which was pictured in that temple on Mt. Moriah. Thus to God through Christ we may go with all our guilt, and all the miseries upon us because of our guilt in Adam. We have protection from all our enemies, and have bodies promised us that will be glorious and free from sin. About what then do we have to worry? We are in the hands of a powerful Savior Who is driven by a love that moved Him to die for our sins and to bring us to that glory.

    Look up then to those hills no matter what your problem is, and let this daily be your song:

    Unto the hills around do I lift up
    My longing eyes;
    O whence for me
    Shall my salvation come,
    From whence arise?
    From God the Lord
    Doth come my certain aid
   
From God the Lord
    Who heaven and earth hath made.

Read: Psalm 121
Psalter versification: 347:1

 Daily  Meditations
 
 on the Heidelberg Catechism
 

Song for Meditation: Psalter number 234
Why not sing along??

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Judges 15:1-20
Judges 16:1-31
John 2:1-25
Psalm 103:1-22
Proverbs 14:17-19

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Quote for Reflection:
“We ought to be more attentive to this warning to reprove the unfruitful works of darkness, by showing to the utmost of our power that it displeases us and by taking steps to stop it, if it lies in our power to do so. If every man employed himself in this fashion, we should surely see another kind of integrity in the world. What is the reason why God’s name is so much blasphemed? It is because blasphemies are cloaked and every man would rather defile himself with other men’s wickedness than acquire any disfavor [for reproving them]. The case is similar with drunkenness, lechery, robbery, and all extortions and wanton deeds…If we had the zeal commanded us here by St. Paul, surely we should be much more courageous and staunch in rebuking such as do amiss…If not, we also show ourselves to have no love nor kindness…[because] men’s souls are going to perdition and we do not remedy it [by reproving them] even though God…has placed us in that office of saving that which is on the way to being lost and damned” (John Calvin, Sermons on Ephesians, p. 523).  


May 3

SAFE EVERY STEP OF THE WAY
Psalm 121:3,4

    The almighty, all-wise God watches over His universal church, which in Psalm 121:4 is called Israel — a name that means Prince of God. And He protects us so fully that each individual believer can say with the psalmist in Psalm 121: 3, 4 , "He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.''  That means that He cares for each member or the body of Christ, the church He loved and for which He gave His life. Each child of God then may say, "He will not suffer my foot to be moved.''

    To appreciate this, consider that we are traveling on a mountain path that is narrow, and that either on the right or left side of that path, and sometimes on both sides, the ground drops off steeply, so that one who steps off will fall to certain death. That is why it is so very important that we have one to watch over us, who does not sleep but looks down upon us every step of our way.

    When we do with one foot step off that narrow path by sin of one kind or another, one must be there to lift that foot up and back upon the path, or catch us as we fall lest we plunge into the lake of fire. If our guardian sleeps for just a moment, and one of us has stepped off that pathway, that one enters everlasting perdition.

    But no, here is the truth for our comfort:

    He will not suffer that thy foot be moved,
    Safe shalt thou be;
    No careless slumber shall His eyelids close
    Who keepeth thee;
    Behold He sleepeth not, He slumbers ne'er,
    Who keepeth Israel in His holy care.

    This versification expresses the beautiful truth that He cares for us in wondrous love. "No careless slumber shall His eyelids close.'' Of that you can be sure. He is the almighty God Who is never tired or sleepy. We are safe day and night. We have a Savior Who indeed saves us in a wonderful way and in unchangeable love. We are safe every step of our way to His house of many mansions, where places are prepared for us.

Read: Psalm 91
Psalter versification: 347:2

 Daily  Meditations
 
 on the Heidelberg Catechism
 

Song for Meditation: Psalter number 219
Why not sing along??

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Judges 17:1-13
Judges 18:1-31
John 3:1-21
Psalm 104:1-23
Proverbs 14:20-21

****
Quote for Reflection:

At the Lord’s Table: "Do we taste, experience, appropriate the love of God in Christ? Do we know that we have fellowship with God? When we eat and drink at the table of the Lord, do we taste that God comes to us in Christ? God comes to us through Christ and in the Spirit and makes His abode with us, and causes us to experience the blessedness of His fellowship and presence."                                           - --Herman Hoeksema


May 4

KEPT ON THE WAY TO GLORY
Psalm 121:5,6

    The name of your pilot, as you fly high above the earth, really does not mean much, for it tells you that he is a human being; and as the saying goes, ''To err is human.'' But because of what we read in Psalm 121:5,6, "The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.  The sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night,'' you can rely upon your Pilot with unwavering confidence. For the psalmist here uses the name Jehovah, and that name tells us that our Keeper is unchangeable, not dependent upon any creature, has power over every creature, and is everywhere present.

    As we saw yesterday, He will never allow our feet to move off that narrow pathway to heavenly glory. We will never fall away into everlasting destruction.  And now He emphasizes this by stating that not for one fraction of a second, during the daytime or during the night, will He take His eye off us, or remove His hand from holding us on that pathway to glory. As we sing:

    Jehovah is Himself thy keeper true;
    Thy changeless shade.
    Jehovah, evermore on thy right hand,
    Himself hath made;
    And thee no sun by day shall ever smite,
    No moon shall harm thee in the silent night.

    God is our shade, and this we need. For while we walk on that narrow path to glory, we are still in the vale of tears and sorrow, so that we have miseries in the daytime, but also all through the night. Not for one fraction of a moment are we from under the curse, that came upon us because of Adam's sin, as far as our flesh is concerned.  And we deserve in ourselves that flaming fire of Gods holy wrath. But God is our shade. In Christ He is the umbrella that is between us and God's just and holy wrath.

    Therefore no matter how sick we are, how painful our life is and even when the darkness of death covers us in our graves, we are safe, and will pass safely through all of it, and at God's appointed time will be lifted up above it all. Our Keeper will keep us on the way to tasting His love everlastingly in glory.                               

Read: I Samuel 2:1-10
Psalter versification: 347:3

 Daily  Meditations
 
 on the Heidelberg Catechism
 

Song for Meditation: Psalter number 42
Why not sing along??

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Judges 19:1-30
Judges 20:1-48
John 3:22-36
John 4:1-3
Psalm 104:24-35
Proverbs 14:22-23

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Quote for Reflection:

We may be ever so precise in all our dogmatical reasoning, and this is important, but it all means nothing if we cannot claim this personal participation in the salvation of the Lord. Herman Veldman, The Standard Bearer, vol. 60, p. 76


May 5

SAFE AT ALL TIMES
Psalm 121:7,8

    It is understandable that at times we wonder why God sends us this or that affliction. We are not always ready to say with the psalmist in Psalm 119:71, ''It is good for me that I have been afflicted: that I might learn Thy statutes."  Aches and pains in our flesh, sorrows and bereavements, losses and ridicule are not pleasant, and we can easily think along the lines of Asaph in Psalm 77:9, "Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath He in anger shut up His tender mercies?''  We do judge what happens to our flesh as evidence of, or look for evidence of God's grace and mercy, in earthly things.

    We do well, therefore, to be reminded of what God Himself declares to us in Psalm 121:7, 8, namely, "The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shalt preserve thy going out, and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore." Look first, we are here taught, at what God has done for your soul, and let what you find teach you that what He does with your flesh in no way denies that He is preserving you for the glory He promised in Christ.

    Your soul He washed from all of its guilt, through the blood of His Son; and that soul by a rebirth through His Spirit He has renewed. Be assured then that no evil, that is, nothing that can keep you from the heavenly glory which He promised, will in any way and at any time interfere with your advance to heavenly glory.

    Your going out of health and into sickness, your going out of your home and into the hospital, yea, your going out of this life and into death and the grave will in no sense keep you from everlasting blessedness. Be sure that all is well, for you are preserved by the almighty God, whom no one or nothing can prevent from fulfilling His promises.

    Sing it then with enthusiasm and to His praise:

    From ev'ry evil shall He keep thy soul,
    From ev'ry sin;
    Jehovah shall preserve thy going out,
    Thy coming in;
    Above thee watching,
    He Whom we adore
    Shall keep thee henceforth,
    Yea, for evermore.

Read: Psalm 119:65-72
Psalter versification: 347:4

 Daily  Meditations
 
 on the Heidelberg Catechism
 

Song for Meditation: Psalter number 353
Why not sing along??

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Judges 21:1-25
Ruth 1:1-22
John 4:4-42
Psalm 105:1-15
Proverbs 14:25

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Quote for Reflection:

From the front of a Gideon’s Bible: "The Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s charter. Here Paradise is restored, Heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good the design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. It is given you in life, will be opened at the judgment, and be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents."


May 6

A CRY FROM OUT OF THE DEPTHS
Psalm 130:1,2

    Do you realize where you are? Financially you may consider yourself in difficult circumstances; or in a position wherein you can add to the earthly goods you already have. Physically you may be suffering a lingering illness; or be full of life, energy, and ambition, with enviable health. Socially you may be shunned and avoided; or you may be honored and highly respected. But my question is, "Do you realize where you are spiritually, ethically, morally?" Where are you in God's judgment?

    How often is it not that we assume the position of the Pharisee in Jesus' parable, and are "thankful" that we are not like so and so in our city, or even in our congregation? How seldom is it that we say as the publican did, "God be merciful to me the sinner,'' Yes, that is what he said according to the Greek. He called himself  THE sinner, for he could not read the hearts of others, but saw his own sinful heart.

    How often and how sincerely can we say the words of Psalm 130:1, 2, namely '"Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice: let Thine ear be attentive to the voice of my supplication."

    Consider that one sin of Adam, that brought no bodily harm to anyone, did not consist in nasty, unclean words, and did not take God's name in vain, yet brought death to him and the whole human race. Bear in mind also that a sinful thought or desire deserves the punishment of being cast into the depths of hell.

    Yes, that is where we are in ourselves; in the depths of hell as guilty in Adam. And no wonder then that the psalmist calls upon God to hear his voice. He is so very, very far away from God in those depths of sin and guilt, and really does not deserve to be heard. There is salvation for those who with the psalmist say:

    From out the depths I cry to Thee;
    O let Thine ear attentive be,
    Hear Thou my supplicating plea
    Have mercy, Lord.

Read: Psalm 130
Psalter versification: 364:1

 Daily  Meditations
 
 on the Heidelberg Catechism
 

Song for Meditation: Psalter number 150
Why not sing along??

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
I Samuel 1
I Samuel 2:1-21
John 5:1-23
Psalm 105:37-45
Proverbs 14:28-29

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Quote for Reflection:

Commenting on David’s confession that when he sinned it was “against God and God only” (Psalm 51:4), C. Plantinga writes:  All sin has first and finally a Godward force.  Let us say that a sin is any act—any thought, desire, emotion, word, or deed—or its particular absence, that displeases God and deserves blame.  Let us add that the disposition to commit sins also displeases God and deserves blame, and let us therefore use the word sin to refer to such instances of both act and disposition.  Sin is a culpable and personal affront to a personal God.


May 7

SALVATION'S DEEPEST REASON
Psalm 130:3,4

    Would you be afraid of one who always showered good things upon you? Are we not rather afraid of the terrorists, murderers, and gangsters who exercise violence and make our streets and buildings dangerous? Yet the psalmist in Psalm 130:3, 4 writes, "If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that Thou mayest be feared. '' And our versification has it thus:

    If marked by Thee our sin appeared,
    Who Lord, could stand in judgment cleared?
    Forgiveness that Thou mayst be feared,
    There is with Thee.

    Now the psalmist had in verse 3 told us that we have every reason to be afraid of God, for marking our transgressions means marking us as rebels who deserve everlasting punishment. Why then does he tell us that God ought to be feared because He forgives sin?  Does God not forgive us our sins so that we may live before His face with perfect peace, and with all fear removed from our souls?

    Did not the angels, at Jesus' birth, say that now there was peace on earth? And "Fear not, for I bring you good tidings of great joy'"? Yes, but what the psalmist means here by fear is the awe and reverence of faith. God sent His Son to die for our sins, so that a legal basis might be laid for us to receive a new life of love and awe before God. What an amazing truth that is! God marks our sins, and no one so marked has the right to escape, or way of escape by man's works. What a wonderful, awe inspiring way it is, however, that God follows to save us! He sends His own Son to suffer all our punishment. And that ought to fill us with awe and reverence before Him. God did this for sinners, rebels, enemies!

    And here we have the deep reason for our salvation, namely, that we as believers may stand in awe before the God of our salvation, and in His house of many mansions may everlastingly cry out, "O God, how great and good Thou art.'' Yes, the deepest reason for our salvation is the glory of God.

Read: Jeremiah 33:1-16
Psalter versification: 364:2

 Daily  Meditations
 
 on the Heidelberg Catechism
 

Song for Meditation: Psalter number 409
Why not sing along??

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Quote for Reflection:

     ”We believe that the same God, after he had created all things, did not forsake them, or give them up to fortune or chance,#  but that he rules and governs them according to his holy will, so that nothing happens in this world without his appointment:#  nevertheless, God neither is the author of, nor can be charged with, the sins which are committed.#   For his power and goodness are so great and incomprehensible, that he orders and executes his work in the most excellent and just manner, even then, when devils and wicked men act unjustly.#   And, as to what he doth surpassing human understanding, we will not curiously inquire into, farther than our capacity will admit of; but with the greatest humility and reverence adore the righteous judgments of God, which are hid from us,#  contenting ourselves that we are disciples of Christ, to learn only those things which he has revealed to us in his Word, without transgressing these limits.#   This doctrine affords us unspeakable consolation, since we are taught thereby that nothing can befall us by chance, but by the direction of our most gracious and heavenly Father; who watches over us with a paternal care, keeping all creatures so under his power, that not a hair of our head (for they are all numbered), nor a sparrow, can fall to the ground, without the will of our Father, in whom we do entirely trust; being persuaded, that he so restrains the devil and all our enemies, that without his will and permission, they cannot hurt us.#   And therefore we reject that damnable error of the Epicureans, who say that God regards nothing, but leaves all things to chance.”   Belgic Confession Article 13  “On Divine Providence


May 8

WAITING IN HOPE
Psalm 130:5-6

    Through the years words obtain new meaning. Speak today of a train and those who hear you think of a mechanical means of transportation that is confined to two steel tracks.  But the Queen of Sheba had a train that followed her on her visit to Solomon, and it consisted in servants and dignitaries as well as the gifts she brought for Solomon.

    A word with a different meaning today than as used in Scripture is the word hope. Today it means to most men merely desire, wish. "I hope so'' means "I would like to see it happen."  But in Scripture the word hope means, I expect, and am confident it will happen.

    Bear that in mind when you read the words of the psalmist in Psalm 130:5, 6, "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say more than they that watch for the morning.'' Here the psalmist voices his great desire but also his absolute confidence that God will bless him and bring him out of the depths of guilt and sin into which he has fallen and that makes him worthy of everlasting punishment in hell.

    For the psalmist is waiting, and doing so even more than those who wait for the morning, because it has come so consistently every day of his life, And what the psalmist is waiting for, plainly, is to be brought, not simply out of his sin's guilt and punishment, but into that awe and reverence for God fur which man was created.

    And note that he says that he waits for the Lord. Applied to us today, that means that we with expectancy wait for Christ to come back and usher in that day when with body and soul God's people fully receive that reverence and awe of faith that glorified God.

    Do you look eagerly for that day, and do you sing:

    I wait for Thee, my soul doth wait,
    Thy word my hope in ev'ry strait;
    None watch, O Lord, at morning's gate
    As I for Thee.

 Daily  Meditations
 
 on the
Heidelberg Catechism

Song for Meditation: Psalter number 403
Why not sing along??

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
I Samuel 2:22-36
I Samuel 3
I Samuel 4
John 5:24-47
Psalm 106:1-12
Proverbs 14:30-31

****
Quote for Reflection:

At the Lord’s Table: "Do we taste, experience, appropriate the love of God in Christ? Do we know that we have fellowship with God? When we eat and drink at the table of the Lord, do we taste that God comes to us in Christ? God comes to us through Christ and in the Spirit and makes His abode with us, and causes us to experience the blessedness of His fellowship and presence."                                           --Herman Hoeksema


May 9

PLENTEOUS REDEMPTION
Psalm 130:7,8

    In verse three of Psalm 130 the psalmist had stated that he whose sins are marked cannot stand.  It simply is a hopeless case, because sin is rebellion against God, Who is almighty and everywhere present. But we must note the fact that the psalmist speaks in Psalm 130:7, 8 of a plenteous redemption, and a redemption from all our iniquities. His words are these: "Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption.  And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.''

    Now our word redeem means to buy back, and surely by the cross of Christ our salvation was purchased; but the word the psalmist uses means to set free to set loose from sin. And we do well to remember today and every day that we must also be set free from the love of sin, and from the power of sin wherein Satan holds us. A full salvation is much more than saving us from our guilt and punishment which we deserve. The "plenteous redemption'' which Jesus bought for us by His blood includes being set free from our love of sin, our sinful thoughts and desires, and includes a removal of all acts of sin in the new Jerusalem.

    Listen to the versification as it sings:

    O Israel, hope thou in the Lord,
    His mercy will thy faith reward.
    He full redemption will accord
    From all thy sins.

    Did you notice here mentioning of a full redemption from all sin?  The idea is redemption from sin from every possible point of view. From it all we must be and will be freed.

    Give this truth some serious consideration. God's mercy will realize such full redemption in the day of Christ. There we shall not be able to sin any more. But we must also hope, that is, expect that in this life such deliverance begins, and the rest of our pilgrimage here below must more and more reveal deliverance from the love and power of sin. Pray for it, and in His mercy He will reward us with a full and blessed removal of both our guilt and sinful walk of life. He will deliver us from out of the depths into heavenly, spiritual heights.

Read: Psalm 103
 

Daily  Meditations
 
 on the
Heidelberg Catechism

Psalter versification: 364:4

Song for Meditation: Psalter number 174
Why not sing along??

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
I Samuel 5
I Samuel 6
I Samuel 7
John 6:1-21
Psalm 106:13-31
Proverbs 14:32-33

Quote for Reflection:

    "Since no one else can always be with us, wholly enter into our sorrow, fully understand and comfort us with infinite love, therefore is the Holy Spirit the Comforter. He abides with us forever, enters the deep places of our souls, listens to every throb of the heart, is able to relieve us of all our cares, takes all our troubles upon Himself, and by His tender and divinely loving words and sweet communion raises us out of our comfortless condition."   --Abraham Kuiper


May 10

ABLE TO PRAISE OUR CREATOR
Psalm 148:7,8

    What wisdom our covenant God reveals even in the colors which He chose for His earthly creatures! How soothing for the eye is the green grass, when the bright summer sunshine comes down upon it on a cloudless summer day! How much does the pure white snow lighten up the earth on those cloudy winter days, when the sun strikes the earth from a greater angle, and does not have the brilliancy and warmth it has on a summer's day!

    But try to realize what life would be like had God chosen to have pure white grass with the summer's bright light falling upon it. Even now we find it necessary to wear sunglasses. What if the snow flakes on a cloudy day would be green instead of white?

    All this reminds us of what we read in Psalm 148:7, 8: "Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: fire and hail, snow and vapors; stormy winds fulfilling His word.''   Or as versified:

    Ye creatures in the sea
    And creatures on the earth,
    Your mighty Maker praise
    And tell His matchless worth;
    Praise Him ye stormy winds that blow,
    Ye fire and hail, ye rain and snow.

    Now these creatures, of course, have no tongues where with to praise God.  They do not even know that He exists. But God made man in His own image as a thinking, willing creature with a tongue and voice, so he could praise God, that is, extol Him for His virtues; and the point is that only those who can praise Him for His love, mercy, and grace in Christ can and will praise Him as their Creator.  God must in Christ be our Savior if we are going to praise Him as our Creator. We must see Him in the wisdom and power of our salvation, if we are going to praise Him for these in all His works in creation. We who see and know Him as our Savior in Christ are by Him made able to praise Him as our Creator.

    Do not then find fault with Him for rain, snow, and stormy winds, but praise Him as the God of wisdom and power.

Read: Psalm 148
Psalter versification: 404:3

 Daily  Meditations
 
 on the Heidelberg Catechism

Song for Meditation: Psalter number 113
Why not sing along??

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
I Samuel 8
I Samuel 9
John 6:22-42
Psalm 106:32-48
Proverbs 14:34-35

****
Quote for Reflection:

 God's Ways: "When the methods of Providence are dark and intricate, and we are quite at a loss what God is about to do with us - His way is in the sea, and His path in the great waters, and His footsteps are not known... - a meek and quiet spirit acquiesces in an assurance that all things shall work together for good to us, if we love God, though we cannot apprehend how or which way. It teaches us to follow God with an implicit faith, as Abraham did when he went out, not knowing whither he went, but knowing very well Whom he followed. It quiets us with this, that though what He doeth we know not now, yet we shall know hereafter. John 13:7. When poor Job was brought to that dismal plunge, that he could no way trace the footsteps of divine Providence, but was almost lost in the labyrinth, Job 23:8,9, how quietly does he sit down with this thought; "But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."  -- Matthew Henry


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Last modified, 05-May-2007