Judge with equity

Psalms 96:10  Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”

Psalms 46:10     “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

Malachi 1:11     For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations,

Isaiah 49:8     Thus says the LORD: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages,

Hebrews 1:3    He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Acts 17:31     because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Romans 2:16     on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Jude 1:14-15     It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones,  to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

2 Peter 3:7     But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

Matthew 25:31-46     “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Being recognized and separated can be a good thing or bad thing.  A line up as it were. Scripture speaks of those who are separated and will be with Jesus Christ and those who will be judged and found convicted of rejecting redemption.  For those of us who are saved it is a glorious day when sin is fully put to rest at the final judgement and we are forevermore with Christ in His kingdom.  If you were the person able to give this gift of eternal life and someone accepted the gift, how would you expect that person to live out their time this side of eternity?  Give thought to this.  Give thought to this in light of scripture.  Give thought to this in light of the willing sacrifice Jesus gave on the Cross for our redemption.  Live humbly serving, honoring, following and obeying the author and finisher of life.

Worthless idols – delusions

“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.”

Psalms 96:5  For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.

Jeremiah 10:3-5    for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.  They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.  Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”

Jeremiah 10:14-15     Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them.  They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish.

Genesis 1:1     In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Isaiah 42:5    Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it

There is quite a contrast between a worthless piece of stone, wood, or precious metal and our living God.  One is made by human hands and the other made everything from nothing.  One is worthless and a delusion the other is life, help, strength, might, power, and lives forever.  God will not share His glory and honor.  He alone is worthy of all praise, honor and glory.  Those who seek peace and hope from things made form human hands will find themselves empty and wanting.  Ultimately they will see the delusion but then it will be to late.  Their fate is sealed upon their death and cast into hell.  Those who choose to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey the one and only living God will see eternal life.  God alone gives life.  God alone is worthy.  Our God lives.  Worthless idols capture  heart and mind, taking them captive, a delusion is believed and a chose is made.  Keep your heart and mind purely on God.  Do not allow false teachings and idols take you on paths apart from God.

Stand up and bless the LORD

Psalmsd 96:4  For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.

Psalms 18:3    I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.

Nehemiah 9:5     Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

Psalms 145:3    Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

Psalms 66:3     Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.

Jeremiah 10:6-7   There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.  Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you.

Revelation 15:4     Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Psalms 76:7     But you, you are to be feared! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?

Luke 12:5     But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!

Psalms 9:17     The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.

Revelation 14:7    And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

2 Peter 2:4    For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

Daily we are either living in God fearing reverence giving God praise or complacent neglect or absolute denial.  When thinking about an average day in your life in line with this, is a mirror to our heart, mind, and soul.  Living in a state of mind that does not have humble reverence and praise for God leaves us open for days upon end without purpose other than self.  Self walks down a path of “here and now”, giving no thought to God or His love, judgement, or eternity.  This is a fight within our very being.  Our sinful nature, left on its own, will walk paths separated from God.  Living for God, staying in His word and learning from it yields a continual transformation in our lives.  This transformation starts with a new birth, a new beginning, a life with purpose found in forgiveness of sin, by faith, through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

” Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Good news, happiness, salvation

“ My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge.”

Psalms 96:2  Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.

Psalms 72:17-18    May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun! May people be blessed in him, all nations call him blessed!  Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.

Psalms 103:1-2    Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!  Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,

Ephesians 1:3    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

Revelation 5:13     And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

Psalms 103:20-22     Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!  Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will!  Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!

Psalms 145:1    I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.

1 Chronicles 29:20     Then David said to all the assembly, “Bless the LORD your God.” And all the assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and paid homage to the LORD and to the king.

Isaiah 52:7-8    How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”  The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion.

Romans 10:14-18    How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”  But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”  So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.  But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”

Great verses today extolling us to worship and give honor to God through Jesus Christ.  When we think about creation and the magnitude of everything on earth and in space our mind can not comprehend the awesomeness of God, who spoke all of this into being.  Think about this, at His word earth and everything on and in it was formed.  At His word space and galaxies were formed.  Laws of physics we are still trying to figure out He spoke into existence.  Angels in heaven worship Him.

When it comes to blessing and worshipping God, we can do this in heart mind and soul.  He is ever in our thoughts and actions.  We purpose to live according to our increasing knowledge and understanding of Him through His word.  Humbly we serve, honor, follow and obey.  As well let us not lose sight of “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” and “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation”  Speaking of His might, power, strength, love, salvation, holiness, steadfastness with awe and reverence is something I think pours out of a repentant, thankful, and humble follower.

Psalm 96

Psalms 96:1  Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth!  Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.  Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!  For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.  For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.  Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.  Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!  Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!  Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!  Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”  Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;  let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy  before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Steven Cole commented on this Psalm: John Piper, who begins Let the Nations be Glad! ([Baker Academic], 2nd ed., p. 17) by saying, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.” He adds (ibid.), “The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God.”

He is right that worship is the goal of missions. But it’s also true that worship is the basis for missions. If we are not fervent worshipers of God, we have nothing to tell the nations. If we do not exude joy in God and His wonderful salvation, why should lost people be interested in what we have to say? So worship is both the goal of missions and the foundation for missions. If we’re not worshipers, we will be lousy witnesses.

Psalm 96 is a call to tell the nations about God’s glory and His great salvation. It follows on Psalm 95, which describes the stubborn hard-heartedness of Israel in the wilderness, in spite of God’s goodness towards them (C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David [Eerdmans], 4:336). It was the same hardhearted nation that later rejected her Messiah, leading to the gospel going out to the Gentiles (Matt. 21:43; Acts 13:46). So Psalms 95 & 96 form a pair, showing Israel’s rejection of the gospel and the subsequent missionary task of proclaiming the gospel to the Gentiles.

Ask for the ancient paths

“For we who have believed enter that rest”

Psalms 95:11  Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”

Numbers 14:23     shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.   Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you:  your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me,  not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

Deuteronomy 1:34-35    “And the LORD heard your words and was angered, and he swore,  ‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers,

Hebrews 3:18     And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?

Jeremiah 6:16     Thus says the LORD: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Hosea 4:4-11     And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.  They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply, because they have forsaken the LORD to cherish  whoredom, wine, and new wine, which take away the understanding.

Matthew 11:28-29     Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Revelation 14:13     And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

The contrast of those who willingly disobey and those who choose to follow Jesus Christ is clear.  The line in the sand, as it were, is the choice – either ‘We will not walk in it.’ or “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls”  and  again in “Come to me,” / “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me“.   God promises rest for those who come to Him, ask, and seek to learn from Him.  Likewise He promises the opposite for those who choose not to.  This is either all in or all out.  There is no in between.  Be mindful of the choice being made – it has an eternal consequence.

Not ashamed

“Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”

Psalms 95:7  For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice,  do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,  when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

Psalms 48:14     that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.

Psalms 67:6     The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.

Psalms 115:3     Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Exodus 15:2    The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him

Jeremiah 31:33     For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Romans 1:19  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Hebrews 3:7  Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice,  do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,  where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.  Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’  As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”  Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” – When I think about God not being ashamed, it makes me think a bit about my daily actions and thoughts.  some days it seems as though I am only giving a few nods Gods way.  This is not what life of honor, service, obedience, and full commitment should be like.  Trusting in, relying on, clinging to is not only for times of immediate need.  It is a way of life.

Waiting beside My doors

Psalms 95:4  In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.

Psalms 135:6     Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

Psalms 65:6  the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might;  who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples,  so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.  You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.  You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.  You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.  The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy,  the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.

Genesis 1:9-10     And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.  God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

Proverbs 8:29     when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,  rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.  “And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways.  Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.  Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.  For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD,  but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

Jeremiah 5:22     Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it.

Psalms 97:5    The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.

Micah 1:4    And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire

Job 9:5     he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger,

Nahum 1:5    The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it.

We take a piece of wood and make something out of it – our creation.  God made the micro cellular seed structure for every tree species, the means for nutrients, the means for respiration, photosynthesis ( and while we think of this He made the sun and the earth too).    We look at what we or others have put together as something creative and maybe inspiring.  Some architects even go down in history as leaders of their time.  Books are written about them.  And yet we only need to open our eyes to God’s creation to see the awe inspiring magnitude of Him.  We are a creation of His.  He has given us life and free will to choose to praise, honor, serve, follow and obey Him.  Those who choose this path, He gives life (eternal).  Those that choose to reject Him, He gives death and torment eternal. “And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways.  Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.  Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.  For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD,  but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

God is Great

“for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.”

Psalms 95:3  For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

Psalms 86:8-10   There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.  All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.  For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.

Psalms 96:4     For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.

Psalms 97:9    For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.

Psalms 145:3     Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

Jeremiah 10:6-7     There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.  Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you.

Jeremiah 10:10     But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.  Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”  It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.  When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.  Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them.  They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish.  Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.

Isaiah 44:8    Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”

People believe many things contrary to God.  Much of what they believe is found in various types of media.  (TV, radio, books, internet, magazine articles, video’s) All proclaiming there is no God.  All of these comments are placed in these various forms of media by someone.  No one would believe they just appeared there by chance or developed on their own.  These authors have placed their thoughts for others to see – to convey a message.  Many who read/watch these have no doubt the author exists even though they have not met or seen this person(s).  God has communicated in a much grander way -through creation of all there is.  One only has to look up into the sky at night, or at a seed sprouting in the spring, or a new born baby, or the mountains, or laws of physics.  There is no delusion in His creation – it it there for all to see the work of His hand.  And yet there are those who choose to believe a lie proclaimed in some form of media by a person they have never met.  These people see the work of God’s creation and choose to call a “chance happening”.  God is very much alive and very real and ever present.  See God through His creation, know God through His word, and desire to live to honor, glorify, serve, follow and obey Him.

“and the Rock was Christ.”

“and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,”

Psalms 95:1  Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

Psalms 89:26    He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’

Deuteronomy 32:15     “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.

2 Samuel 22:47     “The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation,

Job 19:25     For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

Deuteronomy 32:39-40    “‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me;

John 5:22-29     For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,  that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.  Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.  “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.  And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.  Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice  and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

Sometimes it is just hard to keep our head on straight and remember our redeemer and rock lives.  He is very much alive and very much able to be the rock we can find refuge.  Having this rock and relying on it are not the same thing.  Too many times we walk into situations on our own without a thought of making sure we are wrapped in the arms of our savior.  It is in these times we find ourselves lost and at odds with what we are face with.  The next time you are going into to any situation make sure it is with the presence of Jesus Christ.  From recent experience I know it is not good to get so wrapped up in the issue you before you that you walk alone without thinking about praising and relying on Him.  I guess this today is more of me speaking to myself than sharing with you.  He lives and is more than able to keep us safe and secure and calm and kind and respectful.