Go around Zion. Encircle it. Count its towers. Note its ramparts. Tour its citadels so that you can tell a future generation: "This God, our God forever and ever - He will always lead us. (vs. 12-1)
The Lord will always lead you, satisfy you in a parched land and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose waters never run dry. Isaiah 58
Shoot! I can't physically walk around Mount Zion this morning and experience the joy of looking at the stronghold of our God. How cool would it be to see the actual buildings surrounding and erected upon His Holy Mountain? From there, God directs the nations. Decides their fates no matter how prosperous and never-ending their various regimes may look to the naked eye. Remember Belshazzar's great feast celebrating the prosperity of Babylon? The king had enough supplies for the next twenty years and a vast water system that would sustain him and his minions. He was feeling pretty good about all he had accomplished for himself. Too good, in fact. He ordered the holy vessels from the Jerusalem temple to be brought to the feast so that he and his concubines could drink from them. Oops. God saw from His Holy Mountain and made a decision. MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. "Your days are numbered because you have been weighed in the balance and have been found wanting. So, your kingdom has been given to the Medes and Persians." God wrote this on the plaster of the wall at the king's big bash, scaring Belshazzar so much that his hip joints shook and his legs gave way. That very night his kingdom was taken by the Darius, the Mede. Daniel's words to Belshazzar right before he lost it all: "You have not glorified the God Who holds your life-breath in His hand and who controls the course of your life."
What I can do today is reflect on the Powerful God Who in this moment reigns universally and personally over me. Nations do His bidding whether they know it or not. History flows as He saw it before the before. His prescience is inescapable as He leads world events to the climax He has already designed. I am but a minute part of this flow, but I am, no less a part. Designed also with purpose before the foundations of the world. He will always lead me on. God, Who began a good work in me, will be faithful to complete it in me. ( Philippians 1) Because from eternity past and into eternity to come, He is preeminent forever and forever.
Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death or through the deserts of despair or abandonment, the Lord will always lead us. In the bone-wearying stuff of life, He promises to strengthen us. From Mount Zion He sends His warriors to cover us in battle. From its ramparts God watches the battles and lifts His hand to say: "Enough!" From the city of our Great God commerce is driven, nations fall and rise, and wars are won and lost as He moves history around to accomplish His plans. In other words, He is sovereign. This is why we march our children around His omnipotence and say, "Look at our powerful God! Remember He can do anything! See that everything is held together by the Word of His mouth. He is our God forever. This great God will always lead you when you belong to Him!"
There is a river -- its streams delight the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the Most High. God is within her. She will not be toppled. God will help her when morning dawns. (Psalm 46:4-5) The water from this river is mine to taste today though I cannot physically go there yet. The water of life flows freely from the streams of that river and whets my thirsty soul, plumping my parched heart with its joys. Though I cannot with my own two feet today march around the eternal city, I can see with my own two eyes and understand with my imperfect heart that He is there watching over me, the smallest and most unworthy of vessels, just as my God oversees the events that will draw this world to its ultimate close. All things are under His care. In His divine plan, I have a place to which He will lead me, always, forever and forever.
The Lord will always lead you, satisfy you in a parched land and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose waters never run dry. Isaiah 58
Shoot! I can't physically walk around Mount Zion this morning and experience the joy of looking at the stronghold of our God. How cool would it be to see the actual buildings surrounding and erected upon His Holy Mountain? From there, God directs the nations. Decides their fates no matter how prosperous and never-ending their various regimes may look to the naked eye. Remember Belshazzar's great feast celebrating the prosperity of Babylon? The king had enough supplies for the next twenty years and a vast water system that would sustain him and his minions. He was feeling pretty good about all he had accomplished for himself. Too good, in fact. He ordered the holy vessels from the Jerusalem temple to be brought to the feast so that he and his concubines could drink from them. Oops. God saw from His Holy Mountain and made a decision. MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. "Your days are numbered because you have been weighed in the balance and have been found wanting. So, your kingdom has been given to the Medes and Persians." God wrote this on the plaster of the wall at the king's big bash, scaring Belshazzar so much that his hip joints shook and his legs gave way. That very night his kingdom was taken by the Darius, the Mede. Daniel's words to Belshazzar right before he lost it all: "You have not glorified the God Who holds your life-breath in His hand and who controls the course of your life."
What I can do today is reflect on the Powerful God Who in this moment reigns universally and personally over me. Nations do His bidding whether they know it or not. History flows as He saw it before the before. His prescience is inescapable as He leads world events to the climax He has already designed. I am but a minute part of this flow, but I am, no less a part. Designed also with purpose before the foundations of the world. He will always lead me on. God, Who began a good work in me, will be faithful to complete it in me. ( Philippians 1) Because from eternity past and into eternity to come, He is preeminent forever and forever.
Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death or through the deserts of despair or abandonment, the Lord will always lead us. In the bone-wearying stuff of life, He promises to strengthen us. From Mount Zion He sends His warriors to cover us in battle. From its ramparts God watches the battles and lifts His hand to say: "Enough!" From the city of our Great God commerce is driven, nations fall and rise, and wars are won and lost as He moves history around to accomplish His plans. In other words, He is sovereign. This is why we march our children around His omnipotence and say, "Look at our powerful God! Remember He can do anything! See that everything is held together by the Word of His mouth. He is our God forever. This great God will always lead you when you belong to Him!"
There is a river -- its streams delight the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the Most High. God is within her. She will not be toppled. God will help her when morning dawns. (Psalm 46:4-5) The water from this river is mine to taste today though I cannot physically go there yet. The water of life flows freely from the streams of that river and whets my thirsty soul, plumping my parched heart with its joys. Though I cannot with my own two feet today march around the eternal city, I can see with my own two eyes and understand with my imperfect heart that He is there watching over me, the smallest and most unworthy of vessels, just as my God oversees the events that will draw this world to its ultimate close. All things are under His care. In His divine plan, I have a place to which He will lead me, always, forever and forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment