Forever, O Lord, Your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations. You have established the earth and it stands fast. By Your appointment they stand this day, for all things are Your servants. If Your law had not been my delight I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have given me life. I am Yours. Save me, for I have sought Your precepts. The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider Your testimonies. I have seen a limit to all perfection, but Your commandment is exceedingly broad. (Verses 89-96)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. John 1
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. And God said......... Genesis 1
I've tried to picture it for years. The Godhead in the throes of creation. What did it look like? The void? And from the imagination of the only true Creator, for all our small ideas come from His great mind, came all there is...anywhere. God must have brought into existence even the void into which He fashioned a universe. Twinkling with greater and lesser lights. Was it for the Godhead like stringing lights on a Christmas tree? The joy of watching them illuminate complete darkness with sparkling jewels on black velvet. Ordered, though, not random. Still configured as they were centuries and centuries ago. Reliable through the ages for direction, named by astronomers who've always marveled at their constant and consistent patterns in the night sky. The Godhead: Mind, Word and Spirit. Like us, all One yet a trinity--body, soul and spirit. And the Word spoke it into being. The Word Who became flesh and lived among us. He Who spoke, "Let there be light!" is the Light of the World. The psalmist didn't know that yet. Only knew that the Word is firmly fixed in the heavens.
Since Jesus is the first and last Word on everything, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, and since His Word is firmly fixed forever, He is trustworthy to speak over my life. All His words are truth. Not just teachings from a mild mannered Walter Mitty come weakly to earth to spout and pontificate. Not political and misunderstood. The radical truth is Jesus is God of All, stepping down onto the earth He spoke into being, to redeem it from the curse of sin in which it is entangled. Jesus said that's Who He is. (John 8) He isn't in the same bracket as Buddha, Mohammed or the many Hindu gods. None of them claimed to be the Creator God who spoke us into being. Jesus is either that or a lunatic. He can't be squeezed into the mold of a kindly teacher who we can love like we love all the other gods. Jesus never gave us that option. He is the Way, the Truth, the Life. (John 14). Just like the heavens and earth are established, so is His Word.
That's why it's important to know what Jesus says. His words give life to us. They are living, active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4). Like the psalmist, we perish in our various afflictions in this life, confused and defeated, if we don't know the promises of God. They navigate us through the labyrinth of life. Like the astronaut, Matt, guiding Ryan through outer space by talking her through the process of getting home in the movie "Gravity." Words that are life.
The other sure thing for those of us who know Christ: we are His--belong to Him. As sure as the stars are set and the earth stands fast, I belong to Jesus. I am loved past my understanding. This morning in my prayer time, that was my request, "Let me know more fully Your love." Contemplating that changes me. Calms and energizes me at once. I belong to the Word Who has been and will be and is now the only God of All. He sings over me, guides me, disciplines me, yearns for fellowship with me and forgives me. Perfection here is limited. Thus all the plastic surgery and age defying liposuction that helps us pretend we are immortal. We aren't made to physically last forever. But the Word of God will. He is from forever to forever. So I can trust what He says.
John, on the island of Patmos, saw Jesus and the vision of the Revelation. The Word spoke of the end of finite things. "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true," Jesus said to John. "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will his God and he will be my son (or child)." Bank on it. The words of the Word are life and hope and truth. In victory and in battle, we need not rejoice in vain nor despair of death if we learn to trust in the perfect Word of God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. John 1
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. And God said......... Genesis 1
I've tried to picture it for years. The Godhead in the throes of creation. What did it look like? The void? And from the imagination of the only true Creator, for all our small ideas come from His great mind, came all there is...anywhere. God must have brought into existence even the void into which He fashioned a universe. Twinkling with greater and lesser lights. Was it for the Godhead like stringing lights on a Christmas tree? The joy of watching them illuminate complete darkness with sparkling jewels on black velvet. Ordered, though, not random. Still configured as they were centuries and centuries ago. Reliable through the ages for direction, named by astronomers who've always marveled at their constant and consistent patterns in the night sky. The Godhead: Mind, Word and Spirit. Like us, all One yet a trinity--body, soul and spirit. And the Word spoke it into being. The Word Who became flesh and lived among us. He Who spoke, "Let there be light!" is the Light of the World. The psalmist didn't know that yet. Only knew that the Word is firmly fixed in the heavens.
Since Jesus is the first and last Word on everything, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, and since His Word is firmly fixed forever, He is trustworthy to speak over my life. All His words are truth. Not just teachings from a mild mannered Walter Mitty come weakly to earth to spout and pontificate. Not political and misunderstood. The radical truth is Jesus is God of All, stepping down onto the earth He spoke into being, to redeem it from the curse of sin in which it is entangled. Jesus said that's Who He is. (John 8) He isn't in the same bracket as Buddha, Mohammed or the many Hindu gods. None of them claimed to be the Creator God who spoke us into being. Jesus is either that or a lunatic. He can't be squeezed into the mold of a kindly teacher who we can love like we love all the other gods. Jesus never gave us that option. He is the Way, the Truth, the Life. (John 14). Just like the heavens and earth are established, so is His Word.
That's why it's important to know what Jesus says. His words give life to us. They are living, active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4). Like the psalmist, we perish in our various afflictions in this life, confused and defeated, if we don't know the promises of God. They navigate us through the labyrinth of life. Like the astronaut, Matt, guiding Ryan through outer space by talking her through the process of getting home in the movie "Gravity." Words that are life.
The other sure thing for those of us who know Christ: we are His--belong to Him. As sure as the stars are set and the earth stands fast, I belong to Jesus. I am loved past my understanding. This morning in my prayer time, that was my request, "Let me know more fully Your love." Contemplating that changes me. Calms and energizes me at once. I belong to the Word Who has been and will be and is now the only God of All. He sings over me, guides me, disciplines me, yearns for fellowship with me and forgives me. Perfection here is limited. Thus all the plastic surgery and age defying liposuction that helps us pretend we are immortal. We aren't made to physically last forever. But the Word of God will. He is from forever to forever. So I can trust what He says.
John, on the island of Patmos, saw Jesus and the vision of the Revelation. The Word spoke of the end of finite things. "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true," Jesus said to John. "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will his God and he will be my son (or child)." Bank on it. The words of the Word are life and hope and truth. In victory and in battle, we need not rejoice in vain nor despair of death if we learn to trust in the perfect Word of God.
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