PSALM 150 - Our Last Breath: ISIS

Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Hallelujah!  (Verse 60

This is my last post in Psalm Calm. The end of a journey through the real life songs people sang about their God and to Him. It is fitting that the book ends with the imperative for every breathing thing to praise the One Who is and was and is to come.

Also fitting for me today was to meditate on the news of the twenty-one Egyptian Christians who were slaughtered over the weekend by ISIS in Libya. Marched to their deaths wearing orange jumpsuits as they walked single file along the edge of some undisclosed body of water, leaving their footprints in the soggy sand, they were lined up and told to kneel. Several cried out, "Oh, God!" or "Oh, Jesus!" The last words they would have breath to utter before they were thrown forward, facedown into the sand where Islamists sawed off their heads. I didn't watch the YouTube video, but those who did said the lips of most of the men were moving as they knelt. Praying. What were they thinking in those last few moments of life?

I put myself there for a few minutes. Horrified by what was surely coming. Knowing that my life was over with the thrust of a knife into my neck. Dreading the pain; wondering how quickly I would die. What next? Understanding that in the seconds I had left I could breathe the name of the One I would see with my own eyes in the ensuing seconds. I could cry out to Him or I could incline my heart already in that direction and find, perhaps like Stephen did when he became the first martyr for our faith, that Jesus was already standing there awaiting my arrival. Holding a white robe. "...I saw under the altar the people slaughtered for God's word and the testimony they had. They cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord, the One Who is holy and true, how long until you judge and avenge our blood from those who live on the earth?' So a white robe was given to each of them, and they were told to rest a little while longer..." Revelation 6

No virgins. Heaven isn't about revenge or the sexual conquest or hearty usury of women. It's about justice, peace, righteousness and love. The more honor given to those whose lives were demanded in bloody death for the sake of Christ--as Christ's was given for us. And their blood is now mixed with His in suffering. The martyrs seem to have a say in heaven. "Avenge us, God!" The promise is, of course, that God will. All the armies of the world can't mount an attack that will stop the flow of justice when it "rolls down like water, and righteousness, like an unfailing stream (Amos 5)."

While we have the breath to do so, it is our privilege to use it to proclaim the mercy and love of our God. He is not a god who tells us to strike with jihad. Instead He says, "Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved! (Acts 2:21)" Over and over again in both the new and the old testaments of the Bible, God willingly saves and forgives those who call out to Him. Even the worst of us...even the best. And however it is or wherever it is we find ourselves taking that last breath here on Earth, may we be assured that by the grace of God and the sacrificial death of Jesus, that we will take our next breath in heaven. May those who have been slaughtered for their faith over the weekend, leaving their bodies behind, be dancing with abandon with all who have gone before them! No more tears. No more pain. And their joy reflected in the face of Christ!

PSALM 150 - Shall We Dance?

Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp! Praise Him with tambourine and dance! Praise Him with strings and pipe! Praise Him with sounding cymbals! Praise Him with loud crashing cymbals!  (Verses 3-5)

Get loud! Dance around! Beat the drums, play the sax, clang the cymbals! Praise Him with everything that is in you! Join the noisy worship of heaven. Lift your hands. Sing a new song at the top of your lungs. It's appropriate to the occasion. We have been redeemed by the One True God! Brought into His family as adored and precious children. Set free from sin and death, empowered to live in a confusing, upside down universe. You are no longer judged by God but now you are saved from eternal punishment. Set free from the prison that bound you as surely as if you'd been released from Leavenworth. Sprung because Jesus took your place on the gallows. Rejoice! Don't sit quietly in your pew when the music starts. We have much to dance about.

Recently during praise and worship, I have felt drawn up into heaven where I see my mother and several of my friends worshipping in a broad space before God's throne. They aren't still, but running in circles together, dancing wildly, extolling from a place in their souls that makes them almost frantic with joy. They sing with their mouths open wide as emerald lights flicker in the bright whiteness of His Presence. The music is very, very loud. Pounding the foundations of heaven, lifting my mother and friends from the pavement on which they stand. I want to join them there. So I do. To the degree that church protocol will allow me to wander from Earth to Heaven or my body can facilitate such romping in the privacy of my home. But I want to empty myself like they are doing. Exhaust myself before the throne. Sometimes I am a bit shaky after worship. Sad to shut it off. Wanting more and more to join my heart with His.

If we could strip ourselves of our bodies in the experience of worship, what would we do? Unencumbered by the restraints of flesh, only presenting our pure devotion from soul and spirit, I believe we would be LOUD! Revved up by the heavenly orchestra, electrified in the presence of God, thankful beyond all imagination for our place in His kingdom, do you think we'll stand still? I think heaven is amped up. There are flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, the ever shouting voices of angels and elders crying, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty!" And here on Earth, music brings us into the Presence like nothing else. Drums for the pulsing throb of heaven's atmosphere, cymbals for the crashing thunder and lightning, stringed instruments to soften the experience as the angels do when they sing. God wants us to be as carefree and unrestrained as King David was when he brought the ark back to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6). Returned the Presence of God back to the Jewish people. Stripped down to his linen ephod, David danced "with all his might" while his men shouted and played their trumpets. He was so out of control that his wife, Saul's daughter, was disgusted by the wild display. So, maybe some will be uncomfortable with our abandon, but that doesn't mean God isn't ordaining and enjoying it. It's no little thing to be saved. To walk out of prison free. To be included in the family of God because Jesus is our Lamb! We should get a major rush from the knowledge, remembering it day after day and never tiring of its magnificence!

So let it out today! A massive flow of unadulterated worship. Turn the praise songs up! Dance around the room. We are freed from the enemy and will never, never, no more forever (Exodus 14) be locked in the cells of his making! We are loved beyond all reason. Protected even from our own stupidity. Great mercy covers our lives. And we will live forever in the noisy reverence of Heaven!
 

PSALM 150 - The Role of a Lifetime

Praise Him for His strength; praise Him for His greatness!  (Verse 2)

I can do all things through Christ because He gives me strength.  Philippians 4:13

The Oscars are coming up. A time when the entertainment industry honors those whose performances in movies were great. Number one. Top of the top. Amazing job. Standing ovations. Applause. For...being someone else. We laughed, we cried...we'll never forget. Well, maybe, a little. Next year the hype will be about another movie star.

So how do we calculate greatness. Might. Strength. There are awards for football, basketball, racing, prize fighting. Athletic, muscled men and women who are mightier than the rest, as we count might. In the scheme of things, most of the rest of us are left out of the competition. Only the elite receive the bows of homage; the wreaths of victory. To be great, we must be ahead of the pack, while most of us are trying just to keep up.

I'd like to give a prize today. To the ones no one sees. The ones who are bravely taking care of their children's children because mom and dad are MIA. To Saeed Abidini and the other hundreds of Christians who languish in prisons because they love Jesus. I'd like to walk into their cells and say, "We are proud of your courage, your strength, your steadfast faith in light of the fact that you are tortured, sleep and food deprived, and cold." Then I would hand them the Oscar for endurance and faith! I'd like to award those who have languished in illness with their heads high and their faith in Christ in tact. And to those who held the hand of a loved one to the last breath then committed themselves to living in faith without the warmth of the one they loved so much. Trusting that soul to Jesus while they trust their todays to Him, also. Loss. Handling it as yourself...not an award for pretending to be someone else--a life you can leave when the cameras are off. There should be acknowledgement for powering through the very real difficulties that are our dramas.

It's why the knowledge that we can do all things through Christ Who gives us strength is so vital. We have to play out what is our lives. It's not fantasy. It's the nitty gritty of our reality. I don't know how people live without the Holy Spirit. I don't. Christ in me is the engine that propels me toward every goal. Keeps me in every circumstance. My Guide. My Source. My Inspiration. Christ in me is the very energy of my spirit that keeps me from idling or falling apart. When I can't play the role given to me another minute, it is He Who lives in me Who revs the engine and moves me forward. Gives me inspiration for the part. Cues me where to go next. Who to be. What to say. Millions of fans don't watch us bigger than life onscreen taking each step. Most people will never even know we exist. But the drama that is our lives is important just the same. It is the role of a lifetime. And it has its reward.

"I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now, a crown is being held for me--a crown for being right with God. The Lord, the Judge Who judges rightly, will give the crown to me on that day--not only to me but to all those who have waited with love for Him to come again."  Paul.  2 Timothy 4:8

PSALM 150 - Somewhere in the Crowd is You

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens! (Verse 1)

Last night was the album release concert for Vanessa's newest CD. It was so great to see friends I haven't been with in years, in some cases. I'm never done with hearing Vanessa sing and marveling in the gifts God has given her. I was thankful to be in the mix when she praised her God in song. Couldn't help but raise my hands and worship as she sang, "I am forgiven, once and for all. I am not doomed to stay down when I fall." I mouthed the words I've come to love from hearing the song many times at home. "He calls me Precious, He calls me Precious Little Girl," she sang, and somehow in lyrics and music I heard Jesus say, "You are my Beloved." And in the worship experience, heaven must stretch its edges to draw us like a magnet into God's sanctuary. The dividing line thinner as the strains of worship reach the ears of God. I hear my daughter. So does He. And He hears us as we join in, for we are only catching a far off whiff of glory. Our worship reflecting what is happening in His sanctuary; not the other way round. Worship brings us into a holy unity with heavenly choirs whose sole reason for being is to extol the God of All.

My standing in the crowd at the concert last night watching my daughter praise our God reminded me this morning of how God, to a much, much greater extent, joys in standing in the midst of our praise and bathing in its purity, however imperfect or amazing. It's a family thing. A recognition of the fact that our Father is better than any other father! He forgives us, restores us, loves us with almost unbearable sweetness, guides us, defends us, provides for us and grows us up to be like Him. Praise causes us to look at Him. To put aside whatever rubble life has thrown our way and to enjoy God's presence. It's a sharing of mutual affection. Reciprocating our Father's love. God comes near to hear us shout with the angels that He is "Holy, holy, holy!" There is no one like our Father. That's what holy means--separate, set apart. One of a kind. Tears welled up in my eyes knowing my daughter's heart is given over to Christ. How much more does the love of God swell in His heart when He hears the songs of our hearts, smells the sweet aroma of our sacrifices of praise? Above the noisy thundering of heaven's electric atmosphere, we have an audience Whose ear is attuned to the songs of our hearts. It's all one to Him, the praise there and the praise here.

The stars are constantly humming in harmonic praise. The Kepler space telescope proved Job's observation in Job 38 that "the morning stars sang together." The group of massive red stars sing in concert. God's mighty heavens literally play for Him. And God doesn't just stand apart from the creation He called good, but is in its midst, worthy of our prostrate adoration; worthy of the dance; worthy of the song; worthy of a life lived in praise to His glory. In the sanctuaries of our churches or in the sanctity of our quiet places, praise becomes us (Psalm 147:1). It's appropriate, sweet. It's like wearing a dress that fits perfectly and shows off our best features--becoming. That's how praise looks on us. Like we were made to wear it. The first fruits of our eventual white linen clothing reserved for us in heaven when we'll sit at the wedding supper of the Lamb and rejoice at the table of our Father.