Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this wonderful Wednesday and for bringing us halfway through another week. We will gather tonight at 6 PM at the church for food and fellowship, followed by Bible study and a time of prayer. As we spend time in the Word, there will be a time for the children to gather as well. Bethany Pullano and company are leading the children each Wednesday evening.
We live in a world of tremendous need, with chaos and confusion all around us, yet it is our joy to know that Christ is upon the throne. Some of the crises the world is facing are beyond human comprehension. Some of the problems are so insurmountable and the needs so great that we need divine intervention and the touch of the Master. May the Lord draw us to Him in prayer, in worship, and in repentance, that He might heal our land.
Praise the Lord for the way in which He is invisible, yet visible to those who believe in Him. In II Samuel 6 we see an amazing scene of celebration in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was a tangible evidence of God's presence. In this passage we see that David has brought the Ark to Jerusalem. It is written that David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments. David and the surrounding company were displaying total freedom as they paraded the Ark in the city. From the Scriptures we find that freedom is a by-product of obedience though, on the surface, it would seem that just the opposite would be true. It would seem that obedience would bind us, make us rigid, and put us in bondage.
One of the hymns that we sing proclaims,
"Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free".
In I John 5:3 we read, "Loving God means obeying His commands, and His commands are not burdensome". Our Lord said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free". Disobedience, on the other hand, brings bondage. Obedience produces freedom, and freedom produces celebration.
In II Samuel 6 we see David and his company, as they celebrated with a sense of unrestrained freedom. The huge crowd rejoiced with shouts, with the sound of trumpets, and with dance. They celebrated "with all their might before the Lord". That kind of exuberant freedom ought to be evident in our worship of the Lord.
Praise the Lord for the way that, when we come to Christ, trust the Lord, and surrender our lives to him, He gives us freedom to live, freedom to serve, and freedom to worship. Though we live in a world filled with sorrows and sufferings, the Lord gives us reasons to rejoice, and reasons to celebrate. He infuses us with His joy as we abide in Him. In Psalm 30 it is written, "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing. You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. Weeping may tarry for a night, but joy comes in the morning."
In Jesus our Lord,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w7t9DyGkqg
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