G. K.
Chesterton wrote, “It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to
the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon. It may not be
automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes
every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be
that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old,
and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a
mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore.”
Praise the Lord for the gift summer
2017. It has been full of splendor, accompanied by gorgeous
sunrises and sunsets, torrential rains, cool and comfortable breezes,
spectacular thunders and lightning, raging rivers, overflowing lakes and
ponds. The pastures and farms have stayed luscious
green. The flowers, both domestic and wild, have been blooming
profusely. The cattle on "a Thousand Hills" have been
grazing unhurried and unafraid.
We were in the Triple Cities today.
Young families and University students are gearing up for their annual
and sacred back to School and College shopping. Parents are anxious,
greatly anticipating the changes that come to families with the passages of
time and seasons. Praise the Lord, for the He places the solitary in
families. He places in the heart and the hearth of the Church, His body,
the desire that we might live in "a season of Joy". He
infuses His people, those who are committed and loyal to Him, with His
everlasting and eternal joy despite the trials and tribulations of the world.
We can run the race well, looking unto Jesus, the Pioneer
and the finisher of our faith.
From the parsonage I gaze at
Interstate 81 and Route 11 that run parallel to each other. The traffic
on the Interstate is always a steady stream. Another Route connects the
Interstate 81, with the city of Ithaca, the home of Cornell
University and Ithaca College. That route runs just a few
yards in front of the parsonage. Traffic starts buzzing
around 3:30 AM, when I am often up listening to the really early birds,
praising the Lord for another brand new day pregnant with the Lord's
promises and all the Possibilities in and through Him. I spend time
reflecting on God's faithfulness and deflecting the enemy's darts. As I
am pondering on the "Goodness and mercy" of the Lord I am deeply
overwhelmed and profoundly blessed. He has met all our needs with His
extravagant generosity and mercy above and beyond.
I shared with one of our daughters today
and confirmed how the Lord has never forgotten us and has never forsaken us
even though we often are prone to go astray from Him. He, like the
Hound of Heaven, seeks us and like a reconnaissance team goes before us.
Our youngest daughter is due to deliver her second baby any day now.
Please join us praying for the mom and baby and the family.
During my treatment yesterday, two of my
friends came to spend some time with me while Alice did some errands, including
shopping for our grandchildren. One of the guys has retired from the USA
Navy. He has battled with some severe health problems. The Lord has
healed and restored him. He is busy serving the Lord in his local
church. The other man retired from IBM and has his personal independent
contracting business. The Lord has blessed him. They both are
involved in the ministry and mission of the local church. Their church
purchased a Sports complex with 17 acres of land. The men and
women of the church have renovated the church to include a balcony, worship
center, and fellowship center. The Lord is blessing the outreach and
mission of the church. The contractor and his wife have been to mission
fields in Africa and other countries on short term missions.
Their lives have been changed and transformed. They are sold
out for Jesus. We were exchanging the stories of of Jesus and
His unfailing love.
This
is what Psalm 117 is
all about: talking so clearly about what our calling is. We are to praise our
God "Praise the Lord, all you nations; / extol him, all you
peoples." This psalm is a foretaste of what we know is to happen at
the end of the ages. There will be that time when all nations gather together
before the throne of Christ, and they will say, "Worthy is the Lamb who
was slain, because by your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe
and language and people and nation" (Rev. 5:9, 12). He
has purchased us so that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The
psalmist says, in addition, "And the faithfulness of the Lord
endures forever." It's unstoppable and it's endless, and it's this
understanding that makes our hearts want to sing.
One classic hymn says, "the church
of Christ shall never perish, her dear Lord to defend." There will
be opposition; there will be hardship and difficulty. Kings and
kingdoms may come and go, and Jesus Christ shall prevail. We recognize we
have tremendous privileges, and one of those tremendous privileges is the
ability to praise God without fear of reprisal. There will come the
day when the knowledge of God covers the earth as water covers the sea.
Every other false thing will fall away. Jesus Christ will reign.
When I know that and you know that, it means our lives have
purpose. The psalmist ends the psalm saying, "Praise the
Lord." There is a compulsion to praise among those people who
understand how great the purposes and the love of God are.
The song, "How Can I Keep From
Singing" came out of the Civil War agony and angst of this
nation. If the horror is so great, then the message of salvation in
Jesus Christ—his deliverance from the evil and the darkness and the blackness
of the earth—appears even greater. In the midst of agony, how could I
keep from singing, if what God is promising is that his steadfast love
toward us is great and his faithfulness will endure forever? It is this
knowledge that gives us a sense of purpose and meaning. We ultimately are
in a cause that has not only eternity in view, but the triumph of the best
things this life can offer: mercy and love and faithfulness beyond the trials
that we experience.
Psalm 117 is one of the psalms the
Israelites repeated annually in their Passover service. "Praise the
Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his
love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord." The
steadfast love of the Lord is mighty, and his faithfulness endures forever.
Kings and kingdoms may come and go, but the gospel of Jesus Christ is
like hurricane or a blazing wind which no one can stop.
The gospel must push through the difficulty, dictators, famines, floods,
and all manner of hardship that God's people face. When they
say, "But our praises are still to our God who has eternal
faithfulness," then we enthrone Christ above all the world and say,
"This is the God that we worship."
Many people were shocked at the sudden death of Robin Williams (August, 2014). As an expression of grief and a desire to honor his life, the Internet exploded with people trying to find the most poignant film clip of his life that would somehow give meaning and significance to what he had stood for. Apparently they best remembered that little period in Dead Poets Society, where he's trying to encourage the boys that he's teaching. He says, "Carpe diem, boys. Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary." I say the extraordinary life that God is calling us to live is not just for ourselves; He calls us to participate in an eternal purpose that's far beyond us.
I read about a small town named Hopedale, Illinois (population 868) In 1894, in the little red brick schoolhouse, under the inspired guidance of the wife of the Methodist pastor, was the first vacation Bible school in the world. Thirty-seven students attended that first summer. From that isolated, nondescript, insignificant, nobody-will-know-about-it effort, what has happened? Across all denominations, across all borders, across all nations, across all prejudices, literally millions of young people have come to know the Lord because of what was done in that place.
Our God is enthroned on the praises of his people. As we are faithful to him, we take the gospel past boundaries, enemies, prejudices, and our own sin. We recognize that he will use us because if we have breath, we can give praise, and praise is His plan.
In Christ,
Brown
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