Psalm 115:1-11 ~ Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord: he is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield. Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.
It’s only by mercy that I “get it.” That I have an understanding of the Word of God and that the Creator of the Universe speaks to my heart and guides me along the way. I don’t take that for granted, or maybe I do. Had I been born in another Nation, I could be the one who worships an idol of silver or gold, the work of men’s hands, or one who worships nothing. I could have been brought up in a culture such as those who worshipped Baal Peor with filthy acts of an unbelievable nature, but by His grace I am here in this place. A country that was founded on the freedom to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. The living God.
The God Who Speaks – Through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit I hear the truth revealed to me. How awesome is that! How marvelous is it when you “get” something that you know your finite mind shouldn’t get. When the bells and whistles go off inside your head saying “that’s it Shari, that’s what I wanted you to understand! I did that just for you. He may speak to me through the man of God, or like Elijah through the still small voice but I know it’s Him. Jesus said in John 10:27 ~ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: That’s a promise of God; if we are His we know when He speaks.
The God Who Sees – Psalm 33:13 ~ The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. Matthew Henry’s commentary explains further that “that He looks narrowly upon them, so narrowly that not the least thought can escape his observation.” That is both wonderful and scary when I think how often that I behave foolishly.
The God Who hears – 1 John 5:15 ~ And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. When my children came to me with a request I always heard them, I didn’t always have the answer they wanted, but it was the one I thought was best. (I was sometimes wrong). O how wonderful to know that God knows just how to answer!
The God Who Smells – 2 Corinthians 2:15a ~ For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ. How much sweeter the scent of the salvation through His Son that was a final atonement for all who sinned. Where in the sacrifices of the Old Testament were but a temporary fix but through His Son final atonement was made. Every time we worship Him in spirit and in truth, when we serve Him as the example set before us in His Son, God smiles and remembers. Have you had an aroma bring back a fond childhood memory? I have to wonder if that’s not what it’s like when God sees His children serving; and He inhales long and deep and smiles, remembering that’s why He did what He did.
The God Who touches – He touched the blind and brought them sight, He touched the sick and brought them healing, He touched the untouchable, He brought the dead to life. God is a God that still touches people like that today. The gods of this world are not touchable, they’re dead. When they were alive they were only touchable by those in the room with them. God is omnipresent – He is everywhere! There is no place that you are that He cannot touch you.
God walks with us in the cool of the day, and in the bearing down heat.
I loved this thought today. Because it reminds me that when the world is falling down around me, I’m in the hand of Almighty God. He is evident and real to those who have accepted Him by faith. Though man may fail me, God will never fail. Glory!!! For God’s mercy is everlasting.