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Hymn Study: Praise the Lord: Ye Heavens Adore Him

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Praise The Lord: Ye Heavens, Adore Him.

This is an older hymn, the first two verses found pasted inside the jacket of the hymnbook for the London’s Foundling Hospital.    This was an orphanage that was famous for their children’s chorus led by trained musicians.   It is remembered today through the hymnbook “Psalms, Hymns and Anthems of the Foundling Hospital, of 1796”.   (source Cyber Hymnal)   There is a museum dedicated the the London Foundling Hospital.

The first two verses were penned by an anonymous author, the third verse was penned by Edward Osler.

The author of the first verse paraphrased Psalm 148, showing all creation praising the Lord.  Then it shows how the Lord created all, and all the world obeys his voice.   Verse two shows God’s care for his creation, how his promises never fail.   Osler’s third verse is our praise to God.

Edward Osler was a physician and author.  He worked as physician from 1819 to 1836.   After which he devoted himself to literary pursuits. Over time he ended up as the editor of the Royal Cornwall Gazette.   He wrote several literary works as well as hymns. (source hymnary)

Lyrics: 
Praise the Lord: ye heavens, adore Him;
Praise Him, angels in the height.
Sun and moon, rejoice before Him;
Praise Him, all ye stars of light.
Praise the Lord, for He hath spoken;
Worlds His mighty voice obeyed.
Laws which never shall be broken
For their guidance He hath made.
Praise the Lord, for He is glorious;
Never shall His promise fail.
God hath made His saints victorious;
Sin and death shall not prevail.
Praise the God of our salvation;
Hosts on high, His power proclaim.
Heaven and earth and all creation,
Laud and magnify His name.
Worship, honor, glory, blessing,
Lord, we offer unto Thee.
Young and old, Thy praise expressing,
In glad homage bend the knee.
All the saints in Heaven adore Thee;
We would bow before Thy throne.
As Thine angels serve before Thee,
So on earth Thy will be done.
______________________________
I thought this tune quite different, I liked how she sang it, but not sure if it would work as congregational singing.   She didn’t sing the entire hymn.

A finally a more traditional approach

 
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Review: Found – Psalm 23

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 Found, a board book based on Psalm 23, is filled with the quiet peace and awareness of the care that the Shepherd of our lives watches over us all the time.

A Sturdy book to put in the hands of our littlest one, this is a tender story of how a shepherd takes care of his sheep, even the littlest, more way ward lambs. 

Many of the full-colour pictures show a young lamb cavorting around the shepherds feet, or being carefully carried.   Jago does an excellent job of illustrating this faith-based board book.

Put together by the same folks who did the Jesus Storybook Bible, it is simply a great book to share with young children. 

Isn’t the detail on the page just lovely?   See the care the shepherd has for his lamb?

It’s a book of verse, but not mindless trying to rhyme it all verse, it’s verse the speaks of the simple truths found in Psalm 23. 

With Easter coming up, wouldn’t it be great to introduce your young ones to the true Lamb of Easter.  Check out the book Found: Psalm 23.  Let the gentleness and peace of the Saviour come to you this season.  

I just love this scene of the shepherd running to mind that little lamb all lost and alone.

Found: Psalm 23
Author: Sally Lloyd-Jones
Illustrator : Jago
Pages: 20
Age: 1-4 years
Publisher: Zonderkidz

Reviewed for: Booklookbloggers.   

You can also find this book on Amazon.com: 
 

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©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time

God’s Holiness Made Manifest

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Today we are reading from Ezekiel 39:1-24. Last time we met we learned about Be Mindful Gog of Magog. You can read more in my Ezekiel Studies here and here.

Behold….. Gog is still under threat!


God is not happy with Gog…he going to drive him and his people forward.  Drive them to the mountains where he will destroy them.

“And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 2 And I will turn you about and drive you forward, and bring you up from the uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the mountains of Israel. 3 Then I will strike your bow from your left hand, and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand. 4 You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your hordes and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. 6 I will send fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the coastlands, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

At the end this fact: 
7 “And my holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. 8 Behold, it is coming and it will be brought about, declares the Lord God. That is the day of which I have spoken.

So much plunder will be taken from those that God will destroy…there will be enough to have fires burning for seven years.  Weapons and protective gear of all sorts.  In fact, so much will be taken that no wood will have to be cut down.      
9 “Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and make fires of the weapons and burn them, shields and bucklers, bow and arrows, clubs and spears; and they will make fires of them for seven years, 10 so that they will not need to take wood out of the field or cut down any out of the forests, for they will make their fires of the weapons. They will seize the spoil of those who despoiled them, and plunder those who plundered them, declares the Lord God.

The way of the Valley of Travelers will be blocked by the destruction that will fall upon Gog and Magog.   He will have a burial site there.   So it will then be called the Valley of Hamon-gog, it will take seven months for all the people to be buried, in order for the land to be cleansed.
11 “On that day I will give to Gog
a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the
sea. It will block the travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude
will be buried. It will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog. 12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. 

I have to admit, parts of this passage are making no sense to me today…. My head is foggy with a sore throat so bear with me eh? 

When God cleanses the land…his glory will be seen among the nations.  When he destroys Gog of Magog, the birds and animals will have a big feast.  Everyone .. the nations surrounding Israel and even Israel herself will see the glory of the Lord.   They will see how Israel was put into captivity for her treacherous behaviour.  God has dealt with their sin.  Now the land will be cleansed.   Now the “house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God”.    

I’m just trying to imagine the destruction the Lord caused and the size of the army involved.  Imagine SEVEN years of fires burning and seven months of burying the dead.   Just think on that for a spell.   So many people and their stuff to get rid of so you can cleanse the land and the people.

At the end of it though… God’s name.. glorified. 

Part of me is horrified at all that bloodshed.  All those people destroyed for profaning the name of the Lord.   It’s a good reminder to me at just how seriously God takes this stuff.   Has me wondering at how God feels about all the blasphemy that goes on today in the world.  At how little people (even believers) think of God.   Ach… I don’t want to be that kind of person, the kind that God turns his face from. 

Oh.. let me be a person who GLORIFIES God, that’s what I want to be.  A God-glorifier…not one that causes God to shed the blood of another.  Christ covered my sin so this mass-scale destruction need not happen again.   Be a God-glorifier with me eh? 

The Prayer Saturated Family: The Unstoppable Power of a United Praying Family.

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 Reading through a chapter every three weeks, this study is from “The Prayer Saturated Family”.  You can read the rest of the series here.  This week we are doing chapter two “The Unstoppable Power of a United Praying Family”.

The encouragement in this chapter is to remember that praying together as a family for the neighbourhood that you live in makes a huge difference, it can transform your whole neighbourhood.

The example was given of one family that prayed for their neighbourhood, eventually seeing families coming to faith and an entire neighbourhood changed. 

I have to admit that I struggled with the author’s understanding of the prayer of Jabez.   His prayer reads “Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying “oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that you hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked.”   This was not a prayer for increased spiritual influence in the world around him, this was a prayer of a man who wanted to be blessed of God with more land and good health.  Nothing more.   Mixed into a long line of genealogies, Jabez was a man who prayed, a man who was born in pain (v9) and didn’t want more of it.  God extended grace to him and gave him what he wanted. 

I do love this line, “that real disciples create real disciples” (p.29).  We can train our children not to be afraid of the world but to pray through the world, through the territory that God gives them. 

Praying through your neighbourhood as a family does this: It teaches you where you can be a blessing from God to those in your sphere of influence.   Praying through your family can give you goals to meet.   God answers these prayers and changes the family, and changes the neighbourhood.

I have to admit, I struggle with this idea. 
I have an intellectual understanding of it, and I have seen prayer in surprising action on more than one occasion, but I struggle with the idea that the prayers of one family can have such a drastic result.  And what happens if a family takes this approach and sees no change occurring?     I suppose I am seeing more of the “what ifs” and less of the “God cans”.   It stems, I think, from fear.   If I make this change, and pray with my family over the neighbourhood we are in now and over the future of where we will be, and God doesn’t answer those prayers.  What will I do with that?

I should not let this stop me.
Just as I don’t want fear to stop my lad from doing or trying something new…I shouldn’t let the fears that I have about “what if God says no” to prayer concerning this family and the areas that God might place us in. 

See I have to remember this immutable truth God is the Lord.     His decisions, his call, his ways.  He knows ALWAYS what is the best for all his people.  All he requires from us is the willingness to listen to what he wants and the simple obedience to his will.   He works through the prayers of his people, and sometimes despite the lack of prayers of his people. 

He still works things out according to his will.

It is a comfort and a hope.

Be Mindful Gog of Magog, God is going to use you

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 Today we are reading from Ezekiel 37:15-28. Last time we met we learned about One People, One Shepherd, One God. You can read more in my Ezekiel Studies here and here.

The Lord has a word against Gog, of the land of Magog today.   The Lord is against him. 
This is why: 
 You
will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land.
In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations
may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before
their eyes.

It always strikes me as odd.   How God will use a nation against his people and then punish that nation afterwards.

Gog is living his life, with all his armies.  God will then muster Gog and his armies ” I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out”

7 “Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them.   God warns him.

God will muster Gog and his armies and his allies so well that they will be like a storm coming over the land of Israel, expecting to find a land of unwalled villages, in order to seize spoils and plunder the land.   In fact the nations surrounding will say:  Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your
hosts to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away
livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’

And so Gog and his people will come with a heart to plunder a nation just gathered together and God will act.  He will show his holiness.   He will show his protection of his people.
 
14 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? 15 You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. 16 You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

God’s method of punishment?
He will use the land against Gog and his ilk.  The very land… an earthquake will shake the land, the mountains will quake around Gog and his armies.  Hail and torrential rains will fall about them.   Fire and sulfur will cover them.   (which makes me think volcano).

18 But on that day, the day that Gog shall come against the land of Israel, declares the Lord God, my wrath will be roused in my anger. 19 For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 The
fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the
field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the
people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground. 21 I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord God. Every man’s sword will be against his brother. 22 With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him, and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur. 

 23So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Can you imagine it?  Really? 
I’ve never been in a major earthquake… I experienced a small one when I went down to CA one time, but a major one where rocks are falling down, with sulfur and what not in the air…. 

You can’t mistake such a thing as anything other than the Lord God at work.
You can’t.
Not when it’s directed at an invading army.

The nations surrounding the newly remade land of Israel would have been watching with avid interest… and to see Gog and his people destroyed in such a manner would have set their tongues a wagging.   

Can you picture it?

I think about this and how to apply it to my life and I keep being drawn back to how God so often uses another people group to discipline his people, or to show his greatness in regards to his care for his own people (and ergo his holiness) and I wonder… I wonder how God is using people TODAY how show his holiness and care of his people?

I don’t see (in my personal life) God using people to help me mind him better.  
I know that peoples are persecuted throughout the world for loving God (but I don’t always see God punishing those persecuted).   So sometimes I wonder if God still uses this method today.

And I wonder…what would happen if he did?
Would people see it for what it is?   God’s greatness and holiness on display for the world to see.   Would it set tongues-a-wagging about the greatness of God?

What can I do to get people talking about the greatness of God?   Nothing compared to this for sure.  I can’t make earthquakes.

hmm… 

One People, One Shepherd, One God

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Today we are reading from Ezekiel 37:15-28. Last time we met we learned about A God Who Hears and Acts. You can read more in my Ezekiel Studies here and here.

Today Ezekiel has a role play for the people of Israel.

Two sticks.
Stick one: Judah and the house of Israel associated with him.
Stick two: Joseph/Ephraim and the house of Israel associated with him. 
Join those two sticks together.

 15 The word of the Lord came to me: 16 “Son of man, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ 17 And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 

People, being the naturally curious people that we are, will say: 1‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’

Ezekiel’s answer is to be: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. 

God’s Promise to the people: First he will make them one nation. Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. 22 And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. 

Second: They shall no longer make themselves icky in the sight of God.   He will save his people. 23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Third: David will be king over them.   They will have but one shepherd, one voice to listen to.
24 “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. 25 They
shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your
fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children
shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever.

Fourth: God will make a covenant of peace with them.  26 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.forevermore.”

End result:  28 Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst 

When it refers to David being their shepherd, he was not referring to the actual King David who was long since dead. He was referring to the type of David.  So this was a foreshadowing of Christ.

Which has me thinking you know?
David, the best leader that Israel ever had.   A man whose heart longer after God.
Jesus comes from the line of David.   God’s very own son.  Whose heart longed after obedience to his heavenly father.

God promises that he will give us a singular shepherd.  We know from history that Jesus is that singular shepherd, that ONE voice we are to listen to.

My question is: Do I listen to that voice?

Lately in my head I’ve been feeling annoyed and bothered.  It’s a natural thing as I adjust to change.  Once I’ve adjusted to the new norm I’ll be fine… but everytime lately that I feel annoyed and bothered God is graciously putting this song in my head.. a mantra if you will that keeps running.. be still and know.. that I am God.

Over and over again.

It makes me check myself.  To call myself to account.  Do I want to listen to those voices of worry and doubt OR do I want to listen to the voice of the one who cares about me more deeply than I can even imagine. 

God wanted Israel his people to know him, to trust him, to know that he forgives their sin, he wants them to be one people, not a people scattered listening to all kinds of voices but his own.

He wants the same for us today.  To be a people united in faith.  A people who will hear his voice and listen to the shepherd he has given us. 

Today.. be still and know that HE is God.  He is our Lord God and We are his people.  

 

Abandon, can we let ourselves go?

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As I was pondering this word this morning my heart was aching with the fear and panic a young mom Toronto must have been feeling.  Loading her kids in the car one at a time, comes out of the house with the second to find her car stolen.  Her four year old inside.    I could only just imagine the panic she would be feeling.

The youngster was found safe and sound an hour later…but that hour… wow… so hard for that mom I’m sure.

The relief…oh the utter relief she would have felt then eh?   To have your wee one back in your care, safe and sound.

All that was in my head as I thought about the word abandon.

Abandon is an middle English word that means to give up, reject, cast away and some such world.    It also has this meaning “to yield (oneself) without restraint or moderation; give (oneself) over to natural impulses, usually without self-control”.

 I read that definition and I thought..hmm… if only more people could do this.. not in the “give yourself over to grief” or the “be stupid in your happiness”…but in the abandon yourself to the love of God.   To just revel in God’s love for YOU his person, the one he has called according to his purposes, to let yourself go into the love.

I say this knowing that I find that difficult myself…..to just let go with the looseness of a child knowing their parent loves them and will keep them safe.   But wishing … oh … just wishing that I felt free to abandon myself to the love that God has for me.

What about you? 

 This is a five minute Friday post. the word prompt is brought to us by Miss Kate.  Today the word is Abandon. 
What is Five Minute Friday?  Well it’s a party of a group of like
minded folks who gather on Friday to do a five minute free write around a
singular word.  AND THEN we take the time to offer up encouragement to
each other on this writing journey.  It’s fun, though it’s not always
easy, but it is always good.   Come join us won’t you?  You are always
welcome.