READ, MEDITATE, PRAY 11 May 2020
BE STRONG IN THE LORD AND IN HIS MIGHTY POWER.
(Ephesians 6: 10)
READ:
– GENESIS 1
– MATTHEW 6: 25- 34
– COLOSSIANS 1: 15 – 23
AND THEN: PSALM 8
O LORD, OUR LORD, HOW MAJESTIC IS YOUR NAME IN ALL THE EARTH! YOU HAVE SET YOUR GLORY ABOVE THE HEAVENS. FROM THE LIPS OF CHILDREN AND INFANTS YOU HAVE ORDAINED PRAISE, BECAUSE OF YOUR ENEMIES, TO SILENCE THE FOE AND THE AVENGER. WHEN I CONSIDER YOUR HEAVENS, THE WORK OF YOUR FINGERS, THE MOON AND THE STARS, WHICH YOU HAVE SET IN PLACE, WHAT IS MAN THAT YOU ARE MINDFUL OF HIM, THE SON OF MAN THAT YOU CARE FOR HIM? YOU MADE HIM A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE HEAVENLY BEINGS AND CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOUR. YOU MADE HIM RULER OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; YOU PUT EVERYTHING UNDER HIS FEET: ALL FLOCKS AND HERDS, AND THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD, THE BIRDS OF THE AIR, AND THE FISH OF THE SEA, ALL THAT SWIM THE PATHS OF THE SEAS. O LORD, OUR LORD, HOW MAJESTIC IS YOUR NAME IN ALL THE EARTH!
This short psalm is unique. David, the author, never calls the reader to do anything. He simply begins and ends the psalm by declaring how majestic God’s name is in all the earth. The rest of the psalm tells why God’s name is majestic. Let us examine and… MEDITATE on those reasons together.
First, let us look at some technical figures of God’s Creation:
1.- Size of heavenly objects:
– EARTH has a diameter of 7,900 miles
– JUPITER: – 1,300 planet Earths could fit inside Jupiter
– SUN: – 1,300,000 planet Earths could fit inside our Sun.
2.- Speeds of heavenly objects:
– Earth: – travelling three trips simultaneously:
– 9,000,000 miles/year, at 1,000 miles/hour on its axis,
– 500,000,000 miles/year, at 19 miles/second around the Sun
– 400,000,000 miles/year, at 13 miles/second in Sun’s orbit
– SOME STARS travel as fast as 15,000 miles/second.
3.-Distances of heavenly objects: LIGHT travels 186,000 miles/second
– in one second, light travels the equivalent of 7½ times the distance round the World
– in 1⅓ seconds light travels from the Moon to the Earth
– in approximately 4 hours, light travels the 2,700,000,000 miles between Neptune and the Earth
What is MAN, – the human side: How powerless is MAN: the earth stirs in her sleep, and his cities fall, the wind blows, and ships are wrecked, an invisible, tiny virus strikes, and millions may die. If there is no rain, famine appears, if there is too much, lives and values are carried away. . .
What is MAN, – the divine side: God is mindful of him. God visited him, sending His Son. God values him, allowing His Son to die for him. God has given him Salvation and prepared an eternal dwelling place fit for him. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name on all the earth!
God’s name is majestic because of His:
1.- GLORY. First, we see it in the heavens: – The heavens declare the glory of God, – says Psalm 19: 1. The purpose of Creation is to magnify and declare the beauty and glory of God. They exist for glory – His glory, not their own. Therefore, we should not misuse Creation. Second, we see God’s glory in human helplessness, which is most visible, not in our strength, but in our weakness and dependence on Him. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise, – declares David in verse 2.
2.- LOVE. God had every reason to leave us in our sin, but He chose to set His love on us and make us His own. He had no obligation to us yet chose to love us. Through Christ, no one is beyond God’s love.
3.- GRACE. It is clear, both from the Bible and history, that man is not ruling over the world. There is chaos here, pain and death. In sin, people attack or neglect their divine calling. Even when it is familiar, sin is never normal, – says a theologian (Cornelius Plantinga). In the Epistle to the Hebrews 2: 8 -9 we read: – In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone, in bringing many sons to glory. In His Grace, God sent Jesus Christ to redeem us and by raising Him from the dead, bestowed on Him the name that is above every name
(Philippians 2: 5-11).
Jesus is King. His life, death and resurrection make Him, and Him alone, worthy of all honour and glory. The entire Bible points to this truth. The name of Jesus should impact Christians this way, when Psalm 8 so clearly tells us the need of a Saviour, whose name is majestic in all the earth.
PRAY FOR:
– the people in Home Farm Care Home,
– all people in Skye, exposed to infection,
– those who mourn loved ones,
– Scotland, Britain and the World in facing this pandemic
– Christians, Churches, our Congregation and prayers,
– the Earth in facing an ecological disaster,
– God’s Glory, Love and Grace to be given to us all.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Do not hesitate to say the Lord’s Prayer as often as you search for words of prayer: – OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN . . .
SUGGESTED HYMN:
– O LORD MY GOD! When I in awesome wonder consider all the works Thy hand hath made, I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder, the power throughout the universe displayed.
CHORUS: –Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art!
When through the woods and forest glades I wander and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees; when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur, and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze; + CHORUS:
And when I think that God His Son not sparing, sent Him to die – I scarce can take it in, that on the cross my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin: + CHORUS:
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home – what joy shall fill my heart! Then shall I bow in humble adoration and there proclaim, my God how great Thou art! + CHORUS.
PEACE TO THE COMMUNITY AND LOVE WITH FAITH, FROM GOD THE FATHER AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. GRACE TO ALL WHO LOVE OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST WITH AN UNDYING LOVE. (Ephesians 6: 23 – 24).
Sandor, your Minister.
