Isaiah 51:9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
‘Morning, neighbour, morning!’ Ah my Friends, that’s such a simple greeting, but said with heartfelt enthusiasm can be so uplifting and encouraging. That’s why 3 Canal is my favourite ‘rapso’ group out of T&T. Their ‘riddim’ is always catchy and infectious, but their real strength is their lyrics; a combination of down to earth, controversial, topical and mind engaging comments. It’s like Isaiah in Chap. 51 calling the faithful to be strong and courageous. That’s us Friends. And the only way to do that is to look to the Lord. He implores, ‘Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.’ (vs.1) But sadly my people, before we can do that we need to, ‘Awake, awake;’ awaken from the slothful slumber that’s cocooned us for so long. The times now are difficult partly because we’ve been spoiled by the easy living under the enemy’s rule and stopped seeking the Lord, like we use to, unwisely allowing the wily devil to turn our focus away from the service and worship of the Most High. But when trouble comes, when the enemy’s false hopes and dreams are shattered, then we’re quick to cry out to Him with words like Bruh David’s: ‘Awake, why sleepest thou O Lord? Arise, cast us not off for ever.’ (Ps.44:23) But Friends, it’s not our God who must arise, but us, lacklustre believers. He’s always there, awake, willing and eager to help us, but since He gave us the freedom of choice we so badly wanted, He now waits for us to come to Him; and rightly so. However, once we’ve awakened from the listless slumber, and shrugged off the lethargy that’s enveloping us, then we can cry; ‘put on strength, O arm of the Lord,’ though He doesn’t need to put it on at any specific time, cause as the Psalmist acknowledges, the Lord’s power is always in evidence. ‘The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished that it cannot be moved.’ (Ps. 92:1) There again my people, it’s the law of offer and acceptance: we can accept the Lord’s offer of His strength or refuse it. But the offer is always on the table. Remember, He doesn’t change: He’s the same from start to finish. Any changes, occur in us. He laid down His terms and conditions from the very beginning, and they are the same now as then. Foolishly though we chose not to accept them. So when we cry out for Him to ‘ awake as in the ancient days of old,’ it’s not His slumber that’s causing the problem, but ours. Isaiah’s here playing to the Psalmist’s tune: ‘We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.’ (Ps.44:1-3) And there my Friends, lies the crux of the problem. Like the Israelites of old, we didn’t suffer and struggle to survive, life came a little too easily for us, and with our contradictory human nature, we never seem to appreciate the things we get easily, as much as those we earn with much sweat from our brow. But my brethren, please note that there’s always a price to pay for everything, even those we get quickly, easily and cheaply. I can testify from hard experience, that you’ll pay dearly later on. So when Isaiah asks, ‘Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, (Egypt) and wounded the dragon?’ It’s stale news. We’d know it, if we chose to read it. AS Job said: ”He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked (fleeing )serpent.’ (Job 26:12) And when the Psalmist chose to mention the glories of Zion, what did he say? ‘I will make mention of Rahab, and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.’ (Ps. 87:4) The reference to the dragons or sea monsters, serpents, can also be found in the Psalms. ‘Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.’ (Ps.74:13) The moral of the story Friends, is that the Lord is always present, always available to us. We have oodles of stories of His strength, faithfulness, mercy and compassion, but they won’t just fall on us. We have to get up off our rear ends, expend some serious energy, call out to Him sincerely, then walk in obedience to His laws. If not, our societies will either fall or suffer serious structural damage, like ours is doing now. There’s only one answer my people; Look unto the Lord, like we used to do, ‘For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he shall comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.’ (Isa.51:3) Yes Friends, let’s awake and seek His face once more nuh! Much LOVE!…diligently seek Him…and He will be found of you…
‘Morning, neighbour, morning!’ Ah my Friends, that’s such a simple greeting, but said with heartfelt enthusiasm can be so uplifting and encouraging. That’s why 3 Canal is my favourite ‘rapso’ group out of T&T. Their ‘riddim’ is always catchy and infectious, but their real strength is their lyrics; a combination of down to earth, controversial, topical and mind engaging comments. It’s like Isaiah in Chap. 51 calling the faithful to be strong and courageous. That’s us Friends. And the only way to do that is to look to the Lord. He implores, ‘Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.’ (vs.1) But sadly my people, before we can do that we need to, ‘Awake, awake;’ awaken from the slothful slumber that’s cocooned us for so long. The times now are difficult partly because we’ve been spoiled by the easy living under the enemy’s rule and stopped seeking the Lord, like we use to, unwisely allowing the wily devil to turn our focus away from the service and worship of the Most High. But when trouble comes, when the enemy’s false hopes and dreams are shattered, then we’re quick to cry out to Him with words like Bruh David’s: ‘Awake, why sleepest thou O Lord? Arise, cast us not off for ever.’ (Ps.44:23) But Friends, it’s not our God who must arise, but us, lacklustre believers. He’s always there, awake, willing and eager to help us, but since He gave us the freedom of choice we so badly wanted, He now waits for us to come to Him; and rightly so. However, once we’ve awakened from the listless slumber, and shrugged off the lethargy that’s enveloping us, then we can cry; ‘put on strength, O arm of the Lord,’ though He doesn’t need to put it on at any specific time, cause as the Psalmist acknowledges, the Lord’s power is always in evidence. ‘The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished that it cannot be moved.’ (Ps. 92:1) There again my people, it’s the law of offer and acceptance: we can accept the Lord’s offer of His strength or refuse it. But the offer is always on the table. Remember, He doesn’t change: He’s the same from start to finish. Any changes, occur in us. He laid down His terms and conditions from the very beginning, and they are the same now as then. Foolishly though we chose not to accept them. So when we cry out for Him to ‘ awake as in the ancient days of old,’ it’s not His slumber that’s causing the problem, but ours. Isaiah’s here playing to the Psalmist’s tune: ‘We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.’ (Ps.44:1-3) And there my Friends, lies the crux of the problem. Like the Israelites of old, we didn’t suffer and struggle to survive, life came a little too easily for us, and with our contradictory human nature, we never seem to appreciate the things we get easily, as much as those we earn with much sweat from our brow. But my brethren, please note that there’s always a price to pay for everything, even those we get quickly, easily and cheaply. I can testify from hard experience, that you’ll pay dearly later on. So when Isaiah asks, ‘Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, (Egypt) and wounded the dragon?’ It’s stale news. We’d know it, if we chose to read it. AS Job said: ”He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked (fleeing )serpent.’ (Job 26:12) And when the Psalmist chose to mention the glories of Zion, what did he say? ‘I will make mention of Rahab, and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.’ (Ps. 87:4) The reference to the dragons or sea monsters, serpents, can also be found in the Psalms. ‘Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.’ (Ps.74:13) The moral of the story Friends, is that the Lord is always present, always available to us. We have oodles of stories of His strength, faithfulness, mercy and compassion, but they won’t just fall on us. We have to get up off our rear ends, expend some serious energy, call out to Him sincerely, then walk in obedience to His laws. If not, our societies will either fall or suffer serious structural damage, like ours is doing now. There’s only one answer my people; Look unto the Lord, like we used to do, ‘For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he shall comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.’ (Isa.51:3) Yes Friends, let’s awake and seek His face once more nuh! Much LOVE!…diligently seek Him…and He will be found of you…
SCRIP-BITS 