Psalm 44:8 In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.
Hearken Friends! Another excellent day is at hand! The Lord is on the ball; so is the enemy; and so should we on this holiday Monday, named in honour of Victoria, that noble, fighting Queen of Mother England, whose reign had a rather puritanical tone to it. (smile) Poor Vicky would be flabbergasted to know that her once staid and upright colonies, which she tried so hard to protect from that vagabond and evil scallywag, Beelzebub, had now solidly embraced him and adopted his evil, corrupt ways, with a wide-open society where anything goes. Ah Friends, ole Queen Vic must be turning over in her grave at the level of debauchery and corruption to which we have attained. And though it should almost be summer in the northern climes, there’s frost in the city and snow in the country. But what else can we expect from Mother Nature but this unpredictability when we mess with her normal cycles eh? Now we can only grin and bear it, while contemplating what was, is, and will be, like the writer of Psalm 44; A Maschil (contemplation) of former deliverances and present troubles. The Lord’s great help to Israel is first outlined: ‘But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.’ (vs.7) Then His apparent desertion and reproach is wailed. ‘But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.’ (vs.9) But interestingly enough, sandwiched between those two verses, one of praise, and one of woe, is Today’s Bit. ‘In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name forever. Selah.’ Oh my people, it sounds very much like the situation in which we’re currently mired. One day we were prosperous and victorious, then suddenly brought low the next. Why is that eh? Can it be that we stopped doing or saying like Bruh David: ‘I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.’ (Ps.34:1-2) Instead we did what the Lord said not to do. ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches…Behold, the days come saith the Lord, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised.’ (Jer.9:23, 25) I consider that a very valid reason for our present demise my brethren. If the Lord has said it once, He’s said it a million times: Honour and obey me, and I will make you prosperous. Dishonour and disobey me, and I will wreak havoc and destruction upon you. We have seen numerous examples of it, and if we’re honest, we’ll admit that in the last two decades we’ve been drifting further and further from the One True God; the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We’ve been quietly and systematically removing God from our individual lives and the public places where He’s reigned supreme since the founding of the West. Instead, we’ve gotten caught up in our wisdom, power and riches; egotistically revelling in the useless moniker of the wealthiest and most advanced society ever, which gave us a false sense of security. But Friends, I’m here to inform us that the only true sense of security we can ever have is if we’re living under the wide spread mantle, under the protective umbrella of Almighty God, which we’re surely not doing right now. Hopefully though, many of us who’ve relegated God to the sidelines, are now, in these rough, uncharted waters, either contemplating a return, or actually returning to Him. Luckily for us the Lord is a merciful, forgiving God, who will never turn us away if we come back to Him in good faith. And here is something else we should also realize; that life never runs smoothly, it’s a succession of hills and valleys, just some higher or lower than others, with a few smooth, straight spots in between. As Henry Ford puts it: ‘Life is a series of experiences which makes us bigger, even though it is hard to realize this.’ But that’s gospel my Friends! When times are very rough, it’s hard to believe, or even think, that we’ll benefit later on from those trying experiences, but we surely do. It’s one of God’s ways of building character in us, of making us more like Jesus, which is our ultimate goal. While we’re embroiled in those painful times, we’re certainly not aware of growing or learning. But after things settle down and we look back, we can definitely trace patterns of growth and learning in many areas of our lives. So please, don’t think all bad experiences are worthless, cause they do serve very useful purposes. First, they bring us closer to God, since we naturally gravitate to Him when there’s no one else. Secondly, it’s in those crucial, critical times or moments, when we have to put up or shut up, that we discover what we’re made of, and surprisingly when those difficult times seem to overwhelm us, then we realize we’re actually made of sterner stuff, and with God’s help we can overcome any obstacles or problems. So don’t give up my people, hang in there, these times are only a test of our mettle. Listen here: ‘But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise LOVING kindness, judgement, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.’ (Jer.9:24) Oh Friends, our God couldn’t be any clearer. Knowledge of God is man’s glory. And how should we respond? We should first return to Him and plead: ‘Awake, why sleepest thou O Lord? Arise, cast us not off for ever…Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies sake.’ (Ps.44:23, 26) And after we’ve floated that sincere, heartfelt prayer heavenward, then it’s absolutely necessary to do as Bruh David declares: ‘O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.’ (Ps.34:3) That, my people, is the only way to get back into the good graces of our God. Let’s put it into action nuh. Much LOVE!…turn, turn, turn…please turn back to the Lord…
Hearken Friends! Another excellent day is at hand! The Lord is on the ball; so is the enemy; and so should we on this holiday Monday, named in honour of Victoria, that noble, fighting Queen of Mother England, whose reign had a rather puritanical tone to it. (smile) Poor Vicky would be flabbergasted to know that her once staid and upright colonies, which she tried so hard to protect from that vagabond and evil scallywag, Beelzebub, had now solidly embraced him and adopted his evil, corrupt ways, with a wide-open society where anything goes. Ah Friends, ole Queen Vic must be turning over in her grave at the level of debauchery and corruption to which we have attained. And though it should almost be summer in the northern climes, there’s frost in the city and snow in the country. But what else can we expect from Mother Nature but this unpredictability when we mess with her normal cycles eh? Now we can only grin and bear it, while contemplating what was, is, and will be, like the writer of Psalm 44; A Maschil (contemplation) of former deliverances and present troubles. The Lord’s great help to Israel is first outlined: ‘But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.’ (vs.7) Then His apparent desertion and reproach is wailed. ‘But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.’ (vs.9) But interestingly enough, sandwiched between those two verses, one of praise, and one of woe, is Today’s Bit. ‘In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name forever. Selah.’ Oh my people, it sounds very much like the situation in which we’re currently mired. One day we were prosperous and victorious, then suddenly brought low the next. Why is that eh? Can it be that we stopped doing or saying like Bruh David: ‘I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.’ (Ps.34:1-2) Instead we did what the Lord said not to do. ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches…Behold, the days come saith the Lord, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised.’ (Jer.9:23, 25) I consider that a very valid reason for our present demise my brethren. If the Lord has said it once, He’s said it a million times: Honour and obey me, and I will make you prosperous. Dishonour and disobey me, and I will wreak havoc and destruction upon you. We have seen numerous examples of it, and if we’re honest, we’ll admit that in the last two decades we’ve been drifting further and further from the One True God; the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We’ve been quietly and systematically removing God from our individual lives and the public places where He’s reigned supreme since the founding of the West. Instead, we’ve gotten caught up in our wisdom, power and riches; egotistically revelling in the useless moniker of the wealthiest and most advanced society ever, which gave us a false sense of security. But Friends, I’m here to inform us that the only true sense of security we can ever have is if we’re living under the wide spread mantle, under the protective umbrella of Almighty God, which we’re surely not doing right now. Hopefully though, many of us who’ve relegated God to the sidelines, are now, in these rough, uncharted waters, either contemplating a return, or actually returning to Him. Luckily for us the Lord is a merciful, forgiving God, who will never turn us away if we come back to Him in good faith. And here is something else we should also realize; that life never runs smoothly, it’s a succession of hills and valleys, just some higher or lower than others, with a few smooth, straight spots in between. As Henry Ford puts it: ‘Life is a series of experiences which makes us bigger, even though it is hard to realize this.’ But that’s gospel my Friends! When times are very rough, it’s hard to believe, or even think, that we’ll benefit later on from those trying experiences, but we surely do. It’s one of God’s ways of building character in us, of making us more like Jesus, which is our ultimate goal. While we’re embroiled in those painful times, we’re certainly not aware of growing or learning. But after things settle down and we look back, we can definitely trace patterns of growth and learning in many areas of our lives. So please, don’t think all bad experiences are worthless, cause they do serve very useful purposes. First, they bring us closer to God, since we naturally gravitate to Him when there’s no one else. Secondly, it’s in those crucial, critical times or moments, when we have to put up or shut up, that we discover what we’re made of, and surprisingly when those difficult times seem to overwhelm us, then we realize we’re actually made of sterner stuff, and with God’s help we can overcome any obstacles or problems. So don’t give up my people, hang in there, these times are only a test of our mettle. Listen here: ‘But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise LOVING kindness, judgement, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.’ (Jer.9:24) Oh Friends, our God couldn’t be any clearer. Knowledge of God is man’s glory. And how should we respond? We should first return to Him and plead: ‘Awake, why sleepest thou O Lord? Arise, cast us not off for ever…Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies sake.’ (Ps.44:23, 26) And after we’ve floated that sincere, heartfelt prayer heavenward, then it’s absolutely necessary to do as Bruh David declares: ‘O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.’ (Ps.34:3) That, my people, is the only way to get back into the good graces of our God. Let’s put it into action nuh. Much LOVE!…turn, turn, turn…please turn back to the Lord…
SCRIP-BITS 