I was thinking how years ago, God single-handedly rescued and saved me - gave me a fresh start!
Also thinking how through the years, since that day, God has worked all things for good, both the trials and the joys.
Life here is brief but we have a chance to make a lasting difference for those who come after us. The heroes before me made lasting impressions in my life and I hope to transfer this hope.
Wilderness to life in Him.
"We’ve been hearing about this, God, all our lives. Our fathers told us the stories their fathers told them, How single-handedly you weeded out the godless from the fields and planted us, How you sent those people packing but gave us a fresh start. We didn’t fight for this land; we didn’t work for it—it was a gift! You gave it, smiling as you gave it, delighting as you gave it."
Psalm 44: 1-3 (The Message)
Matthew Henry's Commentary(MHC) summarizes these verses:
- The Psalmist mixes prayers and comfortable expectations with his record of former mercies
- Commemoration of the great things God had formerly done for them.
- It is a debt which every age owes to posterity to keep an account of God’s works of wonder, and to transmit the knowledge of them to the next generation. Those that went before us told us what God did in their days, we are bound to tell those that come after us what he has done in our days, and let them do the like justice to those that shall succeed them;
- They were not owing to their own merit, but to God’s favour and free grace:
- They were not owing to their own might, but to God’s power engaged for them
Today we have many pressures and forces that would seek to undermine solid faith in the One God and the One way to salvation and eternal life.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."(John 14:6 ESV)
" Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!” (John 14:6-7 The Message)
"O God, we have heard with our ears,
our fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
in the days of old:
you with your own hand drove out the nations,
but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
but them you set free;
for not by their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
and the light of your face,
for you delighted in them."
(Psalm 44: 1-3 ESV)
Let us consider these jointly, and with reference to each other. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life; that is,
1. He is the beginning, the middle, and the end. In him we must set out, go on, and finish. As the truth, he is the guide of our way; as the life, he is the end of it.
2. He is the true and living way (Heb. 10:20); there are truth and life in the way, as well as at the end of it.
3. He is the true way to life, the only true way; other ways may seem right, but the end of them is the way of death.(MHC)
" So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is his body.Hebrews 10:19-21 (The Message)
All the poor and powerless
And all the lost and lonely
All the thieves will come confess
And know that You are holy
And know that You are holy
And all will sing out
Hallelujah
And we will cry out
Hallelujah
All the hearts who are content
And all who feel unworthy
And all who hurt with nothing left
Will know that You are holy
And all will sing out
Hallelujah
And we will cry out
Hallelujah
Shout it
Go on scream it from the mountains
Go on and tell it to the masses
That He is God
We will sing out
Hallelujah
And we will cry out
Hallelujah
by All Sons & Daughters
"Generation after generation stands in awe of your work;
each one tells stories of your mighty acts." Psalm 145:4 ESV
The generation that is going off shall tell them to that which is rising up, shall tell what they have seen in their days and what they have heard from their fathers;
they shall fully and particularly declare thy mighty acts; and the generation that is rising up shall follow the example of that which is going off: so that the death of God’s worshippers shall be no diminution of his worship, for a new generation shall rise up in their room to carry on that good work, more or less, to the end of time,(MHC)
"O Master, these are the conditions in which people live,
and yes, in these very conditions my spirit is still alive—
fully recovered with a fresh infusion of life!
It seems it was good for me
to go through all those troubles.
Throughout them all you held tight to my lifeline.
You never let me tumble over the edge into nothing.
But my sins you let go of,
threw them over your shoulder—good riddance!
The dead don’t thank you,
and choirs don’t sing praises from the morgue.
Those buried six feet under
don’t witness to your faithful ways.
It’s the living—live men, live women—who thank you,
just as I’m doing right now.
Parents give their children
full reports on your faithful ways.
God saves and will save me.
As fiddles and mandolins strike up the tunes,
We’ll sing, oh we’ll sing, sing,
for the rest of our lives in the Sanctuary of God. (Isaiah 38: 16-20)
"He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth."
1 Timothy 2:4-7 The Message (MSG)
One way of looking at this is to try to capture the love a parent has for a son or daughter in a FAR off country. The loving parent would never be able to forget and would long to interact and bear hug the child who they have not been able to see or hold for a long time.
Our heavenly Father anticipates this Good News getting to all and also to us who need to return to Him.
William Wilberforce speaks of the longing of a parent for a child that is far away. He states in the book A Practical View of Christianity -
"Ask a mother who has been long separated from her child, specially if he has been in circumstances of honor, or of danger, to draw her attention to him, and to keep it in wakefulness and exercise, and she will tell you, that so far from becoming less dear, he appears to have grown more the object of her affections. She seems to herself to love him even better that the child who has been living under her roof, and has been in her view. How does she rejoice in his good fortune, and weep over his distresses! With what impatience does she anticipate the time of his return!
just as I’m doing right now."
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