STILL

There are many circumstances in life when to be strong is to sit still (---pgs).

"Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"(Psalm 46:10)

"Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will work for you today. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent" (Exodus 14:13,14).

A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle, to the glory of God: If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee(Georg Neumark, 1641).  

PRESENCE

The land of promise is empty without God. His Presence bestows favor and assurance on His people and marks them out as His own, for His glory. --- Selected

 

The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest" (Exodus 33:14).

 

Come  to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:30).

 

A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle, to the glory of God: Peace, Perfect Peace, (Edward H. Bickersteth, 1875).

LIMITLESS

About God's infinity: God is without limit or boundary. We cannot cross a line and say, 'Now here God is not; here is a limit which He has not passed, and cannot pass.' "Trismegistus said God is a circle, whose center is everywhere, but His circumference is nowhere." --- Alexander Whyte

 

And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM; and He said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you." (Exodus 3:14).

 

Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven --- what can you do? Deeper than Sheol --- what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea (Job 11:7-9).

God's Mercies

Trouble and perplexity drive me to prayer, and prayer drives away perplexity and trouble. ---- Philip Melanchthon

If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all unto me,  I will surely hear their cry; And it shall come to pass, when he cries unto me, that I will hear, for I am gracious (Exodus 22:23, 27). 

A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of God: O Safe to the Rock That is Higher Than I.

The Sabbath

When there is no Christian Sabbath, there is no Christian morality; ;and without this, free institutions cannot long be sustained. ----John McLean.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work....for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (Exodus 20:8). 

If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the LORD honorable, if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly, then you shall take delight in the LORD and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob our father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it (Isaiah 58:13-14). 

A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of God: O DAY OF REST AND GLADNESS.

Reverence

Good morning!

Sacred reserve therefore becomes us in our approach to God. Familiarity with the Eternal must always proceed from the side of God, and may never be presumed upon by the creature. When man makes bold to ignore the boundary of reverence, God repulses him. For then man exalts himself at the expense of the loftiness of his Lord. This interrupts the secret walk with God. At last he retains nothing but vain beating in the air after the Infinite, after a higher Being, a higher blessing, a name without content, a sound that volatizes; and he has lost his Father and his God. ---- Abraham Kuyper.

God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am." Do not come any closer, God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Then He said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God (Exodus 3:4b-6). 

A hymn to read, sing, hum or whistle to the glory of God: HOLY, HOLY, HOLY. 

Be ready for the Judgment

Good morning!

 Now is the time for gathering the bread of life. The day of the Lord is fast drawing near...  The seventh trumpet will soon sound. The kingdoms of this world will soon become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. Woe to the house which is found without the scarlet line, and without the mark of blood upon the door!  ---- J. C. Ryle.

Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father's household (Joshua 2:18). 

And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:13). 

Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect(Matthew 24:44). 

A hymn to read, sing, hum or whistle to the glory of God: GREAT GOD, WHAT DO I SEE AND HEAR!

Great God, what do I see and hear?
The end of things created!
The Judge of mankind doth appear,
On clouds of glory seated.
The trumpet sounds, the graves restore,
The dead which they contained before!
Prepare, my soul, to meet Him.

Sinfulness of our 'Holinesses'

Good morning!

The sinfulness of our 'holiness.' I cannot pray, but I sin: I cannot hear or preach a sermon, but I sin: I cannot give an alms, or receive the sacrament, but I sin: nay, I cannot so much as confess my sins, but my confessions are still aggravations of them. My repentance needs to be repented of, my tears want washing, and the very washing of my tears needs still to be washed over again with the blood of the Redeemer.  ---- William Beveridge

Make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal: HOLY TO THE LORD. It will be on Aaron's forehead, and he will bear the iniquity of the holy things involved in the sacred gifts the Israelites consecrate, whatever their gifts may be (Exodus 28:36, 38). 

A hymn to read, sing, hum or whistle to the glory of God:  MY SINS, MY SINS, MY SAVIOR!

My sins, my sins, my Savior!
They take such hold on me,
I am not able to look up,
Save only, Christ, on Thee;
In Thee is all forgiveness,
In Thee abundant grace,
My shadow and my sunshine
The brightness of Thy face.