EmmDev 2018-10-08 [Wherever I am...] A variety of people in Jesus' Mission Statement

Week 2: Recognising that all people need God's love.

A variety of people in Jesus' Mission Statement

Visiting with his disciples in Nazareth, the town where he grew up, Jesus went to teach in their synagogue and he read about the Messiah from the Book of Isaiah, closing his reading with the words "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

He proclaimed that the Spirit of the Lord anointed (or ordained) him to:
proclaim the good news (the Gospel) to the poor;
proclaim freedom to prisoners;
proclaim the recovery of sight to the blind;
proclaim that the day has come to set the oppressed free,
proclaiming the year (time or period) of the Lord's favour.

These groups represent all of humanity and proclaim -- i.e. saying with divine authority -- that all and everyone need our Lord's love, and all are loved by God and his Messiah, Jesus our Saviour.

It does not matter whether we see that the people we serve with the Gospel of Christ as poor, incarcerated, disabled or oppressed in any possible way we can think of -- we can and should with confidence and authority assure them of God's love for them. It is that practical divine love which is not primarily a feeling, but an action, intervening in and changing circumstances, in order to receive and experience the new era of the Lord's favour that Jesus brought about. This intervention of God, announced by prophets a long time ago, had begun.

On that day -- during his ministry on earth -- Jesus had had started the outreach of God that made it possible for all to be loved, cared for and redeemed by God's salvation.
It is proclaimed. It is official and final and it is announced personally by Messiah Jesus.

There can be no favouritism in our quest to reach the world with the Gospel of God's love for them. No single person, or group of people, can be a less significant priority than others. Our mission plan is not determined by our preferences and who we are cannot establish the priorities of our outreach.

In a world desperate for comfort, freedom, recognition and salvation we follow our Lord in his anointed calling to accomplish what he, Christ Jesus, made possible.
We are impartial. We are determined. We spread the message of God's love to all.

We, his people, have been ordained to share God's love. We are, like Jesus, called to know nothing but God's unfailing care in healing the world and practically curing everyone according to their individual needs and circumstances, with the awesome love of God in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."      (Luke4:18-19)

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Andries Combrink is a minister emeritus of the UPCSA, living in Centurion, married to Marthie, father of three and granddad to a lovely teenage girl. He serves the Lord directing a 15 000 views per week worldwide internet portal for protestant church leaders called "Pastoral"

EmmDev 2018-10-07 [Wherever I am...] When He deserved "me" time, Jesus welcomes the Crowd

Week 1: Seeing God's Heart for the World.

When He deserved "me" time, Jesus welcomed the Crowd

Jesus had sent the disciples to go out and spread the gospel of the Kingdom of God to the masses. After their return they gave an account to Him of all that they had achieved. It is after that Jesus withdraws with them to a city called Bethsaida. Their journey to spread the Gospel was a demanding task and hence Jesus suggests that they withdraw so that they can all rest. But we notice the multitudes following Jesus Christ and He welcomed them and began to speak them about the Kingdom of God and curing those who had sicknesses. Jesus could have very well rejected them indicating that He needed time for rest and privacy to be with His disciples. This argument could be appealing in our time and age where our society is privatized. Jesus isn't allowed to take a day off by this crowd and He welcomes them wholeheartedly.

We notice that Jesus is moved by compassion and began to attend to the various needs of the masses in this passage. The ministry of Jesus demonstrates to all those who may desire to serve with Him in God's mission the need for a holistic ministry. He has compassion on their souls as well as their body.  Jesus recognized the need for the disciples to rest and the need for the truth of Gods kingdom to be ministered to the masses.  Jesus was so compassionate that even their shallowness, even their indulgence couldn't stop Him from caring.  He cared that people had rest when they were weary, and He also, and more importantly, cared that they had the truth when they were ignorant.

Jesus also had compassion on their need for deliverance.  And so at the end of verse 11 it says: "And curing those who had need of healing. "He felt compassion for them and healed their sick."  He felt compassion for them, as sheep without a shepherd, so He taught them.  He felt compassion for them in their suffering so He healed them. He felt compassion for their physical need He provided food for them. Jesus offers a model of mission work that responds to diverse needs of humanity.

When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, 11 but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.      (Luke9:10-11)

Richard Mkandawire is a Minister at St. Columbas in Kabwe, married to Aretha and together they have two sons Khumbo and Mbawemi. Richard serves on the MaD Committee.

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EmmDev 2018-10-06 [Wherever I am...] In spite of our sin, God continues to look on us with compassion

Week 1: Seeing God's Heart for the World.

In spite of our sin, God continues to look on us with compassion

Hosea is one of those prophets who consistently project very intense conversations between God and Israel. It is clear that the relationship between Israel and God had been almost irretrievably, irredeemably and irrevocably broken down. The conversations, peppered with intermittent regrets and doubts, reveal forgiveness and compassion.

Admah and Zeboiim were two cities that stood in close proximity to the Sodom and Gomorrah of old. They were just as corrupt and sexually immoral as those two infamous cities destroyed by God's sulphuric fire. But some scholars argue that Admah and Zeboiim are so unknown, so unfamiliar, in our conscious everyday Biblical lexicon that when God speaks of Ephraim and Israel in the same terms as Admah and Zeboiim, His most distinct attribute --- compassion --- is invoked. In spite of our sin, God continues to look on us with compassion.

It does not matter, the depth and width, the intensity and grave character of our sin, God's heart is changed within Him, and His compassion is aroused. Compassion is undeserving grace, dispensed by God when the damage in the damaged goods is so severe that it can almost not be turned around or repaired. Even with the indelible traces of immoral Admah and self-destructive Zeboiim within God's chosen people; even with the sense of irreversibility in annihilating Israel as God did to all four cities, God continues to look up compassionately upon Ephraim and Israel.

Humanity has been on a warpath to self-destruction and self-annihilation, through racism, through sexism, through tribalism, through endemic corruption within government, through social and cultural idolatry, through heartless financial and capitalist globalism, through worship of sport and money and power ---- God has not given up upon us.

Even though we are worthy of the consuming fire that passed Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, out of existence and out memory, God's graceful heart has been changed within Him and His saving compassion has been aroused for our salvation and our redemption.

In our perpetual, unrelenting state of complete and absolute messed-upness, God continually gives us another chance. Another chance to turn back towards Him, another chance to reassert our destroyed relationship with Him (Creator God), another chance to make right with each other (people), another chance to make right with the created order (nature).

God continuously restores our lost divinity through this compassion and grace. We owe Him one thing: totally giving and surrendering our lives to Him. Our faith that Jesus Christ is the son of the Living God, the forgiving God of Ephraim, the compassionate God of Israel. He is faithful to bring us back to the threshold of grace and blessing, to be graceful to others and to be a blessing to others. In spite of our sin, God continues to look upon us with compassion

"How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused"      (Hosea11:7-8)

My name is Sipho Mtetwa, ordained to pastoral ministry in the Uniting Presbyterian Church pastoral ministry 33 years ago. I am husband to Xoli with 2 girls (Sinentokozo and Ndumiso) and 1 boy (Khethelo). I'm also grandfather to 3 grandkids. I write IsiZulu vernacular poetry and love listening to jazz. (Sipho is the Moderator-Designate of General Assembly and it's also his birthday today!!)

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EmmDev 2018-10-05 [Wherever I am...] God's compassion includes our need for justice.

Week 1: Seeing God's Heart for the World.

God's compassion includes our need for justice.

I must confess that I find the book of Judges slightly heavy going. The characters are complex and often violent. Othniel, a nephew and son-in-law of Caleb, was a Gentile convert who joined the tribe of Judah. Ehud was a left-handed Benjaminite who personally killed king Eglon of Moab. Shamgar, who was also probably not a Jew, possibly the son of a mixed marriage, killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad. Deborah, a prophetess and a judge, challenges the ancient entrenched patriarchy by leading the people in victory over Sisera at the Battle of Kishon near Mt Tabor. Gideon was a coward who became a hero and then led the people into idolatry. Jephthah swore a foolish vow that probably cost him his daughter's life. Samson had a fatal fondness for Philistine women, when he wasn't making poor choices in women, the rest of his life seems to be characterized by chaos, destruction, death and violence: he killed a lion with his hands; he killed 30 Philistines at Ashkelon, and a "thousand" with a jawbone of an ass. He used 300 foxes to burn the gain fields of the Philistines and carried off the city gate of Gaza. Samson was eventually conquered by a Philistine woman, Delilah, and he was blinded and imprisoned at Gaza. He called out to God who allowed his strength to return. He pulled down the Temple of Dagon killing himself and about 3,000 Philistines.

In addition to the odd assortment of characters, the narrative is sometimes difficult to follow. It seems disjointed with very long gaps between some judges and the others who seem to overlap with one another.

So why then would this be regarded as inspired by the Holy Spirit and included in the Canon? There are many possible answers to this, but I wish to suggest two. The first thing is one that the writer of the book suggests in our text for today, and it a vital consideration in our missional journey: that God is deeply moved to compassion by the pain-filled cries of the people of God. Second, this book teaches us is that God chooses to use sinful, fallible, broken and imperfect persons to accomplish God's purposes in the world. Let the people of God never stop crying out to God and let us be aware that God might use the most unlikely as the answers to our prayers.

Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.      (Jude2:18)

Peter Langerman is husband to Sally, father to Jaimee (and father-in-law to Tim), Natasha, Emma and Gabby, loves to walk, cook, read, shout at the TV when the Boks are playing and serves the saints at Durbanville. Peter is the current Moderator of General Assembly

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EmmDev 2018-10-04 [Wherever I am...] Although we are temporary, we are cared for by God

Week 1: Seeing God's Heart for the World.

Although we are temporary, we are cared for by God

"As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him." (Psalm 103:13)

Compassion is emphatically used in this verse. What follows in the subsequent verses until verse 18 is an expression of God's compassion. The feeling of compassion is generally attributed to mothers instead of fathers. The Hebrew word is "riham" from "rehem" -- "the mother, womb", and has to do with showing mercy, pity, forgiveness, forbearance, etc. It is the feeling of a parent for a child, where a parent stands by the child and is ready to take up the suffering of the child.

God is compassionate. God's compassion springs from knowing that human beings are frail, mortal -- as children of dust, and are facing various challenges which are difficult to overcome. God is never aloof from the daily experiences of human beings. He is the God of exodus who sees the misery of the people, hears their cry, becomes concerned and comes down (Exodus 3:7). The sufferings of humanity, especially the weak, powerless, victimised and impoverished are God's suffering. It is this compassion that saw God becoming incarnate and dwelling among us in the human form, as Jesus of Nazareth (John 1).

God's compassion is the source and/or cause for soteriology -- salvation/liberation/redemption. It is this compassion that led to God the Son to be crucified, as he stood for the cause of the downtrodden. This compassion makes God to be concerned about human life as having value. God cares for women who continue to suffer under patriarchy, about the broken bodies of women that are victimised and abused, about the abused children, many of whom are homeless and parentless, and about workers who are being exploited as cheap labourers, while they do not benefit from the produce of their labour.

God's compassion goes with us as we labour in the vineyard, impacting positively on people's lives, as some of our brothers and sisters in the ministry go without stipend for months and years. God's compassion is a call to action. God uses us -- human beings - to care for others. While we are beneficiaries, let us also be conduits for God's compassion until all experience love, peace, righteousness, justice and fairness -- holistic salvation, liberation of their space and environment.

Let us fear (revere) God.
Although we are temporary (weak), we are cared for by our God.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. 17 But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children-- 18 with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.      (Psalms103:11-18)

Lungile Mpetsheni is the General Secretary of the UPCSA, a husband to Thandiswa, a father and a grandfather. Saved by the grace of God.

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EmmDev 2018-10-03 [Wherever I am...] Knowing the One in our midst

Week 1: Seeing God's Heart for the World.

Knowing the One in our midst

One of our members moved his business into new premises and asked me to come and pray with him and his staff shortly after they had settled in. As I sat in the Board Room waiting for the staff to gather, I was struck by the significance of what I was being asked to do? The simple act of reading scripture and praying in a place of business vividly reminded all present that God is with us, no matter where we are. Too easily do we relegate God and all things spiritual to a few hours on a Sunday morning and a perhaps a prayer before we head out on weekdays. God is in the world! He is with us everywhere and every moment. In fact, this is exactly what I landed up sharing with the staff of that business. That my being there was not to 'bring God' to them, but simply to recognise his presence with us already and help us be mindful of God and his ways and love for us... Everyday.

Ironically, the problem that Paul faced in the first century Roman world, and in Athens in particular, was not a division between the sacred (spiritual/Sundays) and the secular (business/weekdays) as my story illustrates, because the people of that time were very spiritual. Rather, the problem was an ignorance of the purpose and character of God. Paul walks around in Athens and sees gods everywhere, even an idol to an 'UNKNOWN GOD' (just in case they missed one :-)) and uses this spiritual hunger amongst the people to tell them about who God really is and what he is up to in the world. Acts 17:24 is the start of that explanation and Paul's first point is that God wants us to know him. Not, to know ABOUT him, but to know HIM personally. And he tells them that it is possible because God is not far from them, he is in their midst already.

Paul's task was to introduce the Athenians to a personal God who loves, and he cleverly used something from their everyday lives that his hearers could connect with.

What opportunities are there in your life, every day, where you are able to help people, firstly, to recognize the presence of God in their world and, secondly, to connect with this God who wants us to seek him and know him and love him? Keep on the lookout. You may be surprised what you can use to share with others the good news of God's love for the world.

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.      (Acts17:24-27)

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Chris Judelsohn is minister at Midchurch (Midrand Presbyterian Church), married to Keryn with 3 children -- Rachael, Emma and Nathan. He loves being part of God's work of proclaiming and building God's Kingdom and also finds a strong cup of freshly brewed coffee irresistible. (Chris is also the past convener of Mission and Discipleship)

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2018-10-02 [Wherever I am...] God sees, hears and is concerned

Week 1: Seeing God's Heart for the World.

God sees, hears and is concerned

It was one of the great moments in Old Testament history. Perhaps the key moment. Moses was a stranger in exile in a strange land -- in Midian -- on the east bank of the Gulf of Aquabah. He married a Midianite woman, settled down, and was tending his father-in-law's sheep on the slopes of Mount Horeb when suddenly the moment happened.

A bush burst into flame!

It blazed up, the heat of it ripping the air around it. But through the bush burned, it did not burn up because it was a miraculous fire, which is to say, a fire that Moses could not explain, except by explaining it away as no real fire at all but only a figment of Moses' fiery imagination.

Then, out of the flaming moment, a voice also flamed up, and of all the conceivable things it might have said, what it said was the name of Moses himself. "Moses, Moses"

And so Moses, the stranger and exile, stood there with the muck of sheep on his shoes, and guilty as hell of a man's murder; and he listened and answered:
"Here am I" he said, waiting for God only knows what would happen next. (Frederick Beuchner)

The story of the Exodus, an event that made Israel a nation and shaped its self-identity forever began in dissatisfaction. Some would call this "holy discontent". Moses felt it (Ex 2: 11&12), God felt it (Ex 3: 7 -- 8) and, wouldn't you have felt it too? Around the world today, people are being dehumanized. Poverty, hunger and lack of access to health care and education are the order of the day for most of the world's population. This is not even as much a scandal as lack of clean drinking water (or the commercialization of water). Its comforting to know that whenever you and I experience this discontent with the way the world is, it is likely that God is also hearing "the cry" of his people, that God is "concerned about them" and that ultimately, God "will rescue them".

As followers of Jesus, we experience discontent not only about the world as it is but also about the way the Church seems no longer to be able to witness to God's kingdom in a way many people can understand. Like Moses, we will feel that discontent and want to do something about it and perhaps, we will have the joy to discover that God has heard the cry too and he will work with us to rescue his people.

The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey--the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.      (Exodus3:7-8)

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George Marchinkowski is colleague minister at St Mungo's, Bryanston. He is married to Sascha and together they have two daughters, Leah & Zoë

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Month of Mission 2018

UPCSA Month of Mission 2018

Wherever I am...

 

Welcome!

Welcome to our month of Mission devotions. Today's email is long because it has the introduction and the first devotion.
I hope you will be blessed by the journey.
Shalom!
Theo Groeneveld
(serving as convener of the Mission and Discipleship Committee)

"Wherever I am:
Recognising God's heart for the world and my part in His plan."

When we use the word "Mission", many Christians think about people called to study a foreign language and culture and to travel to the other side of the world where they will be missionaries. In this framework, mission is seen as the work that Jesus placed in church's hands and that He is waiting for us to complete the task…

But what if Mission looks different? What if the earliest articulation of Mission can be found in Genesis 3: "Adam where are you?" or in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."? What if God has always been on a Mission to restore humankind and the world broken by their sin?

What if, instead of "taking God" to people in foreign lands, we are going to foreign lands (or across the street) to join in what God is already doing in a community? And what if Mission is not about us "delivering" God to a community, but joining a community and discovering what God is already doing there?

These are thoughts that were significantly articulated by David Bosch in his book "Transforming Mission." This year, for our Month of Mission in October, we're going to be exploring the idea that our God is on Mission to the World and that we are the junior partners co-operating with what He is already doing.

By this understanding, Mission isn't about going but about being. And so the theme of our month's devotions is "Wherever I am: Recognising God's heart for the world and my part in His plan."

Overview of the Month

Week 1: (1^st to 7^th): Seeing God's Heart for the World.
Week 2: (8^th to 14^th): Recognising that all people need God's love.
Week 3: (15^th to 21^st): Seeing what God is already doing.
Week 4: (22^nd to 28^th): Dimensions of Mission. (Recognising Spiritual, Social, Moral and other aspects)
Week 5: (29^th to 31^st): How can I be more in-tune?

                           Devotion for 1 October
                             God's heart for the world

The main point of Jonah is not the big fish, but Jonah's hard heart and exclusive theology contrasted to God's heart for the world.
The book of Jonah, recounting a story of an unknown prophet of yesteryear, was written in a time where the Israelites had become exclusive and nationalistic. Foreigners were unclean and unacceptable.
Jonah's hard heart is on display throughout the book:

• When God sends him to Nineveh, Jonah heads in the opposite direction: to a place called Tarshish ("Where God is not").
• When the storm comes and the sailors are praying, Jonah is sleeping below decks in depressive denial.
• When he reveals himself as a "prophet of the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land" the sailors believe, but Jonah fatalistically asks to be thrown into the sea.
• His prayer in the belly of the fish appears very pious, but the rest of his actions imply that this was not a prayer from the heart. The fish vomits him up on the land as though it can't stand the hypocrisy anymore!
• I imagine a gastric-juice-bleached Jonah preaching in Nineveh, finally in his element: pronouncing doom and destruction on the city. But the city does something that Jerusalem never did - it repents and God shows mercy.
• Jonah waits in the desert for the promised destruction. Jonah pouts in the desert: more upset about his reputation than about God's mercy for the Ninevites who have repented.
• When God grows a vine overnight in the desert to give him shade and then takes it away, Jonah loses it: "I am angry enough to die!"

What comes next is a breath-taking picture of God's heart:

• He's been patient with Jonah, treating the pouting prophet with tenderness and going to great lengths to soften his hard heart.
• He is concerned for the people of Nineveh who don't know their right from their left. We hear the same thing at the cross: "Father forgive them - they don't know what they are doing."
• God cares even about the animals: the rest of creation impacted by human brokenness.

The bottom line of the book is that God cares: He cares for Jonah, for heathen sailors, for the people of Nineveh and for their animals. He has a heart for the world and He will always surprise us with the depths of His mercy and love.
The book ends abruptly. We get a breath-taking picture of God's heart and we are left with Jonah's heart-state undecided.
We don't know if Jonah "got it"...

... I wonder if we do...
Read verse 11 softly and slowly. This is the still small voice that we will hear for this whole month of mission...

But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"       (Jonah4:10-11 )

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Theo Groeneveld is a husband, dad, and sometimes-cyclist. He has served at Emmanuel Presby, Faerie Glen, Pretoria for 21 years.

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EmmDev 2018-09-29 [Celebrating Creation] Creation's Grand Finale: Praise the Lord

Creation's Grand Finale: Praise the Lord

We've reached the end of our series on Creation.
Right at the end of the Psalms in Ps 148 we find a picture of all creation and all of humankind being called to worship the Creator.

As the worship of the Psalms comes to full crescendo, all parts of creation are called to be part of the glorious song of praise. The psalm breaks into three rough parts:
1. Praise the Lord from the Heavens.
2. Praise the Lord from the Earth.
3. Praise our Exalted God who brings Salvation.

The Heavens are called to bring praise to God. In the list are the Angels, the Sun, Moon and Stars and the waters above the skies. His majesty is reflected and showcased in sunrises, rainbows, countless stars and so much more. And why should these heavenly beings and bodies praise? Because God has created them and "set them in place for ever and ever".

The inhabitants of the Earth are called to praise. The oceans and sea creatures, the clouds and winds, the mountains and trees, the big animals, the little animals and birds and all kinds of people (ranging across status, gender and age) are called to offer praise.

And we praise Him because "His name alone is exalted and his splendour is above the earth and the heavens. Our Hubble telescopes tell us the universe is still expanding from from that incredible moment of creation. Our electron microscopes tell us that there is incredible power in the tiny atom and gigabytes of storage in the human genome. God is awesome and creation showcases His awesomeness.

Finally we praise Him because: "He has raised up for his people a horn". In OT poetry and prophecy the horn represents power, salvation and the Messiah. We saw earlier this week that creation is broken and suffering. Creation groaned as it waited for the Saviour who came and died on the cross to make us and creation whole. Soon He will return to complete that work because we are close to His heart.

And all of creation will rejoice!

Enjoy the Psalm!

1 Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD from the heavens, praise him in the heights above. 2 Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts. 3 Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars. 4 Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. 5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created. 6 He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away. 7 Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, 8 lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, 9 you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, 10 wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, 11 kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, 12 young men and maidens, old men and children. 13 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens. 14 He has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his saints, of Israel, the people close to his heart. Praise the LORD.      (Psalms148:1-14)

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Hope you've enjoyed the series!
For October we'll be joining in our Denomination's Month of Mission. Devotions will be written by ministers from all across South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia. It's going to be good.....
God bless and Love,
Theo

EmmDev 2018-09-27 [Celebrating Creation] God uses Creation to speak to us

God uses Creation to speak to us

God uses creation to speak to us and point us in His direction.

Our reading today is Psalm 42 which was written by one of the "sons of Korah." (During David's time the Sons of Korah were a group of Levites who were leaders in choral and orchestral music in the tabernacle.)

This beautiful psalm is the story of someone who is dealing with a combination of depression, doubt, burnout and disillusionment. Their crisis of faith has been mocked and criticised and they find themselves in a low place.

The Psalm opens with an image from nature: "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God."
Isn't it just such an evocative image?

In the middle of the Psalm the writer makes a conscious decision to point his soul in the direction of Faith and Trust:
5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and 6 my God.

What grabs is is what he does next:
"My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you..."

The way he remembers is to go on a tour of creation:
He tours the Jordan valley.
He visits Mount Mizar.
He stands before a waterfall and then a wave tossed ocean.
He reflects on the gift of the day and the quiet of the night which helps him hear God's song.

This leads to an unburdening of his soul and a reaffirmation of his decision to keep focus on God.

The beautiful lesson of this Psalm is how the writer finds himself in a tough place emotionally and spiritually and takes himself on a "nature retreat" that helps him find his strength in God.

May we learn to do this too! Take time to read this psalm slowly and thoughtfully and try to imagine the author's journey as vividly as possible and apply this to your own soul...

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng. 5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and 6 my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon--from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 8 By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me-- a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?" 10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 11 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.      (Psalms42:1-11)

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