Category Archives: Devotion

LISTEN TO THE OCEAN

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LISTEN TO THE OCEAN

Listen to the ocean; she’s waking,

Whispering her greeting to the primeval dawn that breaks over her dark deep;

She dances with joy, her breast swelling with the hope of innumerable creatures

Alive with the new life that shivers through their myriad shapes and forms,

Singing a universal symphony of praise with the heavens,

Greeting their Creator.

Listen to the ocean; she’s thundering,

Her waves beating in time to the heartbeat of an enraged God;

Men have sealed their doom; the shattered flesh of creation’s crown floats helplessly in death;

A single sturdy craft tossing on the storm, sheltering a fragile thread of life,

Breathes hope of a better race of men and creatures

To greet their Creator once again.

Listen to the ocean; she’s sighing,

Restlessly surging in grief, for men have not learned the lesson of the past;

Their evil hearts care nothing for the cradle that nourishes and nurtures

The intricate web of life her shining surface hides.

They plunder and pollute at will, thinking her nothing but a depot or dump for their greed,

Heeding not their Creator’s plan. 

Listen to the ocean; she’s rising,

The heat of her passion melting snows and floes, the great glaciers of her poles

Slipping, sliding, plunging into her sullen depths, dying in her murky brine at men’s hands;

The men whom Creator God chose to be His partners, have long turned traitor,

Spitting in the face of the One who embraced them

And oceans weep with Him.

Listen to the ocean; she’s resting,

Her great struggle over, she lies quietly at her Maker’s feet,

Silent and still in her submission to His command;

She still reflects His mood, for in some mysterious way she is His face

As the face of one who gazes into a silent pool – and sees himself,   

And she is satisfied…

For she has told His story.

BLESS THE LORD O MY SOUL

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BLESS THE LORD O MY SOUL

When I open my curtains on these mid-winter mornings, I catch a glimpse of the first rays of the sun peeping through the tree at the bottom of our garden. Then my mind turns to Matt Redman’s beautiful song, “Ten thousand reasons,” and I begin to sing as I make my bed.

“The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning
It’s time to sing His song again.
Whatever may pass and whatever may befall me
Let me be singing when the evening comes.”

My heart leaps with joy as I burst into the chorus…

“Bless the Lord, O my soul,
O my soul,
Worship His holy name.
Sing like never before, O my soul
I’ll worship your holy name.”

The first verse sets the tone for my day – a declaration of trust in the one I worship, that He is God and will order all the circumstances of my day as He pleases.

The second verse directs my thoughts to this God whom I bless and praise in my song.

“You’re rich in love and you’re slow to anger
Your name is great and your heart is kind.
For all your goodness I will keep on singing,
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find.”

I have every reason to trust Him for today and tomorrow since my yesterdays are all a testimony to His goodness.

And what of my future? God has written my days in His book and He alone knows when my final day will come. However, like Matt’s song, I have confidence that the song I sang this morning will be my song in eternity…

“And on that day when my strength is failing,
The end is near and my time has come,
Still my soul will sing your praise unending.
Ten thousand years and then forevermore.”

My faith is strong; I have declared my trust in God for another day. I am equipped with a praising heart to face whatever comes with expectation that He is working for my good in all things.

Will you also sing His song in the morning and let its lyrics and melody resound in your mind throughout the day?

 PRAYER


Father God, I can give you no greater honour than to sing your song, and to live today in the atmosphere of worship. As Jesus’ disciples confessed, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…” so, I, too, confess that there is no one greater than you in whom to believe.

With all my heart I thank you for your great salvation, for your love that surrounds and sustains me in every test and trial, and for your grace that helps me to endure.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and everything that is within me, bless His holy name.

THE FEAR OF THE LORD – ROD CAMPBELL

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THE FEAR OF THE LORD – ROD CAMPBELL

A traditional view spawned from the Old Testament represents the Israelites being terrified of God in a way that they did not want to be near His Presence. Their sin was the big obstacle, and it is sin that separates us from God. In the garden of Eden, after disobeying God, sin entered the world and Adam and Eve died. The concept of death is that of an irreversible disconnection or separation. They lost their connection (love relationship) and found themselves unprotected (naked and ashamed).

Shame is a fundamental human emotion that serves as a self-preservation mechanism in the presence of perceived threat to self. Adam and Eve were afraid of God’s presence because of shame – this unleashed the spirit of fear and death that every human being is subjected to until they are born again and mature in love (the Love that casts out all fear).

2021/02/20, 11:06 am – Rod Campbell: God is Love. It is a Holy Love. Holiness, not in the sense of a base morality (don’t do this, or don’t do that), but complete and utter Goodness in which no shadow of wickedness or evil exists, only Total Good. We were created from this and for this – to be encapsulated, entwined and immersed in the Circle of Love in which dwells Father, Son and Holy Spirit and always and will always abide.

2021/02/20, 11:15 am – Rod Campbell: The Fear of the Lord, then is demonstrated in what we know as separation-anxiety in an infant when their parent(s) leave the room and the infant becomes distressed because of a perception of “loss’ of connection with their parent(s). The infant’s bonding and dependence on the parent(s) is total and consuming – the threat of disconnection elicits terror in the heart of the infant.

Such is the True Fear of the Lord – have being born again and being placed in Christ, experiencing that intimate love and utter dependence as a creature with the Creator – uncoerced, but drawn (like a magnet) – where the thought of losing connection with Him for one moment elicits such terror. This is the beginning of Wisdom (for in Him ALL the Treasures of Knowledge and Wisdom are found)

THE MESSAGE OF THE NAIL PRINTS

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THE MESSAGE OF THE NAIL PRINTS

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. Luke 24:30-31

Two disciples… returning home after a weekend of tragedy and disillusionment. Back and forth they talk, airing their grief, their shattered hopes. Why, oh why did it have to end like this?

Soft footfalls behind them herald the approach of a stranger. Sensing the sombre atmosphere, the unknown man asks, “Why so sad?”

“Haven’t you heard? Are you the only one who doesn’t know what happened in Jerusalem this weekend?” they reply.

Eyes downcast, they relate events and emotions that betray their deep-seated disappointment.  “We had hoped… but now…” Like the Twelve who persisted in their unbelief despite the testimony of the women who went to the tomb, these two dejected disciples allow their grief to destroy any last vestige of hope. They know that the lifeless body of the one in whom they fervently trusted is sealed in a rocky tomb.

The stranger rebukes them. “Are you so foolish that you let grief override good sense? What does the Word say?” This man seems to have amazing insights into the depths of Holy Scripture.

He opens the sacred writings as they listen, fascinated, to his teaching… yet they still have no idea who he is, perhaps a visitor to Jerusalem with no ties to the events of the past weekend. They still make no connection between him and the messages he is recalling from Scripture.

They invite the stranger into their home as is the custom of hospitable people. There is something familiar about him that they can’t quite figure out. Perhaps a few more hours with him…

The evening meal prepared, they gather around to share their bounty. Courtesy prompts the head of the family to invite the stranger to bless their meal.

He lifts his hands in thanksgiving and suddenly, in a flash, every detail of the past moments falls into place. His seeming ignorance of recent tragic events… his gentle rebuke… his intimate understanding of their sacred book… his hands as he spreads them out in blessing.

In a heartbeat, as understanding dawns, He’s gone! Gone from their eyes but not from their hearts. A subtle fragrance fills the room where He shared the table with them, the lingering fragrance of the Son of God.

His hands! Of course, who else but Jesus Himself! Gone the grief and unbelief! It all makes sense now. He is no upstart, self-proclaimed prophet, but truly the promised Messiah so eloquently described in their own Scriptures.

Those angry wounds so clearly visible in His upraised hands speak more clearly than the many words He uttered as He accompanied them to their home. How beautifully the nail prints symbolise the greatest love of all, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…” How clearly they speak of a sacrifice so great that it forgives and restores everything Adam forfeited in the Garden of Eden.

An old but ageless hymn captures in the jewels of language the message of the nail prints:

Crown Him the Lord of love

Behold His hands and side.

Rich wounds, yet visible above

In beauty glorified…

Matthew Bridges

Godfrey Thring (1851)

(en.m.wikipaedia.org)

HALALUJAH

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HALALUJAH

‘Hallelujah” is a familiar word in our ritual of church “praise and worship”. However, we miss its beautiful meaning through our ignorance of its use in ancient Hebrew.

“Halal” in ancient Hebrew meant “the shining of a star”. To understand how it came to mean praise in association with Jah, i.e., halalujah (praise Jah), we must go back to its use in navigation. Before the invention of modern instruments, sailors would plot their course by the light (shining) of the stars.

This practice formed the idea behind praising God. When we praise Him, we focus on His “shining”, His glory, His attributes, His goodness, mercy and compassion which become the pattern upon which we model our lives.

So, we navigate an evil and uncertain world by gazing at Him and living our lives by the light of His instructions (torah), His truth about Himself revealed in His Word.

In the New Covenant, we have the perfect “shining” of the Morning Star, Jesus, (the Son), who “radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God…” – Hebrews 1:3a.

This wonderful imagery is lost in so much of today’s Christian music which focuses on our experience rather than on the glory of Jesus and the marvel of God’s grace in the gospel.

Paul encapsulates our true “halalujah” in his matchless prescription for transformation.

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV

Many churches have ditched the great hymns of the past that contemplated in verse and music the “shining of the star” in favour of tuneless ditties that often bemoan our spiritual poverty and focus on our emotional whining.

Compare, for example, the words of Fredrick William Faber. 1848…

My God, how wonderful Thou art,

Thy majesty how bright;

How beautiful Thy mercy seat

In depths of burning light!

How dread are Thine eternal years,

O Everlasting Lord,

By prostrate spirits, day and night

Incessantly adored!

How wonderful, how beautiful

The sight of Thee must be,

Thine endless wisdom, boundless power,

And aweful purity!

O, how I fear Thee, living God

With deepest, tend’rest fears,

And worship Thee with trembling hope,

And penitential tears!

Yet I may love Thee too, O Lord,

Almighty as Thou art,

For Thou hast stooped to ask of me

The love of my poor heart.

No earthly father loves like Thee,

No mother, e’er so mild

Bears and forebears, as Thou hast done

With me, Thy sinful child.

Father of Jesus, love’s reward,

What rapture will it be,

Prostrate before Thy throne to lie

And gaze and gaze on Thee!

… with some of the songs we sing today.  Of course, there are many modern, beautiful songs that gaze at the shining of the star, but why do we ignore those that were written by great poets and hymn writers of the past who had a deep sense of awe in the presence of God, as though they are out-of-date?