Insightful Musings on theScriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Hello, good people.
I’m about to board my pickup and head out to take on another round of sawmill work. I think I will move my mill to a bunch of smaller logs that can be used for satisfying some of the requirements of the landowner’s cut list.
Hope you have a great day.
Blessings.
Dad/Ray.
The core message of this psalm is that there is absolutely NOTHING in the entire universe that is exempted from an obligation to PRAISE THE LORD. Why? Because, “…He commanded and they were created” (Psalm 148:5b). So the very existence of every THING is actually A GOD THING.
Against that awesome premise is an awesome humbling detail to be excavated from the FOCUS VERSE, which happens to be the last verse of the psalm. As you may very well know, I have come to assign a lot of emphasis to the importance of our nurturing a personal HEART AFTER GOD. But there is evidence here of an awesome corresponding converse to that orientation—that the Sovereign Creator-God of the universe actually chooses A HEART AFTER YOU—A HEART AFTER ME—inasmuch as we choose A HEART AFTER HIM. Wow! How wonderful is that?!?!
On the other hand, I guess this is not such a novel and revolutionary idea. After all, “For God so loved the world (you and me) that He gave His only begotten Son (i.e., “…raised up for his people a horn”, i.e., a Savior, a Deliverer, a power source to overcome the tyranny of sin, self, and Satan) (John 3:16). But then again, maybe that common knowledge is one of our problems—becoming so familiar with John 3:16 and God’s spectacular love that the awesome wonder and humbling marvel of it all just kind of wears off.
“To have a fool for a son brings grief; there is no joy for the father of a fool.”