Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Verse of the Day 2/7

 
Verse of the Day 2/7
 

Psalm 48:12-14 

12 Walk about Zion, go around her,
    number her towers,
13 consider well her ramparts,
    go through her citadels,
that you may tell the next generation
14     that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
    He will guide us forever.    English Standard Version (ESV)
 
Over the past year I've gone to a few locations here in the U.S. and took photographs of  the beauty  of God's creation including Yosemite  National Park and  the mountains  surrounding Salt Lake City Utah.  I was anxious and happy to  share photographs with  friends and family, and in the  case  of the Yosemite trip, even strangers on the plane on the return trip home.
 
As I read these verses in Psalm  48 in my devotions  this  morning and they made me think of with anticipation an upcoming trip to Israel later this year.  It is  another one  of those "bucket  list" experiences that we  think of  more  as we grow older and realize that the clock is ticking on being able to check those things  off.  A trip to Israel to the holy land is perhaps at the top  of  the list here on this earth.   My wife Jean  and  I hope that  it  will help the  scriptures to come  alive and give extra meaning  to passages in both the  Old  and  New  Testament.  Beyond  that, more  than  just pictures, it will carry with  it a responsibility to  tell  then  next generation about the wonders of how great our God is, how He is  in control of  history and our destiny and  how we look  forward  to a  heavenly city where we will  live forever whether or  not we  ever get  to experience those places on our  bucket  lists.
 
As I'm writing this I'm looking out the  window onto  the  beach  where a person  is  walking the  beach  with a metal detector looking  for  hidden treasures (or trinkets) buried  in the  sand.  Some people look  to  retire  to a  life  of doing that.  I don't  mind  spending time  on  the  beach and  going for  walks, but  the  ultimate goal is to keep sharing  God's Word  to this generation and the next for as long as I can about our great God and our  Lord and  Savior  Jesus  Christ.
 
The thing is, we don't have to  go to Israel or anywhere else  to "experience God".  Read the  Word.  Experience it.  Feel  His  presence.  Then tell someone about it.  Instead of looking  forward to  being "beach combers"  may we be "Word combers" and share the treasures that we find in His  Word.
 
Then you can tell the next generation
    detail by detail the story of God,
Our God forever,
    who guides us till the end of time.  V.14  The Message
 
 
Blessings,
 
Mike
 

Psalm 48:9-14The Message (MSG)

9-10 We pondered your love-in-action, God,
    waiting in your temple:
Your name, God, evokes a train
    of Hallelujahs wherever
It is spoken, near and far;
    your arms are heaped with goodness-in-action.
11 Be glad, Zion Mountain;
    Dance, Judah's daughters!
    He does what he said he'd do!
12-14 Circle Zion, take her measure,
    count her fortress peaks,
Gaze long at her sloping bulwark,
    climb her citadel heights—
Then you can tell the next generation
    detail by detail the story of God,
Our God forever,
    who guides us till the end of time.
 

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