Verse of the Day 6/6
Psalm 8:1 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens. English Standard Version (ESV)
Our men's Bible study was going through Ecclesiastes 3 yesterday, a chapter most well know for the "for everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven" (Eccl. 3:1). In verse 11 Solomon writes that He has put eternity into man's heart and that he has made everything beautiful in its time. Yet later in the chapter he asks the question how we are different from the beasts, we all have the same breath, we all die.
Our group talked about this and the question was asked, "how are we different than the animals?" We are in so many ways, we have a soul, we have a conscience, we have hope, an eternal hope and we have been created in the very image of God. I read a devotional yesterday where I read a quote from A.W. Tozer which also pointed out that we are capable of "being astonished" by God and His creation.
"Man is better qualified to appreciate God than any other creature because he was made in His image and is the only creature who was. This admiration for God grows and grows until it fills the heart with wonder and delight. "In our astonished reverence we confess Thine uncreated loveliness," said the hymn writer. "In our astonished reverence." The God of the modern evangelical rarely astonishes anybody. He manages to stay pretty much within the constitution. Never breaks over our bylaws. He's a very well- behaved God and very denominational and very much one of us, and we ask Him to help us when we're in trouble and look to Him to watch over us when we're asleep. The God of the modern evangelical isn't a God I could have much respect for. But when the Holy Ghost shows us God as He is we admire Him to the point of wonder and delight. Worship: The Missing Jewel of the Evangelical Church, 26-27. A.W. Tozer
Can you remember times when something happened where you stood back in "astonished reverence" towards God? It may have been at the birth of your first child, it may have been when you were captivated at the first glimpse of the milky way in the heavens, the northern lights or the beautiful mountain grandeur. May we be prepared today, to see something in our life that would cause us to step back and reflect on the majesty of God and praise Him in "astonished reverence". May we praise Him that we are different than the "beasts" that don't know Him as we do.
-- In Christ, Mike Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. NIV
Psalm 8The Message (MSG)
A David Psalm
8 God, brilliant Lord,
yours is a household name.
2 Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
and silence atheist babble.
3-4 I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?
5-8 Yet we've so narrowly missed being gods,
bright with Eden's dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
repeated to us your Genesis-charge,
Made us lords of sheep and cattle,
even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
whales singing in the ocean deeps.
9 God, brilliant Lord,
your name echoes around the world.
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