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The Lord Reigns
May 4, 2011 by Lorn Gieck
Filed under Ministries, Music & Arts
As a worship leader, and pastor I have to admit spending a lot of time in the book of Psalms. It’s actually been a practice of mine every year after Easter to read through the entire book and just catch in the sweep of history how God’s people worshiped. It’s actually really easy to just take a look at a few favourite psalms. There are amazing examples of poetry, and many words that are peaceful and comforting. But it would be a mistake to think of Psalms as a lightweight addition to the Bible. There is a lot of really challenging content held in the praises of Israel.
A significant grouping of psalms is the “YHWH malak” psalms – the Lord Reigns. This includes Psalm 47, 93, and 96-99. One of my favourites, and one that has recently been read in our worship gatherings is Psalm 93:
1 The Lord is king! He is robed in majesty.
Indeed, the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength.
The world stands firm
and cannot be shaken.
2 Your throne, O Lord, has stood from time immemorial.
You yourself are from the everlasting past.
3 The floods have risen up, O Lord.
The floods have roared like thunder;
the floods have lifted their pounding waves.
4 But mightier than the violent raging of the seas,
mightier than the breakers on the shore—
the Lord above is mightier than these!
5 Your royal laws cannot be changed.
Your reign, O Lord, is holy forever and ever. (NLT)
What impresses me about this short song, beyond the bold declaration that the Lord is King, is the way in which the writer talks about the permanence and the eternal nature of Gods reign. Not only is God king now, He always has been, and He always will be. The waters rising are symbols of all the powers that are trying to thwart His rule and reign. God doesn’t do battle with them. He has no need, for He stands far above all those who challenge. God is awesome and supreme. This is a picture of God that is meant to be absorbed and enjoyed. It is triumphant and majestic, joyful and ecstatic. The revelation of the Bible shows us how great our God is.
The difficulty is we are not eternal. Our lives are bound by mortality and we get consumed by day to day worries. And these are the things we bring to our worship. In his introduction to Recalling the Hope of Glory, Allen P. Ross says: “In short, our worship services have become time-bound and routine. We have been so successful in fitting God into our important schedules that worship is often just another activity. But it should be anything but routine and ordinary.” Psalm 93 reminds us that God cannot be contained by us. God is to be worshiped because He is powerful, strong and in control. Despite our best attempts at placing ourselves and our agendas at the place of primary importance, God still stands high above all the competing idols that take us away from true worship. Ross continues: “How can we talk casually of this Lord? How can we merely slot him into our fully scheduled lives? How can we think there might be more important things for us to do in life than to worship Him?”
The truth, the fact of the matter, is that the Lord Reigns. Scripture tells us this over and over. Our response then needs to be consistent with this. Is the worship of God our highest priority? Does it pour over into every aspect of our life? Has it changed our priorities and the choices we make? If it hasn’t we need to think seriously about what we are missing out on. Because this picture of God we get is one of triumph and joy. Nothing can compare to living a life in worship to our great God.
Pastor Lorn
Music & Arts
Something is Bugging Me
May 2, 2011 by Daryl
Filed under Blog, Pastor's Blog
The following is a guest post by Bryan Ens which was originally posted over on his blog here
Last night, as my wife and I were watching TV, our program was interrupted with the breaking news bulletin that “Osama bin Laden is dead”.
Without doubt, bin Laden was a wicked man who did much evil. I would even agree that the US military had the right to use deadly force to stop this man…which is exactly what they did.
So before I explain what’s bothering me, I have to clarify a few things. I’m not bothered that bin Laden is dead. I’m even somewhat relieved (although I’m also realistic enough to realize that there are most likely others who will gladly step into his shoes, and I doubt that terrorism against “the west” died with bin Laden). I’m not bothered with how bin Laden met his death. He lived by the sword, and he died by the sword.
I am bothered, however, by the video that I saw on the news last night. This video portrayed Americans celebrating in the street that bin Laden is dead. So why does this bother me so much? Watch this video now. My question is this…how is it any better for Americans to celebrate the death of the wicked bin Laden any better than Muslims celebrating the deaths of “the wicked infidel”? Breath a sigh of relief? Absolutely! Celebrate death? CELEBRATE??? I have to say that the idea that we celebrate death makes us little better than those that we fight against.
Perhaps I’m not bothered so much by the fact that Americans are celebrating a man’s death, but that I realize in myself that I’m not entirely innocent myself. Being a Canadian, I suppose that I can take a step back from the 9/11 attacks and bin Laden’s part in them (although I am still horrified by this senseless act of terrorism), but when I think of other historical events, I can think of a few other wicked people whom I suspect I would have celebrated the deaths of had I been alive at the time…Hitler for example…
I’m bothered by this celebration of death that I see in others…but even more so that I see in myself. Christ said in Matthew 5:44 “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” In fact, in light of the fact that the people of Jerusalem, to large extent, rejected Christ. He could have considered them his enemies, yet when Christ prophesied Jerusalem’s destruction (Lk 19:41-44), he did not celebrate, but he wept over the city.
So my question is this: should we not be weeping over bin Laden’s lost soul, rather than celebrate his death?
