Monthly Archives: December 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Enjoy your new years celebrations.  Just thought I would post a little humour to cheer your day. This piece actually has good Christian undertones.

Philippians 2[:1] So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, [2] complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. [3] Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. [4] Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Philippians 3:[8] Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ [9] and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— [10] that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [11] that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. [12] Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. [13] Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, [14] I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. [15] Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. [16] Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

As we consider again the matter of resolutions we find ourselves in Philippians 3:8-16. Paul is recounting what his life goals are and it is a marvelous account of where every believer ought to be in terms of aspirations, desires, goals.

Verse 8 – I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord -

There is absolutely no privilege greater than that of knowing Jesus Christ. This is where many believers get themselves into trouble. We often love the gift more than the Giver. If we love anything more than Him we are going to set some horrible goals for ourselves, no matter how good they appear to be. What is there that you want for yourself that can compare to the privilege of knowing Jesus Christ? If you can answer that question with a list even only containing one thing in it then you do not understand the Gospel and you may not be a believer at all. In fact, chances are that you are not.

Verse 9 – and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith -

We stand before a holy God and are counted with the very righteousness of Christ, not because we are righteous, but because He counts us as righteous because we believe in Jesus. Good goals start here. Here is a good resolution to make for yourself. Make it a goal to come to greater understanding of the biblical Gospel and what Christ has accomplished for you. Our goals will be directly related to the things that capture our hearts. Study the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be truly captivated by it. Your goals will change.

Verse 10 – that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, -

If anyone knew Christ, it was the Apostle Paul. But he could speak of his desire to know Him. Jesus is unfathomable. Everyone, even the great Apostle, needs to know Him better. What a quest this is. And it so easy to lose sight of it in the veil of tears that this life is for many of us. Resolve to know Him better. Of course the reason Paul wanted to know Jesus better was to be more like Him. Do not be satisfied with knowing facts. Knowing Jesus is not a matter of just filling your head with information. It is a matter of growing in a relationship with God. It is to know Him and think the thoughts of God after him. It is to love what He loves and hate what He hates. And it is, as Paul tells us here, to share in His sufferings. We are called to take up our crosses and follow Jesus. We will not be willing to do that if our walk with Him is distant or sporadic. And note this well. Paul`s desire was to fellowship in the sufferings of Christ. This does not mean that Paul had a death wish or invited persecution. He ran from trouble as he should have. But it does mean that his goal was that he never put anything ahead of Jesus – even living. Now there is a resolution – to know Jesus so deeply, so intimately, that one would rather die than deny Him.

There – three resolutions for us to consider – 1) To want Jesus more than anything and everything; 2) To know the biblical Gospel and be enraptured by it; 3) To know Jesus more and more so that we imitate Him in every aspect of our lives, even suffering as He did.

What a God. What a Saviour. What a Gospel. He and it are worth our everything. We will not make it so if we do not set them down as our pursuits. May we all make these part of our lifelong , not just our New Year`s, resolutions.

Daniel 1:[8] But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. [9] And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, [10] and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.” [11] Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, [12] “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. [13] Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” [14] So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. [15] At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food. [16] So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.

One day closer to New Year’s and we take a look at one of the most famous texts in the Bible regarding a resolution. Daniel, and a very large number of other Jews, have been taken captive into Babylon and he is one of a group of hand picked, exceptional young men from the upper classes who are being groomed for government service. Daniel has the wisdom to know that he will be tempted to become just like everyone around him so he makes a resolution that he will not defile himself with the food that he is being offered. This is probably because the food he was offered was food that God had said should not be eaten. Note just a couple of things regarding this resolution as we consider what ones we should make.

1) Daniel knew that he was going to be tempted to conform to practises that God had said he should not be a part of. We live in a world that is not shy about enticing us to abandon the Christian lifestyle for what it determines is right or good or beneficial or enjoyable. Far too often we allow ourselves to get sucked into behaviour that no believer should practice because we didn’t see it coming. Daniel has been tempted and he knows that he can fall so he makes his resolution.

2) Daniel makes his resolution in company with others. The text does not tell us that his three friends also made the same resolution, but we see them making the same stand as Daniel did. We fall into sin quite often because we try to fight sin all by ourselves. This is a sin in itself. One of the things that God provides for all His children in the lifelong battle against sin, is the support of others. There are support groups for almost everything imaginable. Alcoholics, drug addicts, sex addicts, you name it there are groups of people who band together to fight their problems. God has given us a support group to help us fight our temptations. It is called the church and we need to remember that one of its chief purposes is for its members to help one another avoid the sins that so relentlessly assault us.

Hebrews 3:[12] Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

We need to be a part of a small group of some sort where we can be bluntly honest about our struggles and know that we will be prayed for and helped and accepted in our struggles against sin. Daniel knew it and God has told us about him for this very reason.

There are more but two is enough for now. Where do you need to resolve not to defile yourself with the world’s meat? In what areas of life does the world say to you “Come and taste this. It is good for you and will help you get ahead. It will be satisfying and beneficial.”? Do not think this will not happen. You know it does. It has already. What have you resolved to do to make sure you do not fall?

Make a resolution to not defile yourself with whatever it is that tempts you. And then share your struggle with someone else. Make yourself accountable to a group of others who will pray for you and pray with you and not judge you and who can trust you to help them with their struggles. This is a beautiful thing in action when it happens and you will not regret it if you find it. We can do better this year if we use what God has given us to walk in obedience. Resolve, with others, to do so.

Psalm 119:59 When I think on my ways,

I turn my feet to your testimonies;

We approach the new year. I must confess that I have a bit of a fascination with resolutions and the world going agog over them at this time of year is more fascinating still. But let it be known that resolution making is a distinctly Christian thing to do. Not New Year’s Resolutions particularly, just a spirit of constant review of oneself that leads a believer in Jesus Christ to resolve to be more Christlike, more holy, more godly, more obedient, less selfish, less envious, less idolatrous. There are many texts in the Scriptures that relate to the making of resolutions in one’s life. We consider one from Psalm 119:59.

The Psalmist will not turn to obey the Scriptures if he does not “think on his ways”. In other words, he needs to take stock of himself and change where he sees that he is not lined up with the Scriptures in his thinking, his behaviour, his plans. Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. The Biblical take on that would be that the unexamined life will end up far from God and holiness and true worship and that is definitely not worth living.

Examining our lives demands time and quiet and reflection and peace. Our culture works against all those things. The demands on our time take us away from meaningful reflection and resolve to improve, to stop doing what is wrong and take up what God has called us to. Busyness. It is idolatrous in itself. And it feeds greater idolatry when it causes us to excuse our lack of fellowship with God, self examination and pursuits of Him.

Sometimes it is the church itself that robs us of our God given duties to think on our ways. We can get so busy doing God’s work, teaching, planning, fellowshipping, visiting, meetings, meetings, meetings, that we leave God behind. Stop and chew on that one for a minute. We get so busy doing work for God that we leave God out of our lives. Do not deny that this happens. It happens all the time. And it is sin.

But we seem to have grown up a church culture that thinks that being busy is the same thing as being holy. We joke about how full our schedule is. We carry a sense of pride when we can show others our overfilled daily planners. We have to sit down with our spouses and compare schedules just to go out on a date. We think that the churches that are not booked every night of the week are uncommitted. And we think that if there is something going on at the church that the measure of commitment is to be there no matter what.

I do not say all this to encourage spiritual laziness or “Sunday Christians” who only show up on Sunday or give no evidence of Christianity between the Sundays. Truth is, if more believers participated the way they should in the life of the church then there would be less burn out. Everyone would be doing a little bit instead of a few doing everything while the majority cheered them on from the sidelines. The point in all this is that both the busy and the spiritually lazy are suffering from the same sin. They do not take time to reflect and take stock and examine themselves in order to become more what God has called them to. The busy don’t do it because they can’t find time to stop and think. The non-busy don’t do it because they simply do not care and are happy with their spiritual inactivity.

We are in the last four days of 2010. Take some time in each of them this week to meditate on some Scripture and do some serious praying about where in your life you need to change. Examine your ways. And then resolve to do as God calls you to do, not merely as a New Year’s resolution, but as a change for the better that will last and be for your good as well as the Lord’s glory.

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!

The Need, The Promise, the Prophecies, the Fulfillment, The Death and Resurrection, the Coming Again, of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world.

Genesis 3:[14] The LORD God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

cursed are you above all livestock

and above all beasts of the field;

on your belly you shall go,

and dust you shall eat

all the days of your life.

[15] I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.”

Genesis 12:[1] Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. [2] And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. [3] I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Deuteronomy 18:[15] “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— [16] just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ [17] And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. [18] I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

Isaiah 7:[14] Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:[6] For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

[7] Of the increase of his government and of peace

there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Micah 5:[2] But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to be ruler in Israel,

whose coming forth is from of old,

from ancient days.

Luke2:[1] In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. [2] This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. [3] And all went to be registered, each to his own town. [4] And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, [5] to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. [6] And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. [7] And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Matthew 1:[18] Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. [19] And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. [20] But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. [21] She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” [22] All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

[23] “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us).

Matthew 2:[1] Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, [2] saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” [3] When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; [4] and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. [5] They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

[6] “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.’” …

[11] And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Romans 5:[6] For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. [7] For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— [8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [9] Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Colossians 2:[13] And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, [14] by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. [15] He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

I Corinthians 15:[3] For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, [4] that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

Revelation 2:[7] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

Revelation 21[:1] Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [2] And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. [4] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 22[:1] Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb [2] through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. [3] No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. [4] They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. [5] And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Revelation 22:[16] “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” [17] The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

Had this sent to me in the mail yesterday and thought I would share it with you.

Psalm 21

“O LORD, in your strength, the King rejoices …”

If this is a prophetic look at Christ, our King, then what we are being told here is that the King, the Son of God, rejoices in the LORD, the Father. God the Son rejoices in the Father. God rejoices in Himself. And so He should. The more crass among us, and the charge has also been made by many unbelievers of one variety or another, will argue that for God to rejoice in Himself is for God to be the biggest egomaniac there can possibly be. Where is the humility? Where is the valuing of others above oneself? And that is the problem. How can God value anything above Himself when He is the most valuable thing there can be? If God the Son rejoices in anything more than He rejoices in the Father then He is guilty of idolatry. God cannot rejoice in anything more than He rejoices in Himself because He is the greatest worship worthy Being there is. How can God love something better then Himself? There is nothing better than He is.

It is glory for the Father that is the reason for the Son creating the universe (Psalm 19:1). It is for God’s glory that the Son comes to save people (John 17:1-3). Jesus always is working for the praise of the glory of His Father. The Holy Spirit works for the glory of the Son (John 16:14). The Father calls us to glorify the Son (Colossians 1:15-20). This is why we are brought to know Jesus Christ. This is why we are made in the first place. This is why we will live forever with Him. There is nothing that is not meant to point us to our great triune God for only He is worthy.

Before the angels said “peace on earth”. They said “glory to God in the highest”. It’s Christmas. I pray that you will be able to celebrate with true purpose – giving glory to the Father who sent the Son; giving glory to the Son who came; giving glory to the Spirit for His work of bringing you to Christ. Give glory to the one God who has done it all.

Luke 6:[37] “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; [38]give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

This has become one of the most famous statements in all of the Bible. It has become so famous, in part, because people hate to be told that they are doing or believing something that is wrong. Try to tell them that, and you will be accused of judging people. The command seems fairly plain. Do not judge people. The difficulty comes in making sure we define “judge” properly. Does Jesus mean to say that it is wrong to ever say that something is wrong? Was Paul Bernardo doing anything wrong when he killed two teenage girls? Would it be wrong to say that Hitler was evil? Jesus does not discriminate when He makes this commandment. He does not say that we should judge big obvious sins but leave people’s personal choices out of the picture. So, we know that Jesus is not saying never make assessments about the rightness or wrongness of actions and attitudes.

Again, we need to remember here that Jesus is not talking about what churches or governing authorities cannot do. Churches are called by God to pass judgement on their people. If someone calling himself a sinner persistently and unrepentantly sins then the church is obligated to take some action. If a citizen violates the law, the state has the God given duty to judge people’s actions and decide on the appropriate punishment.

In the context of Jesus’ in Luke 6 it seems that what He is saying that we are not to be people with a critical spirit. He tells us not to judge, condemn, or be unforgiving. Individual believers are not to be looking under rocks to find things wrong with people. They are not to be suspicious of people’s motives. They must not accuse people of lying and hypocrisy and hiding their real feelings. Christians are not to have a critical spirit and condemnatory attitude. They are not to refuse to forgive on the basis that they really know what is going on inside a person’s head and heart.

We gravitate to this type of thing. Someone is nice to us and we question his motives. Someone says he is sorry and we charge him with insincerity. Someone corrects us and we think he is self righteous. Sometimes our assessments in such situations might be right, but the cynical, self righteous attitude that produces such assessments is most often very wrong.

A judgemental, censorious, unforgiving attitude will rot a person from within. Such people will never grow in holiness because they are too busy making sure everyone else comes up to their level. They are so busy looking around that they hardly ever look up and that will always produce immaturity, no matter how much Bible they know.

The opposite of such thinking and acting is to give (verse 38). Instead of tearing people down we are supposed to build them up. Instead of simply pointing out the weaknesses of others we are to go out of our way to help them. We are to wrestle with our assessments of others on our knees before Him who knows the heart. The heart that I am called to be most concerned about is mine.

This is convicting stuff. It meets all of us where we are. And the grace of God in His children is so powerful that it can even get us out of the evil of judging, condemning and unforgiving and bring us to be giving people.

Psalm 16: [1] Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

[2] I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;

I have no good apart from you.”

[3] As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,

in whom is all my delight.

[4] The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;

their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out

or take their names on my lips.

[5] The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;

you hold my lot.

[6] The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

[7] I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;

in the night also my heart instructs me.

[8] I have set the LORD always before me;

because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

[9] Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;

my flesh also dwells secure.

[10] For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,

or let your holy one see corruption.

[11] You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

I want an easy life. I do not want to be sick – ever. I don’t want others to hate me, hurt me, neglect me or ignore me. I want the car to always be running well, the house to be beyond the need for repair, my marriage to be free from issues, my family, including my in-laws to not need me to fix things for them. I want people to understand the Scriptures the first time they are explained to them. I want people to leave church happy, satisfied, content and hopeful, faithful and loving. The list could go on and on.

Out of the things just mentioned above I have precisely none of them as my experience. I get sick. I take a couple of pills every morning so my head won’t explode as a result of a stroke. I have been lied to, lied about, slandered, opposed and persecuted. The repair bills on my relatively new car recur. The house seems to deteriorate faster than we can keep up. My mouth gets me in trouble with my wife – no fault of hers. There are always family members who are needy in some fashion. People do not get the Scriptures very easily.

Does all this mean that Psalm 16:6 is not my testimony? Should we need everything to be going as we want it to go in order to say “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places”? David’s life was a constant turmoil. We do not know what was going on in his life when he penned this Psalm but we do know that it was not trouble free. Verse 1, 4, and 10 indicate that something is going on that has him a little vexed. David was always in some kind of crisis, either of his own making or that of others against him. How could he say that his life was pleasant?

The word “lines” probably refers to boundary lines set by God for the tribes of Israel. In the context of this Psalm it would mean that David saw his life as ordered by God and that within the boundaries of God’s will for him, life was pleasant.

“How could David say that his life was pleasant?” If we need pleasant circumstances in order for us to have a pleasant disposition then we will never be happy or content. The believer’s joy is not based on his circumstances. It is based on God’s love for Him, God’s care for Him and God’s provision for Him. Jesus Christ has come into the world and secured the eternal well being of all His people. He has promised never to leave me or forsake me. He has told me that in this world I will have tribulation but to rejoice anyway because He has overcome the world. He has gone to glory to prepare a place for me and He is coming back to get me to take me there – forever. My sins are as far as the west is from the east. I am counted as being as righteous as Jesus Christ Himself. I have the inestimable privilege of being allowed by God to call Him father and go to Him to make requests. He allows me to worship and preach and give the Gospel. Death was defeated for me on the cross when Jesus made a public spectacle of the devil as He anguished on the cross. I am an heir of God and a co-heir with Christ. My problems are light and momentary compared to the joys that await me. The difficulties I face now are obtaining for me a far greater weight of glory. These things that I now see, including my troubles, are temporary. The things that God has prepared for me that are unseen, are eternal. This list of blessings that are mine because of Christ is longer than the list of troubles that are mine. I don’t like trouble. They vex me. They take a lot of energy to deal with. The tears seem endless.

But it is still true that the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; I have a beautiful inheritance.

Psalm 147:[1] Praise the LORD!

For it is good to sing praises to our God;

for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

[2] The LORD builds up Jerusalem;

he gathers the outcasts of Israel.

[3] He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds.

[4] He determines the number of the stars;

he gives to all of them their names.

[5] Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;

his understanding is beyond measure.

[6] The LORD lifts up the humble;

he casts the wicked to the ground.

How literally should we take the Psalms? They are poetry and need to be interpreted as such. Sometimes there is some very poetic language that speaks powerful truth to us that we know is not to be understood according to the literal meaning of the words. When Psalm 33:18 tells us that the eye of the LORD is upon those who fear him we know that it means that God is watching over and caring for His children. It certainly does not mean that He has placed His eyeball on them.

We believe that the Bible literally means what it is literally seeking to tell us. But we will not give literal meaning to words and phrase, such as Psalm 33:18, that would just be ridiculous, and were not intended to be taken with such wooden literalism.

All of that to ask this: is Psalm 147:4 literally true or is it a poetic device to tell us that God knows everything? Has God really named all the stars? Whether He has or not, the truth of the matter is that God made everything and knows everything and if He wanted to name all the stars it certainly is not a problem. We tend to doubt that it is possible simply because the universe is unimaginably huge and the number of stars in it are unknown to anyone. There are billions of galaxies, and billions of stars in each galaxy.

Our God is not a regional deity, either in terms of the peoples of the earth or of the whole created order. This means that The God of the Bible is not just the God of the Jews or of Christians in the Middle east. There is only one God for all the earth. But there is also only one God in the universe and the God of the Bible created everything there is. He is in control of everything there is. There is not a single rogue uncontrolled molecule in all that huge universe. God is not a mere ruler of our solar system. That would make Him a part of something bigger than He is and there is nothing bigger than He is. If the magnitude of the universe is a problem for believing in God then our God is just too small.

Does Psalm 147:3 literally mean that God has named all the billions x billions of stars? It might. And if it does then we have no problem with that. He certainly has the ability and the knowledge to do such a thing. Any less an understanding of God is not worthy of the God He is.

Take that understanding of God and add to it this: Planet earth is a pin prick in the universe and each of us is an infinitesimally small part of that little pin prick. And the God who is greater than all the universe, who holds a universe over 10,000,000,000 light years large, and who has named all the stars, dwells in every person who trusts in this God because He became one of us and died that we might have life. That is literally true and it is simply stunning. Such a God who has done what He has done is worthy of much more worship than we will ever give Him. What a God.