OUR FATHER WHOM WE SHOULD PRAISE WITH A PURE HEART

The book of James chapter 3 verses 9 -10 says this;

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 

Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

The apostle James addresses the nature of speech among the people of God.

He juxtaposes the use of the tongue to praise the Lord and Father and then, with the same tongue, to curse human beings who were created to be like our Lord and Father.

It would be like praising a person when facing them and then turning to that person's reflection in a mirror and cursing the reflection.

James notes the paradoxic capabilities of the tongue that gives it the ability to cross boundaries of propriety and even contradict reality itself.

The cousel given by the Apostle Paul on this subject is in the letter to the Collosians in chapter 4 verse 6 which says;

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

In speaking with people, the probability of spreading injury and chaos if we speak with an unbridled tongue is ever present.

If our conversations are full of grace (which means that we are sincerely well-meaning towards those we speak to  and that we are generous in how we interprete their words to us) and if we season our discussions with salt to steer  our conversations towards righteousness, we can be assured that our answers will be profitable and we can avoid the pitfalls of carelessly spoken words.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE FACE SHINES UPON US

From Psalm 80;

Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel

You who lead Your people as a flock

You who sits enthroned between the cherubim

Shine forth Shine forth (× 2 )(× 1)

God Almighty, heal and restore us

Humbly have we prayed

Make Your face shine upon us

That we may be saved (× 1) (× 3)

Psalm 80

Hear us, Shepherd of Israel,

    you who lead Joseph like a flock.

You who sit enthroned between the cherubim,

    shine forth 

2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.

Awaken your might;

    come and save us.

3 Restore us, O God;

    make your face shine on us,

    that we may be saved.

4 How long, Lord God Almighty,

    will your anger smolder

    against the prayers of your people?

5 You have fed them with the bread of tears;

    you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.

6 You have made us an object of derision[b] to our neighbors,

    and our enemies mock us.

7 Restore us, God Almighty;

    make your face shine on us,

    that we may be saved.

8 You transplanted a vine from Egypt;

    you drove out the nations and planted it.

9 You cleared the ground for it,

    and it took root and filled the land.

10 The mountains were covered with its shade,

    the mighty cedars with its branches.

11 Its branches reached as far as the Sea,[c]

    its shoots as far as the River.[d]

12 Why have you broken down its walls

    so that all who pass by pick its grapes?

13 Boars from the forest ravage it,

    and insects from the fields feed on it.

14 Return to us, God Almighty!

    Look down from heaven and see!

Watch over this vine,

15     the root your right hand has planted,

    the son[e] you have raised up for yourself.

16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire;

    at your rebuke your people perish.

17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,

    the son of man you have raised up for yourself.

18 Then we will not turn away from you;

    revive us, and we will call on your name.

19 Restore us, Lord God Almighty;

    make your face shine on us,

    that we may be saved.

OUR FATHER'S WAYS ARE SPURNED BY THE WICKED OF HEART.

Psalm 10 verse 4 - 5 says this;

In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;  in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

His ways are always prosperous; your laws are rejected by him; he sneers at all his enemies.

Revisting this passage, we examine the condition of the wicked man

Pride is the instigator of his ways making the man to highly regard himself, every subsequent thought becomes about himself and his own interests.

Any consideration for the role of God in his life is forsaken and his mind is so full of his own affairs that God has no part in his life.

He prospers and his every effort is towards his continued prosperity. The laws of God that would restrain him are ignored and so his path becomes crooked and as he amasses enemies along his way, he mocks them and sees them as nothing.

His victims are helpless before him but when they call to the Lord for relief from their suffering, a day of reckoning is set for him.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO MADE ALL THINGS WITH GREAT KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

The book of Isaiah chapter 40 verse 12 says this;

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?

Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?

This passage appears in the context of a declaration of the prophet Isaiah who is bringing good news of the salvation that God has provided.

After explaining the vulnerability of men and our need to be saved, the prophet then explains the goodness of God and His loving attention toward those who place themselves in His care.

The great power and the unfathomable understanding possessed by God is then touched on in our passage by illustrating that the vast horizons of our planet were easily measured out by the God of creation.

The engineering of the earth as a stable and inhabitable place required carefully balanced parameters.

In this verse, four components of the earth's ecosystem are mentioned;

• The hydrosphere - rivers, lakes, seas, oceans 
• The atmosphere - gases, ions, clouds
• The biosphere - soils, organic overburden
• The lithosphere - mountains, mantle

All these components were measured and balanced to make life sustainable on the earth.

The Lord, whose knowledge and understanding were not furnished by any other, fulfilled His own purposes in creation.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO WILL JUDGE WICKEDNESS

Psalm chapter 10 verses 4 - 5 say this;

In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;  in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

His ways are always prosperous;  your laws are rejected by him; he sneers at all his enemies.

The prideful stance of men in their wickedness is one that displaces all considerations of God from their minds.

When operating by the standards of the fallen world, the wicked man succeeds and rejects the righteous laws  that are contrary to the predatory devices and formulas that have yielded success for him.

Those who speak out against his wicked and corrupt conduct earn his ire and he sneers at them with contempt. He is convinced that he will never have to face accountability for his conduct towards other people and discounts the possibility of a final judgement.

However, as verses 14 - 15 say, the victims of the wicked man's exploitation cry out to God and He sees the wreckage left behind by the actions of the wicked man. 

But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;  you consider their grief and take it in hand.

The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out.

The psalmist warns that wickedness, even when carried out in secret, is visible to God and is subject to accountability and ultimately, the wicked man is stopped.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER SENDS PROPHETS TO GUIDE IN RIGHTEOUSNESS BUT THE REBELLIOUS RESIST THEM

The book of Isaiah chapter 30 verse 9 - 11 says this;

For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction.

They say to the seers,  “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right!

Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.

Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!”

To preserve righteousness, the Lord sends seers and prophets to alert the people of the hazards of their conducts and to guide them in the way they should go but the people, comfortable in their ways, suppress the voice of the prophets by instructing them not to speak up.

 They demand that they only hear encouraging and happy things even if they are false.

This condition that the prophet Isaiah documents is mirrored in the Apostle Paul's second letter to Timothy in chapter 4 verses 3 - 4,

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 

They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

The unrighteousness in the human heart comes with a tendency to reject even the counsel that is sent to bring knowledge to us that would save us.

Built into our sinful nature is an inclination that causes our race to reject the very truth that would be beneficial in favor of the deception that comforts but leaves us in harms way.

False teachers are accumulated in large numbers to drown out the voices of the people who are sent to bring righteous reproof.

The ones who insist on proclaiming the truth are marginalized and silenced.

This is an important tactic that the kingdom of darkness uses to keep the Lord's people drifting away from the righteous path that would make them strong against the kingdom of darkness.

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OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO REDEEM US

From Psalm 40;

It is written of Me in the scroll

And I desire to do Your will, My God

You have put a new song on My soul 

A hymn of praise in which I will declare Forever 

There is none like You (x2)

Psalm 40

1 I waited patiently for the Lord;

    he turned to me and heard my cry.

2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

    out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

    and gave me a firm place to stand.

3 He put a new song in my mouth,

    a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear the Lord

    and put their trust in him.

4 Blessed is the one

    who trusts in the Lord,

who does not look to the proud,

    to those who turn aside to false gods.

5 Many, Lord my God,

    are the wonders you have done,

    the things you planned for us.

None can compare with you;

    were I to speak and tell of your deeds,

    they would be too many to declare.

6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire"

    but my ears you have opened"

    burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.

7 Then I said, "Here I am, I have come"

    it is written about me in the scroll."

8 I desire to do your will, my God;

    your law is within my heart."

9 I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly;

    I do not seal my lips, Lord,

    as you know.

10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;

    I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help.

I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness

    from the great assembly.

11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord;

    may your love and faithfulness always protect me.

12 For troubles without number surround me;

    my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.

They are more than the hairs of my head,

    and my heart fails within me.

13 Be pleased to save me, Lord;

    come quickly, Lord, to help me.

14 May all who want to take my life

    be put to shame and confusion;

may all who desire my ruin

    be turned back in disgrace.

15 May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!"

    be appalled at their own shame.

16 But may all who seek you

    rejoice and be glad in you;

may those who long for your saving help always say,

    "The Lord is great!"

17 But as for me, I am poor and needy;

    may the Lord think of me.

You are my help and my deliverer;

    you are my God, do not delay.

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OUR FATHER WHO FREES HIS PEOPLE FROM BONDAGE

The book of Isaiah chapter 19 verse 4 says this;

I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

This verse reveals a tactic that the Lord used against the Egyptians who had cruelly oppressed God's people.

To establish context, the children of Israel had cried out to God about their misery as slaves in Egypt.

In response, the Lord undertook to free them from the hands of the Egyptians and He sent Moses back to Egypt to speak to the Pharaoh of Egypt.

In the ensuing struggle, plagues of varied calamities were brought upon the Egyptians to put pressure on the Egyptian power heirarchy to compell the release of the enslaved captives.

In our passage, we see a parrallel narative but overlaid on a later context that could be understood to be our current millieu.

As the oppressor attempts to encapsulate the people of God into various forms of political and social bondage, one of the Lord's responses will be to provide for the placement of a harsh and cruel leader over the ranks of those serving the opressor.

This will have the effect of causing the oppressors to lose heart as the cruelty they dispensed on other people is dispensed on them.

The faltering morale will cause the regime to descend into a chaotic blend of confusion and material disfunctionality until the edifice of political/martial power collapses and the people of God are freed from their oppression and captivity.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO GAVE HIS SON TO SAVE US

From Psalm 31;

I turned to You when I was in distress

I trusted You, My Rock, My Righteousness 

When strength failed, and my bones grew weak

With my last breath I gave You My Spirit to keep (x2)

Now those who put their hopes in Me are wise

How abundant are the blessings I provide

They'll be strong They will not fall apart

For I will place My Spirit into their hearts (x3) 

PSALM 31

1 In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;

    let me never be put to shame;

    deliver me in your righteousness.

2 Turn your ear to me,

    come quickly to my rescue;

be my rock of refuge,

    a strong fortress to save me.

3 Since you are my rock and my fortress,

    for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

4 Keep me free from the trap that is set for me,

    for you are my refuge.

5 Into your hands I commit my spirit;

    deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.

6 I hate those who cling to worthless idols;

    as for me, I trust in the Lord.

7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love,

    for you saw my affliction

    and knew the anguish of my soul.

8 You have not given me into the hands of the enemy

    but have set my feet in a spacious place.

9 Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress;

    my eyes grow weak with sorrow,

    my soul and body with grief.

10 My life is consumed by anguish

    and my years by groaning;

my strength fails because of my affliction,[b]

    and my bones grow weak.

11 Because of all my enemies,

    I am the utter contempt of my neighbors

and an object of dread to my closest friends—

    those who see me on the street flee from me.

12 I am forgotten as though I were dead;

    I have become like broken pottery.

13 For I hear many whispering,

    “Terror on every side!”

They conspire against me

    and plot to take my life.

14 But I trust in you, Lord;

    I say, “You are my God.”

15 My times are in your hands;

    deliver me from the hands of my enemies,

    from those who pursue me.

16 Let your face shine on your servant;

    save me in your unfailing love.

17 Let me not be put to shame, Lord,

    for I have cried out to you;

but let the wicked be put to shame

    and be silent in the realm of the dead.

18 Let their lying lips be silenced,

    for with pride and contempt

    they speak arrogantly against the righteous.

19 How abundant are the good things

    that you have stored up for those who fear you,

that you bestow in the sight of all,

    on those who take refuge in you.

20 In the shelter of your presence you hide them

    from all human intrigues;

you keep them safe in your dwelling

    from accusing tongues.

21 Praise be to the Lord,

    for he showed me the wonders of his love

    when I was in a city under siege.

22 In my alarm I said,

    “I am cut off from your sight!”

Yet you heard my cry for mercy

    when I called to you for help.

23 Love the Lord, all his faithful people!

    The Lord preserves those who are true to him,

    but the proud he pays back in full.

24 Be strong and take heart,

    all you who hope in the Lord.

OUR FATHER WHO BRINGS DOWN THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS

The book of Isaiah chapter 10 verse 34 says this;

He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax; Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.

This last verse of chapter 10 gives a metaphoric description of the dissolution of the myriad of administrative structures of the Assyrian kingdom around the earth by the Almighty God.

In the same way that the Lord used the Assyrians as an impliment of judgement, an impliment of judgement is used to bring destruction to their ambitious grab for power.

Lebanon, a nation associated with the great cedar trees, is standing in for the primary hierachical structure that was set up to serve the kingdom of darkness in its reach to gain control of the earth.

Before the mighty one, this central jaugernaught is felled.

Amen.

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