Wilderness Wanderings

Praise the Lord! And he has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his faithful servants, of Israel, the people close to his heart. Praise the Lord! (Psalm 148:1,14).

These last few Wilderness Wanderings have been landing in the final crescendo of the book of Psalms (I do know a few musical terms, look it up if you don't know what crescendo means). It's a great place to spend the end of the summer, especially as we move into a new school year with all of its uncertainty. "Praise the Lord!" the Psalms conclude, keep your face lifted up. Pay attention to God in all his splendour and power.

Last week, Pastor Anthony offered a devotional on this Psalm in which he noted how all creation sings the praise of God. We, the children of God, are the last. He asked the question, "Why are we the last of all to join the chorus?" He wisely answered that we "serve as witnesses: taking our place as the thundering clashes of final affirmation to say 'yes, amen, it's all true!'"

Today, I'd like to ask a different question, "Why are we so slow to do it? Why does it take so much effort for us to praise God?" You know what I mean don't you? Haven't we all attended worship services in which it seemed few wanted to be there? In fact, how many of us haven't sat through a service spending more time watching the clock than participating?

Five entire psalms calling us to 'Praise the Lord.' Did you know that? Five! Why is it so difficult to "Praise the Lord?" Why does it not come naturally to us?

The answer is that all of creation is now subject to bondage and decay (Romans 8:20-21). Along with the rest of God's created order we are subject to the power of sin. Because of sin, the basic answer is, 'I don't want to! I want to do my own thing. I don't want to worship God.' We've all been in a room of people, haven't we, when someone new walks in and immediately draws everyone's attention. In some small way, we'd all like to be that person, that centre of attention. Praising God gives him attention. It puts him at the centre. Its difficult to do.

So, what do we do? Is there a way forward? The psalm's ending gives us a clue: "And he has raised up for his people a horn" (14). This line is quoted by that Zachariah who was mute for over nine months because he didn't believe the angel Gabriel. At his son's circumcision party, his mouth is opened and he sings, "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us" (Luke 1:68-69). In the Bible 'horn' is an image for strength.

Now listen to this, from Luke 11, Jesus said, "But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder" (20-22). Jesus' implication was clear. "I am the stronger one," he says, "I have come to bind Satan. That's what you are seeing."

Paul builds on this when he writes, "At one time you were dead in your sins. Your desires controlled by sin… But God gave you new life together with Christ. He forgave us all our sins…He has taken it away and nailed it to the cross. He took away the weapons of the powers and authorities. He made a public show of them. He won the battle over them by dying on the cross" (Col. 2:13-15).

There we have it. The way out of sin is not within us. It is not to try harder. Rather, it is too look to Jesus. We move towards praising God by believing that Jesus has bound the powers that keep our eyes focussed on this earth and our misery. Because Jesus has released us, we can look up again.

Romans 8 also tells us that the creation waits in hope for liberation. The one through whom the creation was formed has gone through death to liberate all things. Christ frees us from the bondage of all hostile powers. Jesus reconciles us and all creation to our Creator God.

Followers of Jesus sing Psalm 148 in anticipation of all creation being free to sing the praise of God again. So, let's sing this psalm. Let's continue to sing the last songs of the Psalter in anticipation of Christ's final and full victory.

COIVD-19, masks, and social distancing will not have the final word. Let's sing Psalm 148 in anticipation of the day when these things will be no more.

Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, my soul. I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God. (Psalm 146:1-5)

Yesterday, Pastor Michael reminded us that as followers of the victorious Lord Jesus Christ, we use divine strategies for navigating our way in the world, not human ones.

And that makes us a bit strange.

But it's a theme that flows through the full breadth of the Bible—even here in these last five praise Psalms of the Psalter.

It's a theme the Church tends to forget though, just like the rest of God's people throughout the ages. Or at least, we have a hard time grasping it. And the crux of the problem is probably this: God asks that as we rely on Him—the God who we can't see—we drop our reliance on many of the things that we can see: humans, government, insurance providers, political parties, the strength of our own actions and agency in the world, the number in our bank account, you name it.

God asks us to let go of the things that we feel we have some control over in order to trust in Him, the God who we cannot control.

What a difficult thing.

At many-a leadership training retreat, you'll find an exercise called the "trust fall." One of the folks at the retreat will be blindfolded, told to cross their arms in front of their chest so that they can't use their arms, and then are told to lean back until they fall over. The idea being, that the rest of the members of the team behind you will catch you, not letting you hit the ground. Of course, you're blindfolded, so you can't be sure that they're there. And, maybe you don't know these people all that well—are they the sorts of folks that would let you fall just to laugh and point? You don't know. But you can't rely on your own legs or arms to catch you either—you're vulnerable. Helpless. Nothing between you and the floor but the trust that these unseen strangers will indeed do what they said they'd do, and catch you.

Following this God we claim is a lot like that. He tells us that in fact, we're already vulnerable and unable to do much to save ourselves. Despite the illusions of control we seemingly have over this world and our place in it, we cannot save ourselves. Not from sins, but also not from the generational hurts of our families, the restructuring of our workplace, the plans for reopening schools, the chronic pains of our bodies. We actually have very little control over our world and lives. We're quite vulnerable, and our position in this world is always somewhat precarious.

So God asks us to let go of the things we can see and to fall into His hands—the hands of the God we cannot see—instead. An act of trust: a trust fall.

It is easier to trust the people we can see though, like our political leaders. Or the things we can hold, like our insurance and OHIP cards. Or the things we can do, like work or think our way to a place of self-sufficiency.

But all these things, including our own strength is guaranteed to fail at some point or another. We don't live forever. Pandemics happen. So do other crises.

There is only One who can guarantee our trust will not be broken—and that's God. The only One who remains unchanging amid our changing lives and circumstances, the only One who endures beyond the fleeting strength of our bodies and institutions.

So, will you let yourself fall into the arms of God? Even though you can't see Him?

Blessed is the one whose hope is in The Lord their God.

May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands (Psalm 149:6).

One day, Jesus was praying. When he was finished a disciple asked, "teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1). He offered them the words we now call 'the Lord's Prayer.' I wonder if Jesus' disciples had overheard him praying the psalms when the question was asked. It was the Israelite prayer book. More importantly, Jesus' prayer picks up themes found through out the psalms. We need Jesus to truly understand Psalm 149.

It is a psalm of praise to God, bookended as it is by the phrase, "Praise the Lord." The opening half is delightful, a wondrous call to God's people to get up and bodily worship him. It's a shame that many of us relegate such raucous worship to VBS.

But in the middle of our verse, May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, there is a dramatic shift that endures to the end of the psalm. What are we to make of this shift into violent warfare imagery? This is where Jesus and his prayer are helpful. Jesus' prayer is about the battle between God's kingdom and all the dominions that seek to thwart his purposes.

Psalm 149 addresses this cosmic struggle between good and evil; between God and Satan and his forces. The church has long understood that this psalm gives voice to that battle. Further, that Christians understand themselves as living within that struggle. If we are followers of Christ, then we are soldiers in His army.

Thus, this Psalm is often paired with Ephesians 6:10-20 in which Paul reminds us of our part in the battle. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (12). We put on the armour of God to stand strong in the fray. The sword that we carry does not cut flesh, for it is the Word of God. It penetrates to the spiritual heart bringing either judgement or salvation.

Hebrews 4:12 says that The Word of God is a "double-edged sword". Unlike the physical sword that can stab and slash someone to death, this sword penetrates soul and spirit to bring life. Echoing Psalm 149, this double-edged sword of the Lord "judges the thought and attitudes of the heart".

The two phrases of our text are meant to describe each other. Thus, they could be read as May the praise of God be in their mouths like a double-edged sword in their hands. Praising God is like wielding a sword. Our faithfulness to God and the proclamation of his sovereignty furthers His reign in this world.

This psalm calls us to look beyond the struggles of the current pandemic and the squabbles and misdemeanors of our politicians. It invites us to remember that there are greater issues at hand. This is not to ignore the pressing issues caused by the pandemic, nor to overlook the bad behaviour of our politicians. But to remember that no matter who leads us, regardless of length of this pandemic, we are involved in this larger struggle.

This psalm calls us to live and pray with confidence. It invites us to pay attention to the fact that we are on the winning side. There is no fear that we will lose. We pray in the assurance that through His resurrection Christ has won the war.

And therefore, we use divine strategies, not human ones. As a composer once wrote: the battle for God's kingdom and justice is fought "not with swords' loud clashing or roll of stirring drums. With deeds of love and mercy the heavenly kingdom comes."

The Contemporary Testimony puts it this way, "Our hope for a new creation is not tied to what humans can do, for we believe that one day every challenge to God's rule will be crushed. His kingdom will fully come, and the Lord will rule. Come, Lord Jesus, come.

On that day we will see our Savior face to face, sacrificed Lamb and triumphant King, just and gracious. He will set all things right, judge evil, and condemn the wicked. We face that day without fear, for the Judge is our Savior, whose shed blood declares us righteous. We live confidently, anticipating his coming, offering him our daily lives-our acts of kindness, our loyalty, and our love-knowing that he will weave even our sins and sorrows into his sovereign purpose. Come, Lord Jesus, come (55, 57).

That's the confidence inspired by Psalm 149.

A special, extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Acts 17:16-34 from the New International Version of the Bible.

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on Youtube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens; Praise him in the heights above. Praise the Lord form the earth. Let them praise the name of the Lord For his name alone is exalted; His splendor is above the earth and the heavens. And he has raised up for his people a horn, The praise of all his faithful servants, Of Israel, the people close to his heart. Praise the Lord (Psalm 148:1,7a,13-14)

On Monday, I mentioned a song that had been stuck in my head. Today, I'll mention another one: the title is "Psalm 148," again, by the Sons of Korah. It's basically the words of this Psalm. You can find it here on Spotify if you'd like to listen.

It came to mind again as I listened in to Pastor Michael's devotion on Psalm 150 from yesterday. As he said, the last few Psalms are just a raucous ruckus of praise before God. Like the grand finale at the end of a fireworks show—the loudest cracks of praise and streamers of joy are touched off at the end, with a chaotic exuberance reverberating out between the earth and the heavens as the creation takes full throated delight in the Creator.

"Praise the Lord!" shouts the beginning and end of each of these last five Psalms. "Praise the Lord!"

Psalm 148 is no different. It's an immersive experience, with the heavens lunching the first salvo of praise.

The sun, moon, and stars take their turns beaming, pulsing, and shooting out the praise of the creator who has established them as everlasting markers of time and bringers of light and warmth—the stuff of life that plants photosynthesize and that's guided and inspired night travelers through the ages. Even still today, astrophysicists attend to the depths of the heavens to discover and take awe in all that God has made—whether they'd say so or not. Even still today, the heavens praise the Lord. Then the earth responds. From the depths of the oceans to the lightning crackling through the sky to the mountain peaks and the wind that rushes over and through them all—the earth itself swirls, cracks, and gusts out the praises of God. As Jesus said: the very rocks will cry out.

As do the creatures on the earth: the whales and cattle, the insects and birds—all flapping and splashing out their delight in in the Lord. Even the people upon the earth join the finale. Lastly, they arrive to the grand firework show too. Kings and rulers, all nations, young and old, women and men. And last among them all: even God's people show up and attend to the praise of their Creator.

Why are we the last of all to join the chorus? The heavens begin, the earth responds, then the creatures, then the whole of humanity, and finally God's own people. I'd like to think it's not because we had our head in the sand, or took for granted what was ours already as members of God's family. No, I'd like to think we're last because we, as those who have attended to the story and promises of God from beginning to end, serve as witnesses: taking our place as the thundering clashes of final affirmation to say "yes, amen, it's all true!"

But to take up our place in the chorus of full-bodied praise does indeed take an act of attention: attending to the glory of the heavens and the earth that God has displayed daily anew before us—they each praise His name. Attending to the glory of God in the face of those who bear his image—the very presence of another human person in our midst is a testimony of praise to the One in whose likeness we are formed.

Praise is constantly cascading forth from our daily experience from the heavens, the earth, and all the creatures, including us who fill the earth. So today, will you attend to the praise of the Lord that floods daily into your senses? Will your eyes see the bird flitting through air as an act of God worthy of thanks? Will your ears hear the wind in the trees as echoes of His praise? Will you thank God for the presence of the next person you meet?

With eyes and ears open and attentive, you may notice it's not just the last few Psalms that are filled with the praise of the Lord—it's everywhere! And you, as part of His creation, are already a part of it! Will you attend to this great praise of the Lord? You, who are close to His heart?

Praise the Lord (Psalm 150:1).

Years ago, I took a class with the late Dallas Willard. He opened the class with two instructions. First, that each of us sleep 10-12 hours for the first 4 nights, after that a minimum of 8, but 10 was better. It was a two-week course at a retreat centre, so sleep was part of the deal, but that much? When the protests had died down, Dallas explained that fatigue was one of the greatest problems in the North American church today, especially among church leaders. There was a room full of us. Fatigue hinders our ability to pay proper attention to things. Christians have long believed that the two things we need to pay attention to most are: God and ourselves. Sleep deprived Christians don't pay attention to either.

His second instruction was to find a lonely place in the wilderness and shout Psalms 145-150 at the top of our lungs. The retreat centre was in the foothills of a desolate California mountain range. Lonely places were abundant. But for a second time an explanation was needed. Dallas patiently explained that praising God is difficult. We resist. It helps if our bodies lead the way. Further, the ending of the book of Psalms is raucous. It demands energy. Sitting quietly at the kitchen table whispering these psalms just won't do.

I've often thought about these two strange instructions. Fifteen years later, I'm convinced that Dallas Willard was right on both counts. After I got home, I used to climb the hill behind our house in Frankford to shout those Psalms. But then the snow began to fall and well, you can guess what happened.

At the end of the Psalter we are given a glimpse of what is happening everywhere, all the time: the worship of God. And what the new heavens and earth will be like. Psalm 150 is probably the most challenging of all the psalms: it's not about you, it's not about me, it's about God; all about God! Why have Christians always gathered for worship services? Not for our sake, but because God is worthy of our worship.

This psalm gives us the basics of worship. Where is God to be praised? In his sanctuary, in his mighty heavens, of course. This is God's throne room from where he rules the universe. Remembering where he is causes us to look up to him and away from ourselves.

Why should we worship him? "Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness." This is a summation of his powerful rule and provision. We are allowed to pause here and fill in some details from our own lives.

When the Psalm gets to the question of the 'how of worship', things get a bit chaotic. "Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals." As I said, its raucous. All the stops are pulled out.

Finally, the psalm asks 'Who? Who should praise the Lord?" And the answer is: everything needs to praise the Lord. "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord."

In this final psalm its like, "A lot has been said about God in all these psalms; in light of what has said, you know all the reasons to praise God. Just do it."

Our praise of God is more than music. Its more than worship services. We believe that everything Christians do ought to be acts of worship. 'We are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices" (Romans 12:2). Everything is to be done to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). However, such living is normally fuelled, or least encouraged, by the traditional Sunday worship services. So, let's admit that it is more difficult when we can't meet together.

What ways have you discovered to keep praising God robustly during COVID? Do you need to get more sleep? Let me encourage you to find ways to pay more attention to God and to yourself. And praise the Lord! Just do it!

Hear my voice when I call, LORD; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior. … I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. (Psalm 27:7-9,13-14)

The phrase that stands out to me in this text is: "My heart says of you, 'Seek his face!' Your face, Lord, I will seek."

How often is that true, I wonder? How often do the longings of our heart attach themselves to seeking the face of God?

I think we find that our longings attach themselves far more often to lesser things. The constant scroll of a web page or app—any really—that just keeps us mindlessly flicking. The attractiveness of a person on the street. The lure of escape from our present moment though any number of outlets: substances, sports, gaming, social media, busyness, politics, whatever.

Some of these things I just listed off are things you might recognize to be wrong, but others you might see as quite ordinary and benign. The Christian tradition has long recognized that actually, even very good things, like our families, can become idols in our lives. Things that begin to reorient our desires and the longings of our hearts away from the Creator to the created.

Such that the things that we seek are no longer the things of life to the full that flow from our Creator and Redeemer, but rather lesser things, that when pursued as ends in themselves, only leave us longing for more.

Sports are great. Beauty and relationships are great. Games are fun. Work is fruitful and can be quite meaningful too. Social media is a wonderful tool of connection. But they are, all of them, meant to be received as gifts of God that draw our eyes and attention to Him. None of them are ends in themselves. If we treat them as such, we'll only find our senses dulled and our hearts broken.

Our senses and our seeking were created to find their fulfillment and joy in the face of God. The longing, the aching emptiness, the restless striving we feel in this life, are the cries of our heart to "seek his face!"

But we tend to attach our longings, loneliness, and strivings to lesser things, because we fear we won't be received by God when we stand in His presence. Whereas we know that our phone screen, which we can easily hold, see, and control, will always accept us, even if we come in our pajamas at noon with our life in a mess.

But to stand in the presence of God—to stand before His face—well, that may be what our heart cries for, but it is also one of the things that we most fear. Seen in the penetrating light of God's face, known for what we really and truly are: will we still be loved?

You hear the Psalmists wrestle time and time again with the same anxiety, even here in the 27th Psalm. "Do not hide your face from me, do not reject me, do not forsake me! Hear my cry, Lord," the Psalmist says.

And yet, in a step of faith despite these very real fears, the Psalmist turns the heart's cry of longing into a movement of the soul, mind, and body: a daring act of attention to God—seeking his face in prayer. And then the Psalmist turns around and invites us to join too. To turn away from whatever lesser things we may have been occupying ourselves with and to give our attention instead to the Lord. Waiting on him in confidence that we will see his face and his goodness yet, here in the land of the living.

And we indeed do have confidence of that fact, because it is in Jesus that we stand before the face of God: seen, known, loved, and forgiven.

My heart is filled with longing for your laws at all times…Lord, I call out to you with all my heart (Psalm 119:20, 145).

We return to Psalm 119. I expect this will be the last time for a while. Via this Psalm we have been exploring what it might mean that David was 'a man after God's own heart' (Acts 13:22). We have looked at four things that may have caused God to describe him this way: obedience, humility, integrity and worship.

I wonder if any of you, while of course agreeing with these things, had a notion that something was missing. Many other things could be added. I checked Google this morning. Its first entry was an article including 10 things. So, yes, my list could go on for a while. But I think these four are at the top. But while I was preparing the past several devotions, I had this vague notion that I was missing something. There was something that brought all these different things together. Not something at the top of the list, but something, pardon the pun, that lies at the heart of the matter.

As you might know, last week I was on vacation. Normally, when I go on vacation, I take along a stack of digital books to read. This year, I took a real stack of novels along with one digital book that I had saved for the occasion. The opening paragraphs of that book brought the 'Aha', this is it, this is what I was missing. What my heart was telling me, but my mind couldn't quite grasp, I saw.

The book in question was written by Mark Galli, retired editor in chief of Christianity Today. I became familiar with Mark via the podcast called, Quick to Listen, which he co-hosted with Lee Mogan. His book, published earlier this year, is called, When Did We Start Forgetting God? published by Tyndale House.

In his book, Mark argues that while Christians talk a lot about God and do lots of things for God, we have, in large part, forgotten him. Why does he propose this? In chapter 1, He writes, "…a church that has not forgotten God exhibits one principal characteristic: a desire for God—a desire so intense it sometimes looks like drunkenness or even madness." That is what is missing in much of Christendom today.

I'm getting very close to marketing his book for him. That's not my intent. However, while editor of Christianity Today, Mark came in contact with incredibly large cross section of the church. This gives him credibility. I already knew the thesis of this book before I read it last week. I already knew that I agreed with him. We have lost our desire for God. The fact that I knew this, the fact that I was writing about David, 'a man after God's own heart', and the fact that I still missed it, reinforced for me, how easy it is for us to be doing things for God and to be talking and yes, preaching and preparing devotions about God, and still miss this key ingredient.

If you doubt me, listen to David, "You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1). "One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple" (Psalm 27:4). We see this in the New Testament where, Paul writes, "Everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him" (Philippians 3:8-9).

I could go on. There are many other examples of this in the Bible. They are rooted in the summary of the law as Jesus gives it, "You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength" (Mark 12:30).

Its not that I didn't say any of this in my previous devotions. But I think that any reflections on what it means to be a person after God's own heart that does not begin and end here, with a deep desire for God, falls short. It is this longing for him, that causes God to describe David this way.

If someone were to ask you, 'What do you want more than anything?" Would you answer simply, "God!"? I'm not sure how many Christians would answer that way. Our desires wonder so easily. Thus, I invite you to pray for yourself, pray for your church leaders, pray for the church, that the Holy Spirit would fill us with the desire that filled David.

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)

I've continued to ponder what the shape of a faithful Christian life is when there's no communal gatherings for worship.

If you've been following along with these devotions, you've heard me say that Israel in the time of the Kings and the Psalms didn't have weekly communal worship either: only communal festivals at the temple a few times a year. So, what was it that kept them walking in the way of the Lord as day blurred into day between their pilgrimage?

Part of the key lies in these opening words of the Psalter from Psalm 1, I think. I was reminded of them again by an Australian band called the "Sons of Korah," who devote themselves to giving a fresh voice to the Biblical Psalms. Their song Blessed is the Man, does just that with Psalm 1, and it's been stuck in my head the past few days. If you're curious to hear it, you can find and click the link here in the written text of this devotion.

It's a Psalm that speaks to our movement through life in body, heart, and mind. The walking, sitting, and standing of our body. The delight of our heart. The meditations of our mind. And in all these places—in our hearts, minds, and the strength of our bodies—the invitation is to be fixed on the law of the Lord and on His righteousness.

It sounds a bit like the first and greatest commandment given by Jesus in the Gospels: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30). Which is actually Jesus quoting the faith of Israel from Deuteronomy.

Throughout the Bible from beginning to end, this idea of literally walking our faith out day by day with, and in everything that we are: our heart, soul, mind, and strength remains paramount. The first commandment upon which we are to meditate.

So blessed is the one who does just that. Who does not walk in step with the wicked by taking cruel words or actions out in arguments with their spouse, parents, children, or friends.

Blessed is the one who does not stand in the way that sinners take, like those that link to pornography.

Blessed is the one who does not sit in the company of mockers on social media where cruelty and disparaging remarks are being shared—whether about public figures, the opinions and decisions of other fellow human image bearers of God or anything or anyone else.

Blessed is the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord which gives them joy when opportunities pop up to love their neighbours as themselves, like in the grocery store aisles when someone starts an angry conversation about masks or cuts you off in line. You can love them—what a delight.

Blessed is the one who meditates on the law of the Lord, such as the command to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength day and night. Whether through songs that bring the words of Psalms into our day or in prayers that carry us through waking nights.

Blessed is that one who lives the law of the Lord: there is a rhythm to their lives like the seasonal rhythm of a desert tree growing by water. Rooted in God, we find the nutrients that enable us to live fruitfully, rhythmically, and fully this life we've been given. Drinking from His waters of life build the muscles of our mind, heart, body, and soul to react in the attentive ways of righteousness, rather than in the cruel, prideful, self-righteous, or escapist ways that otherwise become easily our default.

Our devotional life is actually more like a life of devotion. It's not only Bible reading and prayer—it is a life devoted to the love of the Lord and His ways that shows up in our emotional life, our mental ponderings, and the actions carried out by the strength of our bodies day by day.

Blessed is that one who devotes all their life and living to the Lord.

A special, extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Acts 16:13-15 from the New International Version of the Bible.

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca