Wilderness Wanderings

The Lord our God spoke to us at Mount Horeb. He said, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Take your tents down. Go into the hill country of the Amorites. Go to all the people who are their neighbors. Go to the people who live in the Arabah Valley. Travel to the mountains and the western hills. Go to the people in the Negev Desert and along the coast. Travel to the land of Canaan and to Lebanon. Go as far as the great Euphrates River. I have given you all this land. Go in and take it as your own. The Lord promised he would give the land to your fathers. He promised it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He also said he would give it to their children after them" (Deuteronomy 1:6-8).

There, at Mount Horeb, also know as Mount Sinai, the forging of a covenant nation had begun. There, Israel reflected on how God had carried them on the wings of eagles and brought them to himself (cf. Ex.19:4). For the first time they had heard his voice. It terrified them; and so, Moses became God's mouth piece. Yet, the Lord God and his people had spent time together, had begun to know each other; and the people began to grasp that they were "a kingdom of priests to serve God; his holy nation" (cf. Ex. 19:6).

We too must learn to know the voice of our God. Covenant means relationship. As God covenanted with Israel, he now covenants with the church. Relationship means that we know one another. Jesus said that his sheep know and recognize his voice (cf. John 10:7ff). We hear his voice in the scriptures and sometimes through the whispers of the Spirit to our spirit (cf. Romans 8:16). Sometimes it's a terrifying voice, he is God after all. Yet, we all come to know him as our God who carries us out of our Egypt of sin on the wings of eagles. In Christ, he is not just our God, but our Father. This is both deeply personal and profoundly communal for it is very difficult for a Christian to thrive outside the community of faith.

Having spent time at the mount, getting to know their God, it was time for Israel to move on. They were not meant to wander forever in the wilderness. The act of being God's holy nation was very concrete, very specific. It was meant to be lived out in a particular place. As we consider this, Moses would have us ponder three things.

First, it is a place of promise. Israel's homecoming will not be a casual or unexpected event. God's intention has always been to situate Israel in a land promised, to bring blessing to all the families of the earth. First Abraham, and then all his descendants, were invited to trust in God to deliver on his promise. Likewise, Jesus' disciples are called to believe that we will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). As they say, the best is yet to come. The promise remains that we will enter our rest (Hebrews 4:1). We still struggle against sin in ourselves and in the world, but the day of rest is coming. Its his promise. Trusting in this promise keeps our hope and courage alive.

Second, the land is given. It is not deserved or claimed. It is a gift from God. Moses will continually remind Israel that no merit or power of their own will win them the land. They must receive it and then live in it as something gifted to them. As soon as they begin to act as if they possess it or have a right to it, things will go badly for them. Paul is equally emphatic, "God's grace has saved you because of your faith in Christ. Your salvation doesn't come from anything you do. It is God's gift. It is not based on anything you have done. No one can brag about earning it" (Ephesians 2:8-9). The joy of living in the gift of redemption marks the Christian life.

Third, the land must be taken. Israel must go in and take possession of the land. On the surface it means warring against those who resist. But there is something deeper here, taking possession means cleansing it of evil, establishing in it a holy people dedicated to the Lord. In its reflection on the meaning of Sabbath, the Heidelberg Catechism concludes, "that every day of my life I rest from my evil ways, let the Lord work in me through his Spirit, and so begin already in this life the eternal Sabbath" (Answer 103).

So already in this life we begin to experience the fulfillment of God's full promise of salvation. The Spirit leads us in the way of obedience to God. Jesus put it this way, "I have told you this so that you will have the same joy that I have. I also want your joy to be complete. Here is my command. Love one another, just as I have loved you" (John 15:11,12). Joy, love, and obedience; three qualities of the Christian life, three gifts of grace.

These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—that is, in the Arabah—opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.) In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them. This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth. East of the Jordan in the territory of Moab, Moses began to expound this law… (Deuteronomy 1:1-5)

Today we begin a new chapter in our wanderings, heading back to the wilderness. We'll be running through the book of Deuteronomy in anticipation of the season of Lent, which will focus on the Jewish festivals. We think Deuteronomy will be a fitting companion to our worship.

More than that though, there is perhaps no book in the Old Testament that has more direct connections with the rest of the Old Testament or what will come later in the New Testament than this book. It is important background to the whole of the Christian faith that follows. Jesus, Paul, and the other New Testament writers and actors all rooted their faith and many of their words and actions right here in this book.

So, what is the book of Deuteronomy all about? Firstly, this book is located squarely in the "Arabah" of "Moab," East of the Jordan and just outside the promised land. The final verse of the book of Numbers gives a more familiar term for this place: "the plains of Moab."

What is this place? It's the borderlands: the place in between the wilderness and the promised land, the place in between the past and the future, between death and life, between wandering and homecoming. The people have been "born" out of bondage by their crossing through the waters of the Red Sea, but they have not yet been "born again" through the waters of the Jordan into the land of God's promise. Jesus' own teaching very much took place in the same "borderlands" between past and future, between Old Testament and New, between Law and Grace, that is: between being "born" and being "born again." This is why Jesus chastises Nicodemus in John 3 for not understanding the time and place that had come upon him: "You are Israel's teacher… and do you not understand these things?"

In our own lives, we continue to find ourselves in the borderlands. We live between Jesus' first and second coming. We've received all the promises of the Kingdom of God and even parts of it's reality through forgiveness and the outpouring of the Spirit, but we've not yet stepped foot into the New Heavens and the New Earth where everything we know is set right and made well. More specifically, we face all sorts of in-between time realities. Culture is shifting under our feet and the post-pandemic world is still taking shape: we do not yet know what our future will be like.

Secondly: the title of the book of Deuteronomy in Hebrew is "These are the words." These are the words spoken into this borderland time between past and future. These are words that recall the past and give the reasons for living hopefully and purposefully into a future given, shaped, and commanded by God. These are the words of promise, of warning, of encouragement, of covenant, of law.

As relevant as these words were for the Israelites back then, they remain so for us in the church today reminding us that our journey with God is more than just what we face in the borderlands of the present moment: our journey is anchored in a God-saturated past and lived in hope for an abundantly good and fruitful God-guaranteed future.

These are therefore, the words that will guide us into the season of Lent, even as they guided Jesus and his disciples along their journey with him to the cross, empty tomb, ascension, and outpouring of the Spirit.

Praise the Lord. Praise God in his holy temple. Praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his powerful acts. Praise him because he is greater than anything else. Praise him by blowing trumpets. Praise him with harps and lyres. Praise him with tambourines and dancing. Praise him with stringed instruments and flutes. Praise him with clashing cymbals. Praise him with clanging cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord! (Psalm 150).

At the end of the Psalter, we are given a glimpse of what is happening everywhere, all the time: the worship of God. At least, the way it is meant to be and the way it will be. Here is probably the most challenging of all the psalms: it's not about you, it's not about me, it's about God. Why do Christians gather for worship? Not for our sake, but because God is worthy of our worship.

The Psalms began with the wisdom words of Psalm 1, calling on the faithful to delight in and meditate on the God's Word. The story of the Psalter is the story of God's covenantal love for the Israelites and for all of creation. At the end of the story, the faithful, along with all of creation, offer absolute praise to God. It can be no other way.

Frequently in the book of Psalms, the composers call God's people to worship Him and then give reasons why they should do so. But not here. In the final psalm its like, "We have said a lot about God in all these psalms; considering what we have said, you know all the reasons to praise God. Just do it."

The Presbyterians captured this when developing their teaching tool. The Westminster Shorter Catechism begins with the question "What is the chief end of humanity?" And the answer is, "Our chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever".

Worship begins in heaven. Our worship is not primarily personal, its not about our personal devotion to God. Its not about songs, styles, or feeling like it. As pictured in Revelation 4 and 5, the four heavenly creatures around the throne, 'day and night never stop' their worship of the only one who is worthy (4:8). Their worship swells out until "every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them" joins the chorus (5:13).

Thus, worship is primarily our response to God. What else can we do? Jesus first words to John in Revelation are, "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living one; I was dead. And now look, I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades." What shall we say to that except, 'Praise the Lord!"

When we gather for worship as Christian communities, we are only joining what is already happening in heaven. How can we do anything but lay ourselves fully on the alter? This psalm, anticipating the great chorus' of Revelation, calls us to worship God with every means possible, "to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is our true and proper worship" (cf. Romans 12:1).

We are not trying to get a hearing in heaven. We are not performing for God; he is no spectator. We are not doing it for our own spiritual self-amusement or as a form of spiritual entertainment. Our worship only begins to find its purpose when it focuses on who God is and what he has done for us in Christ. We certainly ought to offer God our best, but should not allow the details of corporate worship to distract us from the joy and delight we have in God.

The writers of the New Testament pick up this truth that the worship of God must be our total commitment. "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name" (Hebrews 13:15). "…be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:18-20).

Since God's glory fills the universe, his praise must do no less. Worship is all of life, it is our first and foremost task. It is a preview of heaven when we will join the throng at the throne.

Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people. Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King. Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp. For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory. Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds. May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written against them—this is the glory of all his faithful people. Praise the Lord. (Psalm 149)

This psalm takes a surprising turn, doesn't it? All is happy and well, the praise of God is on our lips and our feet our dancing—and then all of a sudden we find a sword in our hands!

There have indeed been times in the past when this psalm has served as a call to war for Christians—like the Thirty Years' War in Europe following the Reformation. Somehow the fruit of that endeavour doesn't square with Jesus' command to Peter to "put away your sword!" No, there's something else going on in this psalm that seems to echo more with sword of the Spirit, or the double edged sword of scripture: a sword that is the power of God's spoken and written word that reveals and transforms more so than an earthly military power that kills and destroys.

The faithful people of God who are given this sword are the ones that have praise on their lips and who are humble in heart. Again, resonating with the words of Jesus: these humble ones, meek in spirit, become in this psalm the very ones who "inherit the earth." How do they do it? By praising God and living faithfully according to the revelation they have been given in God's words and promises to them, I think.

There is a sense in which this psalm speaks more to the way in which God's people witness within a world that as yet remains hostile and temptuous. The militant church of Jesus Christ is a witnessing community armed with God's revealing word and the Gospel of the Word, Jesus Christ. We are armed with love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace. And indeed, nothing cuts through a person's defenses quicker than an undeserved second chance or word of forgiveness.

Telling someone how they've failed relative to the law and demanding they do better or else only plays into the shame, isolation, and guilt that already plague the world with darkness. To tell someone that they are seen for who they are, and forgiven and welcomed in nevertheless in the name of Jesus: well that's countercultural in a way that cuts people to the quick and utterly changes the conversation.

How can we keep our sword of this kind of healing, forgiving, loving grace and mercy clean and sharp, ready for battle? The sharpening stone offered by this psalm is praise. We keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and on his completed and coming work. We praise God because we have a better story, a better ruler, and we know that we are free. It's only with this kind of praise consistently on our lips that we will have the wherewithal to participate in the coming of the kingdom. Otherwise, it's too easy to turn dower, bitter, burdened down with sorrow and compassion fatigue. The antidote is praise. And praise, oddly enough, is also the weapon. A witness to the completely confronting counter-cultural ways of our God and his Kingdom, "the glory of all his faithful people. Praise the Lord."

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is 1 Samuel 11 from the New International Version of the Bible. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!

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

1. What is at stake for Israel in this story?
2. Why is Abijah's Uncle mentioned? What does it say about Saul? What is Saul doing that aligns with 'glory gone'?
3. How are Jonathan and Saul compared? What is the heart of the difference between the two? How do we observe Saul's spirituality decaying? How much of Saul do you find in your own life?
4. How do we apply this story to our lives? Take time this week to discern which voices you are listening too. When Jesus called his disciples, how did he evoke this story?
5. What must we believe about God to apply this story to our living?

Praise the Lord! Let [everything he has made] praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens (Psalm 148:1, 13).

Praise the Lord!

There is it. One of the basic commands of the Christian life.

As basic as the two great commandments: love the Lord your God and your neighbour as yourself. As complex as the cultural mandate in Genesis 1:28 and the great commission in Matthew 28:18-20. Understanding that this is a foundational practice of the Christian life, the liturgical traditions of the church end each day with a version of 'Praise the Lord!'

This Psalm is a musical variation of Genesis 1. Everything God has created is called to join the great chorus of praise. Verses 1-6 elicit praise from the heavens, while verses 7-12 issue the same summons to the earth. This is the poet's way of including everything in the cosmos: breathing, non-breathing, weather, planets, the elements on the periodic table, mighty and non-mighty; all must praise the Lord.

It is because God created us that we are called to praise Him. The Contemporary Testimony articulates the implications of God's creating work: Our world belongs to God-not to us or earthly powers, not to demons, fate, or chance. The earth is the Lord's. In the beginning, God-Father, Word, and Spirit-called this world into being out of nothing, and gave it shape and order (7-8). Because he is the creator of all, all he has created ought to praise his glorious name.

This also: God formed sky, land, and sea; stars above, moon and sun, making a world of color, beauty, and variety-a fitting home for plants and animals, and us-a place to work and play, worship and wonder, love and laugh. God rested and gave us rest. In the beginning everything was very good (9). How can we not praise Him?

We might ask why this call to praise is needed. Why does it not come naturally to us? And of course, the answer is that all of creation is now subject to bondage and decay (cf. Romans 8:20-21). Along with the rest of God's created order we are subject to other powers because of sin.

But that is not the end of the story. Romans 8 also tells us that the creation waits in eager hope for liberation. The rest of the story is that the one through whom the creation was formed became flesh and went 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.

As redeemed children of God, we have been recreated as new beings. We are incorporated into a new community which a new attitude towards life. Our lives our no longer controlled by sin but centred in Christ so that the peace of Christ rules in our hearts, the word of Christ dwells in us richly, and the name of the Lord Jesus governs our behaviour. Christ has put on our flesh, therefore we put on Christ in our flesh -- Christ like in our everyday living, singing to God with thanks in our hearts, doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, always giving thanks to God the Father through Christ (cf. Colossians 3:1-17).

But we are only the first fruits, a taste of what is to come. The whole creation is waiting eagerly for its renewal. Salvation isn't just about "me and Jesus." It is about everything in heaven and on earth. Again, from the Contemporary Testimony, "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 (55). 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 (57).

Followers of Jesus sing Psalm 148 in anticipation of the whole creation being free to sing the praise of God again. Let's sing this psalm in anticipation of Christ's final and full victory. Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. (Psalm 147:1-6)

This psalm has a lovely way of weaving two pictures of God together that we sometimes have a hard time joining. Do we have a big, powerful, far off God—the inside of whose boardroom we will never see—or a God who is intimately involved in the small, everyday, muddy and mundane realities of our lives with us? This psalm answers with: "yes."

The God of psalm 147 is a big God who deals with the massive works of the universe. He numbers and names stars, for instance. But he is also a God intimately involved in the daily lives of his people, too. The mind-numbing difference between these two contexts does not seem to phase or create a barrier for God at all. He knows his whole creation by name. He works his ways and gives his caring, intimate presence in everything he does.

The God who is great and powerful enough to deal with the heavenly bodies of the universe is surly powerful enough to move the things in our lives. But this is not the coercive power that we fear these days: this is the power of a God who bends down, condescends to menial, servant-like tasks of changing bandages.

Toward the end of this psalm, we hear of how it is God's word that goes out to work out and accomplish so many of these things. Again: this is not a picture of a distant deity shouting commands that somebody had better do, or else. No, this is a picture that looks much more like the first half of the psalm. It is a picture that looks, in fact, a lot like Jesus. The Word of God: Lord of all the Universe, yet also the Servant of all the Humble and Brokenhearted. He is at once deity and humanity. Transcendent and imminent. Big enough to do what needs doing, humble enough to walk beside us and support us through the long journey that gets us there.

These acts we're invited to praise God for are long, generational pictures of God's work of salvation in the lives of his people against the backdrop of evil. It doesn't happen overnight. Wounds don't heal instantaneously. The exiles of Israel didn't return for 70 years. Sometimes our times are hard. Worthy of lament, of anger, of grief as we face the real evils and troubles of this world.

But we have a big God who is not afraid to walk the hard, dark, or narrow roads of life with us in Jesus until our salvation is complete. Having witnessed that long, faithful work of God again across the last 146 psalms, psalm 147 reminds us that praise is the fitting final word to place on our lips. Thank you God for who you are and for all you have done for us!

Praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord all my life. I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Don't put your trust in human leaders. Don't trust in people who can't save you. When they die, they return to the ground. On that day their plans come to nothing. Blessed are those who depend on the God of Jacob for help. Blessed are those who put their hope in the Lord their God! The Lord rules forever. The God of Zion will rule for all time to come. Praise the Lord (Psalm 146:1-5, 10).

Yesterday, Pastor Anthony offered us a wonderful meditation, A Litany of Praise, based on Psalm 145. Today's psalm follows a similar theme. In fact, this theme, "offering praise to God", rounds out the psalter. The final six psalms are a huge exclamation mark. As Eugene Peterson frequently told us, the psalms must shape our lives. We must live them. Only living them, can we truly begin to understand them.

So, do something crazy, like, "Praise the Lord!"

Pastor Anthony included these words, "God's people are constantly doing this work of telling out the faith to one another because God remains faithfully present and active in new ways in our lives. Through this simple act of witnessing in response to what God has done: the faith is passed on. So, how will you join this litany of praise that passes on the faith? What story of God's praise do you have to share? How will you tell it out to the next generation?"

It seems to me that we ought to use the same kind of language when speaking of evangelism. I'm not sure if this word ever had good resonance within the church. For most of us, it just sounds scary. One of the reasons we fear evangelism (and any sermon on it) is that we think of it as separate from the rest of the Christian life, from the rest of our faith. We go on retreats in order to learn how to do it right. In my first congregation, we paid a some folks to come for a weekend to train us in evangelism. They were quite unsuccessful, in that, no one joined the church because we were better evangelists.

Many of us feel woefully ungifted in this work; moreover, we feel mighty guilty for not having racked up a list of converts. And there in lies our great difficulty. Evangelism is seen as Christian work. It's a manner of assessing our success at being Christian. The more converts, the better we are. In the end, we leave it to the experts and retreat into our Christian ghettos.

I don't think there is merit in such formulas, or such guilt. They are rooted in the assumption that somehow, we need to convince people to become Christians, to somehow prove that the Christian religion is better than all others. This seems to be rather misguided. There is no injunction in scripture to do such a thing. Rather, Psalm 146's, "Praise the Lord", echoes throughout Scripture.

When a church is a gathering of people who begin and end their days with praising God, and doing it again in between, evangelism occurs naturally. In such a setting, techniques, and clever strategies for marketing the church do not have to be taught. Rather, individuals, like the psalmist, communicate the message of God's kingdom with their very lives. They never cease communicating this message, even when tragedy strikes (as it inevitably does) or boredom afflicts. People who genuinely praise God while they are hurting are remarkably good witnesses to God.

Evangelism is a weird word which is not found in the Bible. In the good Book, we are told to be witnesses, to tell the stories of God in our lives. When the word evangel does appear in the Bible, it connotates the telling of good news. Like the women, telling the male disciples that Jesus was risen. That is all.

No one really wants to talk about the 2022 season of the Hamilton Tiger Cats. There is nothing good to tell. But what if, instead of playing their usual dismal games during the playoffs, they had won game after game until they hoisted the Grey Cup. Then people would want to talk. Fans would love to tell others about the season, especially those last games. They would not need to convince others that the Ti-Cats had become a great team in the end, the Cup would tell the story.

The same is true in the Christian life. Telling the stories of God saving us and others is what the Bible tells us to do. We don't have to do the convincing. We can leave that up to God. As the psalmist says, "Blessed are those who put their hope in the Lord their God!" This is also true in witnessing. We don't have to make converts. The Holy Spirit does that. Praise the Lord!

Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts. They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They tell of the power of your awesome works—and I will proclaim your great deeds. They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. (Psalm 145:3-8)

This Psalm in Hebrew is an acrostic poem. Each new line begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. From Aleph to Taw, A to Zed. Or if you prefer: from alpha to omega, from beginning to end. There is a completeness to it. As there is a completeness to the deeds of the Lord and to the generations that are called on to praise Him for it.

The very structure of this psalm reminds us that God's people have always told the stories of God. They have always lifted up their voices in praise of God. There will never be a time when they don't, because God and his work is always worth of it. If somehow we miss a beat, the very stones will cry out. We simply take up our place in that litany of praise and storytelling—publicly professing our faith again and again in songs, creeds, and stories until we finish our race and take up our place in the great cloud of witnesses. And even there: we'll continue praising our God.

Now, the words of our confession do change from time to time as God continues to intervene and act in history. In the time of Israel, the best way to describe God was the way that God described Himself to Moses on Mt. Sinai: "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin."

The words that we use now are different though. Because we've come to know God through Jesus Christ. And so when we join the chorus of God's faithful people, we do so in words like those of the Apostles Creed—declaring the saving action of God in Jesus Christ who came to live, die, and be raised again: who Ascended, who will come again to judge, and who in the meantime has poured out the Holy Spirit.

Our confession is even more particularly shaped in the language of the Reformation—the Heidelberg Catechism's first question and answer being among our most favorite—recognizing that our only comfort in life and in death comes from our belonging to Jesus Christ our Lord because of all His mighty deeds on our behalf.

As a church denomination we recognize how the mighty deeds of God bear on our contemporary lives and situations through Contemporary Testimonies like Our World Belongs to God and the Belhar Confession.

Even more particularly through the unique prayers we pray and stories we tell, we as individuals in the church continue to confess the ways that God has shown up and been faithful. We tell out to one another the ways that God has brought healing, comforted us in times of grief or loneliness, saved us, forgiven us, empowered us to forgive someone else.

God's people are constantly doing this work of telling out the faith to one another because God remains faithfully present and active in new ways in our lives. Through this simple act of witnessing in response to what God has done: the faith is passed on.

So, how will you join this litany of praise that passes on the faith? What story of God's praise do you have to share? How will you tell it out to the next generation?

Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle…None of our city walls will be broken down. No one will be carried off as a prisoner. No cries of pain will be heard in our streets (Psalm 144:1, 14).

This psalm is easy enough to understand within its context of the king leading Israel's armies into battle against their enemies. War was part of their lives (cf. 2 Samuel 11:1). Its most likely that David, the warrior king, composed this song. He was a man skilled in war. From his days as a shepherd boy to the days of serving in Saul's army to leading his own army, David learned to be a skillful warrior. How does one become a skillful warrior?

The only way is to be trained and then placed in the middle of the battle. Only in the furnace of war can we truly learn to be warriors. Practice doesn't make you battle ready. War games won't prepare you for facing your real enemy in the battlefield. The stark reality is that only being in the battle makes us effective warriors.

But we live in a very different context. Israel may have gone to war against other nations. But the church does not. So how is this psalm useful for Christians today?

One fruitful reading of this psalm sees in it a foreshadowing of Christ's reign. Today, from heaven, he reigns over the lives of His faithful here on earth. The kingdom of heaven has come to this world, but there are still other kingdoms opposed to it and its king.

Today, the saints don't go to war against other nations, but we do suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). As such, the Christian life is properly thought of as combat. Jesus, as King, is also our military leader. In this psalm we praise Him for teaching our hands to do battle and our fingers to make war, and for delivering us from the evil sword. Could meditation on this psalm have led the apostle to pen Ephesians 6:10-20?

When Jesus taught us to prayer, "Deliver us from evil", was he referencing this psalm? Consider what the Heidelberg Catechism says about this petition, "By ourselves we are too weak to hold our own even for a moment. And our sworn enemies-the devil, the world, and our own flesh-never stop attacking us. And so, Lord, uphold us and make us strong with the strength of your Holy Spirit, so that we may not go down to defeat in this spiritual struggle, but may firmly resist our enemies until we finally win the complete victory" (A 127).

Simply reading our Bible will not make us warriors for the Kingdom. Knowledge without experience is folly. Only when we are placed in situations where we must depend on God will we learn the lessons of warrior faith. This is the training ground of God, which will make us into soldiers for Christ in the workplace. When we come to the place where we want to be dead to anything that keeps us from fulfilling God's purposes, there the Spirit will lead us to fruitfulness.

From the earliest days of the church, we have this anthem, "Christ conquers, Christ reigns, Christ rules." It was sung by the martyrs, their blood poured out for Caesar's pleasure. Those men, women, and children were not in doubt as to the identity of the true King. They believed He was the conqueror of Revelation 19:11–14.

Surely, the confidence in God exuding from this psalm, sustained many who have died for their faith. Should it not sustain those of us who continue to war against "our sworn enemies-the devil, the world, and our own flesh"?

Christ is not just the conqueror, he is also the Prince of Peace. The latter part of the psalm describes "the blessings of those whose God is the Lord." The images in verses 12-14 refer to the tranquility and prosperity of a well-governed realm. Such is the Kingdom of the Christ celebrated here. We may not see it yet, but Jesus promises that all who endure in the faith will experience this kingdom. Such vision has long sustained God's children. Let it sustain us.

For now, we experience both war and peace. The first half of the psalm pictures war, the second peace. Can we see in the second half images of the new earth and new heavens, when all wars have ceased? Can we partner this psalm with the prayer of Revelation 22:20, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus!"?