March 25, 2017
You have searched me and you know me
You're familiar with all my ways
You have placed your hand upon me
With such a knowledge I can't attain
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I make my bed in the depths
If I go up to the heavens
You are there
If I rise on the wings of the dawn
If I settle on the far side of the sea
Even there your hand will hold me fast
Even there your hand will guide me
You are there
You are there
(repeat)
I will sing
Sing a new song
Because you love me
I will sing
Sing a new song
Because you care
I will sing
Sing a new song
Because you’re there
At the Name of Jesus
every knee shall bow,
every tongue confess him
King of glory now;
'tis the Father's pleasure
we should call him Lord,
who from the beginning
was the mighty Word.
At his voice creation
sprang at once to sight,
all the angel faces,
all the hosts of light,
Thrones and Dominations,
stars upon their way,
all the heavenly orders,
in their great array.
Humbled for a season,
to receive a Name
from the lips of sinners,
unto whom he came,
faithfully he bore it
spotless to the last,
brought it back
victorious,
when from death he passed;
Bore it up triumphant,
with its human light,
through all ranks of
creatures,
to the central height,
to the throne of Godhead,
to the Father's breast;
filled it with the glory
of that perfect rest.
Name him, brothers, name
him,
with love as strong as
death,
but with awe and wonder
and with bated breath;
he is God the Savior,
he is Christ the Lord,
ever to be worshiped,
trusted, and adored.
In your hearts enthrone
him;
there let him subdue
all that is not holy,
all that is not true;
crown him as your Captain
in temptation's hour;
let his will enfold you
in its light and power.
Brothers, this Lord Jesus
shall return again,
with his Father's glory
with his angel train;
for all wreaths of empire
meet upon his brow,
and our hearts confess him
King of glory now.
Words: Caroline M. Noel
(1817-1877), 1870
Witness:
When
I considered what to sing today for worship time the words “At the Name of Jesus”
came to mind. I looked it up and found out it was an old hymn. As I searched
for a video, the song “Psalm 139” by
MERCY ME came on. I decided to worship
to this song instead. However, as I typed these words,
I was convicted for not including this hymn in my time of worship. The tune was
indeed of an older generation, and the
lyrics were in a prose from another time,
yet it contained a timeless message based on Philippians 2. The words are
transcendent in nature and moved me to
worship my “King of glory now.”
The
lyrics to the first song remind me that
the Lord is ever present in my life. Psalm 139 has led to many different songs
based on it. This is MERCY ME’s simple rendition with the single emphasis on the omnipresence of God in
our lives. Whether we run and try to hide or rest in His hands, He is there. What a warning and what a
comfort. It warns me not to run because I cannot hide from the LORD. It
comforts me with the fact that wherever I go,
He is there guiding me.
And
why should I run? In Him I “live and move and have [my] being” (Acts 17:28). In Him, I have all I need (Ps. 23:1; 2 Peter 1:3). My response can be found in the question Peter asked in
response to a question our Lord asked the 12 Apostles. Our Lord had just spoken
to a crowd of people in His adopted hometown of Capernaum. Among them were some
who asked Him to give them a sign that He was who He claimed to be. His
response to them was not to their liking,
and they rejected Him, and even many
professed “disciples” turned their back on Him and deserted Him. So, He turned
to the 12 and asked, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” (John 6:67 NIV) Now comes the
response of the Apostle Peter in the form of a rhetorical question.
"Lord, to whom shall
we go? You have the words of eternal life.” John 6:68 NIV
The
Lord is the giver of life and all good things. Why would I seek to flee His
presence? He has the words of eternal life. He is “the way and the truth and
the life” (John 14:6).
Ironically, today as I came back to this journal entry I first read a journal
entry from April 15, 2016, and placed it
on my blog. The opening song of worship ended with these lines:
Where else can we go, Lord
Where else can we go
You have the words of eternal life
(from Show Us Christ by Sovereign Grace)
You have the words of eternal life
(from Show Us Christ by Sovereign Grace)
Where?
To whom shall I run, O Lord
When life deals a mortal blow
When pain cuts like a sword
And my tears begin to flow?
And where can I go and hide
When sorrows rip me apart
When fears with me abide
And seize my trembling heart?
Where shall I go for direction
When I have lost my way
When I have no predilection
And doubts rule my day?
To You, O Lord, I will run.
Under Your shelter, I will hide.
And when I need direction
You will be there by my side.
WORD:
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If we understand that the word “hate” has various shades of
meaning in Scripture, it will help keep us from making a misapplication when we
encounter this word in the Bible. This point is inferred from an entry in a
Bible Dictionary I have in one of my Bible software programs.
HATE Strong dislike, disregard, or even indifference toward someone or something. As such, hate may be seated in a person's emotions or will. Various degrees and types of hatred are described in the Bible. This makes it difficult to define hatred in simple, absolute terms.(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
It goes on to say:
The people of God are to hate what God Himself hates with an absolute hatred-sin (Deut 12:31; Isa 61:8; Heb 1:9). But God is also said to hate human beings, as when He declared, "Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated" (Rom 9:13). This is a relative hatred. It is not the opposite of love but a diminished love. God loved Jacob so much that He chose him to become the father of the nation Israel; He did not love Esau in the same way. To hate our relatives for the sake of Christ (Luke 14:26) means to love them less than we love Christ (Matt 10:37); it does not mean to hate them absolutely. Believers ought to love their enemies (Matt 5:43-44) but hate their enemies' sins (Eph 5:3-14; Rev 2:6).
Wicked people, living under the power of Satan, will hate the Lord Jesus, His followers, and their righteous deeds (John 3:20; 8:44). It is the Christian's duty not to strike back but to do good to his enemies (Matt 5:43-44; Luke 6:27).(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
This is a good definition but leaves out the fact that Scripture
does speak of God and God’s people hating their enemies.
In
the original edition of ISBE, the entry on hate says:
HATE(hat), (ha'-tred) (verb, sane°, "oftenest," saTam, Gen 27:41, etc.; noun, sin°ah; miseo): A feeling of strong antagonism and dislike, generally malevolent and prompting to injury (the opposite of love); sometimes born of moral resentment. Alike in the Old Testament and New Testament, hate of the malevolent sort is unsparingly condemned (Num 35:20; Ps 109:5; Prov 10:12; Titus 3:3; 1 John 3:15), but in the Old Testament hatred of evil and evil-doers, purged of personal malice, is commended (Ps 97:10; 101:3; 139:21-22, etc.). The New Testament law softens this feeling as regards persons, bringing it under the higher law of love (Matt 5:43-44; compare Rom 12:17-21), while intensifying the hatred of evil (Jude verse 23; Rev 2:6). God himself is hated by the wicked (Ex 20:5; Ps 139:21; compare Rom 8:7). Sometimes, however, the word "hate" is used hyperbolically in a relative sense to express only the strong preference of one to another. God loved Jacob, but hated Esau (Mal 1:3; Rom 9:13); father and mother are to be hated in comparison with Christ (Luke 14:26; compare Matt 10:37). See ENMITY . James Orr(from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database Copyright © 1996, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
This,
perhaps, is a more balanced view because
it includes both the fact that the Old Testament
does
speak of hating evil doers and includes a more accurate use of progressive
revelation, for it does not make a distinction between the OT and the NT that
is so disjunctive that they end up being antithetical to each other. However, I’m not sure the word “softens” is a
good choice here to describe the difference between the two testaments. Perhaps
it would be better to point out the difference in emphasis rather than any
softening.
The
revised ISBE has a much longer article on the word,
and I recommend referring to it if you wish to study this issue further. It not
only breaks down the use of hate in the OT and the NT but also brings in the
intertestamental view by referring to the Dead Sea scrolls and the community at
Qumran.
In
summery we can say:
HATE Sane° represents an emotion ranging from intense "hatred" to the much weaker "set against" and is used of persons and things (including ideas, words, inanimate objects).(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
I
will stop here and tie things together in my next journal entry because this
entry is already quite long. I also have run out of time and have to get ready
for work.
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