Witness:
I’m beginning this entry without a worship song. I have been singing worship songs up until now, but I have run out of time to search for a new one. I got up late today. I had to pick up the grandkids at school, which meant not getting enough sleep before getting them. I laid back down and rested until 6:30 so my time tonight was cut short. In a few minutes, I will be getting ready for work, but I really feel like laying down again.
Time, it’s a precious commodity down here on earth, and in short supply for people who work the graveyard shift like me. Time expires quickly. Everything seems to come with an expiration date on it. Food, cleaning supplies, medicine all rot, deteriorate or become ineffective. Blood has a shelf life of 42 days if not frozen, and if frozen only, about 10 years (though I read online that this is a poor way of storing it).
It struck me that there is blood that has no shelf life. The same blood that flowed from our Lord’s veins is still beneficial today. It has no shelf life. It never degrades. Blood is often in short supply, but not His blood. It is always available and never will be depleted. Blood comes in various types – O, A, B, & AB. They are further classified by being either positive or negative. Given the wrong blood can be deadly, but one type is universal: O. It can be administered to anyone who has any of the other blood types. I’d like to think that Christ’s blood was O positive, that can positively wash away our sins and deliver life to all who call upon Him as Lord.
(Romans 10:9).
# His blood never Degrades
# His blood never is Depleted
# His blood always Delivers
# # Hallelujah what a Savior!
(But I did choose a song of worship the next day)
Worship: Waiting Here for You
If faith can move the mountains
Let the mountains move
We come with expectation
Waiting here for you,
I’m waiting here for you
You’re the Lord of all creation
And still, you know my heart
The Author of Salvation
You’ve loved us from the start
Waiting here for You
With our hands lifted high in praise
And it's You we adore
Singing Alleluia
You are everything You’ve promised
Your faithfulness is true
And we're desperate for Your presence
All we need is You
Waiting here for You
With our hands lifted high in praise
And it's You we adore
Singing Alleluia
Singing Alleluia
Alleluia, singing alleluia, alleluia
Waiting here for You
With our hands lifted high in praise
And it's You we adore
Singing Alleluia (2X)
I'm singing Alleluia
Waiting here for you
With our hands lifted high in praise
And it's You we adore
Singing Alleluia
Singing Alleluia
Video: https://youtu.be/xBJd7OFo4s0
Ps 27:7-10
7 Hear my voice when I call, O Lord;
be merciful to me and answer me.
8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"
Your face, Lord, I will seek.
do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
O God my Savior.
10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will receive me.
NIV
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Ps 27:7-10
7 Hear me as I pray, O Lord.
Be merciful and answer me!
8 My heart has heard you say, "Come and talk with me."
And my heart responds, "Lord, I am coming."
9 Do not turn your back on me.
Do not reject your servant in anger.
You have always been my helper.
Don't leave me now; don't abandon me,
O God of my salvation!
10 Even if my father and mother abandon me,
the Lord will hold me close.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
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Ps 27:7-10
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me and answer me.
8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
9 Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.
KJV
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Ps 27:7-10
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
8 You have said, "Seek my face."
My heart says to you,
"Your face, Lord, do I seek."
9 Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the Lord will take me in.
ESV
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I do not need to elaborate on what it means to “seek God’s face.” I spoke about this when commenting on this phrase which is also found in Psalm 24:6 (see my journal entry for Jan. 11-16, 2016). There I outlined then expounded on its meaning. Here is the outline.
Seeking God’s face means:
I. Seeking His divine presence
II. Seeking His divine favor.
III. Seeking His divine direction
Certainly, this is what God’s desires of us and what we should desire in our lives. But it looks like there is a glitch here. His heart tells him God wants him to seek His presence, favor, and direction. David replies in essence, “These I will seek.” If that is so then why David’s doubt in verse 9? If he believed that God had invited him to seek His face why did he ask God not to hide His face from Him (a sign of rejection and disapproval)?
I believe the answer is twofold, one which is obvious and one which becomes obvious as we approach our Living and Holy God. Remember that the invitation David recalls was a call to Israel, God’s covenant people (hence the use of the second person plural “ye” in verse 8), not him personally. David was responding personally to it. However, we see in Scripture what happens when God’s people experience the presence of God. A divine dread comes upon them as they realize their utter sinfulness in the presence of the Pure and Holy God.
They may have responded as Isaiah did –
"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."
Isa 6:5 NIV
They may even respond as Peter did –
"Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"
Luke 5:8-9 NIV
Thus David cried –
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,
O God my Savior. v. 9 NIV
But David realized two things that gave him hope and confidence in coming before the Lord in prayer –
He knew that the LORD was a God of mercy -
Hear my voice when I call, O Lord;
be merciful to me and answer me. v. 7 NIV
And
He knew that the LORD was faithful -
Though my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will receive me. v. 10 NIV
And we who live in the greater light of the New Testament revelation of Jesus Christ realize with reverence this mercy and faithfulness.
We who are redeemed and justified by His blood –
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Rom 3:22-26 NIV
Who stand in God’s grace –
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.Rom 5:1-3 NIV
And can enter confidently (see my Word entry for May 19-21, 2018) into God’s presence –
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.Eph 3:12-13 NIV
Let us also worship Him in “holy fear” (NLT Heb. 12:28)
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our
"God is a consuming fire."
Heb 12:28-29 NIV
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