"Oh, Great God..." - 5 July 2020



“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).  Oh, great God there are troubles on the one hand, and trials on the other. Though none of the travails are new or unique, yet they give our hearts concern. We, as a nation, have waded through many pandemics. And as a country we have survived a number of riots and ravages through the decades. Nevertheless, we bear our concerns to you crying out to you, especially at this time when the annual celebration of our freedom is fresh on our hearts. May righteousness prevail in our land, a righteousness that ensures that all may have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, whether freeborn, foreign born or unborn. And a righteousness echoed in the words of that old song: “Thy love divine hath led us in the past, In this free land by Thee our lot is cast; Be Thou our ruler, guardian, guide and stay, Thy Word our law, Thy paths our chosen way. / From war's alarms, from deadly pestilence, Be Thy strong arm our ever sure defense; Thy true religion in our hearts increase, Thy bounteous goodness nourish us in peace” (“God of Our Fathers”).

We ask you to overrule the brutal savagery raging in many nations, as well as the sanctioning of slavery, sex-trafficking, and the spoiling of your Church. We affirm with Scripture that the hearts of national leaders are like streams of water in your hand, O LORD, and that you turn them wherever you will (Proverbs 21:1). Turn them Father, and may all nations come to bow the knee to the Lord Jesus, and peace and prosperity prevail in all places.

O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need, we humbly beseech you to behold, visit and relieve these – especially these who have been hit with COVID19 (…). With the eyes of your mercy upon them comfort them with a sense of your goodness, keeping them from the temptations of the enemy, giving them patience under their affliction. And in your good time, restore them to health to lead the residue of their life in your fear, and to your glory.

Almighty God, we pray for your Church worldwide, including Living Word Baptist Church, Peniel Missionary Baptist, Praise of Zion Missionary Baptist, and Redeemed Missionary Baptist Church. Grant us all grace fearlessly to live in peace with all men, and holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). May your Word run swiftly and be glorified, and your people be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men (2 Thessalonians 3:1-2). Preserve your church from the corrosiveness of doctrinal infidelity and the corruption of heresy; and in those areas where she has already completely missed the mark, recover her. 

Lord Jesus Christ, who embraces children with the arms of your mercy, and makes them living members of your Church; give our children and grandchildren grace, we pray, to stand fast in your faith, to obey your word, and to abide in your love; that, being made strong by your Holy Spirit, they may resist temptation, overcome evil, rejoice in the life that now is, and dwell with you in the life that is to come. Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?" (Rev. Ed.) by John Fea. A Review

Image
  John Fea is a professor of history at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, PA. A university founded in 1909 by the Brethren in Christ Church. He originally published "Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? A Historical Introduction" in 2011, and it was revised in 2016. This 328-page paperback is packed full with Colonial and American history, drawing from original sources to answer that question. It is a book written "for the historically minded and thoughtful reader who is looking for help in sorting" out this question, avoiding polemics (xix). Since we live in a sound-bite culture, Fea recognizes that it is difficult to have a sustained dialogue on this topic, but he makes a valiant effort toward having that sustained dialogue. The book reads fairly straightforward, and doesn't seem to get bogged down in the contentious mudpuddles or bogs. In the end, Fea seems to get his point across. To answer the reigning question if America was founded as a Christian...
Read more

Union with Christ - An Application

Image
  (This was my weekly letter to my congregation on Wednesday, 21 February 2024) This morning in my devotional reading, I was working through 1 Corinthians 8. Though I’ve read these words a huge number of times over the years, today one verse caused me to stop and take stock.  Paul wrote, “ Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ ” (1 Corinthians 8:12). What struck me is a couple of things. First, in God’s saving work, we are – by grace alone – united (hitched, bonded, ingrafted) to Christ so much so, that what happens to us happens to him, and what is his becomes ours (think of Galatians 2:20, for example). As Sinclair Ferguson put it, “through union with Christ all that is his by incarnation becomes ours through faith” (“The Christian Life,” 110). Let that percolate in your heart for a while. Your fear, anxiety, tears, and so forth, he feels. And his “ Peace, be still ” is yours. Second, the way we treat one an...
Read more

"Ah, Lord! We are Animated by Anger and Anxiety, Fear and Fury..."

Image
I hesitate to put this out there because of the combative environment we are in at present. But I think some souls will take courage from this, and some will also join with me as we get to the end of this little composition. I am struck by the words of God in Zechariah 8. As he rehearses the waywardness and faithlessness of his people in the past, he clearly declares that he " set every man against his neighbor " (8:10). That got me thinking long ago. I started putting the pieces together and realized that one of God's acts of judgment is division, setting a man against his neighbor. That's what happened when he divided his people into the northern tribes and southern tribes (see 1 Kings 11:26-40). Because of Solomon's turning aside, allowing his wives to turn his heart away from the God of his father, David, the Lord brings about a rift in God's people. And this pattern of divisive judgment runs throughout Scripture. On the other hand, truthful unity is the g...
Read more