Tag: god’s glory

Go Up the Mountain (Isaiah 2:1-4)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, by William Simpson (1823-1899)

The word that Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In days to come
    the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains
    and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
    Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations
    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
    neither shall they learn war any more. (New Revised Standard Version)

Mountains make up about one-fifth of the world’s landscape and 12% of the world’s population live on them. They are more than imposing and impressive statues of rock. About 80% of our planet’s fresh water originates in the mountains.

It was on a mountain that Noah’s ark settled; Moses was given the law; and Jesus preached and died. Even the beans from my morning coffee were grown on the side of a mountain. I have everything I need in the mountainous God of all.

The most fundamental truths about God are consistency and constancy in the divine nature. God is forever present with people. 

So, it is no coincidence that the temple of God was built on a mountain at the highest point in the city of Jerusalem. Ascending the temple mount reminded every worshiper of the Lord’s ever-present protection and strength. It pointed them to the source of life. With God, every need is met and satisfied, because on the mountain and in the temple, people learn how to live in this world. They are taught the ways of the Lord.

We learn to live in peace and harmony by ascending the mountain, entering the house of God, and adopting a teachable spirit.

Today’s Old Testament lesson is a vision of the future – the way things will be. Now, things are not as they ought to be. Injustice, unrighteousness, indifference, and impurity leave their mark everywhere. It may cause folks to wonder whether the Lord is truly present, or not.

If God seems or feels aloof or unconcerned, it is not that the Lord is avoiding us or is distracted with other important matters of running the universe. It simply means God chooses to reveal the divine character and the divine will when the appropriate time warrants it, for our benefit.

A mountain looks like it never moves. Yet the slow but steady rains, the creeping of tectonic plates, and undiscernible changes within the earth shift mountain ranges over time. The Lord is most certainly responding to us, our movements and changes, in a way we cannot perceive with the naked eye.

Our responsibility in the entire affair is to engage in consistent rhythms of spirituality which place us in a position to receive grace when God decides to give it. If we are still, we can feel the movements of grace developing within us, and enveloping us with life.

Perhaps we need to become adept at being spiritual mountain goats, using our wide cloven hooves of faith to negotiate the immense crags and rocks of God. After all, we will spend an eternity getting to know God and never exhaust the exploration.

Therefore, we must not despair. Rather, we can anticipate meeting with God, just as the Israelites of old looked forward and upward in ascending the temple mountain. The truth is that God surrounds people, even when we do not always perceive it to be so. 

The sturdiness of God is able to handle and bear the weight of our heaviest burdens.

Throw all your anxiety onto him because he cares about you. (1 Peter 5:7, CEB)

If we will but look up, there is abiding help for the most vexing of problems.


I raise my eyes toward the mountains.
    Where will my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
    the maker of heaven and earth.
God won’t let your foot slip.
    Your protector won’t fall asleep on the job. (Psalm 121:1-3, CEB)

There is peace and settled rest when we call upon the God who surrounds us.

I call out to the Lord,
    and he answers me from his holy mountain.

I lie down and sleep;
    I wake again because the Lord sustains me. (Psalm 3:4-5, NIV)

It is through trust that we become mountains ourselves – strong in faith and giving life to those around us. And it is also no coincidence that Jesus ascended a mountain in order to deliver his most important teachings.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak and taught them, saying:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:1-10, NRSV)

On the mountain we encounter the Lord. In that place, we find that humility, gentleness, mercy, purity, and peacemaking are the sacred pathways of pushing back on the world’s injustice and establishing a more just and right culture.

All sorts of people, from everywhere, from every nation, will stream to receive gracious teaching. They will become aware of how to live in an egalitarian society. Everyone’s needs shall be met.

Great and mountainous God, help me to keep my heart clean and to live honestly and fearlessly, so that no outward failure can dishearten me or take away my joy of conscious integrity. Open wide the eyes of my soul so that I may see good in all things. Grant me today a vision of your truth. Inspire me with the spirit of gladness and make me to be a cup of strength to suffering souls; in the name of the strong Deliverer, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Praise and Prayer (Psalm 86:11-17)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

Teach me your way, Lord,
        so that I can walk in your truth.
    Make my heart focused
        only on honoring your name.
I give thanks to you, my Lord, my God,
    with all my heart,
    and I will glorify your name forever,
    because your faithful love toward me is awesome
    and because you’ve rescued my life
        from the lowest part of hell.

The arrogant rise up against me, God.
    A gang of violent people want me dead.
    They don’t give a thought for you.
But you, my Lord,
    are a God of compassion and mercy;
    you are very patient and full of faithful love.
Come back to me! Have mercy on me!
    Give your servant your strength;
    save this child of your servant!
Show me a sign of your goodness
    so that those who hate me will see it and be put to shame—
        show a sign that you, Lord,
        have helped me and comforted me. (Common English Bible)

Psalms are prayers. And today’s prayer is from David, a guy who knew what it was like to have evil men hate him and pursue taking his life, through no fault of his own. 

I don’t know about you, but, although I have never faced adversity to such a degree as David, I do know something about people who, to put it bluntly, just flat-out hate my guts. It is not a good feeling, and it can be terribly draining emotionally and even spiritually. 

Having disrespectful and rude people who talk behind your back (and sometimes even to your face) is in direct contrast to who God is.

Who is God? What is God’s character?

God is described by David as merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Whereas insolent people objectify others and do not seek their best interests, God always acts in accord with a basic divine character of love and grace. 

Based upon the nature of God, we can choose to cry out, just like David did, to show us a sign of God’s favor. We can pray for God to provide us with some tangible communication of divine love, given on our level, so that we can grasp and understand it.

For we all, at various points in our life, need help and comfort through hardship and adversity.

Be assured that God hears the cries of the godly. The Lord notices ungodliness and injustice, and will do something about it. 

At the same time we are receiving divine guidance and help, we can trust God to address the insolence that exists around us and toward us.

Why can we trust God? What is the basis of such faith?

Seven times in the psalm, David refers to Yahweh as my Lord. And three times David refers to himself as your servant. This is a relationship – Lord to servant, Creator to creature – and it means the servant can cry out to his Lord and can confidently expect a positive response to his cry.

It is the nature and character of God to be attentive and answer God’s people.

The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Psalm 103:8, NRSV

Because of the divine/human relationship, David can call boldly to God, confident of God’s will and of God’s power to help. The gang of violent people who had it out for David also have no regard for God. So, David is emboldened to pray for divine favor, while at the same time, praying against those that despise him.

Yahweh, the God of David, can deliver us from the lowest parts of hell itself, because God is the expert on deliverance from the worst places that humanity finds themselves in. And so, the Lord is the One who is worthy of praise. Eventually, this reality will ultimately be recognized by all nations.

“Great and amazing are your deeds,
    Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
    King of the nations!
Lord, who will not fear
    and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
    All nations will come
    and worship before you,
for your judgments have been revealed.” (Revelation 15:3-4, NRSV)

Praise and petition go together like a hand in a glove. David freely praises God with thanksgiving for the divine character and saving actions – while at the same time, he offers fervent prayer, based upon the understanding that God is good.

David’s impassioned petition is this: Teach me your way, Lord, so that I will walk in truth; and give me an undivided heart to keep on honoring and praising your name. David longed for a completely focused heart on God and God’s will for his life.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, NRSV)

In those times when we feel as if we are between a rock and a hard place, wanting to remain positive, yet also acknowledging life’s crud, we can come to Psalm 86 and adopt it as our own prayer for the day…

Train me, God, to walk straight;
    then I’ll follow your true path.
Put me together, one heart and mind;
    then, undivided, I’ll worship in joyful fear.
From the bottom of my heart I thank you, dear Lord;
    I’ve never kept secret what you’re up to.
You’ve always been great toward me—what love!
    You snatched me from the brink of disaster!
God, these bullies have reared their heads!
    A gang of thugs is after me—
    and they don’t care a thing about you.
But you, O God, are both tender and kind,
    not easily angered, immense in love,
    and you never, never quit.
So look me in the eye and show kindness,
    give your servant the strength to go on,
    save your dear, dear child!
Make a show of how much you love me
    so the bullies who hate me will stand there slack-jawed,
As you, God, gently and powerfully
    put me back on my feet. (The Message)

What is Your View of God? (Psalm 33:1-12)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
God’s Love… by Hope G. Smith

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous.
    Praise befits the upright.
Praise the Lord with the lyre;
    make melody to him with the harp of ten strings.
Sing to him a new song;
    play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

For the word of the Lord is upright,
    and all his work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
    the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made
    and all their host by the breath of his mouth.
He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle;
    he put the deeps in storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the Lord;
    let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him,
for he spoke, and it came to be;
    he commanded, and it stood firm.

The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
    he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
    the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord,
    the people whom he has chosen as his heritage. (New Revised Standard Version)

One of the reasons I adore the biblical psalms is that they present a majestic God who is full of goodness and steadfast love. The Lord’s very character is disposed toward justice and righteousness. Every word of God comes from this place of control and compassionate care.

I agree with the psalmist’s view of God because it resonates with my own experience. I have found that the God of the Psalms is high above all creation as the sovereign ruler, as well as intimately close as a friend.

The words, then, which proceed from the mouth of God are always just, right, good, fair, and loving. If God’s basic character is love, then everything God says and does comes from love. And that is precisely why I am completely devoted to this Lord.

Believers can sing a new song and revel in the Lord’s presence because they discern that everything comes down to God. That is, the way we view God is the way we will live our lives. 

For example, if we tend to see God as a stern Being whose main activity is to continually rebuke and punish people for their sin, then we will live with a constant sense of guilt and anxiety for fear of angering such a God. We will invariably live a performance-based life trying to pull ourselves up by our spiritual bootstraps in order to please or placate such a God who is always looking over our shoulder to make sure that we do not mess up.

That’s a miserable life, indeed! This is why many people internally say to themselves, “To hell with it!” and live in outright rebellion against a God who seems not to care a wit about their happiness. 

The cruelties of this world seem only to be God mocking their abysmal failure at being decent people. It would be like telling my grandson with epilepsy to stop having seizures, as if my love for him is dependent on him being seizure-free. Most people would consider it abusive for a parent or grandparent to yell at a kid for having seizures. With that kind of view of God, I wouldn’t want to know him either. And if that’s the sort of god you’re buying into, you need a new god.

But, on the other hand, if we understand God as a loving parent who is pained by the damage guilt and shame has done to the souls of people, then we are open to seeing the grace of God coming to set broken spirits right again.

With Christianity, the death of Christ is the ultimate act of love in taking care of the sin issue once for all. God in Christ did for us what we could do for ourselves; he gave his life so that we could live as we were intended to live: enjoying God and God’s creation forever.

In this view of God, the task of spiritual formation is one of constantly replacing destructive understandings of God with the kind of thoughts of God that filled the mind of Jesus himself. 

And the only good way of doing that is through the basic spiritual disciplines of Scripture reading and prayer, hearing the words of God. In order to listen well, we engage in practices of silence and solitude, as well as praise and celebration, that helps us connect with God’s Word. 

The grand redemptive story of the Bible is that the steadfast love of God has found its apex and fulfillment in the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, all of Holy Scripture is to be viewed through these lenses of the grace of God in Christ. It is a very different picture than the one of an indifferent God.

Seeing God from the perspective of grace brings a joyous way to live because it views God as generous and hospitable. From such an angle, the logical and appropriate response is one of gratitude. 

All false gospels have at their core a kind of you-are-bad-try-harder approach. Preachers of such an ilk only rail against people as being scum buckets of sin and offer no real hope of transformation in Christ. It promotes a grace-less religion, and it is nothing less than biblical malpractice.

I take heart that if we have trouble seeing God as we ought, or experience difficulty viewing life as it is meant to truly be lived, we can ask God to give us wisdom. And the promise connected to that encouragement to pray is that God will give generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to them. (James 1:5)

In the psalmist’s view of God, prayer is not a chore but a delight; service is not drudgery but a willing response; reading Scripture is not a mandatory exercise but a wonderful practice of knowing God better; and praise organically erupts from the depths of our being, because we have spiritual eyes to see that everywhere we look, the whole earth is filled with the steadfast love of God.

Bless us with Love, O Merciful God;
That we may Love as you Love!
That we may show patience, tolerance,
Kindness, caring and love to all!
Give me knowledge; O giver of Knowledge,
That I may be one with my Creator and all creation!
O Compassionate One, grant compassion to us;
That we may help all people in need!
Bless us with your Love, O Lord.
Bless us with your Love. Amen.

God of the Living (Ezekiel 39:7-8, 21-29)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

I will make sure that my people Israel know my holy name, and I will not let my name be disgraced any more. Then the nations will know that I, the Lord, am the holy God of Israel.”

The Sovereign Lord said, “The day I spoke about is certain to come….

The Lord said, “I will let the nations see my glory and show them how I use my power to carry out my just decisions. The Israelites will know from then on that I am the Lord their God. And the nations will know that the Israelites went into exile because of the sins which they committed against me. I turned away from them and let their enemies defeat them and kill them in battle. I gave them what they deserved for their uncleanness and their wickedness, and I turned away from them.”

The Sovereign Lord said, “But now I will be merciful to Jacob’s descendants, the people of Israel, and make them prosperous again. I will protect my holy name. When they are once more living in safety in their own land, with no one to threaten them, they will be able to forget how they were disgraced for having betrayed me. In order to show to the many nations that I am holy, I will bring my people back from all the countries where their enemies live. Then my people will know that I am the Lord their God. They will know this, because I sent them into captivity and now gather them and bring them back into their own land, not leaving even one of them behind. I will pour out my spirit on the people of Israel and never again turn away from them. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.” (Good News Translation)

“God is trying to sell you something, but you don’t want to buy. This is what your suffering is: Your fantastic haggling, your manic screaming over the price!”

Hafiz, 14th century Persian mystic poet

A lot of folks struggle with their relationship with God in trying to make sense of the hard things they go through. Some interpret their troubles as a punishment from God. Others resign themselves to the difficulty and, at best, believe there must be some purpose to it all; and, at worst, simply state in defeat, “It is what it is.”

God most certainly does allow some awful things to happen. Although the Lord is not the author of the evil, God providentially bends all circumstances for the divine glory and for our benefit.

We may still cry out and insist, “But why must God do it this way? Isn’t there another path than the one I’m on?” It’s not bad to ask those questions. After all, the Lord Jesus himself cried out, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup [of suffering] be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” And, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 26:39, 27:46, NIV)

In many ways, life is about detaching from all that hinders us from attaching to God. If we are mindful of this project, it’s likely we will realize a fulfilling connection with the divine. If, however, we lose sight of this, and become unaware of the vital relationship between God and humanity, then the Lord loves us enough to work on bringing us back into healthy relations.

It takes a lifetime of practice to let go and die to self.

And God will use every circumstance – both good and bad – to help us do that.

The Lord is glorified and shown forth as holy when we detach from all that is unhealthy and attach to everything that is just, right, and good.

God’s own Holy Spirit is the very person we need to guide us through each situation of our lives.

Typically, it is we ourselves who need to change, and not necessarily our circumstances. Yet, we too often fear change. The ego – the false self – hates change because it has bought into the belief that the outward projection of oneself to the world is the real thing (which it is not). Therefore, the ego tends to interpret each negative situation as an attack, rather than discerning that this might be the Lord getting at the inner heart of the person.

We must come to grips with the reality that one must change in order to love, and to love in order to change. Anytime we love someone or something else, we have died on some level; we let go of something so that we can grab hold of something else. The monkey who refuses to let go of the banana is trapped; the one who releases it grabs hold of freedom.

“Sin” is much less about moralistic religion, and much more about mistaking ourselves for someone we aren’t and not knowing to whom we belong. The ancient Israelites, whom the prophet Ezekiel addressed, had lost touch with who they are and whose they are. So, the Lord was determined to clarify it for them.

The realization of our true selves comes through love. And since God is love, knowing God enables us to regain our true essence.

The ego, although the necessary scaffolding for the emerging construction of the soul, must eventually be jettisoned. It would be weird if you erected a building, then kept up the façade. God is alive and deals with the living, and not the dead things around us.

Jesus said, “He’s not the God of the dead but of the living. In God’s sight all people are living.” (Luke 20:38, GW)

O Holy One, we call to you and name you as eternal, ever-present, and boundless in love. Yet there are times, O God, when we fail to recognize you in the dailyness of our lives. Sometimes shame clenches tightly around our hearts, and we hide our true feelings. Sometimes fear makes us small, and we miss the chance to speak from our strength. Sometimes doubt invades our hopefulness, and we degrade our own wisdom.

Holy God, in the daily round from sunrise to sunset, remind us again of your holy presence hovering near us and in us. Free us from shame and self-doubt. Help us to see you in the moment-by-moment possibilities to live honestly, to act courageously, and to speak wisdom. Amen.