Ordered, Occupied, Owned

“Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.  They continue this day according to Thine ordinances: for all are Thy servants” (Psalm 119:90,91).  “My son, give Me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe My ways” (Proverbs 23:26).  “What?  Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's” (1 Corinthians 6:19,20). 

The earth abides within her border

Established by God’s ordinance,

And all creation has its order

By His decree, and not by chance.

God’s faithfulness is thus displayed,

Beheld by every generation,

Since things created have obeyed

As God has ordered His creation.

The Lord has never asked permission

From His creation in the earth,

Except from people with volition,

Who still are rebels from their birth.

“My son,” God says, “give Me thine heart,

And let thine eyes observe My ways.”

How good is God to thus impart

Salvation when our heart obeys!

We see how great the blessing is

To thus be ordered by God’s way,

As those who thus are counted His

Have found Him faithful day by day. 

Our reasons for obedience

Are greater still than these above:

We know our Savior’s great defense,

Because He gave Himself in love.

So in our hearts He is enthroned

Because He paid so great a price! 

We’re ordered, occupied, and owned,

Thus purchased by His sacrifice!

O Lord, we thank You that You gave

This price too great to comprehend

That we, whom You have stooped to save,

May glorify You without end. 

Passover Prudence

“A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished” (Proverbs 22:3).  “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven… He hath made everything beautiful in His time: also He hath set the world (H5769. עוֹלָם `owlam, eternity) in their heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-11).  “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:  therefore let us keep the feast… with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

There was a time in Egypt’s land

When Israel’s release was near

That God gave a precise command,

Which prudent men obeyed with fear. 

A lamb unblemished must be slain

Whose blood on hyssop was applied,

By striking lintels with its stain,

As well as every door post side.

For when the Lord would see the blood

Upon those houses for a token,

When judgment came down like a flood,

He would pass over: God had spoken.

The prudent man prepared his place

With blood upon his household door. 

We see the purpose of God’s grace

Within this portrait we explore!

To everything there is a season,

And there’s a time we should obey!

A prudent man can see the reason

To hide himself without delay!

The reason is ETERNITY!

The time is while it’s called TODAY!

In Christ is our security,

There is no other saving way.

The prudence that Passover urges

Is now fulfilled in Jesus Christ

Who by His blood completely purges

Our sins, since He was sacrificed! 

Salvation has a single path

Which God in mercy has foreshown:

The prudent man foresees the wrath

And hides himself in Christ alone.

We thank You, Lord, for confidence

And for the prudence that You give

To find in You our soul’s defense

With wondrous grace whereby we live!

Omniscient Opinion

“Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments… I know, O LORD, that Thy judgments are right” (Psalm 119:73,75).  “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts… The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead… but as for the upright, He directeth his way” (Proverbs 21:2,16,29).  “I judge not mine own self… but He that judgeth me is the Lord” (1 Corinthians 4:3,4).

By God’s omniscience we are made,

And since we’re fashioned by His hands,

We are unwise when we have strayed

From any of our Lord’s commands.

The judgments of the Lord are right,

Providing counsel by His favor

To do what’s pleasing in His sight

In thought, in word, and in behavior.

The ways of man and his direction

Are always right in his own eyes,

Yet he is far from God’s perfection,  

And easily deceived by lies! 

The Lord considers all our hearts,

And every way of man He ponders.

The one who from His truth departs

Has chosen death, and therein wanders.

Our judgment rightly comes from God;

Approval comes from His dominion.  

Our own assessment is so flawed;

We seek alone our Lord’s opinion.

O Lord, we thank You for Your Word,

Which show us Your omniscient mind.

There is no counsel we have heard

That is like Yours among mankind.

We praise You, Lord, for truth sublime

(Opinion with authority!)

With absolutes for all of time

And counsel for eternity.

Wearisome Wisdom

“The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them…Man's goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?” (Proverbs 20:12,24).  “The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing… I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit” (Ecclesiastes 1:8,14).  “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19). 

There is a wisdom that transcends

The hearing ear and seeing eye.

The wisdom of this world ends

In ignorance when one will die. 

Though God has made our senses well,

They never can be satisfied,

Nor by perception can they quell

The doubts that loom when one has died. 

The Lord our God will give us vision

Exceeding what our eyes can see,

So we may make a wise decision

And trust Him for eternity.

The fool has no curriculum

To teach where souls are really going.

This world’s way, so wearisome,

Is ever learning, never knowing.

The world’s dogma in our schools

Demands that we must think in kind.

It’s better to be counted fools

Than led in lockstep with the blind. 

The world gives its explanation:

All things beheld beneath the sun

Evolved by vanity, vexation,

And meaningless in all that’s done.

Is not this pure insanity,

As they have willfully ignored

The truth they cloak with vanity

In order to reject the Lord?

O Lord, we thank You for the truth

That sets us free from such deceit,

So we may thereby train our youth

As arrows that will not retreat.

Lord, grant us wisdom from Your Word

To preach the Gospel of Your grace,

So weary souls may be assured

And find in You their Hiding Place. 

Frightful Fretting

“I know that… no thought can be withholden from Thee… I uttered that [which] I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not… Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:2-6).  “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto Thy testimonies.  I made haste” (Psalm 119:59,60).  “The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the LORD” (Proverbs 19:3).  “The wisdom of God... none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:6-8). 

There is no deed, no word, or thought

Withheld from God’s omniscient mind.

Before our work is ever wrought,

He knows the way we are inclined.

The tongue may utter things in haste

And neither care for those offended,

Nor for the time that it will waste,

Nor for the damage unintended.

How foolishly a soul may fret

Against the LORD and His command!

How frightfully do hearts forget

That it is GOD whom they withstand!

We ought to think upon our way

To see if we have been unwise,

And turn our feet without delay

To find approval in God’s eyes.

The wisdom of this world failed

To recognize the Lord who came

Whom they rejected and assailed

When on the cross He bore our shame.

Yet we who have received the Savior,

Who by His Spirit have been sealed,

Should hasten now to show behavior

By which His Gospel is revealed.

Now let us think upon these things

As Job who found God’s patient grace,

Before our frightful fretting brings

Such damage we cannot erase.

O Lord, as You now search our ways

Within the temple of each heart,

Replace our foolishness with praise;

Bid every fretting thought depart!