Marching Forth!

" Bless the LORD , O my soul;  a nd all that is within me, bless His holy name !" Psalm 103:1 Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD, and all who know Him ought to bless Him.  What does this mean, to bless the LORD?  The word "bless" means to kneel, to bless God in adoration, to salute, praise and thank.  The U.S. military has many regulations around saluting and an article reads,  " All military enlisted personnel in uniform are required to salute when they meet and recognize a commissioned or warrant officer ."  It is important therefore enlisted personnel in uniform learn and recognise the different ranks and when, how and who to extend a hand salute to show due respect.  Not being a member of the military I am largely ignorant of the traditions and decorum around saluting, but children of God ought not to be ignorant on how to bless the LORD who created, saves and reigns supreme over all. We bless God by recognising who He is, the living God...

There are many things parents want for their children because they care about their development and future.  Whilst all people are different and parenting styles are unique, children are raised according to what the parents believe is most important.  For instance, some parents require children to sit at the table during set mealtimes to eat food together.  Parents who are fine to eat dinner separately, with one child on the lounge watching TV and another a device in their bedroom, can be strict about going to bed at a particular hour.  Some parents carefully monitor the diets of their children or their internet browsing, and others make a strong emphasis on education and preparation for life away from the family home.  And in many cases, the cliche rings true that there is more "caught than taught," as kids quickly pick up on structure their parents will adhere to without fail and is not open for debate. For me growing up, going to school was not optional:...

One aspect of God I love is that nothing is hard for Him.  In fact, He intentionally stacks all the odds against Himself so there is no doubt He is the only One who could be responsible for miraculously doing the impossible.  For instance when it came time for Elijah to offer a sacrifice to God on Mt. Carmel, before he prayed for God to send fire from heaven he commanded the wood and sacrifice be drenched with water and to fill a trench around it.  When the fire of God fell in response to Elijah's prayer, it consumed the offering and even licked up the water that was in the trench.  Everyone who witnessed the event shouted, " The LORD, He is God !" and fell on their faces in worship.  The God who created the natural laws we perceive and understand, and what we know in part helps us define what is truly miraculous.  Hezekiah saw it as a little thing for the shadow of the sundial to go down 10 degrees, so he requested God made the sundial return backward 10 d...

I'm always drawn to Nehemiah's description of Baruch when the walls and gates of Jerusalem were being repaired in the KJV rendering of  Nehemiah 3:20 :  " After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired the other piece, from the turning of the wall unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest ."  The NKJV uses "carefully" instead of "earnestly," and "earnestly" seems to better convey the zeal Baruch demonstrated in his efforts.  Of all the workers, Baruch is the only one where an adverb was used to describe how he worked and thus clearly stood out.  The Hebrew word "hara" is only translated "earnestly" on this one occasion, and the Strong's Concordance noted other uses in English as, " kindled (44 times), wroth (13), hot (10), angry (9), displease (4), fret (4), incensed (2) and burn (1).  Baruch was a man on fire, one who attacked the task with fervency and unrivaled earnestness. S...

In a world full of people that change over time, God remains the same.  It is profoundly comforting to consider the righteous, merciful and gracious character of God who has spoken forth His word that contains promises He will be faithful to bring to fruition.  The God who has made Himself known to Israel and all the world also has revealed His will that remains constant. One thing we must keep in mind is from man's vantage point God's will is not always done.   2 Peter 3:9 says, " The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance ."  God is absolutely righteous and holy, and death entered into the world by Adam's sinful choice to rebel against Him.  Man doing his own will led to destruction that was never God's will.  Though God is not willing any should perish, mankind was cursed by sin which is evidenced by sickness, pain...

" The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law ." Deuteronomy 29:29 Regardless how much a person might know, there is abundantly more that they do not know.  When it comes to the secret things of God, there is much we cannot know or understand.  The complexity of life and glory of God revealed in nature and His word are merely the edges of His ways.  The more we learn of God and the things He has made, we realise there is much more we have yet to understand. Moses wrote of secret things that belong to the LORD our God:  some mysteries He chooses to reveal in His time, and other things He chooses to keep secret.  The thrust of the passage, however, is not to focus on what God knows that we cannot know.  The truth is God has revealed Himself and His wisdom to us and has given us things to take to heart and put into practice.  The boo...

 After Jesus spoke the parable of a sower, He explained how blessed His disciples were to have such revelation from the living God while the unbelieving remained ignorant in Matthew 13:16-17 :  " But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;  17   for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it ."   Those who believed Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God could listen to and understand Him, but those who did not believe He was God made flesh remained in darkness.  Jesus again and again repeated His claims of being one with God, that He was equal with God and told Thomas, " He that has seen Me has seen the Father " ( John 14:9 ).  The scribes and rulers who did not believe He was the Christ narrowed their eyes and repeatedly asked in their interactions with Jesus, "Now who do you make yourself to be?"   Tho...