Marching Forth!

God is better to us than we know.  Even when we credit Him for all good things we have received by His grace He is infinitely more worthy of praise and honour than the thoughts in our heads or the words on our lips.  Every day provides countless opportunities to praise and honour the God who does everything. I was impacted by the song of David in  Psalm 144:9-15 :  " I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee. 10  It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword. 11  Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood: 12  that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace: 13  that our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: t...

" Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. 9 And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'" Matthew 15:7-9 Jesus minced no words when He addressed self-righteous Pharisees and scribes who sought to destroy Him.  They put great emphasis on having a clean exterior according to the Law of Moses but neglected the condition of their hearts.  Jesus perceived the greed in their hearts which moved them to seek the praise of men over the glory of God.  The religious rulers drew near to worship God with their mouths but their hearts were far from Him. The worship of the self-righteous rulers Jesus said was in vain:  empty, worthless, fruitless, and ineffective.  Their worship of God was vain because they taught as doctrines the commandment of men.  God has provided the Bible to revea...

Noah was a righteous man who walked with God.  Enoch walked with God and was not (translated into heaven) and God saw fit to allow Noah to remain by His grace.  According to God's revelation and instruction Noah built an ark so people and animals would be preserved from coming judgment. While the exact amount of time Noah spent building the ark is unknown, it spanned many decades.  He was a builder and also a " preacher of righteousness " according to 2 Peter 2:5 .  He publicly proclaimed the word of the LORD a great flood was coming and his faith was demonstrated by building a massive ship on dry ground.  After the ship was completed, seven days before the flood, God told Noah and his family to enter the ark along with other animals God drew there.   Genesis 7:8-10 reads, " Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, 9  two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as G...

The LORD has blessed me to observe and glean truth from the Bible I have read before but never noticed.  At each reading of the Bible we, our circumstances, and our receptivity are different.  Because God's word is living and active our eyes are opened to seeing new things and a fresh perspective.  At a distance a fish may appear grey and colourless, but when we examine it closer we notice individual scales that reflect the full spectrum of light with rainbow colours. Genesis 3:24 says God drove Adam from Eden for his sin to till the ground under the curse brought on by sin:  " So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life ."  God guarded the entrance to the garden of Eden with cherubim, angels who serve God continually.  There is also described a sword which turned every way "... to guard the way to the tree of life ."  I su...