Awesome!
Clap your hands for joy, all peoples!
Praise God with loud songs!
The Lord, the Most High, is to be feared;
he is a great king, ruling over all the world.
He gave us victory over the peoples;
he made us rule over the nations. (verses 1-3)
Read Psalm 47
Here is one of my favourite stories.
It is teatime. The young son in the family is refusing to eat his beans despite all the pleas and threats of his parents. They tell him that God will not be pleased with him if he does not eat his beans. But it makes no difference. He hates beans. He will not eat them, not even for God! So, as the ultimate punishment, the child is sent off to bed.
A little later that night there is a massive storm. Lightning, rain, thunder. The mother knows her son is petrified of thunderstorms, so she goes to his room to check that he is OK. She enters the room, expecting to find the lad cowering under the blankets. But no. She finds him instead standing by the window, absolutely enthralled by the raging storm and noise outside. Shaking his head, he turns to her and says, ‘Boy, what an incredible fuss to make about a plate of beans!’
Awed by God. And not just by the fearful God in the thunder. But by God who so awesomely loves and forgives us in Jesus.
O Lord, my God, how great thou art! Especially in Jesus. Amen.
by Bob Kempe, in ‘New Strength for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 1998)
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