The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.
- Carl Sagan
Psalms of Delight...
Most of the Bible's Psalms give thanks to God on one or more levels. Commanded to do so, Christians aught to make the time to praise God for His glorious nature, creative genius and many gifts to mankind.
Psalms of Delight are written in concert with Psalms in the Night. Both series contain Modern Psalms meant to comfort and inspire those seeking the Omni-God revealed in Scripture.
Beloved Stardust Summary
Modern society's an interesting study in contradictions. As the first generation capable of appreciating the magnificence of creation, our reverence for the Creator should be growing, yet nothing could be further from the truth. Many, if not most, of humanity's best and brightest scientific minds are among the world's leading skeptics if not cynics. While mankind has many understandable and as of yet unresolved doubts and issues with God, no one who's taken even a little time to honestly study the cosmos can miss it's vastness and our equally great need to know our Creator and Savior. The answers to life's ultimate questions begin with honesty enough to admit we are but mortal stardust. Thankfully, according to Scripture, the story only begins there...
Beloved Stardust
Modern Psalm 24
Morning Lord. How good it will be only You know.
Been a while since I wrote a psalm. Finished a series of God Blog articles ranging from immorality to the fairness of God. From our need for brokenness to realizing Your Kingdom within. Important stuff, yet I'm aware it's the height of irony, if not arrogance, to presume to write about You. Three pounds of brain matter blathering on about Omnity. Just one of over seven billion thinking, feeling, sinful earthly reeds that a little water added or withheld could easily kill. A soulish meatcycle on skeletal sticks, fearfully and wonderfully made, yet with next to no consciousness or comprehension of even the autonomic inner workings of my own body much less the nature and personality of the Creator of the cosmos. A sole mind on a solitary planet in a single solar system among 200 to 400 billion stars in just one of over 100 billion galaxies in this dimension of Your multiverse.
How massive and majestic is Your creation. A million Earths could fit into our Sun and there's fifty billion trillion stars in the observable universe. Yet all this matter accounts for only about 5% of our universe's total mass! And what glorious attention to detail. I'm told every aspect of creation's required for our momentary existence. Science suggests such extreme fine tuning, one part in a quadrillion, quadrillion, quadrillion, quadrillion, that should a single dime's worth of matter be added or removed the balance of the entire cosmos might have been thrown off and life as we know it have been impossible!
And what a wonderfully ominous existence it is. From behind our eyes the universe revolves around each one of us yet from a google of other vantage points in space-time, we're as significant as soap bubbles. If the difference in heaven and hell lies in thinking well then thoughts and minds matter. Yet the entire human race, perhaps 100 billion or more past, present and future are dust in the balance before any aspect of Your Omnity, or even Your creation of space-time, matter or energy. As Blaise Pascal noted, "It is not in space that I must seek my human dignity, but in the ordering of my thought. It will do me no good to own land. Through space the universe grasps me and swallows me up like a speck; through thought I grasp it.
What a quantum dilemma we face. On the one hand we're as mist, here in the morning and forever burnt off by midday. On the other, the Bible declares through Christ's costly atonement we, 14 billion year old carbon may become beloved stardust, "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ." A wonderful offer few would be foolish enough to reject. Yet billions have and are, for we are not alone. Scripture's sketchy history of eternity warns of a cosmic battle raging throughout Three Heavens encompassing earth and influencing every aspect of human nature. Stalked, tempted and deceived by an ancient and malevolent Adversary, humanity's dazed and confused, down and out for the count were it not for the hope and direction of scripture.
Thanks for the encouragement and guidance, mercy and grace of scripture. In particular verses like Ezekiel's "As sure as I am the living God, I take no pleasure from the death of the wicked. I want the wicked to change their ways and live. Turn your life around! Reverse your evil ways!." Also Peter's assurance, "The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people's conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering, extraordinarily patient toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance." and the Apostle Paul speaking on Your behalf "He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we've learned: that there's one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free."
Oh Lord, how many frustrate Your revealed will that none should perish and all would come to the knowledge of truth, repentance and salvation? Some scoff at such an the idea of all being saved quoting Christ's warning, "You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it" yet Jesus Himself said of Omnity's plan, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him."
Many consider working through such quantum truths a waist, finding more pleasant ways to spend their time. Most find these concepts inconsequential and any distinctions simply semantics. I disagree. There's an eternity of difference between "all" and "few." With hell to lose and heaven to gain, what work could be more crucial than knowing and realizing Your will on such matters?
You've already done so much. Your idea of the Church is remarkable. First the incarnation of "Emanuel, God in us" and then "God in us" through the infilling the Holy Spirit. Yet modern Christianity leaves much to be desired. Watered down doctrines of Churchianity have replaced the need for living faith and authentic Biblical teachings on salvation and sanctification , the virtue of fear and judgment have all but disappeared. Ironically, sin within, about and above has used Your unprecedented blessings to trap an entire generation and those to come. Temptations and resistance of modern life are proving to be more than even the Church can handle. Deceiving God's anointed, if we are either at this point, is commonplace. And with even basic Christian disciplines like Bible study and prayer in sharp decline few seem to care enough to take notice today there's little or no lifestyle difference between believers and their worldly counterparts. Filled more with the original sin of entitlement than the fruit and gifts of the Spirit, Churchianity hardly resembles the first century Christians. Tragically, with worldliness on the rise and genuine moves of God in short supply, things can only go from bad to worse as our sins continue to separate us from You:
- "Look! Listen! God's arm is not amputated—he can still save. God's ears are not stopped up—he can still hear. There's nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you. Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God. Your sins got between you so that he doesn't hear. Your hands are drenched in blood, your fingers dripping with guilt, Your lips smeared with lies, your tongue swollen from muttering obscenities. No one speaks up for the right, no one deals fairly." Isaiah 59:1-4 MSG
Dear God, such sin and in a time of relative peace and prosperity! With the stage being set for the Book of Revelation's end times and its terrors, what's to become of Your Church, much less humanity, when we're overtaken by tribulation? You warned believers are "the salt of the earth" and that if we lost our savor we'd be trampled in the dust. But it doesn't have to be this way. "In wrath remember mercy." Hear the daily prayers of repentance offered by prophetic Christian intercessors. We're banking hard on You, holding on to the promise of hope offered by countless scriptures attesting to Your unfailing love, mercy and faithfulness even in perilous times:
- "Your priests violated my law and desecrated my holy things. They can't tell the difference between sacred and secular. They tell people there's no difference between right and wrong. They're contemptuous of my holy Sabbaths, profaning me by trying to pull me down to their level. Your politicians are like wolves prowling and killing and rapaciously taking whatever they want. Your preachers cover up for the politicians by pretending to have received visions and special revelations. They say, 'This is what God, the Master, says...' when God hasn't said so much as one word. Extortion is rife, robbery is epidemic, the poor and needy are abused, outsiders are kicked around at will, with no access to justice. I looked for someone to stand up for me against all this, to repair the defenses of the city, to take a stand for me and stand in the gap to protect this land so I wouldn't have to destroy it. I couldn't find anyone. Not one. So I'll empty out my wrath on them, burn them to a crisp with my hot anger, serve them with the consequences of all they've done. Decree of God, the Master." Ezekiel 22:26-31 MSG
- "O Lord, don’t rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your rage. Have compassion on me, Lord, for I am weak. Heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. I am sick at heart. How long, O Lord, until you restore me? Return, O Lord, and rescue me. Save me because of your unfailing love. For the dead do not remember you. Who can praise you from the grave? Psalm 6:1-5
- "Help, God—the bottom has fallen out of my life! Master, hear my cry for help! Listen hard! Open your ears! Listen to my cries for mercy. If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that's why you're worshiped. I pray to God—my life a prayer— and wait for what he'll say and do. My life's on the line before God, my Lord, waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning." Psalm 130:1-6 MSG
- "O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. Listen closely to my prayer, O Lord; hear my urgent cry. I will call to you whenever I’m in trouble, and you will answer me." Psalms 86:5-7
- "Jonah was furious. He lost his temper. He yelled at God, "God! I knew it—when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen! That's why I ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness!" Jonah 4:1-2 MSG
- "But there's also this, it's not too late— God's personal Message!—"Come back to me and really mean it! Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins!" Change your life, not just your clothes. Come back to God, your God. And here's why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot, This most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe. Who knows? Maybe he'll do it now, maybe he'll turn around and show pity. Maybe, when all's said and done, there'll be blessings full and robust for your God! Blow the ram's horn trumpet in Zion! Declare a day of repentance, a holy fast day. Call a public meeting. Get everyone there. Consecrate the congregation. Make sure the elders come, but bring in the children, too, even the nursing babies, Even men and women on their honeymoon— interrupt them and get them there. Between Sanctuary entrance and altar, let the priests, God's servants, weep tears of repentance. Let them intercede: "Have mercy, God, on your people!" Joel 2:12-16 MSG
- "I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13
- "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come." Ephesians 1:17-21
- “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon: and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has cone down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” Revelation 12:7-12
Of course, we're told Your Church is already gone, conveniently raptured before serious trouble begins. Yet Jesus, Paul and John all teach otherwise. While Revelation's rapture does come a verse before the Apostle John's the use of the phrase "God's wrath" it's only after Satan's armies have been cast out of heaven and bound to earth. Two chapters later, after the Antichrist is revealed and makes war against Your Church are we told: "Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was someone like the Son of Man. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came from the Temple and shouted to the one sitting on the cloud, “Swing the sickle, for the time of harvest has come; the crop on earth is ripe.” So the one sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the whole earth was harvested."
This all sounds too incredible to believe! Yet You know better. Even now there's a meteor or asteroid with our name on it. Creator and Savior, how about giving us a fighting chance? Clearly our mutual Enemy's too great for mankind. While You've kept us from physically being enslaved, spiritually humanity's been "taken captive to do his will." The scourge of three heavens has cunningly used the "exceeding deceitfulness of sin" to put us at odds with You. We're hopelessly outmatched, a glaring fact You know better than anyone. I understand it's not for "dust" to question Omnity's plans and motives, yet even sentient, much less beloved dust, has the God given right and responsibility to "come boldly before the throne of grace" continually crying out for understanding and advice. With "God all things are possible." You could end our captivity to the "god of this world" by speaking to Your prodigal children and their alienated siblings so lovingly, mercifully and gloriously that we would unharden our hearts against Your voice. And You, awesome and awful God might do the same, hearing and answering prayer "while yet on our lips." You could clearly reveal how fallen humanity can effectively approach Omnity, coming humbly and "boldly to the throne of our gracious God. To receive mercy, and find grace to help us when we need it most."
Of course there's countless just reasons for Your silence and distance. The glory of Your holiness demands deep and lasting brokenness and repentance from such notorious sinners. With the human race meriting judgment not revival, it's no wonder prayer, or the lack thereof, so often goes unanswered. Yet while we stand utterly condemned in our sin, particularly my generation and the next in first world nations and beyond, and are totally without excuse, even our behavior is not without explanation. For it's written that he, formally known as Helel Ben Shachar (Lucifer: הילל בן שחר), who stands accusing and condemning us, first tempted and deceived us. And not humanity alone, but angels. Ancient, glorious and holy angels from heaven above. Lord, what chance does mankind have against such malevolence when in comparison the entire human race was born yesterday and dies tomorrow. None, without an immediate and unprecedented global outpouring of Your Spirit's presence and power, provision and protection.
So I pray along the lines our Lord taught. Our Father in heaven, Your name is Holy. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth today as it is in Heaven. Thanks for giving us so much. Forgive us for taking Your blessings for granted. Yet I ask that You give us far more, and with it the willingness and wisdom to share with those in need spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally and socially. Forgive our many sins, trespasses and debts and help us forgive those who sin and trespass against us and are indebted to us. Particularly I ask that You lead us not into temptation but deliver us from all sin above, about and within. From all evil, the evil One, the evil him and his, for Your's is the Kingdom, and the Power and the Glory forever. Have mercy and grace, grace, grace.
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