---To the chief Musician, A Psalm or Song of David.--- Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.
Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him. A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah: The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary. Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor.
The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil. Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon. The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan. Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.
3 comments:
I've read Psalm 68 and it fits well with some homilies that I've found two days ago on internet... It's really interesting to hear such kind of speeches, I found there (unexpected, I must admit) answers for some questions I have had for a while.
And speaking about answers... let me know your opinion about something, please. I have sometimes a dialogue about faith/religion with somebody (on internet). She says love is everything and we must love unconditionally... while I reply "of course we must do this, but we are still weak and with bad perceptions, so we have to know the Christian doctrines and to understand why must do some and why mustn't do other things..." In other words, she says the one must love no matter if he/she has the basic knowledge of Christ's way, while I am somehow skeptic that a person would love as Lord's requires as long as he/she doesn't understand why must do that. Am I wrong? Is she? Are we both?
Thanks for reading this, I don't want to appear like a "smartass" or something... but a third person's opinion is always good.
That's a tough one...yes God loves us unconditionally---but---we cannot love anyone until the love of God is placed in our hearts by Him. Our best love apart from Christ is still a self-serving love...apart from Christ, one does it to feel good about themselves, one does it to promote their own ideas, one does it to get loved back...no matter what, at the root of anyone's love apart from Christ is a desire to get something in return.
God's love is unconditional because He is perfect and holy, but in that perfect love, He is gracious enough to allow us to go our own way, something our love cannot do.
In this, you are standing on much firmer ground than she. Hope that helps a little.
Thank you for this reply, sir, it really helps. Actually I know there's different kinds of love, but never thought to put such a clear light over them, to separate and see the absolute purity of Christ's love compared to other kinds of love. Perhaps getting older would bring me more wisdom and understanding over such problems.
Thank you.
Post a Comment