July 19, 2014.

“Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.”
(Zechariah 2:13)

Passages like this one almost give me chills when I read them. Sometimes I think that American Christianity has gotten so big and flashy that we forget our relationship to the Lord God Almighty, creator of the universe. Worship has become a show as opposed to the great reverence that God’s being simply demands. Read the above statement again and Imagine the Lord rising to take action. There is no force that can stop him, for he created all force. There is no one to oppose. He is. That is is name. “I AM.” Is that not amazing? This is what Habakkuk says:

“But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”
(Habakkuk 2:20)

Do we really understand the awesome presence of God? I think it is above our grasp. But I do believe there are certain things we can understand, and often forget. When the temple of the Lord was completed by Solomon and the ark was brought in, the presence of the Lord descended on the temple. It must have been an amazing and humbling scene.

“And when the priests came out of the Holy Place for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to their divisions, and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters; and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord,“For he is good,for his steadfast love endures forever,”the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.”
(2 Chronicles 5:11-14)

The glory of the Lord was so intense that the priest couldn’t even do their job. There is a level of reverence that we should have for the Lord. When we read that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, I think this is a real fear. God is not on our level. We are not in a position to argue with the Lord. And on some level, I think we all believe this. But the actions I see from many people of the religious world seem to suggest otherwise. I believe that we all need to step back sometimes and remember who we are and who God is.

I will keep this short today and let you dwell on the presence of the Lord and his awesome power, and the fact that this awesome being, the Lord God almighty would care so much about us that he would send his son to die in our place to cleanse us of our sins while we were still in them. That is why he is God and not man. May his glory reign forever.

Suggested Daily Reading: Exodus 3, II Kings 6, II Chronicles 4-5.

Bless his name.

-Walter