GOD IS LOVE (God IS... Part IV)

                                                 GOD IS: LOVE Part IV 

In our GOD IS…series, we began discussing three reasons why we must know God. It is to worship, trust, and meet his challenge of knowing Him. Then, we explored how God created the Universe and held everything together by His power. Last week, we marveled at His incredible and immeasurable power at work in the world and in the lives of believers.

Today, we will learn about the whole essence of who God is. William Morris (1834-1836)  wrote a  poem called Love Is Enough: Here is a part of the nine-line poem, "Love is enough: though the World be a-waning, And the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining, Though the sky be too dark for dim eyes to discover…"

It speaks on the power of love in the face of humankind's most depressing, darkest experiences. Someone is said to have reviewed it briefly in the words, It isn't. The natural loves are "not self-sufficient," wrote C.S Lewis in His book The Four Loves. As I reflected on it, I agree with the review. It is true; however appealing and powerful the natural loves may be, they in and in themselves are not self-sufficient. Then which Love is Enough and is all that we need?

Where do we get this idea of love? What is the true nature of love and the highest form of love? What should be our response to this true and sacred source of love? We have been talking about God as the God of all creation, and God is all-powerful, but when it comes to love, we don't say God has love or is full of love, but God IS LOVE. Love originates from God. Apart from God, we wouldn't know what love is and how we are to love in the first place.

 

I. The Biblical origins and the meaning of LOVE.

            The English language is not very precise in its descriptions. For example, I say, "I love my wife. I love my friend. I love meat lover's pizza. But I don't love my friend the same way I love my wife, and I don't love pizza as I love my wife! If I did, then I have a problem.

The English language uses the same word, "love," to describe various feelings. The ancient Hebrew and Greek Biblical authors used much more precise words for God's Love and when expressing their emotions of love. In the O.T, two words were used for love:

Ahab (208) means deep emotional love. It describes a deep emotional bond between a husband and wife, parent and child, two best friends, and even between a person and God. This is used when describing Abraham's Love for his Son Isaac (Genesis 22:2) or Jacob's Love for his wife Rachel (Genesis 24:67).

Hesed (248) means Steadfast loving kindness and mercy. This is the predominant way God describes his love for us in the Old Testament. Hesed depends not on deep emotional bonds but on faithfulness and covenant choice. It is often translated as mercy, faithfulness, and dedication to his people. The Greeks used four words in the Bible to describe love.

The first is Eros, which refers to romantic or sexual love. From it, we get the word erotic. The second is Storge, which refers to familial love, like that of a mother for her baby or of a brother and sister for each other.

The third is Philia, which occurs 24 times in the N.T Did you know the city of Philadelphia is called the city of brotherly love? It is because of the Greek word Philia, which means familial love. It is that love you have for a friend or sibling. It is an affection for someone dear to you. This goes beyond casual acquaintances or love for humanity in general. This love takes ownership and says, "You are my family now."

 

Finally, Agape refers to God's charitable, selfless, generous, and unconditional. Agape love appears 142 times in the New Testament and is considered the best Greek word for God's Love. It means to show affection, kindness, and goodness, not because of a deep emotional connection but rather because of integrity. It loves regardless of whether it is reciprocal or not.

It is unconditional love, undeserved by the receiver. Agape was used in John 3:16, "For God so loved the World." In the passage, we read in I John 4:8, "God is love." Consider how the O.T. people saw and experienced this God who is love.

 

II. God is Love.

All the attributes of God are summed up in one word: Love. All that God is Love, and all He does is motivated out of love, including his justice and punishment of sinners. Here are a few things we need to know about the nature of God's love and how we can respond to His love.

A. God's Love is Everlasting

As God is eternal, his love for his people is also everlasting. God affirmed his love lasts for a thousand generations. Exodus 20:6, "But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands." God spoke to his people through the prophet Jeremiah, saying in Jeremiah 31:3, "Long ago the Lord said to Israel: "I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love, I have drawn you to myself."

B. God's Love is Unconditional

God's love for humanity is unconditional. God loves without placing any conditions on the loved ones. Matthew 5:44-45, "But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike."

C. God's Love is Redeeming:

This unconditional love of God was manifested in the way God redeemed humanity by sending His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Romans 5: 8, "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. God's love is not only for a few but for everyone who believes in Jesus; to them, He gives them the right to become His children.

 

III. God's Father's Love

God's everlasting, unconditional, and redeeming love is best manifested in his Father's love. God reveals himself in the scriptures as our heavenly Father. The apostle John, also known as "the disciple whom Jesus loved, unpacks the rich and lavishing love of God for His children.

If you doubt who you are in Christ, open your eyes and see what God says of you. I John 3:1, "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! Only God, in His abundance, lavishes his great love upon undeserving people like us and makes us His children. What should be our response to this God who is love?

John explains how we can behave like God's children. I John 4: 7-8, "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love."

How can we know we are children of God? How can we know that God lives in us and his love is expressed in us? How can we overcome the fear of the future? All that happens when we love and live in God and continue loving one another through words and deeds. It is not that we loved God, but He loved us first and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take our sins.

 

As God's children of love, Jesus is sending us to live like him here in this world. We can only reflect Jesus as we live in God and let his love manifest in and through us. We do that by understanding what love is like. I Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way.

It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Let us receive God's love for us. With God's overflowing and selfless love,  we love one another, including our enemies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GOD IS... ALL PLWERFUL Part III

                                                      GOD IS: ALL POWERFUL (Elshaddai) 

 

In our GOD IS…series last week, we discussed about the God of all Creation. How wonderfully He created the beautiful Earth we live on and the Universe that we cannot fully understand with its intricacies. If you are baffled by the mysteries of the Universe, you are not alone; even scientists are having a hard time understanding how our Universe works.

Here is how Pedro Ferreira, University of Oxford professor of astrophysics, is puzzled, as most physicists are, about the origins and essential elements of the Universe. "We're at a complete loss for how to explain some of the most fundamental but baffling observations of how our Universe behaves. There is a tremendous, even cosmic, chasm between the physics we know and love and some of the phenomena we observe but can't make head or tail of.

We have no idea how to bridge this chasm – yet we are proceeding to construct ever more expensive experiments and observatories in the hope that we will. I've spent most of my adult life staring at the cosmic chasm – the abyss between what we know and what we don't.

And while our knowledge of the Universe has improved dramatically in that time, our ignorance has become only more focused. We're no closer to answering the big questions about dark matter, dark energy, and the Universe's origins than when I started. This isn't for lack of trying; a titanic effort is underway to try and figure out these mysterious aspects of the Universe.

But there's no guarantee we'll succeed, and we might never really grasp how the Universe works." [1] (pause). Naturally! We may never understand the Universe without knowing the God of the Universe. Today we will go one step closer to meeting the All-Powerful God who is seeking a close relationship with us. We will explore what the Scriptures say about His power, with which He holds the Universe together and our lives if only we let Him. Ephesians 1:15-23

 

I. What does God have to say about Himself in the Bible?

We had an event with Asia's Strongest Man at our Church. I had a hard time selling the event. I got mixed responses whenever I told people to meet Asia's Strongest Man. Some gave a shocked and puzzled look, some said can I fight him, and several didn't bother.

I don't even want to attempt to introduce you to the real and the most powerful God of all creation. Let God speak of himself of who He says He is. This is how God revealed himself to Abraham, who was ninety years old. Genesis 17:1-3. When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am El-Shaddai God Almighty.' Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants." At this, Abram fell face down on the ground."

The Hebrew word El-Shaddai means "The all-sufficient one, the God of the Mountains; God Almighty. For Abraham and his descendants, mountains meant God's provision, promises, protection, and everlasting presence. Here is how God revealed His power through mountains:

God provided a lamb when Abraham was about to offer Issac. He said, of God, "Jehovah Jireh," It became a proverb, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided." Genesis 22:13-14 The Israelites knew God as the God of the hills and the valleys, I Ki 20:28. David expressed his confidence in God, saying, "Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff." protect and comfort me. Psalm 23:4

 

Israelites prayed as they traveled through mountains, "I look up to the mountains. Does my help come from there? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and Earth." Psalm 121:1-2. The pilgrims sang as they ascended to Jerusalem. "Those who trust in the Lord are as secure as Mount Zion; they will not be defeated but will endure forever. Just as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, both now and forever." Psalm 125:1-2

What can Elshaddia, God of the mountains, can do to us today? Our all-powerful God has absolute control over every situation we encounter. He sees our highs and the lows and everything in between. We can be safe in His everlasting arms wherever we find ourselves. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, God's presence surrounds us.

 

II. How did people witness God's power throughout generations?

The scriptures recorded numerous miraculous acts of God. Every act of God is a power encounter. That's why they are called miracles. One of the Bible's most miraculous deliverance ever recorded was God delivering His people from 400 years of bondage to slavery. He performed various signs and sent ten plagues over Egyptians. He parted the red sea, made the Israelites and their cattle pass through on the dry ground, and killed the whole of Pharo's army.  

After witnessing this mighty deliverance, Moses and Israel sang, "I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; he has hurled horse and the rider into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise him, my Father's God, and I will exalt him! The Lord is a warrior; Yahweh is his name! "Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in power. Your right hand, O Lord, smashes the enemy." Ex 15:1-6

God's powerful right hand delivered the Israelites and provided, protected, and cared for them for over forty years in the desert. God wanted His people to know He did all those great things and no one else, so He wrote it in stone by giving them this command. Exodus 20:1-3, "I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. "You must not have any other god but me." What does this mean for us today?

Are you facing a red sea kind of situation? God can make a way through your troubled situation. Are you struggling with finances, unable to cope with mounting debts, medical bills, student loans etc? If God could care for over 600,000 people, he can certainly care for you.

 

III. The four things that God's power would do in the life of a believer.

The Apostle Paul prayed that the Ephesian believers would grow in their knowledge of God. He wanted them to understand the incredible greatness of God's power. Let's look at the four ways God's power works in all who believe in Him.   

1. God's power can save sinners, including the worst ones.

The good news of Jesus Christ is powerful in saving sinners. Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes the Jew first and also the Gentile." God's power is here to save all sinners.

2. God's power lives in all those who believe in God.

            Eph 1: 19-20, I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms."

3. God's power gives us the strength to endure hardships

Colossians 1:11 "We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy." No matter our hardships, God gives us strength and patience to endure.

4. God's power provides all that we need to live godly lives

II Peter 1:3, "By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to Himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence." Our all-powerful God invites you to trust Him.

My prayer for all of us is, "From his glorious, unlimited resources, God will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong." Eph 3:16-17

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] Pedro G. Ferreira, “The Cosmic Chasm,” Aeon (Accessed 7/16/21)

GOD IS... The God Of All Creation- Part II

                                                       GOD IS: The God Of All Creation

Last week we embarked on an exciting journey to know and explore various aspects of our incredible and majestic God. My premise for this new GOD IS..  series is the fact that many of us at Hope Church believe and know the God of the Bible. His name is Jesus. However, I attempt to clear up certain misconceptions about God and strengthen the concepts you already know in the affirmative. The first step in our journey is a step of faith.

We begin our discovery with a firm belief that God exists and rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Hebrews 11:6, "And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him." Nothing displeases our God more than our unbelief and lack of trust in Him. With that in the background, we will explore several attributes of our God. Today will look at God as The God of all Creation. John 1:1-12

 

I. In The Beginning, God:

Our Holy Bible begins in Genesis 1:1, "In the Beginning God," and ends with the words of God in Rev. 22:21 to indicate everything begins and ends in and with God. In the English Bible, the Greek Word theos (God) appears 1317 times and kurios (Lord) 717 times.

The third commandment says, Exodus 20:7, "You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name." Modern man has no regard for God. People use the word "God, so flippantly and irreverently.

The ancient Israelites called God Adonai, which means the Lord, My Great Lord. They took God as their master, majestic Lord; hence He has total authority in their lives. The Word Adonai was pronounced in substitution of YHWH because the Israelites considered that to be too sacred to be uttered and to avoid the misuse of God's Holy name.

The Psalmist said, "O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the Earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens." Psalm 8:1 Let's not misuse the Lord's mighty name. Proverbs 18:10, "The name of the Lord is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe." Whether people show reverence to our God, are not we, as His Children, let's respect, honor, and continue to walk in fear of that name of our God, who is also the God of all Creation.

 

II. How did God create our beautiful world?

Genesis 1:1, In the beginning, God (Elohim) created the heavens and the Earth. (NLT), "In the beginning, when God created the universe." (GNT). The Hebrew Word Elohim means "The All-Powerful One; Creator of the Universe—the rest of the chapter details how God went about creating the Universe and our beautiful Earth. You may have heard this argument:

Does the Bible, Really Say That God Created Everything in Six Days Just 6,000 Years Ago? There are at least four views of the Genesis Creation account: 1. The literal/historical "young earth," 2. The  Day-age view, 3. Progressive Creation 4. The Gap Theory. Which view should we believe? Most theologians and scholars believe in the six-day creation narrative.

Genesis 1:3, "Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day" and the darkness "night." And evening passed, and morning came, marking the first day."

 

 

The early Jewish authors understood the six days as six ordinary days (not six long ages) because the Hebrew Word for a day (yom) is qualified with "evening," "morning," and a number for each of the six days in the Creation Week. When yom is used with any of these qualifiers throughout Scripture, it always means an ordinary day. Where else this six-day creation narrative was mentioned? When God wrote the ten commandments with his hands, He established the six-day creation work week as an eternal covenant between God and His people.

When God wrote the fourth commandment, He stated in Exodus 20:11, "For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the Earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day, he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy." He made the fourth commandment a permanent covenant between God and His people.

Exodus 31:16-17, "The people of Israel must keep the Sabbath day by observing it from generation to generation. This is a covenant obligation for all time. It is a permanent sign of my covenant with the people of Israel. For six days, the Lord made heaven and Earth, but on the seventh day, he stopped working and was refreshed." These scriptures indicate that the world was created in six days. Let's see what else the scriptures say about the God of all creation.

 

III. The God of all creation

Think about this for a moment. All the flowers, beautiful creatures, wild beasts on the land, vast schools of fish in the sea, the rivers, snow-capped majestic mountains, Grand canyon type valleys, the Sun, the Moon, and the galaxies steaming with stars in the Universe, how did they come into existence? Do you know how many galaxies and stars are there?

"If we made the most straightforward estimate using today's best technology, we'd state there are 170 billion galaxies in our Universe. But we know more than that, and our modern estimate is even grander: two trillion galaxies. Each galaxy contains at least 100 billion stars. You multiply them by two trillion, and you will get the total amount of stars in the Universe.

When we look at this beautiful planet Earth with all its intricacies and galaxies, how could anyone foolishly think all these came into existence by just a BIG bang? There must be a powerful creator behind this glorious creation. Who could that be? What is his name? How can we know Him? One of the historical books of the Bible, Genesis, explains how this wonderful world came about and who created it. It also speaks of its deterioration due to the Fall of man. 

Without a doubt, we know all these were created by God, Genesis 1:16-17, "God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set these lights in the sky to light the Earth, to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good."

The Psalmist praised, "He counts the stars and calls them all by name." Psalm 147: 4. Isaiah encourages us to "Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing." Isaiah 40:26.

Who is this God of all creation? Our passage for today gives us His name. John 1:1-3, "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him." Who was the Word in these verses? It was Jesus, and He is our God.

Colossians 1:15-17 "Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him, God created everything in the heavenly realms and on Earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see, such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together."

Who is the most beautiful and outstanding in all of God's creation? It is people, you and me. "God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God, he created them; male and female, he created them." Gen 1:27. What should be our response to God's beautiful creations of the world and humanity? We admire and take good care of earthly resources. Instead of resenting, we are grateful for God creating us wonderfully complex. (Psalm 139:14). We love and serve all people regardless of who they are, as all of us are made in God's image.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why We Must Know God (GOD IS...) series Part I

                                                                             GOD IS…

Why We Must Know God

A billboard displays a temperature of 118 degrees Fahrenheit, or 48 degrees Celsius, on July 18, 2023, during a record heat wave in Phoenix, Arizona. Phoenix suffers a record 31 straight days of 110-degree highs. To what do we attribute this extreme heat?

Cape Cod is a favorite tourist destination. Its population triples during the Summer. Can you imagine this gorgeous travel destination might not exist in the next 50 years? According to one survey, "Cape Cod has experienced 11 inches of sea rise since 1922. Going by Cape Cod scientists' findings, the estimated increase of 6-8 inches will threaten Cape Cod's existence. This may see the extinction of this beautiful place by the sea in 50 years.[1]

Globally, the Russia-Ukrainian war, which most people thought would end in a matter of days, lasted over 545 days and is still being fought fiercely. We all feel its impact. When will this come to an end? Nobody knows! Other issues, such as gun violence in our country, culture wars, abortion issues, hunger, inequality, injustice, and conflict in Israel, may continue for a long time.

Thinking about all these things, one of the Rabbis in our recent interfaith gathering expressed his anguish, saying, "I feel so powerless. Maybe this is what I would speak during the Jewish high holidays, "The powerlessness of Man." That statement made me think about how weak we are when solving these overwhelming global challenges. How could we remain hopeful and yet make a difference in the world? We need God's help to deal with complex problems.

For the past several weeks, we have been focusing on healthy Christians and what they can do for God. In the coming weeks, we will focus on who God is. I want to call my new series God IS... We will look at what God tells us about himself in the Bible. How does He reveal himself? What does he want us to know about him? We will explore seven attributes of God.

What comes to your mind when you think of God? Some think God is my higher power. Some humorously call him "the man upstairs." A college student once asked Billy Graham, what kind of a guy is God? A.W. Tozer said God is not like anything. Explaining the necessity of knowing God J. I Packer once said, "Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction."

Before we go further, I want us to address the absolute importance of Knowing God. In seminary, we study systematic theology. In Greek, theology means "words about God" or "the study of God"). In other words, theology is all about God, His nature, purpose, and works.

Our knowledge of God helps us understand who we are, our purpose in this world and opens up a way for salvation. All life and goodness flow from God as a light shining in the darkness. Despite this, many Christians spend far more time considering things that are secondary to God's character than the character of God itself." There are several reasons in the scriptures why we must know God intellectually and experientially. I will share three of them.   

I. We must know God To Worship Him.

We have learned the first vital sign of a healthy Christian is that he grows in His worship of  God. How could we love and adore someone without ever meeting or knowing that person? Similarly, we cannot worship God without knowing Him. Our knowledge of God informs and motivates our worship. Hosea 6:6, "I want you to show love, (Mercy), not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me (God) more than I want burnt offerings." God wants us to know Him more.

Jesus, while speaking with the Samaritan woman, challenged her uninformed worship of God. "You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him... For God is Spirit, those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth." John 4:22-24. Knowing God in his splendor and glory helps us to worship Him in Spirit and Truth.

II. God challenges us to Know Him as the only God.

God is incomprehensible and, at the same time, knowable. Psalm 145:3, "Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness. Job 26:14, "These are just the beginning of all that he does, merely a whisper of his power. Who, then, can comprehend the thunder of his power?" This awesome God revealed Himself to us so that we might know Him.  

The creation declares the Glory of God. Psalm 19:1-2, "The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day, they continue to speak; night after night, they make him known." How can people deny the existence of God when they see this glorious world" Bible calls them fools (Ps 14:1), and they have no excuse for not knowing Him.

Romans 1:20, "For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities, eternal power, and divine nature. So, they have no excuse for not knowing God." God has a challenge for us.

Jeremiah 9:23-24, "This is what the Lord says: "Don't let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: That they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth and that I delight in these things. I, the Lord, have spoken!" Do you know Him?

How should we honor this incredible God? Come let us, "Shout with Joy to the Lord. Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before him, singing with Joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are His people, the sheep of his pasture." Ps 100:1-3. God wants us to know Him as the only God and no other. "I am the Lord; there is no other God. I have equipped you for battle, though you don't even know me, so all the world from East to West will know there is no other God. I am the Lord, and there is no other." Isaiah 45:5-6.

III. God invites us to Know Him So that we might trust Him.

God has performed wonderful and powerful things throughout history so that people would get to know Him and learn to trust Him. In the passage we read, King David saw God's miraculous power as a young boy firsthand all the way up to his Kingship. David's knowledge of God was not just intellectual but experiential. So with confidence, he would sing:

Psalm 25:1-5, "O Lord, I give my life to you. I trust in you, my God! Do not let me be disgraced or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat. No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others. Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long, I put my hope in you."

David was regarded as the greatest king of Israel, and to his credit, there were many accomplishments. Yet his confidence was not in human resources but in God. Psalm 20: 6-8, "Now I know that the Lord rescues his anointed king. He will answer him from his holy heaven and rescue him by his great power. Some nations boast of their chariots and horses, but we boast in the name of the Lord our God." Those nations will fall down and collapse, but we will rise up and stand firm." I wish all national leaders and citizens would heed David's advice.

We can totally rely upon this God of the universe and trust Him to care for us, provide for us, heal us, and deliver us from our troubles. I have known these truths from an early age, both intellectually and experientially. My God is trustworthy. He can take care of you, but first, you must come to Him, believe that He exists, and rewards those who will trust Him. Let me repeat these few reasons why we must know Him: We must know God to Worship Him.

We must Know Him because He challenges us to know Him as the only one God. We must know God to trust Him. God invites all of us to Be still and Know that He is God and there is no other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] https://capecodxplore.com/climate-change-impact-on-cape-cod/ accessed on 8/2/2023