Enjoying Life Under the Sun

  MY GOD, You have helped me to see, that whatever good be in honor and rejoicing; how good is he who gives them, and can withdraw them. that blessedness does not lie so much in receiving good from and in you, but in holding forth your glory and virture; that it is an amazing thing to see Deity in a creature, speaking, acting; filling, shining through it; that nothing is good but you, that I am near good when I am near you, that to be like you is a glorious thing:  This is my magnet, my attraction. You are all my good in times of peace, my only support in days of trouble, my one sufficiency when life shall end. Help me to see how good your will is in all, and even when it crosses mine teach me to be pleased with it. Grant me to feel you in fire, and food and every providence, and to see that you many gifts and creatures are but your hands and fingers taking hold of me. You bottomless fountain of all good, I give myself to you out of love, for all I have or own is yours, my goo...

  O LORD GOD, WHO INHABITS ETERNITY, The heavens declare your glory, the earth your riches, the universe is your temple; Your presence fills immensity, Yet you have of your pleasure created life, and communicated happiness; You have made me what I am, and given me what I have; In you I live and move and have my being; Your providence has set the bounds of my habitation, and wisely administers all my affairs. I thank you for your riches to me in Jesus, for the unclouded revelation of him in your Word, where I behold his Person, character, grace, glory, humiliation, sufferings, death, and resurrection; Give me to feel a need of his continual saviorhood, and cry with Job, 'I am vile', and with Peter, 'I perish', with the publican, 'Be merciful to me, a sinner'. Subdue in me the love of sin,  Let me know the need of renovation as well as of forgiveness,  in order to serve and enjoy you forever. I come to you in the all-prevailing name of Jesus, with nothing of ...

O GOD WHOSE WILL CONQUERS ALL, There is no comfort in anything apart  from enjoying you and being engaged in your service; You are All in all, and all my enjoyments are what to me you make them, and no more. I am well pleased with your will, whatever it is, or should be in all respects, And if you bid me decide for myself in any affair, I would choose to refer all to you, for you are infinitely wise and cannot do amiss, as I am in danger of doing. I rejoice to think that all things are at your disposal, and it delights me to leave them there. Then prayer turns wholly into praise, and all I can do is to adore and bless you. What shall I give you for all your benefits? I am in a strait between two, knowing not what to do; I long to make some return, but have nothing to offer; and can only rejoice that you do all, that none in heaven or on earth shares your honor. I can of myself do nothing to glorify your blessed name, but I can through grace cheerfully surrender soul and body to you...

THREE IN ONE, ONE IN THREE, GOD OF MY SALVATION, Heavenly Father, blessed Son, eternal Spirit, I adore you as one Being, one Essence,  one God in three distinct Persons, for bringing sinners to your knowledge and to your kingdom. O Father, you have loved me and sent Jesus to redeem me; O Jesus, you have loved me and assumed my nature, shed your own blood to wash away my sins, wrought righteousness to cover my unworthiness; O Holy Spirit, you have loved me and entered my heart, implanted there eternal life, revealed to me the glories of Jesus. Three Persons and one God, I bless and praise you, for love so unmerited, so unspeakable, so wondrous, so mighty to save the lost and raise them to glory. O Father, I thank you that in fullness of grace you have given me to Jesus, to be his sheep,  jewel, portion; O Jesus, I thank you that in fullness of grace you have accepted espoused, bound me; O Holy Spirit, I thank you that in fullness of grace you have exhibited Jesus as my salvatio...

Q. What is required in the third commandment?  We are not to blaspheme or to abuse the Name of God by cursing, Leviticus 24:10-16  Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and this Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought each other in the camp.  And the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed; and so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.)  Then they put him in custody, that the mind of the LORD might be shown to them.  And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,  “Take outside the camp him who has cursed; then let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.  “Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.  ‘And whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregatio...

When President Trump took his oath of office, he failed to put his hand on the Bible.   Whether that failure was intentional or not, God in His providence allowed it to happen.   Looking at today's disastrous state of affairs, one cannot help wonder if God was sending us a message -  Trump's failure to put his hand on the Bible could be a sign that God Himself had removed His hand of blessing over our country.   And that God in His providence and power ordered this very public "mistake" to happen to both protect and promote the glory of His name. Why does God do the things that He does?  What motivates God to action?  One thing, and one thing alone - the glory of His Name! When God created the world,  He did so in order that man might glorify His Name for creation’s majesty and beauty.  And so man does.  O LORD our LORD how excellent is Your Name in all the earth  (Psalm 8:1).  The heavens declare the glory of God, an...