Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Look to God and Be Energized

The heavens declare the glory of God, the psalmist writes (Psalm 19), and the firmament proclaims his handi- work. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, their voice is not heard; yet their line goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

Awakened at a little after 5:00 this morning with the melding of text and life on my mind for the Wednesday Bible Study at Salem, I felt warmed, as if by some divine nudge, with a sudden awareness that all the texts for next Sunday gather around the energizing power and grace of God. Whether in Psalm 19 quoted above, Exodus 20 (the Ten Commandments), 1 Corinthians 1:180-25 (where the wisdom of God is contrasted with the our human foolishness), or John 2:13-22 (where the sovereign energy of Jesus is dramatized by his cleansing of the temple), the motion is always from God to us that we might come alive in him.

Gathering my slippers and robe and descending to my study, anxious to complete the lesson earlier begun, I was startled as my computer awakened from its slumbers by the angelic face and form of my granddaughter Kajsa Grace, which greeted me as it now does perpetually. I laughed and wept all at the same time, bathed in the awareness that texts soon to be shared and the life so clearly manifest in her "Southern Belle" joy both declare God's glory.
Study turned to worship as I went deeper into the texts. God's presence, power, grace, and zeal for his house filled me with new energy, and the prayer of the psalmist became my morning prayer: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O God, my rock and my redeemer (v. 14).