{"id":3579,"date":"2016-10-11T17:45:31","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T23:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/?p=3579"},"modified":"2016-10-11T17:45:31","modified_gmt":"2016-10-11T23:45:31","slug":"fulfilling-our-divine-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/?p=3579","title":{"rendered":"Fulfilling our Divine Call"},"content":{"rendered":"

BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY…<\/strong>\u00a0“Oh, praise the Lord<\/span>, all you servants of the Lord<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>you who serve at night in the house of the Lord<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>Lift your hands toward the sanctuary,<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/em>and praise the Lord<\/span>.”<\/em> Psalm 134:1,2 NLT<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This final “Psalm of Ascent” is direct and to the point. The journey is over, the pilgrims have arrived at their destination. They are gathered in unity, having reflected on their history, sufferings and the Lord’s faithfulness. Now is the time to “get down to business.” What they have gathered to do was to not just enjoy each other’s fellowship, but to worship the One who made heaven and earth.<\/p>\n

In the Old Testament the Priests and the Levites were commissioned to perform the acts and duties of sacrifices and worship to the Lord. This psalm is structured like a “conversation” or interaction between the pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem and the “servants of the Lord.” It is as if the pilgrims call out, “we are here, get with it!” All of you servants of the Lord, even those who stand watch during the night, praise the Lord!<\/p>\n

There is a call for those who have been so ordained to operate, according to their function, as they have been “ordained” to do. I recall when microwave ovens first came out, we visited someone who was using their microwave as a breadbox. That’s a fairly expensive breadbox; but that was not in keeping with the function that the designers had in mind. Full utility is realized when something (or someone) operates according to their purpose.<\/p>\n

We see the New Testament picture of this coming into focus in 1 Peter, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”<\/em> (1 Peter 2:9 NIV)<\/p>\n

Through Christ, all believers, form a “holy priesthood.” One that has the charge and the duty to “declare the praises of him who call you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”\u00a0<\/em>Our function as follower of Christ includes worship. It is a calling, it is a privilege, that must not be overlooked or taken for granted. When we fail to function according to our design, we experience less that God’s best. But when we operate based on our “creator’s design” we become a blessing to others and enjoy the satisfaction of fulfilling one of our highest purposes.<\/p>\n

This psalm ends with what we can view as a benediction coming from the Priests to the pilgrims as they worship the Lord, “May the Lord<\/span>, who made heaven and earth,<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/em>bless you from Jerusalem.”<\/em> (Psalm 134:3 NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If we examine many of the psalms, we see that they declare worship to the Lord based on who He is and what He has done. We read, “praise Him for His excellent greatness.” “Praise the Lord<\/span>, for the Lord<\/span> is good.” “…rejoice in your Maker.” “Praise him for his mighty works;<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>praise his unequaled greatness!”\u00a0<\/span><\/span>“Let every created thing give praise to the Lord<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>for he issued his command, and they came into being.”<\/span><\/span><\/em>\u00a0(Psalm 150:2; Psalm 135:2; Psalm 148:5; Psalm 150:2; Psalm 149:2 )<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As we peer into the “heavenly Jerusalem” see this scene, “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: \u201cTo him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!\u201d<\/em> (Revelation 5:13 NIV)<\/p>\n

May the One, who is above all and is creator of all, bless you from His “heavenly Jerusalem.”<\/p>\n

Prayer for today…\u00a0<\/strong>Lord, so often in our life’s journey, we can fail to remember and focus on what the journey is all about. It is about being with You; being blessed by Your presence and fulfilling our call to be worshipers of the great God, who made heaven and earth and has given us life forevermore.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY…\u00a0“Oh, praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,\u00a0you who serve at night in the house of the Lord.\u00a0Lift your hands toward the sanctuary,\u00a0and praise the Lord.” Psalm 134:1,2 NLT This final “Psalm of Ascent” is direct and to the point. The journey is over, the pilgrims have arrived at their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3579"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3580,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3579\/revisions\/3580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}