From:
Date: March 29, 2021
Subject: It's March 29; Good Morning Union
“Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim You, who walk in the light of Your presence.” Psalm 89:15
Psalm 29- this is poetry! Some have called it “the psalm of 7 thunders,” because David describes the power of the “voice of God” like a thunderstorm with all its natural strength and beauty. He then concludes that this all-powerful God, who is enthroned as King forever, offers His people both HIS strength and HIS peace forever! With Him on my side what do I have to fear?!
Psalm 59- the context of this psalm is David writing from someplace he is calling home, surrounded by evil men, sent by Saul, to kill him. It’s pretty graphic as it describes their evilness and their intent; and THEN I had my ah-ha for the day. David asked God NOT to kill them and rescue him. He asked God to let them live so they can apparently allow their evilness to play out fully to its own self-destruction. Then and only then, according to David would God’s people understand the evilness of sin, see its natural consequences, and be able to thank God that through it all He promised to be their fortress. That might help formulate an answer as to why evil still continues when there exists an all-powerful God. He still wants me to love Him not because He delivers me from all of life’s troubles, but because He is faithfully with me through those troubles as they have to play out to their bitter end so I too can see the evilness of sin. And what did they do while they waited and trusted? They sang!! They sang praise songs!!
Psalm 89- And speaking of singing praise songs—I read this psalm next and it’s all about singing! We’ve even made the first few verses into and old praise song- “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever, I will sing, I will sing…. And with my mouth will I make know Your faithfulness to all generations…” Now that I’ve got that tune circulating in my brain, I continue reading and see four things they sang about:
As all good praise music should do—it focuses on God!
Psalm 119- we’re going to skip this one for now because it’s VERY long (as in 176 verses) and because this month has 31 days in it and my method for reading all the psalms in a month is based on a 30 day month! So, I’ll look at this psalm on Wednesday (the 31st)
Psalm 149- Hallelujah- “Praise the Lord” #4 of the five hallelujah psalms that conclude the book. Its focus is on:
Sounds like Friday night Praise and Worship time at Union College (except maybe the dancing!)
Have a great day praising your Maker, your Sustainer, and your Savior,
Pastor Rich
Quote for the day: "If people are doubting how far you can go, go so far that you can't hear them anymore." - Michelle Ruiz
PS Marcus Larivaux, pastor from Allon Chapel is in Campus Ministries to offer additional pastoral support from 1-3 every Monday afternoon. You can make an appointment by contacting Pastor Larivaux at milarivaux@gmail.com or just stop by. We are very grateful that we can offer a variety of pastoral counseling for you.
PPS We have a community service opportunity for you to be a part of. This Sunday (4th) People City Missions, a local homeless shelter, needs 6 students to help serve food for their Easter Sunday lunch from 11 to 1:30. Contact me at adam.anderson@ucollege.edu to reserve a spot and get the volunteer application and necessary details to participate. "