Psalm 73:23-26 ESV
Genesis 3:9 (man hid from God)
Exodus 15:6 ESV
Luke 16:16 NLT
John 3:16 ESV
2 Peter 3:9 (None should Perish)
I John 4:10 ESV
Mark 16:19 ESV
Hebrews 1:3-4 ESV
Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV
Thoughts on Scripture and Life
God is our guide, our glory, our strength, and God holds onto us with His right hand.
Psalm 73:23-26 speaks of worship and the authority of God and how He holds onto us by His the right hand in this way, “Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Also, the importance of the right hand mentioned often in scripture had (has) significant meaning.
The right hand was considered to be righteous and “the right hand is symbolic of ruler-ship, authority, sovereignty, blessing, and strength and is significant in Scripture” (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/christiancrier/2015/06/13/what-does-the-right-hand-symbolize-or-mean-in-the-bible/).
God alone. In God alone we find strength.
What’s so very interesting about the right hand is that scripture does not say that we hold onto God with our right hand.
It is God who holds onto us. Always.
Why is that so important?
Simply put, it’s important because WE fail. We are weak.
God is strong. Only God is strong.
So, given that why would we NOT worship God? Why would we not turn to hear God calling our name?
He does, you know…
I believe that God calls out to us day and night, night and day. That’s because God loves us so much that He never forgets about us.
God never forgets. Ever.
In Genesis 3:9, God called to man in the garden when they tried to hide from God because they ate the forbidden fruit shown to them by the serpent.
Even then, even when they disobeyed, God went looking for them.
God loved them.
Even though Man and Woman had to leave the garden, God made a way for them to thrive.
We worship this God.
God holds onto us with His righteous right hand.
In Exodus 15:6 we read, “Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.”
With one touch of the right hand of blessing and strength of God He can shatter our enemies.
We worship our God.
After the time of the Law received by Moses and the prophets, John called the Baptizer came to prepare the way for one coming. Luke 16:16 says, “Until John the Baptist, the law of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is eager to get in.“
…and we worship!
Then in John 3:16 we read that God sent His Son, His only Son into the world because He loved us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
God was not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9) because He loves us. So He sent His son who died so our sins would be forgiven, I John 4:10, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
We know from Mark 16:19 that, “the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.”
We worship God the Father and God the Son (ONE God) because of this great love and care for us.
In addition to that we read about Jesus in Hebrews 1:3-4, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”
And so we stand with a great crowd and we worship as we run the race set before us:
As Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
In my lifetime I have had the great privilege of worshiping with devout Catholics and Eastern Orthodox believers, and I’ve worshiped with almost every denomination (Protestants) in the United States and even a few abroad. I’ve spent time in a Hebrew Synagogue, I’ve sat with Buddhists and Muslims and have been honored to learn more about how they view worship and experience enlightenment.
God has blessed me in every place by every person and in every house of worship.
I have also spent time listening to my great-grandparents, my grandparents, my parents, my grown children, and my eight grandchildren talk about their faith and how they worship.
I consider our multi-generational faith stories to be a huge blessing!
As you worship (however you worship) I call it good.
Today’s Spiritual Practice is: Worship
In your own way, by your own tradition, spend time worshipping today.
In God, Deborah
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