Aim High

“…To the end that my tongue and my heart and everything glorious within me may sing praise to You and not be silent: O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.”—Psalm 30:12, Amplified

In a tight spot, at our wit’s end, at the end of a long day, often, the only two words we can muster in prayer are “Oh, Lord!”  It’s good to know that no matter how we may feel, when we choose to look Up, these seemingly feeble words shoot straight to the ears and heart of God. The light of the Word exposes the adversary's shady attempts to convince us otherwise:  “the [Holy] Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

Not that we should settle for two-word prayers, but that hope-filled promise alone is enough to daily rekindle the flame of worship within and take it off auto-pilot. And not only that, there's a two-word cousin to the “Oh, Lord!” arrow that adds even more octane to the worship fuel mix, for every Sunday gathering and every weekday routine.

All for the sake of a missing "h," the phrase “O Lord” shows up a gazillion times in the psalms, and in Psalm 30 alone, eight times within its 12 verses. But rather than the desperate sigh of its cousin, this expression is an arrow that the ancients fired when specifically addressing or calling out a person’s name to let them know they were speaking only to them.

And, no matter what kind of day we're having or had, these five simple letters can help refocus our hearts, as it did with David and other saints who've gone through it all before us, to trust and give glory to our Singular Reason to be alive — and to no other reason, possibility, circumstance, or person (including ourselves):

O Lord, for You have lifted me up

O Lord, I cried to You and You have healed me

O Lord, You have brought my life up from the pit

O Lord, You have established me as a strong mountain

And when the psalmist adds things like this:

O Lord, to You I made supplication

O Lord, have mercy and be gracious to me

O Lord, be my helper...

...it’s a reminder to our distracted, world-bombarded souls that our prayers and praises don’t go out into some endless abyss where there is no answering service, but like the "Oh, Lord!" sigh, fly like a flaming arrow to the one God who made and still rules heaven and earth, and who is always very near…even and perhaps especially in those moments when He seems to be far away.

O Lord, help us remember that a worshiper isn't someone who says just the right words, sings all the right notes, or who can raise their hands and shout with the best of them, but that...

"A worshiper...is someone who's just aimed straight at God." — Reuben Morgan

 

...and Thunder

“The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare, and in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!’—Psalm 29:7-9

What’s with our fascination with thunderstorms? Perhaps it’s the unequaled rush that stirs up a mixture of excitement and fear, of knee-buckling awe and great delight. Little children jump into bed with mom and dad. Older ones watch from the front porch trying to put on bravado by joking about angels in heaven bowling. Grown ups wish they were at home and not at work so they can take it all it in. Even dogs catch the vibe, running to hide under furniture, or curling up in a corner, shaking.

Thunder and lightning. But when you think of it, it’s not really a thunderstorm but a lightning storm. Not a cute play on words, but really, quite significant. We may not see it all the time, but somewhere, the sudden increase of extreme temperature from a lightning flash is what's causing the atmosphere around it to rumble or even explode. Not just hot, but about five times hotter than the surface of the sun, and with enough energy to operate a 100-watt lightbulb for three months. And when it’s not in our particular storm, it’s flashing somewhere else in the world, all day long, about 40 times a second.

Psalm 29 is the soundtrack for a lightning storm. It also serves as a type and shadow of the white-hot holiness of God always preceding the voice and presence of God. And it is everywhere, all the time, always in tandem, and non-stop. Even in forests and deserts and mountains where there is no one to see or hear it.  Like the stars in the night sky, a warm breeze that comes from all directions, the faithful roll of the ocean tide, and the songbirds that always seem to know that dawn is their cue to begin praising another day that He has made, lightning storms are another never-ending gift from God reminding us that He is always right here with us, even in our storms, always speaking…even when we think He has gone silent on our questions and prayers.

And for others, His wooing through these wonders of creation are non-stop as well. An invitation. A thought-provoker. A declaration to consider. God has no problem with people who others may label as “tree-huggers” or who like to say “the outdoors is my church.” This is opportunity knocking. Just as the guy who answered Jesus about what he thought God’s greatest commandment was, instead of judging him for not getting it quite right or being deceived or hypocritical, He said, “you are not far from the kingdom of God.”

And as we encounter those on our path who may not yet “see” God talking in all that surrounds us, lightning and thunder can be opportunity knocking, too. An opening for a conversation starter with eternal implications, to throw out a “what do you think about this?” ... and let God take it from there.

“The untracked, unimaginable stretches of the created universe are a parable about the inexhaustible riches of [God's] glory. The physical eye is meant to say to the spiritual eye, 'Not this, but the Maker of this, is the Desire of your soul.'" — John Piper

Freedom Song

"The next day, he [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said: 'Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'"—John 1:29

Grateful for the Land of the Free, warts and all, and also remembering that freedom, at its highest and best level, outshouts the best that William "Mel" Wallace could ever offer:

"I AM!"

The highest freedom has the simplest yet most powerful formula ever known to mankind:

Jesus = Yeshua = God saves.

The highest freedom never compartmentalizes things like Christmas and Easter themes, and makes a wide berth for faith-building seasons of wilderness, and doubt, and questioning. (Even this same John the Baptist, who while sitting unjustly in a prison cell later in the Story, sent messengers to ask, "so, are You really the One You say You are, or should I and we be looking for someone else?") 

The highest freedom even imagines being among those along the Jordan that day earlier in John's life, and trying to pass along his shocking freedom message, word-of-mouth no less, to friends and loved ones:

"Everyone! Behold—look! LOOK!—This One, this Name alone, this Lamb (lamb?!), this Jesus...this is amazing Love! No, I can't explain it. I can't even begin to wrap my brain around it. But this King of Kings is among us and He's never moving out. Because He owns this place. And He loves this place. And especially, all of us who are in it....And who can possibly keep quiet about such a thing? Or, about this?"....

For a Child has been born—for us!

The gift of a Son—for us!

He'll take over the running of the world

His Names will be:

Amazing Counselor

Strong God

Eternal Father

Prince of Wholeness

His ruling authority will grow

And there'll be no limits to the wholeness He brings

He'll rule from the historic David throne

Over that promised Kingdom

He'll put that Kingdom on a firm footing

And keep it going

With fair dealing and right living

Beginning now and lasting always

The zeal of the God-of-the-angel-armies

Will do all this.

(Isaiah 9:6-7, Message)