Admiring and Applauding God - R. Bruce Stevens

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Just as good parents discipline and teach their children with consequences, so does God with his children. He is transforming us into the likeness of his Son, Jesus, and chastening us is one of the means he uses.

      • Praise God that his love prompts him to chasten us as he sees fit.

      • “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in” (Prov 3:11–12).

      Chariot-owner

      The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands; the Lord has come from Sinai into his sanctuary.

      —Ps 68:17

      • See also 2 Kgs 6:8–17.

      • The chariots of old were the tanks of modern warfare. Infantrymen respect the advantage tanks give on the battlefield.

      • If we were to talk about God’s might in military terms, we would need to replace chariots not with tanks but with the most technologically-advanced weapons system known to man. God is the only military super-power.

      • Reflect on the Almighty power of God and praise the One whose power protects and keeps us.

      • Consider the Lord Jesus, who will one day judge and make war against all nations that wickedly oppose God, bringing final and complete justice. Astride a white horse, he will lead the armies of heaven to victory (Rev 19:11–21).

      Chooser

      If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

      —John 15:19

      • Many a child has experienced the dread of waiting to be chosen for a pick-up game by the gifted (and often self-appointed) captains. Each child hopes for the honor of being chosen first and, barring that, hopes against hope not to suffer the indignity of being chosen last.

      • In the upper room, Jesus told the disciples that he chose them. Surely they recalled how he, after a night of prayer, selected the Twelve from a larger group of disciples.

      • Every Christian is a chosen person. In the mystery of God’s sovereign ways, his Spirit stirred our deadened spirits and called us to come. We gladly heeded that call.

      • Praise God that he chose us to be his daughters and sons. God has no “minor leagues” when it comes to our value or place in his family—each of us has been chosen first by our Captain. We are cherished and loved. Reflect on this truth and then march out with confidence to meet the day.

      City-watcher

      Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.

      —Ps 127:1

      • Picture a vigilant watchman pacing the ramparts of ancient Jerusalem, scanning the horizon for any hint of the enemy’s approach. Regardless of how alert he is or how quickly he sounds the alarm, the city will fall unless the Lord has determined that it will stand.

      • Unless God says so, it will be impossible for any city to stand—or fall. Even if the enemy is strong and has superior forces, it will not prevail without God’s permission.

      • Praise God, the watchman of the city of our lives. Our confidence is in him for safety and protection. Of course we are to watch our lives closely (1 Tim 4:16 tells us, “Watch your life and your doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers”), but ultimately our trust is in God and his ability to keep us and our loved ones from all harm.

      • Let the truth of this verse saturate our minds today: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31b). If God is not for us, it doesn’t matter who is for us.

      Cloud-rider

      He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.

      —Ps 104:3b

      There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty.

      —Deut 33:26

      • Through the marvel of computer-generated imagery, it appears that people can do anything—fly, become invisible, display super-human strength, breathe under water, and more. We know that this is fantasy, but we are entertained nevertheless.

      • But there is One who can do such things. God can do anything he wants, and the image here is of God planting his feet on the clouds and riding across the skies. Written in a time when flight was considered only a cartoonish fantasy and beyond the wildest imaginations of men, this image spoke of God’s boundless abilities.

      • Praise the God of the impossible. Nothing is too hard for him.

      • Fix your eyes on Jesus, who ascended into the clouds and who will one day come back in the same way (Acts 1:9, 11).

      Comforter

      Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

      —2 Cor 1:3–4

      • Most of us have found ourselves struggling to know how to comfort someone in grief. How we wish we could say or do just the right thing that would take away their pain. Some wounds will not fully heal this side of heaven.

      • God is compassionate and a Comforter, so much so that he is called “the Father of compassion.” His heart is soft towards those who grieve and toward those who are overwhelmed by life’s troubles. He cares for the brokenhearted.

      • Praise God, who “is full of compassion and mercy” (Jas 5:11).

      Commander of Angels

      For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

      —Ps 91:11

      • Many of us give little thought to angels. Neither do we spend much time thinking about the devil or his demonic horde, for that matter.

      • We would believe in angels and demons and the reality of Satan and would have no doubt that they are powerful and awe-inspiring if we could but see them as they truly are.

      • Praise God, the Commander of all the angels—the good ones and the bad ones. If it pleases him to send an angel on a mission, he goes without hesitation. If he assigns an angel to protect us or our loved ones, we are protected. If God needs an evil spirit to do his bidding, even it must yield and do as he commands.

      • We rejoice in our safety because of God’s legions of angels who daily protect us.

      • Reflect on the fact that our Lord Jesus could have called legions of angels, all poised to do his bidding, when he hung on the cross, but he chose to stay there for our sake.

      Commander of Nature

      In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

      —Luke 8:25b

      When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people.

      —2 Chr 7:13

      • A popular series of movies was based on seemingly ordinary people who had the power to command wind, water, fire, or storms because they had supposedly evolved to the next level of humanity. While we know existence of such X-Men is pure fantasy, it is entertaining to imagine having these kinds of abilities.

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