Sing praises to God, our strength.
Sing to the God of Jacob.
Sing! Beat the tambourine.
Play the sweet lyre and the harp.
Blow the ram’s horn at new moon,
and again at full moon to call a festival!
For this is required by the decrees of Israel;
it is a regulation of the God of Jacob.
He made it a law for Israel
when he attacked Egypt to set us free.
( I read these verses and said 'Yes - I want to throw a festival - I want to sing and dance to God ... God, how I am longing for you to set me free like this! To be wild and dance and sing like David when the ark came back to Jerusalem! )
I heard an unknown voice say,
“Now I will take the load from your shoulders;
I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.
You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you;
I answered out of the thundercloud
and tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah.
( The unknown voice is the Lord's voice ... a voice I did not know clearly just a few years before.
And He is declaring that He will remove 'the load from my shoulders' ... and I felt the Lord saying... soon I will free you from your shoulder and back pain.
'I will free your hands from their heavy tasks' - and I felt the Lord saying ... the sword you have been carrying - the one I just recently told you was in your hand - the one that has been there since you helped begin this church - which is a burden of pain you share with me - it is the one that is causing your neck and shoulder pain! - that one - you soon will be able to set it down - and take a rest!
You said 'I have cried to you in trouble' ... this blog is a testament - but also you brought to my mind - the other night I cried out to you God and let myself go and admit all of my pain from this waiting.
You 'answered in the thundercloud' - indeed You have shown me this as a theme of your rescue this season as in Psalm 18 - you come on the storm to rescue!
And 'You tested my faith - when there has been no water' ... You Lord have said that You will come and fill me with streams of Living Water - the River of Life flowing out of me, through me, and for me - this has been my prayer .... All of this the Lord poured out on me as I read... )
Interlude
“Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings.
O Israel, if you would only listen to me!
You must never have a foreign god;
you must not bow down before a false god.
For it was I, the Lord your God,
who rescued you from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.
( I want to be filled with good things! Help me open my mouth wide to receive from You alone, God! Help me to shed off all of my sin of gluttony - and anything else that stands in the way - put to death the deeds of my flesh by the power of Your Spirit!)
“But no, my people wouldn’t listen.
Israel did not want me around.
So I let them follow their own stubborn desires,
living according to their own ideas.
Oh, that my people would listen to me!
Oh, that Israel would follow me, walking in my paths!
How quickly I would then subdue their enemies!
How soon my hands would be upon their foes!
Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him;
they would be doomed forever.
But I would feed you with the finest wheat.
I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.”
( I have been guilty of this kind of unbelief, Father! But no more - cleanse me! and cleanse Your people of all of their unbelief. Come and rescue us from ourselves - come and wake us up - so we can hear - so we can obey! We need you to come and take care of the enemy - rescue us! And feed us - satisfy us with YOU - fill us with the bread of your word, the sweetness of your company - You - our ROCK! )
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