But I will sing of your strength; We got up very early and drove to this place that I had read about with a large, rocky, peaceful beach that faces east and was good for sunrise. After driving down unfamiliar roads for a while we found that place, but when we got out of the car the sound was deafening. We thought it was thunder but soon learned it was the sound of crashing waves against sea cliffs. The large beach was covered in high water, the winds were strong, and the waves were powerful. I thought about the power and strength of our God who made these amazing waves. We were afraid but we walked on and did find a place that wasn’t quite so high and I took pictures of the sunrise. God has truly been my strength and fortress on many days like this when I found myself in unexpected places with crashing waves and strong winds. He has been my refuge and turned difficult times into times of beauty and peace. In the morning I will sing of his strength.
Prayer Great and Mighty God, In days of high winds and strong waves, be our fortress. Show us beauty in your power and steadfast love. Amen
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For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. Deep lakes surrounded by tall and imposing mountains tell of the greatness of our Creator, God, for he holds these massive mountains in his hands. And if he can hold these mountains in his hands then he can and will hold us in his hands. May your heart be filled with joy and praise to our great God.
Prayer O Great King We bow in awe and wonder at your greatness. We praise your name. Amen I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. There is just something about this tree across from the Lawson place in the cove. I have taken and shared pictures of it in all seasons, at different times of day, in different weather conditions, and from different viewpoints. Every time I go to the cove, I always stop at this tree. And every time there is a new emotion, something new to learn from its beauty. I don’t think I will ever get tired of seeing and photographing this tree because I haven’t yet been able to capture in my picture what I feel in my heart. I want my praise to God to be like this. I want to always praise him no matter the season of life. I want to learn to praise him in new ways. I want to invite others to join in praise with me.
Prayer Beautiful Savior, I am amazed at your wonder and beauty. May I ever sing your praise. Amen Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. When I think about giving glory to God I think about grand praise, beautiful words of poetry, and beautiful art. Last summer we traveled through several national parks in the west with amazing mountains, canyons, valleys, and waterfalls. These all also speak to me of God’s glory. I remember one time we had stopped to see a breathtaking waterfall and as I opened the door to get back in the car I looked down at my feet and there were theses small pine cones. Each one was different and each one was beautiful. I realized that I saw as much of God’s glorious world in them as I did in the grand waterfall. The important thing about the gift of church is that it is made of amazingly different people, each one with a beauty all its own, like these pine cones. Each member of the church of Christ, no matter how small, has access to a power that is more than we can even image or grasp. And the purpose of that power, to tell the story of Christ and to glorify God. So I now seek, no matter how small the gift, to live my life to bring glory to God and I seek to do that through the power that is at work within me.
Prayer Great King Thank you for the gift of church and the power that you have given every member of the body of Christ. May we do all things for your glory. Amen I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. Today is Sunday, a day of worship, and for me this means a day to sing wonderful hymns. One hymn has come to mean something special to me because of all the references to light. As a photographer, when I capture an image, I am actually capturing light on a sensor. So my words today are this beautiful hymn by Walter Chalmers Smith written in 1867. If you are familiar with this hymn read it again slowly and look for all the references to light.
Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible hid from our eyes, most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise. Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light, nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might; Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love. To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small, in all life Thou livest, the true life of all; we blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree, and wither and perish, but naught changeth Thee. Great Father of glory, pure Father of light, Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight; all praise we would render, O help us to see 'tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee! Prayer Immortal Invisible God, We praise you for light, splendid beautiful light. Open our eyes to see your glory in a new way today. Amen My heart is steadfast, O God! If you take a walk the hour before sunset, you will see why it is called the golden hour. Everything takes on a golden hue, especially in the fall. At this time of day and year, even ordinary scenes like this one will take your breath away. It is times like these when I see the beauty of God’s world that I know for sure that I serve the Great Creator God. I want to worship him and sing to him with all my being. I know my hopes and my life is secure in the God who loves me.
Prayer O Great Creator God, Thank you for golden hours and the beauty found all around in ordinary places. Amen Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great! When we first got to Flagg Ranch and I looked down toward the Snake River I thought this place was kind of drab and boring and wouldn’t be a good place for a sunset. But as the sun fell lower in the sky, the light covered the valley with a garment of soft subdued color. It was so beautiful, the multitude of soft colors in the plants that sky.
It is just like that with God. When we bless God, bow down in adoration, then we see beautiful colors where we never expected to see them. Prayer Splendid and Majestic Lord, Transform our lives with your light. Bring the beautiful colors of your light into our lives. Amen Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Truly seeing this sunset was a special time for me to stand in awe of the beauty and majesty of God’s world. But I have also stood in awe of God’s beauty in a flower so small that most people just walk by. God created a beautiful world and we need to always remember that this world is his, from the most majestic mountains to the smallest flower. And then we can only bow our hearts in praise to the greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty that is God’s alone.
Prayer Great King, We exalt you above all others, for everything is truly yours. Amen Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! What kind of flowers will these buds become? Right now I don’t really know since they are only buds. But based on the shape of the leaves and size of the plant, a flower expert could tell me what kind of flowers these will be. The flowers will be new blooms on an old plant.
Our songs of praise are like this, both old and new. We will sing new songs of praise to God, but those songs are based on the way he has cared for us in the past. Singing a new song isn’t easy. Even if it is a simple song you must learn words and melody. Singing a new song of praise to the Lord requires trusting him, for we know he has always been faithful in the past. Prayer Strong and Mighty Lord, Show us new ways to sing a song of praise for the marvelous things you have done in our lives. Amen It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; There is something so special about the golden light of morning. In morning light things that we don’t even notice in the harsh light of day are made beautiful. There is a special kind of quiet in the mornings, too, especially if you are in nature. It is a good thing to make the effort to get up early and watch the night gradually turn to day. God has kept us safe through another night and the golden light of morning reveals his wonderful world. Now is the time to give praise, to begin our day with gratitude for the steadfast love of our Lord, to see the joy in his works.
Prayer O Most High, We humbly bow in gratitude for your steadfast love. We rejoice at the beauty of the works of your hands. Help us walk through this day remembering your steadfast love and to share the joy of the morning with all we meet. Amen The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. Isaiah 61:1-3, ESV The bright colors of the fall leaves signal the coming of the cold and darkness of winter, but the muted colors of trees in spring signal new live. The buds come on the barren branches and the trees put on their summer garments like garments of praise after times of darkness.
In the days and weeks after the resurrection the disciples' understanding of what Jesus meant when he talked about the kingdom of God grew. I wonder when the disciples remembered that day in the synagogue in Nazareth when Jesus said that these words from the prophet Isaiah had been fulfilled in him. Now they were to spread they word that Jesus came bring freedom to the captive and to give us garments of praise instead of faint spirits. Prayer Jesus, Giver of New Life, When I face difficult times, help me to look to you and remember your promise to replace my faint spirit with a garment of praise. Amen The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. I remember the night I took this picture. I decided to go to this place at the dam because I would have a good view to the east as the full moon would rise over the horizon. We know there was a full moon on the night of Passover because the way the Jewish calendar, a lunar calendar, was used to determine the time of Passover each year. So as Jesus and the disciples left the upper room to walk toward the Mount of Olives, they were walking toward the rising moon in the east, a full moon like this one over the lake. Matthew and Mark tell us that the last thing the disciples did after the Passover meal before they left for the Mount of Olives was to sing a hymn. We don’t know what hymn they sang but it was very likely that it was Psalm 118, the last of a group of psalms called the Hallel that were sung at festivals like Passover.
As I think about that night, the night of his betrayal, I wonder what it was like for him to sing this Psalm knowing what he would face the next day. He knew the time had come to fulfill the purpose for which he had come to earth, that "this is the day the Lord has made." He knew that he was about to be rejected and all his disciples would leave him. It was the time of Jesus’s deepest anguish as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Go out this evening and look at the full moon and think about Jesus walking east toward the place of his betrayal and remember his great sacrifice for you. Know that it is because of his great love for us that we can truly say these words, “This the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Prayer Suffering Savior, When we look at what happened this night of betrayal, “it is marvelous in our eyes.” We are amazed at your love for us and can rejoice only because of the anguish that you walked through that night. May we make you the cornerstone of our lives. Amen Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” John 12:27-28, ESV It was lush and green, this path that I have walked on so many times, but it was different that day. The impending storm made the skies dark and the well known path ahead foreboding.
Jesus had walked into Jerusalem on this road many times before, but on this day it was different. It wasn’t an accident the way he came into Jerusalem; he had planned for the donkey to be available (Mark 11:1-6); he came in from the east, opposite from the procession of the Roman soldiers on their horses who came from the west for crowd control during the Passover. His followers and the crowds were rejoicing with loud Hosannas, but he knew what he was doing. He knew the road ahead was going to be dark for him and for his disciples. It wasn’t easy for him. His soul was troubled, but he knew that the whole purpose of his life had been this hour. He faced that hour for you and me. Prayer Living Christ, Make this day and week for us, a week to be amazed at your love. Fill us with wonder again at the story of a God who loves us so much that he sent you to take away our sin. Fill us with a joy at this love that our lives are daily changed by its truth. Amen Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven. Unlike other mountain ranges, the Grand Tetons have no foothills. They just rise up out of the plain and the Snake River Valley. On this Sunday, this day of worship, may we exalt the Lord's name above everything else in our lives. Stand in awe of God's mountains and the mountain of Calvary where Jesus loved us with his great love, the greatest love of all. Scripture:
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. Psalm 86:12 About This Image: When I see a beautiful sunrise like this one on Douglas Lake, my heart is overcome with praise to our God who made heave and earth. Calvin Miller, in his book "The Christ of Easter," had these words about praising God. "Glorify God! Let this be your reason to live! You will then love God. And the simplicity of loving him so singularly will help you to discover and love yourself as well." Let these powerful words sink into your heart and life today. Scripture:
Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel. Isaiah 44:23 About This Image: While I walked on this trail in the Greenbriar section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the early morning I heard the wind blowing gently in the trees. It was if they were singing praise to their maker in the early morning light. In the verse before our scripture today (see yesterday's post) God tells us of his plans for redemption. Now that we are redeemed our only response is praise. Even the trees are to sing with joy. Scripture:
The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. Psalm 29:3-4 About This Image: The Grand Tetons are truly majestic surrounded by beautiful lakes. When you stand and look at these mountains you stand in awe of their fierceness and see the strength and power of the God who made them. If we listen we can hear the voice of God in the waters as they lap against the shore. We can also hear God's voice in his Word. Take time to listen carefully and you will experience its power in your life. You will more clearly hear God's majesty. Scripture:
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6 About This Image: To capture a sunrise like this one in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park you must get up and be in place before the sunrise, set up your tripod and camera, and wait. And then it happens, the sun rises over the horizon and it is thrilling. All your work and waiting pays off when you see the sun come over the horizon. It is so magnificent that it takes your breath away and for me my eyes fill with tears to see such beauty. This is especially true if you can get somewhere there aren't any man-made lights and it is really dark. Our world, filled with man made lights, often masks the light of the glory of God. We put ourselves in the spotlight and loose sight of the glory of God. Get up early one morning and go to a place where it is really dark, and as the sun rises be reminded that God has given us "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Scripture:
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Colossians 3:16 About This Image: At one time many families made their home in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, like the Tipton family. The Tipton Cabin is one of the few cabins that the park kept when this land became part of the park. When I see these cabins I try imagine what they looked like when people lived in them full of furniture and household goods instead of the empty the way they stand now. I think that the bible can be empty like this room in the Tipton cabin to us if we just occasionally read the words. Paul admonished the Colossians to do more than just listen to the words but to let the message of Christ dwell among them richly. When something dwells with us we spend lots of time with it; we get to know it. Dwelling is more than visiting a place, more than just reading words from a book. For when we do let the message of Christ dwell richly within us then we can help one another and develop real gratitude in our hearts. Scripture:
Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. Psalm 147:1 About This Image: This is a clover, so small that is often ignored. It can be found anywhere, probably in your yard or along the highway. With a macro lens you can see its intricate beauty. When we see such beauty the result is joy and the outcome of joy is praise to the creator. It is good to sing praises to God for the little pieces of beauty we see along the way. Look for those little pieces of beauty as you walk in the ordinariness of your everyday and then sing a song of praise to our God. |
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Soli Deo Gloria,
1 Corinthians 10:31
© 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Karen Milligan
1 Corinthians 10:31
© 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Karen Milligan