Scripture
For the LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.
~Psalm 84:11, NLT
Quote
There is no limit to God’s favor and blessing to those who walk in integrity.
~ Daniel J. Estes
In preparing my Wednesday night message in Psalm 84, I read Daniel J. Estes comments in the New American Commentary. The NLT translated Psalm 84:11 as well as anyone. It plus the NASB and AV {KJV} are almost identical but most other translations do not use the words ‘grace’ and ‘glory’. The NIV, ESV, NET and CSB all translate it ‘favor’ and ‘honor’. I have absolutely nothing against favor and honor but I sure like grace and glory. The Hebrew word for grace or favor is ‘hen‘; the word for glory or honor is ‘kabod‘. When I first saw these two Hebrew words, I saw hen and kabob and of course I thought of chicken on a stick. But after further examination, I saw that I had misread: the word is kabod, not kabob.
God is not only great, He is good. As we sang last Sunday, He is a good, good Father. Like earthly fathers, His desire is to be good to His children. Just imagine what would have happened had the Israelites been obedient and submissive to God. I have no doubt that they would have been the United States, the most prominent and prosperous nation on earth. Of course, I am speaking of what we once were. It is obvious that we are in decline and economically, China out produces us. But for almost a quarter of a millennium, we enjoyed the greatest civil liberties of any society in history. God would have continued to bless us had we continued to walk in integrity but there is no chance of that with the present leadership.
Israel refused to serve God and rejected His Messiah. Let the record show: they have suffered since. God will be as good to us as we let Him be. When we rebel against His authority and do our own thing, we forfeit His marvelous grace and His magnificent glory. The Hebrew word ‘Asher’ is used three times in Psalm 84…Happy are those who praise God continually, happy are those who find their strength in Him and happy are those who trust Him completely. Asher in Hebrew means happy. Anna, who was probably over 100 years old when she blessed Jesus, lived at the Temple. She stayed there night and day praising God and she was an Asherite {Happy}. Wouldn’t you like to be in a worship service with a gang of Asherites!
Back in 1970, Bro. Calvin Inman carried me to an Evangelism Conference in Birmingham. It was at Central Park Baptist Church out near the fairground. It ceased to be some years ago but then it was a huge church with a 2,500 seat sanctuary. In many ways, it was the good old days: we heard preachers like Havner and Criswell but what blew my doors off the hinges was the singing. It was the first time I had worshipped with a room filled with Asherites {folks who derive joy and happiness from praising God}, and the building was packed. Twenty five hundred preachers singing with all their hearts. I will never forget the awe and wonder that I felt. For me the highlight of the SBC was the 20 minutes of Praise and Worship after lunch on Tuesday. I heard a 10,000 voice choir. I could sense the presence of God and it was wonderful. I would sing for a little, then weep and pray. Oh what blessings, what happiness Baptist forfeit, all because they refuse to sing praise to God with their whole heart. We just don’t have many Asherites. I do believe that if you put an AK-47 to their temple and said, “You sing or I shot,” you would have to shoot them. There are not going to sing and they are not going to look like Asher {happy}.
We had a great crowd at GP last night. I did not count adults and children but we had 41 youth and that does not count workers. I am guessing all total, we had close to 80. Understand, we only have 90 on Sunday morning. The youth leave for the Scott Dawson Summer Camp tomorrow. We have 40 youth and three workers going to camp. We are about to go pick up the vans this morning.