Mark's Daily Reading Journal

I did not come right out and say it yesterday, but I was still persuading you to the value of pursuing a study of God...however, please keep in my that this is not just a study about God, we are not only seeking knowledge about God, we are seeking to know HIM intimately.  The Pharisees had a lot of knowledge about God, but they did not know HIM!  Do you remember the hard words of Jesus in Matt 5:20?  "For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."  This is impossible apart from the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ...imputed, is nothing more than another word for credited.  When we receive Jesus Christ by faith, when we believe on the LORD Jesus Christ HIS righteousness is credited to us...then and only then may we begin the journey of knowing and loving God! 

In Psalm 147:10-11 we learn that "His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, 11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love."   Remember fear is a reverential awe and wonder, fear is holding the proper honor and respect for the Creator of the universe...constantly holding in mind that this Creator took on human flesh and took my place and your place on the cross.  It was HIS shed blood on the cross that opens the way for us to know HIM intimately...apart from the cross this is impossible!

If Psalm  145:3 is true...and it is, then what do we do?  How do we proceed?  The Psalmist writes, "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable."  If God is unsearchable what in the world do we do?  The verse says unsearchable not unknowable!  We know from other passages God wants us to know HIM...remember Jeremiah 9:23-24 and Hosea 6:6, just to mention a few.  The simple point is this...you and I will NEVER KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT ANY ONE THING ABOUT GOD!  You will never search out and grasp all of God's love!  His love is knowable, but you will never know it exhaustively...HIS grace is knowable, but you will never search out HIS grace and know it exhaustively.  Get it...the Bible does not reveal everything there is to know about God!  The bible reveals what God wants us  to know about HIMSELF!

I have long loved and been convicted by this song of Michael Card's Know you in the now.

 

Echo of history

A light so many strain to see
The One we talk so much about
But rarely ever live it out
Could You tell me why
Was it for this You came and died
A once a week observance
When we coldly mouth Your words
Chorus
Lord I long to see
Your presence in reality
But I don't know how
Let me know You in the now
We should confess
We lose You in our busyness
We've made You in our image
So our faith's idolatry
Lord, deliver me
Break my heart so I can see
All the ways You dwell in us
That You're alive in me

 

I have to ask myself...do I long to know HIM as HE is or as I want HIM to be?  It sounds like an easy answer, it is an easy answer...difficult to live out.

Pressing, pursuing, burning to know YOU as YOU are Father!

love,

m

In 2007 I read a book by Patrick Morley called No Man Left Behind, no, it does not have anything to do with the Left Behind series.  It is interesting to  note that in his book Morley notes that, “You cannot produce worshipers by begging men to worship; you can’t produce tithers by guilting men to give; you can’t create evangelists simply by training men to share. Men will not worship a God they do not know and revere; they won’t give to a God they don’t love; and they won’t share about a God they aren’t passionate about” (No Man Left Behind 22-23).

As I consider what he said and I think about my life and your life...as I think about our church and the church...I have to ask the question are we more focused on behavior modification than we are on life transformation?  Am I more comfortable with a list of do's and don't than I am with pursuing a radical intimate relationship with the sovereign God of the universe.  I can control my list...I can't control HIM!  However, my list is nothing more than behavior modification.

Yesterday I briefly referenced Jeremiah 9:23-24...Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord. 

In Jeremiah we learn that if we are going to boast about anything, we need to boast that we understand and know God!  In Hosea 6:6 God tells us that..."I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."  God does not need our sacrifices, HE does not need our offerings...HE desires our love and HE wants us to know HIM!

Why is God after this?  Is HE lonely?  Is HE on an ego trip?  NO, NO!  Remember HE created us in HIS image and after the fall the Creator had to recreate.  We get a glimpse of what God is up to in 2 Co 3:16-18 "But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

The goal is life transformation, the goal is that we become like Jesus.  We see this further unfold in 2 Co 4:6 "For God, who said, [at creation] “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." 

As we behold God the Father in the face of Jesus Christ we are transformed and conformed to HIS image.

Honestly, I am tired of trying to modify my behavior...I can't do it, at least for very long!  Oh how sweet when the Spirit of God moves on you and HE changes your affections and bends them toward HIM...it happens when HE shines the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ...beholding is becoming!

Zec 4:6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.

This past Sunday morning I was walking through one of our halls at church, as I was walking a little girl, (about 4 or 5) walked in front of me so I stopped and let her go by and then I started walking again.  Suddenly I felt a small person grab my leg, head pressed against my hip moving with me.  I stopped and looked down to see the little girl clinging to my leg.  I smiled great big and said "hi baby, are you ok?"  She looked up at me with a stunned look on her face, she quickly let go of my leg and ran to her Dad who was only a few feet away.  I smiled at her Dad and said, "she must have thought that I was you."  We exchanged smiles and good morning greetings and I moved on.

My 3 year old baby girl does this to me all the time and my boys did it when they were younger, so I am used to having someone on my leg...normally it is one of my children.  The next morning I was out for a 8 mile run...that means I have time to think and pray:)  I was thinking about what happened in the little girls mind, that moved her to grab my leg.  I know that the answer is quite simple...she had looked away for a moment and when she looked back she saw what she thought was her Daddy's leg and grabbed on.

I'm not sure how to say what I want to say next so I will just blurt it out.  I cannot tell you how many people I see that have done this and are doing this spiritually.  Put the experience I described above at the Mid-South Fair, and let the little girl grab the leg of a sexual predator and put a little more distance between her and her father...it makes you sick to think about it!  Again, I see people that I dearly love doing the same thing spiritually.  They have grabbed a hold of something that they believe is bringing them a deeper understanding of who God is, they believe this understanding is giving them what they have been missing in their relationship with God and at the end of it they find a wolf in sheep's clothing.  Remember what Paul teaches us in 2 Corinthians 11:14 "No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."

What is your point in all this Mark?  For those of you who have been on this journey with me for the past year, you know the focus, the passion, the delight of our journey has been God's awesome Word.  As I have prayed about whether or not I should continue this "out loud" journaling, I was moved, I believe by the Spirit to shift the focus to the God of the Word.

I believe that God used two main motivators to bring me to this place...possibly three.  First, was spending time praying and meditating on Jeremiah 9:23-24, “This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.”  God is infinitely worthy of devoting our lives seeking to know and understand HIM!  Not only is HE infinitely worthy, but there is an infinite supply of rich food for ours souls and we feast on our God as HE is revealed in HIS precious Word.

Secondly, I picked up my old copy of Tozer's work, Knowledge of the Holy.  Do you see why I picked it up?  It's in the title...Knowledge, knowledge of the Holy.  Tozer says that “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”  Why would he say that it is the most important thing about us...important yes, most important?  He gives us his answer. 

“Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, ‘What comes into your mind when you think about God?’ we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. Were we able to know exactly what our most influential religious leaders think of God today, we might be able with some precision to foretell where the Church will stand tomorrow.”
“It is not a cheerful thought that millions of us who live in a land of Bibles, who belong to churches and labor to promote the Christian religion, may yet pass our whole life on this earth without once having thought or tried to think seriously about the being of God. Few of us have let our hearts gaze in wonder at the I AM, the self-existent self back of which no creature can think. Such thoughts are too painful for us. We prefer to think where it will do more good – about how to build a better mousetrap, for instance, or how to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before. For this we are now paying a too heavy price in the secularization of our religion and the decay of our inner lives.”
“The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him...”
—A.W. Tozer

The third motivator is in the first two...there is a spiritual protection that comes with knowing HIM intimately.  The little girl that grabbed my leg actually did the right thing...as soon as she heard my voice she let go!  It was not the voice of her father.  Remember Jesus words in John 10?  4 “When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.  5 “A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jn 10:27   “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

There is a spiritual protection, there is rich food and true satisfaction for our souls as we press into know HIM and finally Tozer points out our knowledge of HIM determines our spiritual future.

Just so you know, I will continue with the One Year Bible reading plan but my journal will focus on God.  I want to take the next year to prayerfully gaze on HIS Names, HIS attributes or characteristics...to look at things like HIS triune nature, HIS Holiness, HIS grace, mercy, love, HIS self-existence and HIS self-sufficiency.

The other passage that God used to deeply move me this past year is Exodus 33...I won't go into it now, only to say Moses consuming passion was to know God's ways, was to see God's glory and to experience God's presence...that is it!  That is  what I long for in 2009...this is where our souls will be satisfied and we will be filled with joy unspeakable full of  glory!

pursuing HIM together!

love,

m

In Isaiah 55:11 God gives us a promise concerning HIS wonderful Word...you have probably heard it quoted often..."So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."  If those words are too familiar to you, please allow the full weight of them to penetrate your heart and mind.  God's will and purpose WILL be accomplished in HIS creation.  We have pointed to HIS absolute sovereignty and providence many times throughout the past year...HIS will, will be done!

The question is where am I and where are you in relationship to HIS will?  HIS Word tells us that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:11)...praise God!   Will you bow the knee and confess HIS as Lord before you die and spend eternity in HIS glorious presence or will you bow the knee and confess HIS as Lord after you die and spend eternity in hell?  I am amazed every time I read of those in Revelation who refuse to repent and turn from their evil ways...we witness the wrath of God being poured out and still they refuse to repent!

Rev 9:20  The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;

Rev 9:21  and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.

Rev 16:9  Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.

Rev 16:11  and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds.

So if you have never come to Jesus please hear the invitation of Revelation 22:17,  The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.   Hear the invitation of Isaiah 55:1  “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."  For those that receive Jesus by faith, for those who are weary and come to Jesus, HE will give you rest and you will have access to the throne and to the water of life as we see in Revelation 22:1,  "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb"  This is a free gift of our Great God's grace, it cost HIM HIS own blood so that we could come without payment.  Praise God for Revelation 21:6...And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 

For those of us who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, but we have become lukewarm or we have not noticed that we have wandered away from the shepherd, the good shepherd...one moment we were by HIS side and the next thing we knew we had wandered away being enticed by greener pastures.  Let's not be like the Israelites in Amos!  You may remember in Amos that 5 times God lamented that HE had labored to get HIS people to return and 5 times HE states "yet you did not return to me."

Zech 1:3“Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Return to Me,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I may return to you,” says the Lord of hosts.

Mal 3:7  “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

You may be wondering how to return...that is the awesome thing about God's Word...HE has given us everything we need for life and godliness.  In John 14:21 Jesus teaches how vital it is that HIS followers walk in obedience to HIM, remember..."Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”  If you long to be intimates with Jesus and behold more beauty than you can conceive obey what you know already and then HE will reveal more to you.

Secondly, remember how you loved HIM when you first came to faith in Christ, remember the joy, the excitement of the new found relationship with the Creator and sustainer of the universe...remember, repent and do the things you did at first!  Revelation 2:4-5  But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

'Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose', William Templed

Oh God, oh God...prone to wander LORD I feel it, prone to leave the God I love, take my heart LORD, take and seal it, seal if for thy courts above.  Father, seal it for YOUR glory and for my JOY in YOU.  Father enable me by the filling of YOUR precious Holy Spirit to walk, live, breath in a manner worthy of the gospel...this  is impossible apart from YOU working this in me!  Father ignite a white-hot fire in my heart and mind for YOU and YOU alone in 2009...enable my little light to burn bright for YOU...Matt 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.  Father, teach me what it means and enable me to meditate on YOUR Word day and night...please enable me to be the blessed man of Psalm 1...enable me to find ALL my delight, joy, satisfaction in YOU though YOUR Holy Word!  Please accomplish this in a way that YOU get ALL the glory and I am filled with YOUR JOY...the Joy of my Master, Lord and Savior.  Thank you for YOUR Word, thank you for the gift of salvation, thank you for my family.

Though we walked away from a successful business 11 years ago to follow you into ministry and by this worlds standards we have nothing...I know, I know that I am unbelievably rich...I am rich in relationships...first my relationship to YOU, secondly my wife and then children and the friends you have given us!  I know enough to know that the glorious inheritance in heaven is that we get YOU!  THANK YOU!  LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATH PRAISE THE LORD!

love,

m

I believe that my favorite definition of Worship is the one penned by William Temple...'Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose', William Temple

I believe that is my favorite definition...the question is...is this my experience moment by moment, day by day?  Does the rebuke of the Lord through Malachi bring conviction on me, my church, my denomination...Christianity in America?

Carl Misner, brilliant scientist, made the following comments about organized religion and Albert Einstein...

I do see the design of the universe as essentially a religious question. That is, one should have some kind of respect and awe for the whole business. . . . It's very magnificent and shouldn't be taken for granted. In fact, I believe that is why Einstein had so little use for organized religion, although he strikes me as a basically very religious man. He must have looked at what the preachers said about God and felt that they were blaspheming. He had seen much more majesty than they had ever imagined, and they were just not talking about the real thing. My guess is that he simply felt that religions he'd run across did not have proper respect . . . for the author of the universe.

Nietzsche “you will have to look more redeemed if you want me to believe in your redeemer."

Consider the questions that probe the hearts of the Israelites and allow them to probe your heart!  I have to say parts of this were painful, but healing for me!

QUESTIONS MALACHI ANSWERS

How have You loved us? (Mal. 1:2) God’s choice of Israel proves His love.

How have we despised Your name? (Mal. 1:6) Failure to honor God is disrespect.

How have we defiled You? (Mal. 1:7) Failing to give God our best cheapens Him.

Why shouldn’t God hear our prayers? (Mal. 2:14) You break faith with your wife.

How have we wearied God? (Mal. 2:17) By calling the evil person good.

What do you mean, “return” to God? (Mal. 3:6) If you violate God’s Laws, you’ve left Him and thus must return.

How do we rob You? (Mal. 3:8) By failing to pay required tithes.

What have we said against You? (Mal. 3:13) Saying it is futile to serve God is to deny Him.

It is amazing to me how few Christians read their Bibles daily...it is not amazing that those of the world never pick up a Bible!  Let it sink in that there are five gospels, put your stones down...the five gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and your life...the world will never read the bible, but if you claim to be a Christian they will read your life. 

Malachi 1:6 asks a very pointed question...God's asks if I am Father, then where is my honor, if I am master, where is my fear?  We have pointed out many times that the fear is the proper reverence and awe in the light of who God is and what HE has done!

Mal 1:6  “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’

Does the life I live, does the life you live reflect that we are the adopted children of the sovereign God of the universe?  Does it reflect that HE purchase us with HIS OWN blood?  As we launch into 2009 my prayer for me, for mine and for you is that our lives will burn with a passion and a zeal that is an appropriate response to who HE is and who we are in HIM!  Oh that our hearts will burn in 2009 as HE opens the Scriptures to us...that the world would see and be amazed and filled with wonder and not filled with ridicule.

pursuing HIM in 2009

love,

m

Throughout the year I have pointed to one of my favorite teachers and author's summary statement of the bible, Dr. Ken Easley, it is simply this, "that the Lord God through his Christ is graciously building a kingdom of redeemed people for their joy and for his own glory."  This Kingdom story has been unfolding before our eyes as we have read through the bible this year and it is unfolding in the midst of our days if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.  You and I are living out the days of the church age between the first and second coming of our Lord...HIS second coming will be magnificent for those who belong to HIM.  I want to encourage you to prayerfully labor to keep this in mind as 2008 comes to a close and we launch into 2009. 

In our reading today in Zechariah we witness all of these events culminating in the rule and reign of our great and awesome God!

Zechariah 14:9  And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.  One commentator unpacks the verse this way:

The Messiah will not only reign as King of Israel but He will also be King over the whole earth. The worldwide scope of His reign is supported by Zechariah’s description of Him elsewhere as ”the Lord of all the earth“ (4:14; 6:5; cf. Micah 4:13). This is confirmed by the Apostle John’s identification of Him as the ”Lord of lords and King of kings“ (Rev. 17:14; 19:16). He has always been the one Lord (Deut. 6:4) in His unique, solitary, incomparable Being (cf. Isa. 37:16; 45:5-6, 14, 18, 22; 46:9). When He establishes His millennial kingdom, He will be universally recognized as such and worshiped as the one true God (Rev. 21:3). With idolatry and false worship cut off from the land (Zech. 13:1-2) His name will be the only name (cf. Acts 4:12) recognized in worship by people.  Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (1:1570). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Over and over in God's precious Word we see our great God finally taking HIS proper place on the throne of the nations and ruling the earth in righteous and justice.

Re 11:15  Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

Ps 10:16  The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land.

Ps 22:28 For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.

Ex 15:18 The Lord will reign forever and ever.”

Da 2:44  And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,

Da 7:14  And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. 

The following video is 10 minutes long and worth every second.  It is Michael W. Smith in concert singing Agnus Dei...Lamb of God.  If you watch carefully about half way though Smith tries to transition to another song and the crowd, or the Holy Spirit will not allow it.  Watching the video I began to weep because it hit me that this it one of the few times I have ever witnessed a crowd respond appropriately to what they have witnessed!  Every Sunday thousand of people go nuts watching football and they sit in church stone faced looking at their watch wondering when they will get to go eat.

Here we witness an appropriate response to our Holy, awesome and majestic God...I pray that your soul will be nourished and watered as you worship the King of kings and LORD of Lords.

Psalm 147:10-11 His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, 11  but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Eph 5:7-10 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

Reading Psalm 147 this morning I was captivated with one thought...knowing that "the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love."  Specifically that the "Lord takes pleasure."  Pause for a moment and consider that the sovereign God of the universe, the one who gave names to every star and was not stressed in the process, the one who Isaiah tells us holds the oceans in the hollow of HIS hand, the one who's thoughts out number the grains of sand...I could go on and on...the point is that this very magnificent and awe striking God takes pleasure in something...HE finds delight in something...God delights,  "the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love." 

I will confess that I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer, or the brightest crayon in the box, but when Paul tells me in Ephesians to try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord, I get that...I understand that it is wise to learn what it means that "the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love." 

The fear of the Lord is to hold an intense and powerful reverence and awe of who God is and what HE has done in and through the Cross as HE offers HIS steadfast love to those who place their hope in HIM.  Remember Jesus words in Matt 9:13,  “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  Jesus was quoting Hosea 6:6, "For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

We do not impress God with what we bring to the table, HE is not impressed with our skill sets or our intellect or our business savvy...HE does not need us, we need HIM!  HE did not create us because HE was lonely...HE created us to see HIM, to behold HIM and in that moment to be filled with awe striking reverence, amazed at HIS majestic power and then in response to seeing HIS glory we worship, we fall on our faces as though dead and worship the King of kings and Lord of Lords. 

Amazingly, as we behold HIM we become like HIM...Is 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Ps 149:4 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.

Rejoice in the Lord always again I say rejoice!

love,

m