May 16th

Numbers 25     Isaiah 15     Psalms 68     (Click on the Reference to go to the passage)


Psalm 68
Beautiful Day
For as long as I can remember I've always loved music and good lyrics.  Psalm 68 is a roller-coaster of a praise song which as I've meditated on has pointed me to two other songs - one a pop song and the other an old welsh hymn.
"Touch me, take me to that other place; Teach me love, I know I'm not a hopeless case; See the world in green and blue; See China right in front of you; See the canyons broken by cloud; See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out; See the Bedouin fires at night; See the oil fields at first light; See the bird with a leaf in her mouth; After the flood all the colours came out; It was a beautiful day; Don't let it get away; A beautiful day"
The song reminds me that there is beauty in our brokenness, there is hope in our hopelessness, something or someone to be grasped and clung onto, the promise of the rainbow. And then I turn to Psalm 68, and I'm moved from a pop song's sense of 'otherness' to the psalmist's certainty of God.  David worshipped a big God, a God who transforms, and he shouted about it!
Then lastly, an old hymn that it seems to me takes some of the power and majesty accorded to our Father God in Psalm 68 and projects it onto Jesus our Saviour: "Jesus, Jesus, all sufficient, Beyond telling is thy worth; In thy name lie greater treasure ; Than the richest found on earth. Such abundance is my portion with my God.  In Thy gracious face there's  beauty; Far surpassing every thing Found in all the earth's great wonders Mortal eye hath never seen. Rose of Sharon [splendid, beautiful, fragrant flower], Thou thyself art heaven's delight.
Today is a beautiful day because his grace is all sufficient. Beginning and end. All sufficient.  He is judge and he's just. He is ruling. All power and honour belong to him.  His kingdom come, his will be done. This is our God.
So wherever you are today, whatever you're doing may you spend a moment reflecting on who your God is.  Enjoy God.  He is worthy of all our praise and blessing.

(member of the youth ministry team)