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A Closer Walk

"O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, And a great King above all gods," Psalm 95:1-3 NASB. We are invited to come and sing for joy to the Lord. Even to shout joyfully to the Lord, who is the rock of our salvation. We have a rock, our Lord, to hold onto during the inevitable storms, conflict, or chaos that come our way.

We are invited to come before His presence with thanksgiving. As children of God we should have and cultivate a grateful heart. We should be grateful each and every day. We should recognize and be grateful for what our Lord has already given us, and done for us. First, the gift of His Son. The Only Begotten Son of the Living God came to save us from our sins. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23 NASB. The phrase “all have sinned” includes you, and me. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),” Ephesians 2:4-5 NASB. So Jesus, the Christ, came to save us. This is not some general or generic salvation, but an individual and personal salvation. He came to save you, and me. Because of this we can sing for joy, and shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.

Further, we can also come into His presence with thanksgiving because of the multitude of blessings he has heaped on us individually, and nationally. Being born in, and living in, the United States of America is a blessing of no small significance. Millions of people around the world recognize how blessed we are here in the USA. In fact, one person from another country once said that the greatest blessing any person on earth can have is to be an American citizen. These blessings include our form of government, a constitutional republic. And they include our capitalist economy. Anyone who chooses to can start a business or go look for a job. “I got the job!” are four exciting words to utter, as well as to hear. After getting the business rolling or being hired a person can begin earning an income for themselves, and their family. And work is a blessing in and of itself.

The reasons we should be doing this singing, and shouting, and thanksgiving? For the Lord is a great God. If a person is going to have a god then a great God is certainly the best kind to have. A Pastor once said that every civilization that archaeologists have uncovered has had some form of god or gods. We know that in some societies there was a god of the valley, a god of the mountain, a god of the river, and a god of the village. The country of India by itself worships over three thousand different pagan gods. Talk to a missionary that has been there about the various gods in India.

But our God, the only true and living God, is a great God. In fact, He is so great that He is a King above all gods. Now that is a God worth having. And worshiping. And praising. And serving. A great God. A God who is a great King above all gods. Because of this great God and King, we can sing joyfully, we can shout joyfully, and we can give thanks joyfully. Amen. Amen. Amen.

 

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