Covenants and Majesty

“This is a time of seeing and singing, this is a time of breathing you in, and breathing out your praise. Our hearts respond to your revelation, all you are showing, all we have seen, commands a life of praise” (Matt Redman).

What a whirlwind it has been to be home. I find myself wanting to say so much but being unable to at many times. I feel myself as the above, in a time of breathing in God and breathing out His praise.

Being back in Colorado and out of the city has reminded me once again of God’s sheer majesty. Everywhere I go here, I am surrounded by majestic mountains, endless rolling green fields, countless clouds, trickling waterfalls, and stars galore. I find myself at a place I used to be so often while growing up here, and in one I took for granted so much. God’s creation beckons me into His presence, because through it all it commands His praise. How can I not look at what surrounds me and offer up praise to the One so much greater than myself? I can’t. In the mountains this weekend, I went up to 12,000 feet and all I could see were these peaks and valleys that display majesty beyond any words. I found myself on the drive home from Denver last night just watching the progression of the sunset and seeing its splendor as it darkened and faded into the evening sky, a blanket of stars above, while worship music blared into my ears in an attempt to satisfy this desire I have to cry out to God and worship Him, for He is so worthy!!! It has been an unsatisfying contentment…irony there, I know, because I find myself unbelievably content being in His presence; yet I also find myself unsatisfied because I am unable to praise Him in the way I wish to or in the way He deserves. I think perhaps that is good. Will my words ever be enough? No.

I find myself back in my childhood home and place after a summer that has changed my life. It’s interesting coming back to all I’ve known with knowledge and experiences I did not have at this time last year. God is so unbelievably FAITHFUL! What He has done in me and around me no words can fully express. It has been incredibly sweet to see the fruits of prayer being revealed right before my eyes, in which God has been revealing Himself to me in so many ways.

”When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leading men of your tribes and your elders came to me. And you said, ‘The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey.’ The Lord heard you when you spoke to me and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they said was good. Oh that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always so that it might go well with them and their children forever!” Deuteronomy 5:23-29.

One of those ways is through the Word. I’ve been studying Deuteronomy 5 and 6, which is a recount of God speaking to Moses through the fire and giving the 10 commandments, along with the greatest commandment. Yet, that hasn’t been the primary thing in which God has spoken to me about. In chapter 5 in particular, it speaks of the fear of the Lord, in which beckons us to obey. The people saw the majesty of God and saw him speak through the fire and became afraid, for they were sure if it happened again, they would die. They asked God not to do it again and to tell them what to do, for they would surely obey. When I first read this, I was thinking that the people were running away from the way in which God revealed Himself to them, but then His response puzzled me. He said that the people were right, and said that if their hearts were always inclined to fear Him and to obey. The key in this I was missing and I think have missed for some time is a true, healthy fear of the Lord. He has definitely been working in that. For once I feel everything is out of my hands, which is so good. At times I fear His power, for it is infinitely great. Over and over again in the Word it talks about fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised, etc. I’ve been asking myself, “do I really have a healthy fear of God?” And I think I’m realizing that when I truly fear God, I find myself on my knees in prayer ever more. Such has been the past couple of weeks at times. Why don’t I truly fear Him? He commands it. I pray this will continue to be developed in me.

“Hear O Israel, and be careful to obey, so that it may go well with you and that you may increase gently in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you. Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts…When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name…Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go on and take over the good land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers” (Deuteronomy 6:3-6, 10-13, 18).

This chapter has spoken to me in a personal way over this week. God set up the stage in chapter 5 with fearing the Lord and the 10 commandments being the foundation, but He chose to bring me to expound on it. In reading this chapter I see God beginning to fulfill His covenant with Israel and leading them into the Promised Land. God is about to give them everything they could ever need in the land but commands them not to forget the One who brought them out of slavery.

I think of the “covenants” of sorts He has placed in my life, one in particular. I think of what He has and is beginning to fulfill with John and me. The Lord spoke to us both about what was and is to come, and we waited, much like Israel, for God to lead us into the “promised land.” In that time we waited, God redeemed us from slavery in so many ways. After that time of waiting elapsed, God has begun to lead us into the Promised Land in our relationship, and we have been experiencing tremendous blessing. Yesterday morning after journaling, I was in sheer awe of how God orchestrates it all in a way so complex and beautiful that no mortal hand or mind could ever rival. That it is not of us, let us praise Him fully! And much like God commanded Israel as they entered into the Promised Land, we are not to forget what He has done, and we are to love and fear the Lord our God and serve Him only. Oh that this is what He deserves! Oh that we are not worthy of such a blessing but God has chosen to give it! It is my prayer that through this relationship we will live not for ourselves but for Him. I pray we will not hold back any glory due to Him! I pray that this relationship will reek of the goodness of our Father and only draw others closer to Him!

Lastly, I have been struck since being home at how much God answers prayer, and in the best ways. I have been praying specific, detailed prayers, and goodness, it has brought me to realize God’s faithfulness on an entirely new level. That the Lord’s majesty is so great that He also reveals it in prayer in incredible ways! So let us present our requests to God in prayer with thanksgiving, and through that, He will guard our hearts and minds (Phil 4:6-7). That is good. That is my God. And that reeks of majesty.