Wonderful thoughts from Psalm 33

“The plans of the Lord endure forever and the purposes of His heart through all generations” (Ps. 33:11).

You, Lord, never tire of carrying out your plans;

you never fail to attend to every detail;

you never are caught by surprise.

You are the God of completeness and competence, care and concern;

you know exactly what is happening all the time.

“From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind;

from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth—

he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do” (Ps. 33:13-15).

Praise be to you, O Lord God for your omniscience, your omnipotence, your omnipresence.

You see all, know all, calculate all, consider all and are able to do all that is good, no matter the cost to you.

With this knowledge we can rest in your love, your wisdom, your knowledge and you goodness.

May our response be, “Teach me your way, Lord, and I will walk in your truth….” Psalm 86:11

Picture: God’s way through the desert

“And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power….”  Colossians 2:10 (KJV)

In thinking about some conflicts we’ve been dealing with, and in meditating on scripture, the following insight surfaced. One of the deepest themes running through conflicts seems to be the struggle for significance.

— Lucifer wanted more significance, to be like God.

–Eve was tempted to be more significant in knowing good and evil, independently of God.

–Cain wanted his idea of a sacrifice to accepted and to be significant on his own terms rather than God’s.

–The builders of the tower of Babel wanted to make a name for themselves by their achievement, rejecting God’s command to spread out and fill the earth.

So it goes through all of Scripture and all of life. I see this in myself, being hurt and angry when someone does something to rob me of my dignity; striving for accomplishment to feel and look more significant.

What brought this out clearly was meditating on Colossians 3:12-14, “Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved….” Here in this verse is all the significance that anyone will ever need.

–We are chosen before the foundation of the world to be a child of the Most High.

–We are made holy: forgiven, purified and commissioned for significant work.

–And we are dearly loved: sought out by the intense and pure desire of God the Ruler of all, unconditionally accepted, whole-heartedly adopted, deeply cared for and delighted in.

If we could just grasp this on a “whole person level” –that is, not just intellectually but also volitionally and emotionally–what a difference it would make. In fact, I think that is the whole point of the next part of the sentence in verse 12: since you are chosen, holy and dearly loved, “Therefore clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness [also translatable as being ‘sweetly reasonable’] and patience.”

When we are secure in Christ and all He has given us, then we can put on these qualities that He has already supplied for us (2 Pet. 1:1-4) and stop fighting with others for significance. When we can begin grasping this, conflicts can immediately lessen, because we don’t have to compete anymore, just rest in who we are in Christ.

Picture: Chosen by Jesus before the foundation of the world

“We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.” Psalm 33:20

Life is full of problems: fear-producing events, the unexpected and the unjust—all results of sin warping creation.

But you, Lord Jesus, are the rescuing Savior, the One whom we can trust in the midst of this tragic twisting of the universe. You are at work to bring an end to the destructive effects of sin. You are the good One, you are the powerful One, you are the loving One, you are the wise One.

Your plan to restore righteousness is perfect: you move at the right speed to bring the right outcomes at the right time. You allow what is painful now to bring glory in the future. You are absolutely right and absolutely trustable, always providing much more grace than we need.

You are the One to be praised in the midst of difficulty because you are bringing us through it into a wider place. You have a plan and will bring it to pass. 

We can trust you, rely on you, praise you; we can rest in you when all about us is falling apart. No human resource, no earthly power, no political plan can protect us. But you can, Lord Jesus and you have made a way for all to escape the corruption and destruction of the world and to be transported into the glory of the next world, spending eternity with you—if we believe in your Name.

David had it right in Psalm 33:20-22: “We wait in hope for the LORD.” And in Psalm 143:9, “There is no one else to wait for! AS David said in Psalm 143:9, “Rescue me from my enemies, LORD, for I hide myself in you.” May we remember that when we are tempted to run to others for help.

Picture: Jesus to the rescue

What’s in a name? A person? A world? the Universe? Eternity?

Now for the climax in 2 Peter 1.