God knows what He is doing. For instance He has many reasons for trials. One of them is this: if we respond with faith, then when Jesus is revealed at the end of time, we will be given praise, honor and glory by God Himself!

That’s a worldview shift–moving us from the momentary, myopic, me-centered goal of being comfortable, to the wide, high and deep understanding of how this particular discomfort fits into God’s great scheme. His plans are for ending history and ushering in an eternity where He will share His glory with those who have lived by faith here.

This is the call for us to fix our eyes on Jesus, who for the joy that was set before Him—the joy of redeeming all mankind, pleasing the Father, being glorified as the Savior, ending evil and ruling forever in righteousness–endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:2).

Even in writing this, I am glorifying God, revealing to you, more of His powerful and pristine Character, helping you to worship Him more and better. May we be aware of the everyday opportunities to reveal God’s glory to those around us by praise, by offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving, by noting and sharing God sightings, and by sharing what we are learning at the feet of the Holy Spirit.

May we live out the purpose of our existence today, glorifying God in our lives!

Praise be to you, Lord God, that you were there, waiting for me this morning, after watching over us all night. I praise you for your grace and goodness, your power and provision which you’ve prepared for me for today.

Thank you so much for the purpose you give us in life: living for you, joining you in your great plans and giving you glory–which means revealing you to those around us. And how can we do that?

First of all, by being people of praise. As we respond to the events swirling around us by offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving in whatever comes, we reveal to others your Sovereignty and Love. We live the truth that you are in control, so whatever comes to us flows with your permission and purpose, from your wisdom and love.

As we trust you in the events of our days, you give us joy and peace and make our lives overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:13). Then, as you promised (2 Cor. 12:9)), your power will come and you will show us your salvation in the events that face us (Ps. 50:23). As we note your power and salvation and talk about them, we are revealing your faithfulness and power to those around us.

Which brings us to another way of giving you glory: seeing the “God-sightings” you bring into our lives daily (when you provide, protect and guide), and then when we share them with those around us. Like yesterday while shopping, I had a question about an electrical item, but there was no store employee to help me. However, as I went around the corner, there was my neighbor who is an electrician and he readily answered my question. God at work. God revealed.

Praise be to you, Lord God, for you are gr eat, good and glorious!

Further thoughts on Psalm 15:1-5

Jesus is the perfect Paragon of excellence, the sinless Savior and supreme Shepherd, the marvelous and majestic Maker and Master of our faith. As we read through Psalm 15, every one of the 10 qualities the LORD requires for dwelling in His sanctuary is found in Jesus.

Psalm 15:1-2 “LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless”

[I praise you, Lord Jesus, that you are blameless. In you there is no sin, no evil, no slipping into error, no darkness, no injustice or rebellion; you are without blame, without accusation, without sin. Praise you for your perfection, your purity, your pristineness, that you are the summation of all virtues.]

“and who does what is righteous,”

[All you have done and will do is right, Lord Jesus, there is no error in your ways, no wrong, no fault, no unrighteousness. Therefore, you are absolutely trustable and believable in your faithfulness and goodness.]

“who speaks the truth from his heart”

[You are Truth itself and therefore speak only Truth from the center of your being. All you say is true, right, correct, positive and good.]

Psalm 15:3 He “has no slander on his tongue,

[When you judge, Lord Jesus, it is correct, it is spoken to the right person with the right motive at the right time in the right way. There is no malice, selfishness, evil motive or wrong desire in your speech. Instead you speak correctly to convict, to bring repentance, to restore and lead, giving light, love and life.]

We praise and exalt you for your prefect, pristine and powerful character.

Psalm 15:1 “LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?”

[Praise be to you, Lord God, the High and Holy One, who invites us into your sanctuary, to live with you on your holy hill–through believing on the risen Jesus.

This possibility is a delightful demonstration of your deep delight in sharing your glorious grace and your generous goodness with us, offering us life and love even while we were still dead in sins. This is your pure and positive Character at work in the midst of a broken, twisted and destructive world.

Psalm 15:2-4 “…who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? The one whose walk is BLAMELESS, who does what is RIGHTEOUS, who speaks the TRUTH from their heart; whose tongue utters NO SLANDER, who does NO WRONG to a neighbor, and CASTS NO SLUR on others; who despises a vile person but HONORS those who fear the LORD; who KEEPS AN OATH even when it hurts, and DOES NOT CHANGE their mind….”

Each of these conditions for living in close relationship with you, Lord, is unreachable for us in our own strength; our sinful flesh prevents this, even when our spirit is willing.

But, in the face of our inability, you, Lord God, in your rich and powerful, persistent and active agape love have, through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, provided these qualities for all who believe. “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Pet. 1:3).

Not only that, but he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Now that is an amazing statement! We, who deserve only Hell are now partakers of the divine nature!!!

How blessed are we!!!

Psalm 14:4 “Will evildoers never learn—”

[Lord, this means you are consistently working at teaching all rebels the error of their ways by letting them suffer the consequences of their destructive choices as you, in your faithfulness and love, are calling them to repentance and surrender–but they are not listening!]

“those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on the LORD?”

[These rebels commit two evils: they abuse people, and they trust in themselves, rather than you, Lord. They delusively believe they are in control, able to handle life on their own as they bully all those around them.]

Psalm 14:5 “But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous.”

[In spite of their bravado, inside they have dread because they sense God’s presence among believers. That’s why they so viciously attack those who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ. This has happened repeatedly all down through history and we see this today as ter.roists try to wipe out all Christians in their territory.

Such evildoers are afraid of death. They may be aware of the coming judgment, and that because of their stubborn selfishness they are set apart from the righteous–those have surrendered to Christ–but in spite of this they do not repent.]

Praise you that you led us to repentance, saving us from Hell, rejection, eternally without anything good. Help us to live in the light of this wonder, to reflect this light to the world.