Category Archives: Majesty

Accountability, Accused, Bible, Destruction, Judgment, Majesty, Power, Scripture

THE EARTH SPLITS

NAHUM 1:5

“Mountains quake because of Him, and the hills come apart; indeed the earth is upheaved by His presence, the world and all the inhabitants in it.”

I have never experienced an earthquake. Where I live, they are not common. I have friends who live on the west coast of America, and they have experienced them. They describe their houses shaking and moving. Some have shared pictures of breaks in the ground. They have not seen mountains quake, but they believe they could.

As Nahum uses this imagery to describe the mighty hand of God, this exhibition of raw power is just the fingertip of God. In fact, since God spoke all of the earth into creation, He could just as easily speak it into extinction. The Ninevites have stirred the wrath of God, and even their physical environment will suffer.

APPLICATION

Just how powerful do you think God is? Well, that’s a stupid question, Carl. I know God is all-powerful. We say that and may even believe it. So, why are we so surprised when He does those things that only He could do, things for which there is no other explanation?

I have said it before – our western minds try to eliminate the supernatural in favor of the natural. We like to try to explain it. We want to put everything into nice, neat, little boxes. Sometimes, however, God just shows up and acts in such a way that only his majestic power can explain.

May I encourage you to not too hastily disregard these acts of wonder. Let them sink in a minute. Perhaps you are witnessing a God act. Maybe He has privileged you to be a part of it. Just don’t throw out the supernatural explanation before you have prayed about it. I am hoping to see more and more of these events in my lifetime as God chooses to show us these end-times we are in.

Open my eyes that I may see, Lord. Let me see the works of Your hands everywhere.

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Bible, Majesty, Orphans, Restoration, Scripture, Splendor, Widows

SPLENDOR

MICAH 2:9

“‘You evict the women of My people, each one from her pleasant house. From her children you take My splendor forever.

I do not know about you, but I seldom think about anything that I would use the word “splendor” to describe. I guess I should do that more often. If I do, I could describe a beautiful sunset as having splendor. I could say our worship service displayed splendor. But the main way I would use “splendor” would be to describe my Lord.

Here in today’s verse, Micah uses the word to describe what these thieves, which we have been talking about in the past verses, have taken from the children of these widows. We know they are widows because they own their homes (women did not own property back then unless their husbands were dead, or their father had purposely willed it to them). These thieves were ruthless in their greed, neglecting even the neediest.

APPLICATION

James 1:27 says, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” For us to show God’s splendor, we need to care for the widows and orphans. God has told us this is precious in His sight. He longs to see them loved on and attended to.

I love how Isaiah uses this Hebrew word, hadar. He says, “the splendor of His majesty.” Think about that for a minute. We can help maintain the splendor of His majesty in the lives of widows and orphans by caring for them. There are so many out there who need us. We just have to open our eyes to their needs.

I have shared before that I worked over thirty years in the child welfare ministry. Some of those children were true orphans, having lost both parents. Others had only one parent, usually a birth mother. It was my privilege to work alongside some incredible people caring for these children. It is my prayer that we restored the splendor of His majesty in their lives. Who can you help restore that to? Just look around and ask God to reveal them to you.

The splendor of our King, clothed in majesty, let all the earth rejoice, all the earth rejoice.

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