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Hope came in a basket (Christian poem)
Hope came in a basket,
Moses if you ask it.
Born a child to liberate,
God’s plan to operate.
Escaped from a death so cruel,
By the Lord’s grace, no duel.
Raised by Pharaoh’s daughter kind,
Grown up with a princely mind.
A vile Egyptian oppressor he smote,
Of which two Hebrews took note.
Avenging his brethren cost him exile,
He had to flee from the land of the Nile.
With no regard for idols of obsidian,
Moses dwelt in the land of Midian.
His divine calling at Horeb needed a push,
God spoke to him within a burning bush.
The Lord all merciful heard each cry,
Of Israel when their hope went dry.
Sent he Moses to lead them all,
Egypt’s king’s pride to fall.
Spoke Moses freedom for Israel’s sake,
From Pharaoh’s ruthless grasp to take.
God worked miracles through him a plenty,
He only needed ten plagues not twenty.
Striking fear and warnings to the impudent,
Moses with Aaron blessed by the Lord proved prudent.
Eventually Jacob’s children were set free,
One day to have milk and honey under their own tree.
Psalm 115 (To Your Name O Lord Give Glory)
1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
2 Why should the nations say,“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.
6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.
7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
9 O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.
12 The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron;
13 he will bless those who fear the Lord, both the small and the great.
14 May the Lord give you increase, you and your children!
15 May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth!
16 The heavens are the Lord‘s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man.
17 The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence.
18 But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the Lord!
Reflection on Psalm 115:
The Lord God respects his Holy Name because is faithful and ever-loving. There is no need for unbelievers to question where God is. Because the answer is already given; God is in heaven and does whatever he wishes. The Lord is not like any false god of whom people make idols. He is genuine and everlasting. His dominion is from age to age. Idols of false gods are useless because they don’t have the sense of hearing nor the sense of taste and neither can they see. So shallow are false idols that they cannot even walk. As lifeless as these idols are, so is the effect of putting hope in them. Avoid all such detestable idols. Let no material object nor any lust of any kind nor any thought pattern from the sinful world become a false idol to you!
The nation of Israel not matter what their current state is still called to trust in the Lord God and so are their priests; the household of Aaron. All those who trust in the Lord must remember he is the help and the shield of Israel and all believers when they trust in him. The Lord won’t forever forget the household of Israel nor that of Aaron the high priest of Israel, as per the law of Moses. In due time, he will turn their hearts back to him. But do remember, that God’s favour is not limited to them alone but is for all people who respectfully fear the Lord even if they are from the most remote parts of the earth. God’s mercy is available for all nations, tribes, language groups and races of the earth.
Always seek the blessing of God the everlasting One for yourself and your children. Because he is Great and has made heaven and earth. All of heaven belongs to the Lord of all the holy angels. But he has given mankind the earth, not as a possession but for stewardship, so that they glorify HIM in their thoughts, words and deeds while on earth.
Make good use of the time when you are alive on earth. Because for those who are dead, especially those who are dead in spirit to the will of God, there no time later to praise the Lord. While for those who are righteous in Christ at the time of their death are more alive than ever. They will praise the Lord in eternity which has God’s living light.
As for those of us who are still living on earth, lets us bless and praise the Lord forever and ever. Praise the Lord.
Verses for further reflection:
- Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21)
- See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8)
- Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)
- Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” (Romans 11: 25-27)
- After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7: 9-10)
Beware of bad attitudes at the Church service
There always comes a time when you attend a Church service. Usually this is on Sundays in most places while some follow a Saturday schedule as per local custom etc. What matters is your attitude at such times and places. You need to beware of bad attitudes at the Church service. Let me make this clear before I elaborate on this topic, that the church is not limited to a physical structure but in fact is every person who believes in Jesus Christ. Also a church service can happen even outside the walls of the church building.
A bad attitude at the Church service won’t do you any good. Having lack of faith and trust in the Lord is not helpful. However, this can be corrected as your faith can increase while hearing from the preaching of the word of God. The problem is some people don’t want to listen though they appear to be listening. Earlier people would keep talking among each other during the service. But now some couples keep staring at each other as it that the first and last time they would see other. Someone is busy texting on the phone or playing games. Not a wise thing at all.
Church of Transfiguration, Mount Tabor (Photo credit: Christopher Chan)
Then there is the dress policing crowd, whose sole aim is to make faces at those who are not dressed up well enough as per their standards. They won’t focus on the preaching but instead will keep judging everyone who enters the church, even the kids. Some people have the habit of walking out right in the middle of the service. I can understand if you have a genuine emergency but what I find weird is that this walking out of the service before it ends, happens every time you come. This speak volumes on how people put a wrong precedent on themselves.
Also some people party like there is no tomorrow and come to church totally groggy. I mean they are very sleepy and have no clue what is going in the service. There is the crowd which sometimes includes the preachers who are paying more attention to the clock instead of waiting for God to lead them.
Since I spoken about the preachers I will say the following things too. Some preachers only want to please the people. The follow the concept of “Vox populi vox Dei” meaning the voice of the people is the voice of God. What a crazy concept because the Bible mentions that Aaron listened to the Israelite’s of his time and then created a false idol to worship as the Lord. And then God’s judgement came down very severely on them. This is mentioned in the Bible.
So these people fearing preachers will avoid all the ‘controversial’ topics like adulterous living, drug addiction, child abuse, hell and divine judgement on an argument saying that they need to keep ‘peace and unity’ in the church. Pastors need to protect the church from evil doers and not from the word of God. Don’t water down the message of the Gospel even if the people ear’s are itching to hear an ego boosting sermon on how great they are. Avoid preaching sermons on donating to the church for the thousandth time and instead preach other topics that are not yet preached in church.
Also the worst attitude to have in the church is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 11:27-30 which speaks about having the Lord’s supper in an unworthy manner: Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
Hebrews 10:29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
There is also a sizable number of people who don’t seem to have any noticeable bad attitude at the church service but all I can say is that the Lord Jesus can see through everyone heart for their true intentions. For some people have a Pharisaic attitude and consider themselves the best in the world as they don’t have any of the above bad attitudes. What they fail to realize is they too are deceived as a result of their pride in their own character instead of the grace of God. One must be thankful to Jesus that one is free from sin but not start looking down on others who lack discipline for even once we lacked discipline but Jesus still gave his life for us.
I pray that you have the mind of Christ wherever you go and especially in Church services. That the Lord is adored and glorified in your thoughts, words and actions. Amen.
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