Dr H Reflections

Are you a dismal failure? ∙∙

Are you a dismal failure? ∙∙

No one does good, not a single one. – Romans 3:12

Romans 3:23-25

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

24 Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.

Frequently, we ruminate about what others think of us and fear that we may not meet their real or imagined expectations.

If you are experiencing low self-esteem, the Father offers a straightforward resolution. Instead of comparing ourselves to the standards of others, or our own, we should use His standards as our benchmark. When we compare ourselves to His absolute standard, we realize how drastically far short we fall.

We may feel even worse about ourselves. Such an awareness becomes the death toll of self-pride and self-promotion. Instead, we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God so that he might exalt us at the proper time.

There is a significant difference between feeling relatively bad about yourself and feeling absolutely bad about yourself. When you feel relatively bad about yourself, there is room for personal growth and progress. You can attempt to improve yourself and improve your condition. But when you feel absolutely bad about yourself, it can be paralyzing, leaving you with a sense of hopelessness. There is absolutely nothing you can do about it. However, hitting the bottom provides the foundation for a triumphal resolution.

Paul pushes the boundary and logically takes us to a dreadful conclusion. Paul does not say that we were merely sinful, depraved, or sick before we became children of the King. Instead, he says that we were dead.

Ephesians 2:1 You were dead in your trespasses and sins.

When we evaluate ourselves in light of the Father’s standards, it becomes clear that we are inadequate and fall short. Our shortcomings become glaringly apparent. There is no longer any question about where we stand. We see things as they really are. We recognize and acknowledge that we are dismal failures. We stand condemned. There is nothing we can do to improve our condition.

As individuals condemned and hopeless, we find ourselves in dire need of the Father’s love, mercy, and grace. The apostle Paul reminds us that we were not doing well and improving when the Father intervened. Instead, we were once His enemies and thoroughly alienated from Him. In response to our sorry state, the Father sent His son, Jesus Christ, to die for us to resolve the worst part of our darkened human condition. Through the death of Jesus Christ, reconciliation was made possible, and the barriers separating us from the Father were removed.

Romans 5:10 While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.

The Father brought about a significant paradigm shift for all the children of the King. We were utterly helpless, entirely in the wrong, and condemned. However, The Father unilaterally declared us righteous, and so we are! We are now clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:21 for God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

Romans 3:24 God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

REFLECT & PRAY

You don’t drown by falling into water. You only drown if you stay there (Zig Ziglar).

Father thank You for lifting me out of the miry pit and placing me on solid ground.

INSIGHT

Imagine walking through swampy woods and suddenly finding yourself sinking in quicksand up to your neck. First, you must find a way out of your terrifying and deadly situation. Second, you need to get cleaned up, removing all the muck and dirt covering you from head to toe.

This is precisely what the Father has done for us! He has rescued us from the miry pit, the ugly mess we made of our lives. Then He made us thoroughly clean as if it never happened. We are no longer sullied; all the spots and blemishes are removed.

In a sense, we have been put on trial and found guilty, standing condemned. However, the Father did something miraculous and astonishing. Through faith in Christ, we have been justified and declared righteous by the Father, once and for all. We have a whole new legal standing. The result is that as children of the King, we no longer live in fear of judgment or the wrath of God but have peace with Him. This peace is not just a subjective feeling but an objective reality (ESV notes).

The enemy may focus on our past messes and try to remind us of them, but the Father focuses on our redemption and cleansed lives, encouraging each child of the King.

This gives us an unexpected and delightful opportunity. We can choose to keep recalling the dark failures of our past or focus on the clean, pure, and righteous redemption that the Father has wrought.

Darkness or light, death or life, condemnation or acceptance, the choice is ours.

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark (Michelangelo).

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The midwife of the New Testament

The midwife of the New Testament

But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. – 2 Timothy 3:14-15

2 Timothy 3:16-17

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people for every good work.

Midwifery is an ancient profession that has been practiced for thousands of years, and today midwives continue to play a vital role in providing the health and well-being of women and their babies.

Midwives offer various services to ensure women receive the best care throughout pregnancy and childbirth.

The Father selected Irenaeus as His midwife to guarantee the safe delivery and transmission of the New Testament. He provided the early church with a clear vision of the scriptural framework of its faith. Through his efforts, the Old and New Testaments were recognized as one continuous, consistent book, the Word of God.

At the heart of his vision was Irenaeus’s teaching of the appropriate use of the New and Old Testaments. He was the first Christian author to regard nearly all the books that comprise our New Testament today as a part of the Word of God. Before Irenaeus, the final New Testament as one complete and whole book did not exist.

He also asserted that only those who acknowledged four authorities could properly use these books:

The foundation of the later creeds was the “rule [canon] of truth,” which emphasized the belief in one God, one Son, and one Holy Spirit.
The canonical body Scripture included both the Old and New Testaments.
The apostolic tradition, handed down once and for all by the apostles, was preserved throughout the centuries until today. The Lord Jesus Christ is the central character of the Scriptures.
The early bishops were the direct successors of the apostles and served as living witnesses. They provided the church with tangible evidence that the authentic teaching about Christ was still being preserved and preached.

Irenaeus’ book, The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, was discovered at the beginning of the twentieth century. It offered the most comprehensive insight into Irenaeus’ perspective. He connects the preaching of the New Testament apostles to its origin in the Law, Psalms, and Prophets.

The four canonical Gospels culminate their accounts of the Lord Jesus Christ with the Passion. They always narrate the stories with allusions to Hebrew. Irenaeus emphasizes how the apostles utilized Old Testament references aligning with Paul’s declaration that Christ died and was resurrected in accordance with the Scriptures.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.

4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.

For Irenaeus, Christ is the primary focus of Scripture. The apostles announced Him by making connections to Old Testament Scripture. Moreover, the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is not only the subject of Scripture from start to finish, He was also its ultimate author.

According to Irenaeus, Christ is the treasure concealed in Scripture. He is lurking in the types and stories and the words and deeds of the patriarchs and prophets. Their writings readied the world for the coming of Christ, making the field ripe for harvest.

Before the first coming of Christ, the significance of these types and prophecies was not comprehended. However, the Gospels and the rest of the books of the New Testament illuminated and expanded the Old Testament writings, revealing their true meaning. As such, they are recognized as an integral part of the Word of God. For individuals who read Scripture without knowledge of the exegesis or interpretation of the Christ-related elements, the Scriptures merely serve as myths. But those who read Scripture with comprehension receive enlightenment and radiate like the stars in the sky (Behr).

REFLECT & PRAY

The Bible, “written over a period of 1,500 years by about 40 different authors, and yet it is one book without contradictions in what it says. And what it says is remarkable, for it speaks with equal ease and authority of the known and unknowable, of the pleasant and unpleasant, of man’s accomplishments and failures, of the past and the future. Few books ever attempt such scope; none is completely accurate except the Bible” (Ryrie).

Father thank You for providing and preserving Your complete and inerrant Book of Truth, the Word of God.

INSIGHT

The Scriptures were written via divine inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Their preservation and transmission were entrusted to faithful men.

1 Corinthians 11:23 For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself.

Throughout history, evildoers Have tried to destroy and eradicate the word of God. To thwart their attempts, God raised up faithful men and women who at risk for their lives protected and passed it down to this very day. The verbs passed on and received are technical terms from Paul’s Jewish heritage for the transmission of religious instruction (his rabbinical training) (Fee).

The Greek term translated as pass on is paradidomi. Paradidomi connotes entrusting, committing, handing over, or passing on something of great importance to the safekeeping of others. Paul carefully passed on the precious truth of the word of God. This was done so that it might be studied and internalized as a source of truth, knowledge, and guidance.

The Greek term translated as received is paralambano. Paralambano in this context, has the sense of formally imparting authoritative teaching. The Jewish authors of Old Testament Scriptures are well aware that they were handling the sacred texts of the word of God. They copied them accurately without error, passing them down to future generations extremely seriously.

The fundamental principles of Christianity, such as the concept of atonement through the death and resurrection of Christ as the foundation for everlasting redemption, were already established before the arrival of Paul. Despite undergoing significant refinement through his theological contributions, the core components remained present prior to and after his involvement. Paul received and transmitted these essentials (Fee).

The phrase “from the Lord” (apo tou kyriou) used by Paul differentiates the Lord as the originator of the tradition from those who passed it down. This affirms the authoritative nature of the tradition, with Christ as the originator and guarantor. “The phrase ‘received from the Lord’ is divine revelation. Paul does not teach his own opinion about the Lord’s Supper but received this information by direct revelation” (Richison).

Mark’s Gospel frequently employs the verb paradidomi. They can be translated in many ways, including “betrayed.” However, translating it as “handed over” or “delivered up” maintains a degree of ambiguity. Thus it alludes to God’s plan to hand over Jesus for our salvation, and Jesus’ willing submission underpins Christ’s being delivered up. The focus is on God’s purposes (Garland).

Delivering up and handing over the New Testament as a continuation of the Old Testament into one book is the culmination of the work of Irenaeus as the midwife of the New Testament.

Thanks to the efforts and sacrifices of the Old Testament prophets, the New Testament apostles (Ephesians 2:20), and those faithful men and women who protected and passed on the sacred Word of God, we have become the children of the King.

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What do you have that you did not receive? ∙

What do you have that you did not receive? ∙

What do you have that God hasn’t given you? – 1 Corinthians 4:7

1 Corinthians 4:1-7

1 So look at Apollos and me as mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God’s mysteries.

2 Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful.

3 As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point.

4 My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.

5 So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time – before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.

6 Dear brothers and sisters, I have used Apollos and myself to illustrate what I’ve been saying. If you pay attention to what I have quoted from the Scriptures, you won’t be proud of one of your leaders at the expense of another.

7 For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results” (Andrew Carnegie). “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success” (Henry Ford).

To achieve success, it is essential to have team players who possess exceptional teamwork skills. A true team player prioritizes the accomplishment of their group over their individual achievement. They recognize that their team’s victory coincides with their own success. They exhibit the utmost dedication and commitment to the shared goal.

The value of teamwork is ingrained in the psyche of team players, and they strive to foster a supportive and collaborative environment that brings out the best in everyone. A team player is selfless and willing to put the team’s needs before their own.

This attitude is particularly evident in team sports such as football, hockey, soccer, and basketball, where players understand the significance of collaborating with one another to achieve a common objective. They recognize receiving feedback and constructive criticism as crucial for success. Through their steadfast commitment and unwavering dedication, team players can help their team accomplish feats that seem unattainable on their own.

To achieve the Father’s kingdom goals on earth requires teamwork. The Father has chosen to use groups or teams of children of the King to accomplish His purposes. Team players with strong teamwork skills are needed to make this happen.

“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work” (Vince Lombardi). The same is true of the church.

In the Father’s kingdom, team players are genuinely committed to the task that the Father assigned to them and to one another (Ephesians 4:16).

Paul was a great team player as well as a team builder. He did not talk down to others. He could put himself in their place and share their feelings and emotions. His purpose was to fulfill the Father’s game plan: to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). He shared the gospel and grounded children of the King in the faith.

Paul was always at work, bringing people into a closer relationship with the living God. Paul exhorted and coached others. He primarily provided information rather than condemnation. But when necessary, he was willing to confront. “Paul had a wonderfully courteous way of including himself in his own warnings and his own condemnations” (Barclay).

REFLECT & PRAY

“All gifts and advantages come from God. They are special graces from God. We do not earn or deserve them. An understanding of the grace of God puts an end to pride” (Richison).

Father I recognize that all I have and all I am is a sheer gracious gift from You. Foster within me an attitude of gratitude.

INSIGHT

1 Corinthians 4:7 For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?

“Paul now asks pithy, pointed questions to puncture their bubble of spiritual pride. ‘For who makes you differ from another?’ Paul attacks the spiritual pride of the Corinthian church by asking them who gave them the right of superior judgment over others. No one gave these people the right to judge others. The Greek answers the question – ‘no one.’ They had no right to consider themselves superior to others. They claimed this so-called ‘right’ but got it from themselves. Paul sarcastically punches a hole in their claim of superiority over others. ‘And what do you have that you did not receive? And what do you have that you did not receive?’” (Richardson).

Being puffed up and arrogant have no place in the Father’s kingdom or on the Father’s team. Paul confronts the Corinthians regarding their perceived special status. Paul “punctures their inflated view of themselves with a series of questions: Who? What? Why?” (Garland).

1 Corinthians 4:7 can be translated in various ways.

For who makes you different from anyone else? (NIV)

Who regards you as superior? (NAS)

For who makes you so superior? (HCSB)

For who sees anything different in you? (ESV)

Who defines you? (Thiselton)

The sentence has two parts. The first part is the answer to the question, Who is responsible? This, in turn, has two answers. One is correct, the other not so much.

Ultimately, the Father is responsible. He has decided. Each child of the King is different from everyone else, and He endowed them with specific unique characteristics, abilities, talents, appearance, and the like. He defined them!

Yet, on the other hand, many Corinthians self-identify as superior. They were filled with arrogance and pride.

Why would they think of themselves in this way? What could possibly make them superior or unique? Paul’s answer is their distinguishing attributes, features, strengths, virtues, etc.

None of these factors are things that they have done for themselves. Instead, everything they have; they have received from the Father. How can they possibly boast about something that was given to them as a free gift of pure grace? “Nothing is inherently theirs, so they cannot be arrogant and boastful” (Marshall). “All is of grace; nothing is deserved, nothing earned” (Fee). That is Paul’s point.

All children of the King are very special to Him. The Father is the source of their life and forgiveness in Christ. But that does not make them superior to others. The Corinthians are guilty of being presumptuous and ungrateful. “For them to be puffed up one against another effectively denies that God is the one who has given them all things” (Garland).

“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime” [Babe Ruth].

“In an ultimate sense, human arrogance makes very little sense because we never accomplish anything except by using the gifts, talent, energy, inspiration – and even breath – that God gives to us” (Stanley).

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Being Woke

Being Woke

Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light. – Ephesians 5:14

1 Thessalonians 5:2-8

2 For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.

3 When people are saying, “Everything is peaceful and secure,” then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape.

4 But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief.

5 For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night.

6 So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.

8 But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.

What is the origin and meaning of the term woke? The word woke has an intriguing entomology. Initially, in the 19th century, it was simply the past tense of “wake,” meaning to be awake or no longer asleep. In the 1930s, some African Americans in the US began using the phrase “stay woke” in their everyday language. In African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), “woke” is used instead of the usual past participle form of “wake,” which is “woken.”

The figurative use of “woke” as an adjective originated in 1962 when novelist William Melvin Kelley used it in a New York Times article titled “If You’re Woke You Dig It.” In the article, Kelley examined the constantly shifting street slang used in urban African-American communities and defined “woke” as well-informed and up-to-date. In other words, they are painfully aware and in the know.

Over time, the focus of being woke shifted to include sensitivity to and awareness of racism and discrimination, as well as other issues of social equality. Today, “woke” is often used as a catch-all term to describe left-wing ideologies centered on the identity politics of minority groups and informed by academic and social justice movements. The term is used by both the left and right sides of the political spectrum to support their agendas.

Being Woke is not the exclusive domain of the 21st-century political arena. It started in the 1st century AD when the children of the King were exhorted to shake off the lifelessness of their past ways and arise from the deadness of their former lifestyles.

Ephesians 5:14 Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.

The Greek word translated as awake is egeiro. Egeiro meansto waken, to rise up. It is commonly used when rousing people from sleep (Matthew 8:25; Mark 5:41, and Acts 12:7). Egeiro wasalso used to arouse people from spiritual dullness, lethargy, and indifference (Ephesians 5:14).

The Greek verb translated as sleeper is katheudo. Katheudo commonly refers to being physically asleep. It also connotes an attitude of spiritual laziness or indifference. That is, being indolent, inattentive, and unconcerned about sin.

1 Thessalonians 5:6 So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.

The contextual background in 1 Thessalonians 5:2-8 indicates that some believers in Thessalonica had become lulled into spiritual sluggishness and were no longer spiritually acute but dull and lethargic. The Day of the Lord is coming, and they need to be on the alert (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

If they resisted, they ran the risk of descending further down the slippery slope of spiritual darkness and sin.

Hebrews 5:11-13

11 We would like to say much more about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.

12 You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you the basics of God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.

13 For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right.

REFLECT & PRAY

“When you’re physically asleep, it means you’re unconscious of physical realities . . .. To be spiritually asleep means you’re unconscious of spiritual realities” (Keller).

Father, keep me alert about what is happening in the world around me and laser-focused on accomplishing the assignment that You have for me.

INSIGHT

“As ‘sleepers,’ they possibly did not even realize their spiritual indifference. This is an interesting metaphor since most sleep is done in darkness. They were sleeping in the unfruitful works of darkness” (Hoehner).

Children of the King at Thessalonica were off course. Rather than living as children of light, they engaged in acts of darkness. They were unaware of the events unfolding in their world. To make matters worse, although the Father was always at work, they were ignorant and disconnected from what He was doing. They needed to open the eyes of their hearts, become alert to their circumstances, and be renewed. Paul issued a wake-up call to correct the situation.

It is incumbent upon every child of the King to be alert to the size of the time and understand what they are to do.

1 Chronicles 12:32 The sons of Issachar understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take.

John Wooden is regarded as one of the greatest college basketball coaches ever, if not the GOAT. He led the UCLA Bruins to ten NCAA Basketball Championships in a 12-year period, including an unprecedented seven consecutive championships from 1967 to 1973. His teams also won 88 straight games, a record that still stands in the 21st century.

In addition to his impressive record of championships and winning streaks, Wooden is also renowned for his coaching philosophy. Wooden considered alertness to be an essential characteristic of success. He defined alertness as “be observing constantly. Stay open-minded. And be eager to learn and improve.” He said, “We must be alert and alive and be observing constantly, seeing the things that are going on around us. . .. We must not get lost in our own narrow tunnel vision and selfish ways.”

John 9:4 We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.

We are on a collision course with the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Children of the King should be kept from being caught unawares. We are to be watchful, sober, and ready.

1 Thessalonians 5:5-8

5 For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night.

6 So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.

8 But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.

Wake up and BE WOKE.

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Radiant with joy ∙

Radiant with joy ∙

They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed. – Psalms 34:5

Psalms 34:1-8

1 I will praise the LORD at all times. I will constantly speak his praises.

2 I will boast only in the LORD; let all who are helpless take heart.

3 Come, let us tell of the LORD’s greatness; let us exalt his name together.

4 I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears.

5 Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.

6 In my desperation, I prayed, and the LORD listened; he saved me from all my troubles.

7 For the angel of the LORD is a guard; he surrounds and defends all who fear him.

8 Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. Her most enduring work was “Solitude.”

The poem’s inspiration came as she traveled by train in Wisconsin. A young woman dressed in black sat across the aisle from her, crying. Miss Wheeler sat next to her and sought to comfort her. At the journey’s end, her emotions were mixed. She shared in the woman’s sorrow, yet at the same time, her own face was radiant. She wrote the opening lines of Solitude.

Solitude

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;

Weep, and you weep alone.

Life is about choices. Our life course is set by how we respond to our vicissitudes and trials.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox also wrote, The Set of the Sails.

The Set of the Sails

One ship drives east, and another west

With the self-same winds that blow;

‘Tis the set of the sails

And not the gales

That decides the way to go.

Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,

As they voyage along through life;

‘Tis the will of the soul

That decides its goal,

And not the calm or the strife.

Life’s ups and downs can often catch us off guard. Encountering strife and struggle is inevitable. However, our reaction to these challenges shapes our outlook and emotional state. In times of difficulty, David encourages us to express joyful praise. By doing so, David shows the way to serenity, self-assurance, bravery, and triumph over our innermost emotions and forebodings.

REFLECT & PRAY

Experiencing the Father’s presence produces an excited joy that cannot be contained. David bursts out with exclamations of praise.

Father may I learn and perfect the art of praising and thanking You daily. Remove the dark shadows of shame and fear that haunt me and replace them with radiant joy.

INSIGHT

Psalms 34 is not simply a prayer. It is an exclamation of joy over the Father’s response to prayer. David has experienced the sheer joy of the presence of the Father. It is palpable. David is radiant. His heart is thrilled and overflowing with joy. Radiant is also found in Isaiah 60:5, describing a parent’s face lighting up at the sight of their children, who had been given up for lost (Kidner).

Isaiah 60:5 Your eyes will shine, and your heart will thrill with joy.

The Hebrew word translated as shine or radiant is nahar. Nahar literally means to shine brightly. Metaphorically, it depicts joyful pleasure, beaming with light from an effervescent countenance. In the Old Testament, it results from the Father’s light shining on people or people gazing at Him.

This happened to Moses at Mount Sinai when he received the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 34:29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, he wasn’t aware that his face had become radiant because he had spoken to the LORD.

The Hebrew word translated as thrill with joy or become joyful and glad or tremble and rejoice is pachad. This word depicts the quivering sensation of being startled. The resultant law causes the heart to flutter or beat rapidly. Pachad reflects a range of emotions, such as extreme happiness, joy, and gladness, as well as trembling and trepidation. It conveys various feelings, including intense joy, happiness, and pleasure. There is a mixture of trembling with excitement and rejoicing. Pause momentarily and visualize what happens when startled; your heart flutters and beats rapidly.

Psalms 34:5 Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy.

Visualize being present with David as he expresses his thoughts aloud. His words are brimming with eagerness and zeal and having experienced an inward spiritual connection with the Father. He relishes the experience with great pleasure and is insatiable in his desire to absorb it all. Although his expression may seem subdued and ordinary, it is far from dull and bland. He is bursting at the seams with joy and excitement.

Psalms 34:2 My soul will make its boast in the LORD.

But there is more. Restraints are gone and replaced by a sense of temporary madness. We may make fools of ourselves in a good sense. So Paul exclaims, “We are fools, for Christ’s sake” – 1 Corinthians 4:10. In the 21st century, it would be equivalent to the thrill of cheering for your home team when they score a touchdown at an athletic event. His soul is literally jumping up and down as he basks in the Father’s presence (Terrien).

His joy is contagious, and he cannot keep it to himself. It erupts out of him. It must be shared. David invites us to participate with him. Each of us can enter into the presence of the Father and the joy He offers.

How does David become so buoyant? How does he do it? It all begins with praise and thankfulness for who the Father is, what the Father does, and most importantly, what the Father has done for us. He shouts of the Father’s greatness and exults in Him.

Putting it in other terms, David magnifies and blesses the Father. How can a mere mortal bless God?

“The idea behind ‘bless’ is to speak a good word about someone: when God blesses someone, he speaks a good word over that person for his well-being; when a human blesses God, he speaks a good word about God’s kindness and generosity” (ESV notes).

Paul succinctly restates the same concept in one verse. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

“Even if it’s not your practice, pick a day this week and praise God throughout the day. Praise Him when you wake up, praise Him when you eat, praise Him when you leave the house and when you return” (Stanley).

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