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Do you hear that?

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In the early morning silence, all I can hear is the ringing in my ears. But there’s a sound beyond my hearing that gently wafts around me. It emanates from the great heart of Jehovah Shammah – the LORD who is always present.

The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
Zephaniah 3:17, ESV

Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Think of the great Jehovah singing! Can you imagine it? Is it possible to conceive of the Deity breaking into a song: Father, Son and Holy Ghost together singing over the redeemed? God is so happy in the love which he bears to his people that he breaks the eternal silence, and sun and moon and stars with astonishment hear God chanting a hymn of joy.” http://BLB Blog – Spurgeon – Our God Sings

At times His song crescendos into loud shouts of joy then decrescendos into quiet whispers as gentle as a summer breeze. No place and no time are songless. His melody whispers through the cacophony of life and into the quiet of a sleepless night.

All through the night His song is with me.
Psalm 42:8

His song is the song of Presence. It is always with me. When my ears are tuned to the world and my mind shadowed with struggles, He still sings. But when my soul is hushed in His presence, I’ll begin to pick up the deep tones of the song, and Jehovah Shammah will teach me to sing.

What is this song that envelops me? It’s the melody, harmonies and rhythm of all of His goodness flowing around me and into me. It’s His song of endless love, grace, and mercy. It becomes my hope, my quiet love, and my exultant joy. And my soul sings it back to Him.

Watershed Moment

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Imagine the moment the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, and the Son of God stepped out of the dazzling splendor of heaven into the darkness of Mary’s womb. In that mysterious moment, the genetics of God joined the genetics of Mary and all the essence of Deity began to grow. God became fully human but still fully God.

I remember my dad saying, that Jesus was “very God of very God.” I later learned that he was quoting from the Nicene Creed:

“I believe … in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.”[1]

The One who sang the stars into existence, who measured the waters of the earth in the hollow of His hand, was born human and learned to eat, to talk and to walk. Nothing is so staggering or so mysterious as the incarnation of Almighty God in human flesh. God the Father performed a spectacular miracle where no one could see, hidden in the womb of Mary.

Humanity looks down into Bethlehem’s manger, and it becomes a watershed moment – is He God or not? The believing soul is hushed kneeling in the hay before the light that shines in the darkness and gazes in wonder at the Father’s extravagant gift of love.

For all humanity and “for our salvation He came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man….”1

[1] Botefuhr, W. D. C. (1885) Nicene Creed. Fort Smith: Boetefuehr, W. D. C.

Spiritually Nuclear

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A month ago, I entered into a new relationship with a male companion. His name is Charlie, and he fills my heart with love and joy, makes me laugh, stretches and tries my patience, thoroughly thwarts my freedom, and has totally upended my predictable daily routines. He whines when I leave and bounces for joy when I return. My personal space is no longer mine alone, but those deep brown eyes completely melt my heart.

This summer I’ve undertaken another, infinitely more life altering, journey that was sparked by something Dane Ortlund wrote:

“We have a domesticated view that…has downsized the glory of Christ in our hearts. Have you reduced the Lord Jesus to a safe, containable, predictable Savior…? Have you treated what is spiritually nuclear as a double-A battery?”[1]

I sometimes find myself lured into the trap of this small-box thinking and lose sight of the blazing glory and spiritually nuclear power that inhabits me. Those small thoughts constrain the experience and expression of Christ’s life and is spiritually debilitating. It leads to doubt, worry, hopelessness and the hamster wheel of performance, which is exactly where the enemy wants me.

God…has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.[2]

We are ordinary, unremarkable, imperfect vessels that contain unspeakably great treasure – Jesus Christ, the radiant glory of God. Containing such splendor and power is staggering and transformative. It changes everything from how I view myself and my circumstances to how I approach my daily challenges and do what He calls me to do.

The God of unlimited possibilities and fullness of life inhabits our frail and flawed humanity. We’re meant to pulsate with the resurrection life and power of Jesus Christ for the praise of His glory…even when these vessels are broken, suffering and dying. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

He is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us. The vessel may be weak, but the power within is spiritually nuclear. That divine power never diminishes but inwardly renews us day by day until the end and on into eternity.[3]

[1] Ortlund, Dane. (2021). Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

[2] II Corinthians 4:6-7, New Living Translation.

[3] II Corinthians 4:16-17

A Broken Hallelujah

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I recently witnessed a “broken hallelujah.” On two different occasions, I watched women overcome by sorrow and grief pour out their worship through tears. It was their doxologies of praise to the One from whom all blessings flow, even when life is crushing. As I led worship and watched them, and saw others standing with them and loving them, I was swept up in the beauty of pure worship. It was a powerful thing, and it touched me deeply.

We worship the Exalted One who dwells in a high and holy place but also with those who are crushed in spirit to revive them.[1] Our broken hallelujahs touch the heart of God, and He is drawn like a magnet to them. When we gather to worship, He moves within and among us reviving, comforting and inflaming our hearts with His Presence.

We each come to corporate worship from different life circumstances. Sometimes our worship is a shout of joy to the Rock of our salvation. Sometimes it issues silently from a heavy heart bowed in humility, and sometimes it’s through tears of deep love and gratitude. The blending harmonies create the beauty and power of corporate worship. It floods us from an overflow of the Spirit of God and we pour it back over Him. Sometimes the flood nearly bursts my heart.

This morning as I ran, I listened to worship we often miss – birdsong. There are nearly 20,000 bird species in the world, and God planted unique songs in their throats for His listening pleasure. Today, I heard chickadees, robins, finches and sparrows to name a few. I listened to a male hummingbird chitter as he enjoyed a cool drink and took a dip in my water fountain. I love the poignant call of the Golden-crowned Sparrow, the resonant song of the Red-winged Blackbird, the complex melody of the Song Sparrow, the gentle cluck of a hen and, of course, the familiar chick-a-dee-dee-dee. I think God had fun creating all those songs and declared them all good.

It’s good to worship our Sovereign God together and unite in our diversity to declare His worthiness. He’s infinite in attributes and unceasing in His transforming work in our lives, so there will always be a new song and a new reason to worship Him. His love and goodness reach beyond the heights of our praise and into the depths of our broken hallelujahs.

[1] Isaiah 57:15

Land Before Time

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In the timeless realm of the Trinity,
In the unspeakable glory of absolute purity,
When holiness was all that existed,

Before time began ticking,
Before the earth and solar system occupied space,
Before stars were scattered across the universe,

The Sovereign Eternal God chose me.1 
Before I existed, He set His affection upon me.
Before I was named, He called me by name.

Why?

The “because” doesn’t lie within me 
But lies within the mysterious unfathomable depths 
Of the great heart of God.

My overwhelmed mind is speechless
But my heart soars on the updrafts 
Of the unsearchable love and grace of God.

Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, 
had settled on us as the focus of his love, 
to be made whole and holy by his love.
Ephesians 1:4, The Message

You are a chosen people…God’s special possession,
that you may declare the praises of him who called you 
out of darkness into his wonderful light.
I Peter 2:9

I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; 
I will glorify your name forever.
Psalm 86:12


1 I read Ephesians 1 this morning, and by the time I hit verse four I was already swept away by stunning truths that took my breath away.

The Heartbeat of Jesus

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What’s the heartbeat and essence of Jesus? What’s His driving force?

Jesus revealed His deepest core when He said, “I am gentle and humble in heart.”[1] Gentleness and humility are His center. They are what move Him.

He humbled Himself choosing to enter the world as a helpless dependent baby in a lowly place made to shelter animals. The birth announcement was reserved for shepherds, and they were the first guests of the Christ child.

Jesus was gentle and humble kneeling before His disciples with a basin of water and a towel. His gentleness and humility were displayed in His care for the little ones and in His tears of compassion for the grieving. They’re displayed today in His tender love for me when I struggle and fail.

His heart is gentle and kind, and His arms are never crossed. They’re always open to embrace me just as I am where I am. But He also opens His arms to be embraced.

“He astounds and sustains us with His endless kindness. Only as we drink down the kindness of the heart of Christ will we leave in our wake, everywhere we go, the aroma of heaven, and die one day having startled the world with glimpses of a divine kindness too great to be boxed in by what we deserve.”

“This is the One so unspeakably brilliant that His resplendence cannot adequately be captured with words, so ineffably magnificent that all language dies away before His splendor. This is the One whose deepest heart is, more than anything else, gentle and lowly.”[2]

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.[3]

[1] Matthew 11:29

[2] Ortlund, Dane. (2020) Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers. Wheaton, IL: Crossway

[3] Matthew 11:28-29