Caryn Rivadeneira 0:11
Welcome to Elmhurst CRC's daily dose of the Word of God. It's Thursday, June 16, and Sunday is coming. This is Caryn Rivadeneria. I serve as Director of Care and Worship Planning. And I'll be reading Psalm 22, 27 through 28. All the ends of the earth will remember in turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before Him, for Dominion belongs to the Lord, and He rules over the nations.
Caryn Rivadeneira 0:39
Lately, I've been wondering if Americans have a harder time with terms like dominion, ruler, and sovereignty because we don't have kings and queens. In fact, not only do we not have them, we fought a brutal and bloody war to rid ourselves of them. While there are people we admire for achievements or position, we don't have much of a concept of honoring people just because of who they are. As Sam Hamstra preached about this past Sunday, that's not only supposed to be our posture toward God, that is worshiping God because God is God. But according to the psalm of David, one day, every last person, every last family, every last nation will bow before God and acknowledge God's dominion over all, just because God is God. It's an amazing image, and I'll admit, as an animal and nature lover, I have zero trouble imagining or even noticing squirrels or trees, prairie grasses, or fish praising our Creator. But I have a harder time imagining all nations, all families, all people praising God. What about the ones who reject God? What about the ones who don't believe in God as we do? What about the ones whose lives don't seem to reflect a belief in a higher being at all? We could go on and on with our questions. I'm sure David had them to Israel had no shortage of pagan enemies in those days. And yet, here David is saying that one day, they will all bow before God and worship. And just as this is our proper posture before God. So is this our proper perspective on others. Instead of imagining people with their hard hearts and their so-called wrong beliefs, what if we can imagine all people everywhere, bowing before God? How might this change our view of the other? How might this empower us to share God's love and grace with others? How might this help us remember how much God loves us all?
Caryn Rivadeneira 2:34
In our prayer guide for this week, we encourage you to imagine people in other parts of the country or globe, imagine how they spend their days, and then imagine them bowing before God. Give thanks for God's rule over the nations and God's immense love for his people, and then conclude by praising God, not for what God has done, but simply because of who God is. Just to Sam Hamstra reminded us, our sovereign ruler, and our mighty God.