Worship by Numbers

Psalm 57: 9-11

I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to You among the nations.
For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens
And Your truth to the clouds.

Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
Let Your glory be above all the earth.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

A lot has happened in my life recently that does not inspire a lot of natural Thankfulness. I could make a list… But I think I’ll just say that I have suffered a lot of loss over the past two years. Loss that has caused me to feel some deep pain and ask some hard questions about my life and where it is going. More than ever before, I have been tempted to adopt an ungrateful attitude this year as the Holidays approach.

A friend of mine posted in her status on Facebook that she was going to post something she was thankful for every day in November. And this really inspired me!! I was feeling sort of empty and deprived when I read this post. So, I was a little bit surprised at how much fun it was coming up with things to be thankful for. I haven’t posted something every single day, but I have accumulated quite a list of things I am thankful for.

… all my basic needs are met

… weekends, Friday, AND PAYDAY!!! woo-hoo for payday!!!

… the LOVE OF GOD which is beyond comprehension!!!
Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast unmeasured, boundless, free!!

… the simple pleasure of a nice dinner

My current favorite dinner: Ribeye steak, green beans, (Danish) bleu cheese salad (with tomatoes and red onion). Here is a picture of the main course, as served by Outback Steakhouse.

… to be seeing a friend I haven’t seen for years

… that there are no personal injuries involved when computers (and networks) go down!! I’m so glad that it is merely annoying…

… the veterans who have defended my freedom!! Thank You!!

… the people who love me and pray for me

… my brother and sister in law and all their extended famiy, who welcome me into their hearts and homes and at their Holiday tables

… my temporary home within a family member’s home. It has been a great convenience living so close to work during my last 2 years working at this job. (I’m losing my job on December 30.)

… Facebook, and all the friends I have found and reconnected with

… my Sunday School class, and the wonderful friends I have made there over the past 25 years!! I’m am thankful for each and every one of you. It is an honor to worship with you and share the journey!!

… MY MOTORCYCLE (a Suzuki Burgman 400 Scooter)

I love being a biker.

It’s so cool riding around all the cars in the driveway

Right into the garage

… Suze Orman’s MyFICO Score Kit. I’m going to review my credit reports and get my financial records in order, so my credit score will be as good as possible while I’m unemployed. “A good name is to be more desired than great riches, Favor is better than silver and gold.” Proverbs. 22:1

… that Amazon has released Kindle for PC. A free program to download so I can buy and read kindle books on my laptop without buying the Kindle device for $250!!! I love e-books. And audio books. I listen to A LOT of audio books!

… the Savior who redeemed my soul, perfector of my faith, and King of Kings, Jesus

… my comforter and confidant, the Holy Spirit

… Almighty God, Creator and Owner of all things, and Giver of LIFE!

I can’t read this list without becoming thankful.
I who am suffering loss, am full. I am rich. My heart overflows with thanks and praise to the One who loves me. To the One who does mighty wonders. The One who meets our hopes and fears with Life Giving Love. The One in whose presence all mortal flesh keeps silent.

Glory to God in the highest!

Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.
~1 Chronicles 16:8-9

May God grant you a heart of wisdom!

Worship by Numbers
Ramona Denton

The beginning of men’s rebellion against God was, and is, the lack of a thankful heart.
~Francis Schaeffer

Isaiah 35:1

The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.

Desert Sunflowers carpet the desert floor near Salisbury Pass
after a winter of record-breaking rainfall.
April 2005, Death Valley, California.

The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years, during which an entire generation of God’s chosen people were laid low because of unbelief. But even as they sojourned in the wilderness, God provided supernatural food for them.

In the desert Jesus was tempted, yet that’s where He often went to pray. There He defeated the devil. In the wilderness He met God.

~ : o : ~

The scriptures are rich with imagery of the desert and the wilderness. The desert is a place of both lack and of provision. A place of death, and a place of miraculous rebirth and life. Many people are not partial to the lonely places of the desert. But I am. It is one of my favorite places to pray. And to worship.

The scriptures are also rich with imagery of life coming out of death. The seed must die to become the plant. The flower must die to go to seed. And, of course the deaths of these lesser creations point to the sacrificial Death of Christ, that bought our salvation. The Death that gave us Life. Life with a capital L. Life Eternal.

~ : o : ~

I took this picture of the Desert Sunflower in Death Valley in April, 2005.

One of the things I really like about this picture is that it contains both a flower in full bloom, and one that is dying. The dying flower is in sharper focus than the blooming one. I like that the one in full bloom is a little blurry. It is like seeing our true life – the one in full boom – in a mirror dimly. Right now, our mortal eyes see our finite life more sharply. Our immortal life remains a mystery to us. The scriptures give us only glimpses of the life to come.

I even like the name of the flower. The Desert Sunflower. The sun through which God has provided earthly life becomes the Son of God who died that we might live. And, it’s not just a flower that blooms in the sun, it blooms in the desert sun. It is like the flower of the Son of Life that blooms in the place of death. I think it is sort of poetic.

So, that is some of what I was thinking when I picked this picture for my blog header for Worship by Numbers. A picture of finite life. A flower living, blooming and dying. In the desert. A shadow of God’s glory.

~ : o : ~

If you are in the wilderness… If you are in a dry place… If you are striving to find God… If you have given up ever finding Him… look no further. He is right where you are. He will make a way for you. Where there seems to be no way… Where there seems to be only death, God brings Life!

As we offer up our lives to God in worship, He works His Life in us. That is one of the great lessons of the desert. God works Life out of death.

Behold, I will do something new,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?

I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,
Rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:19

May God grant you a heart of wisdom!

Worship by Numbers
Ramona Denton

The important thing is this:
To be able at any moment
to sacrifice that which we are
for what we could become.
~ Charles DuBois

Psalm 32:1-3,5

How blessed is he
whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered!

I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”;
And You forgave the guilt of my sin.

As I have said in a previous post, I spent the first 22 years of my life oblivious to God. And it was twenty-five years ago, that I believed God, and worshipped Him for the very first time.

The Hour I First Believed

I was “born again” into faith in Jesus Christ on September 21, 1984 at the age of 22. I was at a home Bible study group in South Pasadena, California, where a seminary student led a discussion about these first few verses of Psalm 32.

I did not, at the time, really believe in sin. However, the stuff about wasting away and groaning all day long sounded all too familiar.

The part about forgiveness was the main point of the lesson. The leader explained this concept of forgiveness with various illustrations. What forgiveness means legally: being absolved from guilt. What forgiveness means financially: having your debts cancelled or paid at another’s expense. What forgiveness means personally: being accepted and loved by a person when you did nothing to deserve it.

So, if this forgiveness is the free gift of God, the leader asked, how do we get it? One of the people there answered with this verse:

And without faith it is impossible to please Him,
for he who comes to God must believe that He is,
and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
~ Hebrews 11:6

When I heard this verse, I got it. I understood. We get it by faith. I believed it. I suddenly knew what it was to do something by faith. And it made sense. I felt some kind of movement in my heart. Physical movement. It was like a click, like a key turning, unlocking my heart. That was the moment I first believed. Without faith it is impossible to please God. That night I believed. And my faith was born.

25 Years and Counting

So, yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of that hour. It is 25 years later. I have believed in Jesus, and worshipped Him as King of Kings for 9,131 days. That’s only about 13 million minutes.

If I could worship continuously, like the creatures in Revelation 4-5, and my song took one minute to sing, I would have sung it only 13 million times by now!

And that makes me wonder. What will it be like to worship Him in heaven, in His very presence, for all of eternity? I can’t get my mind around it. I do know it will never cease. And, as long as I have breath and life on this earth, I will never cease trying to worship Him more fully. I want to press in as deep and as high as wide as I can go.

And day and night they do not cease to say,
“HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY,
WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”
~ Revelation 4:8

May God grant you a heart of wisdom!

Worship by Numbers
Ramona Denton

I believe in Christianity
as I believe that the Sun has risen:
not only because I see it,
but because by it I see everything else.
~C. S. Lewis:

Daniel 3:17-18

If it be so, our God whom we serve
is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire;
and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king,
that we are not going to serve your gods
or worship the golden image that you have set up.

You probably remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego and the fiery furnace. If you haven’t read it, it is well worth the few minutes it will take to read Daniel chapter 3.

It is a story of glorious deliverance, amazing faith in God, and the boldness with which 3 young men worshipped the Most High God in a very tricky situation.

King Nebuchadnezzar had set up a golden image, and proclaimed that everybody must worship the image by bowing down before it. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego had refused. And the punishment for this refusal was to be thrown alive into a furnace of blazing fire.

If you know the story, you know that they were thrown in, and that God delivered them through the ordeal by miraculously protecting them from the fire! But before they were thrown into the furnace, they got a chance to make a bold proclamation to the king about the greatness of God, which is quoted above.

Their words reveal their hearts of worship. They knew that God could deliver them. They just didn’t know if He would or not. Like all of us, they had to make their choice about whom they would worship before they learned the outcome of their trial by fire. Their declaration of faith still inspires us today.

When we face overwhelming situations in our lives, we often see the situation or the pain as the biggest thing in the picture. But remember this: just because the problem is bigger than you are, doesn’t mean it is bigger than God is! Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego saw something in the fiery furnace beyond the flames and the threat of pain and death. They saw their God as the most powerful force in their situation!

Perhaps the reason Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were able to see God, as fully able to deliver them, right in the midst of the fiery furnace, is because they looked for Him. From their lifelong practice of worshipping God, they loved Him more than they loved their own lives. They knew He would be there.

That is the true heart of worship. Putting God in the highest place. Over self. Over everything. No matter what. True worship is all about God.

And they overcame him
because of the blood of the Lamb
and because of the word of their testimony,
and they did not love their life even to death.
-Revelation 12:11

May God grant you a heart of wisdom!

Worship by Numbers
Ramona Denton

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting.
It has been found difficult and left untried.
-G.K. Chesterton

Psalm 40:5

Many, O LORD my God,
are the wonders which Thou hast done,
And Thy thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with Thee;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They would be too numerous to count.
Psalm 40:5

When was the last time you considered the many wonders God has done? He lists a few of them in the last few chapters of Job, as He is addressing Job out of the whirlwind.

When I read passages like these, I am always amazed. As a citizen of the 21st century, I think of the boundaries of the sea as a topic of modern scientific research. The laws of physics govern the tides and the phases of the moon, right? The boundaries of the sea are finite, right?

It is not that I think that science and God are in opposition. God created all things, how could the observation of those things be in opposition to their creator? They cannot. When they seem to be in opposition, it just means that we finite human beings have not yet learned something that God has known from the beginning. Though, some scientists are in opposition to God. But, that’s another thing altogether.

What I mean is, that I sometimes think of science first. And then, I remember God’s part in it. When, actually, God comes first in all things. Humans and science came later. So, when I read the whirlwind discourses, I am reminded that it was God who created the finite laws of physics, and I stop and ponder His laws and His creation.

I think about His greatness and the glory of His creation. The poetry of the discourse does something to my heart that makes me consider what other wonders God has done. “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” It makes me want to worship Him who does wonders. It makes me want to sing and shout and jump.

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
… When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy
Job 38:7

Even then He was being worshipped. These sons of God were there when He laid the foundations of the earth, singing together and shouting for joy. When was the last time you shouted for joy?

For me, it was a couple of months ago. I was rejoicing because my best friend had gotten the good news that her CT Scan results showed that she was cancer free. I shouted for joy with tears in my eyes. I really yelped. I might have scared the neighbors. And I praised Almighty God, who healed her!

I counted the number of times “wonders of God” is in the Bible: only once. When I changed my search term to “wonders” I got 66 hits. But I could never count His actual wonders. As the Psalm says, they are too numerous to count.

The wonders I found in the Bible are mostly earthly wonders, finite wonders. We do get glimpses of His infinite wonders, but they are vague:

How great are His signs,
And how mighty are His wonders!
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And His dominion is from generation to generation.
Daniel 4:3

When I read about the earthly wonders of God, especially in the more poetical texts, I just can’t help but wonder what His eternal, infinite wonders are going to be like. I often think I can imagine some pretty great things. But, apparently, His eternal wonders are so great that it has not entered into the heart of any man who ever lived how great they are going to be. We get a few glimpses in the last few chapters of Revelation, like this one:

… and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes;
and there shall no longer be any death;
there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain;
the first things have passed away.
Revelation 21:4

Now that is worth shouting about!!

Listen to this, O Job,
Stand and consider the wonders of God.
Job 37:14

May God grant you a heart of wisdom!

Worship by Numbers
Ramona Denton

A man can no more diminish God’s glory
by refusing to worship Him
than a lunatic can put out the sun
by scribbling the word, ‘darkness’
on the walls of his cell.
-C.S. Lewis

Revelation 12:12

Woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has come down to you,
having great wrath,
knowing that he has only a short time.

In the scenario in Revelation 12, the devil is angry when he comes to earth because he knows his time is short. In other words: he has a finite, limited amount of time to seek our harm! Being an eternal, angelic (though fallen) being himself, he has a bigger perspective on time than we who are earthbound. He is angry because his time is so short.

My guess is that he has optimized his plans to do the most evil possible per capita. He sees a finite number of humans, on a finite planet, which will exist for a finite number of milenia. Each human soul lives on earth for a finite number of years before he/she leaves the devil forever, or joins him in hell.

I am guessing that the devil doesn’t waste time having democratic elections. He probably just gives executive orders so he can get things done faster. Would he let even one opportunity pass him by without exploiting it to his full advantage? Probably not!

Humans are practically the opposite. Take me, for example. If I was looking at my life from the outside, I would come to the conclusion that this human called Ramona wastes as much time as possible. She likes to relax more than she likes to work. She likes things that are easy and pleasant far more than harsh, painful things. She makes a daily effort to live a happy, pleasant life. I could go on, but you get the idea…

Each of us has, on average, about 70 years (or 25,000 days), to do whatever we are going to do in this life. That’s only 600,000 hours. If I sleep for 8 hours each night, work for 40 hours per week for 40 years, and spend 1.5 hours per day eating and eliminating, I would spend 320,700 hours of my life working on these basic survival activities. That leaves 279,300 hours left to do everything else I do in this life.

There are 3,640 weeks in 70 years, so I could go to only 3,640 Sunday morning worship services in my lifetime, which (at 90 minutes each) would add up to 5,460 hours participating in liturgical worship. If I also went to a midweek church/home meeting, I would be spending an additional 5,460 hours in worship, prayer, study and fellowship: that’s a life total of 10,920 hours. There’s that 10,000 number again!

It takes a whole human lifetime of worshipping for 3 hours per week to worship the Lord for just 10,000 hours. Indeed, our time is short!

And this leaves us with about 268,380 hours that are still unaccounted for. If we live for a total of 600,000 hours, this leaves us a lifetime average of only about 11 hours per day to do everything else we want to do.

How do you spend it? Do you have a daily “quiet time”? Cook your meals? Play with your children? Listen to music? Watch TV? Read literature? Shop til you drop? Volunteer at a local hospital? Minister to the poor? Fight world hunger? Evangelize the lost? Study God’s Word? Sing His praises? Write a blog??

It is your choice.

If the devil comes down to earth with great wrath because he knows his time is short, how much more should we, who are created in God’s image, turn our whole hearts toward worshipping Him during our brief 600,000 hours under the sun?

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
“Now the salvation, and the power,
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of His Christ have come,
for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down,
he who accuses them before our God day and night.”
Revelation 12:10

The devil has been thrown down!
May God grant you a heart of wisdom!

Worship by Numbers
Ramona Denton

I’ll be out of town this weekend, so I won’t get a chance to moderate any comments until Monday evening. Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

Life is ours to be spent, not to be saved.
- D. H. Lawrence