O Sovereign Lord

O Sovereign Lord, O Potentate of Heav'n,
O Mighty Liege from whom all life and light
Do spring and meet in blessing giv'n:

The nations rage and foam and writhe with night
To seek to thwart Your rule and overturn
Your Glory with the cunning kiss of blight.

Bend near, O Gracious Lord, for they yet burn
Within their hearts to lust and desecrate
Your laws, Your courts—Your people they do spurn.

But You are near: Your Grace to demonstrate,
Your power shown in weak and lacking souls—
The Paraclete, our Holy Advocate!

So come, O Lord, and strengthen us in whole,
Fill us with Pow'r so us You then control.

- D. Benning

Seasons of Our Time

There is a time for every lot,
  a season for each purpose beneath heaven wrought.
Each season tempered with His grace,
  encased in Love's steadfast embrace,
Though dark my sight and blind my ways,
  My God in Love traced out my days.
Foresaw, foreloved, foreknew and drew,
  and guided my ways before I knew;
Foreordained and marked with loving care,
  each step I took, each breath of air:
From puerile child, to callow youth,
  to measured man, He led in truth.

Midst trial, down aisle, o'er mile and pile,

  midst smile then guile, and all the while,

      the traces of His love upon my dial.

Through confusion, exclusion, and occlusion,

  with effusion as prolusion*—

      Divine intrusion as conclusion.

The inexorable hand of common grace

   defined my steps, kept safe my space

      and led me safe to Him.        

  And will bring me safe to Heav'n.

- D. Benning

* a preliminary action or event; a prelude.

God's Timing is the Best

Lord, Your timing is the best,
   The working of Your perfect plan
   Your dealings and works with man!

How marvelous Your perfect charity,
   How gracious Your Mercy and Your Love.
   Now seen in the symbol of Your dove.

You watch o'er us with gracious Love,
   All to work Your perfect will and desire;
   Amazing how You bring us higher!

- D. Benning

When Things Go Wrong

I was blessed recently while looking at Psalm 11 & 12.

There will always come some point when things look bad.  These psalms point to what we should do when things are going badly.  The psalmist says it's so bad that it looks like the foundations themselves are being destroy (Ps. 11:3).  If the foundations are destroy, the house falls down.  That is serious.

Yet the psalmist does not dwell on that.  He acknowledges that it is a reality but he doesn't stop there.  He goes on and says (Ps. 11:4):

•    "The Lord is in His holy temple...."  A temple implies peace and calm.  A temple also refers to heaven where THE temple stands, THE temple that was the model for the earthly temple.  Look at Heb 9:24.  But it can also refer to here on earth; His church is called His temple.  I Cor.3:16; II Cor. 6:19.  So the psalmist says that he is not going to be overly concerned with trouble because first God is in His temple and second by implication, God, the covenant Lord, is in the midst of His people, His church.  
•    "...the Lord's throne is in heaven..."  He is ruling.  He is not merely in heaven residing; rather He also actively rules.  Heaven is not awash in hustle and panic.  It is stable and ordered.  He is a God of peace, not chaos.  "The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silent!"  Hab 2:20.  See also Rev 8:1--in the midst of judgment coming upon earth in the Last Days, heaven pauses and there is complete silence for the space of a half hour.  If God is in control, and if we are truly His, then we do not have to worry or upset.  He will take care of it.  It did not slip His attention.  
•    "...His eyes behold, He tests the children of men."  The psalmist takes comfort from the fact that God sees and knows and intimately understands.  The inference is that this is knowledge that will cause God to act.  See verse 6: He will rain snares, fire and brimstone upon the wicked.  But verse 7, He looks with favor upon the righteous.  His looking is a sign of His approval and His moving to action in behalf of.  No wonder the psalmist is comforted.

Psalm 12 starts out in the first two verses with an equally dire situation: "the godly cease; the faithful fail." 

But what encourages the psalmist? 

•    Look at verse 6: "The words of the Lord."  Compare psalm 19 where the psalmist extols the beauty and wonders of God's Word.
•    Also look at verse 7: He is taking comfort in the loving, sovereign protection and Providence.  Compare I Jn. 3:1.  How GREAT is the love that God the Father has lavished on us!

  
So when troubles come we should always take comfort in God, His love for us, His Providence, His Word and in His Omniscient, Omnipotent, Sovereign ruling in every area of His creation.  He has not forgotten us.  He is moving all things for His glory and our good!