"Because You Are God"
Dr. Jack Klem
from a Selah Moment at Colonial Baptist Church, Aug. 24, 2008
 
The Word of God, the glorious heavenly Creator-King, the guidance of Jehovah, and the realization that the greatest thing in life is to know the Lord—these are the things that we celebrate in song.

As we sing about them does our heart embrace them?

Or, in all honestly, are we struggling because our season of life or our place in the journey of life is difficult; difficult in unspeakable ways.

Like the contemporary songwriters, the Psalmist exhorts us,

100:1 Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth!
100:2 Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy.
100:3 Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his.  We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.
100:5 For the LORD is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

In response, you may say, YES!  Or, you may say, if only I could.

The biblical writer admonishes us—know that the Lord is God, know that He made us, know that we are His people, know that we are the sheep of His pasture. 

But what do you do with this exhortation in light of your journey status and your life questions?

These exhortations force you to wrestle with the real issue of Psalm 100, who is God anyway?

And if we peal it back one more layer we are forced to deal with the issue is ownership. 

You see, because He is the Creator God who made us, He owns us.

Now this is not bad because as the Psalm records, we are more than an object of creation; we are His, we are His people, and we are His sheep.

So again I ask, what do you do with this exhortation in light of your journey status and your life questions?

It is very simple. Don’t fight it or Him.

Acknowledge that the Lord is God, press on to acknowledge the He is God in every season of life and especially in the most difficult ones.

For me, I would press on to acknowledge that the Lord is God by saying . . .

Because you are God, you have every right to do what you want with me and with our lives.  If you, O God, want to change the season of my life in any way I need to accept that.

Because you are God, I need to remember that you are good and that your love and your faithfulness endure forever.  O God, I see that divine goodness, love, and faithfulness ultimately under grids any seasonal change you bring about in my life.

Because you are God, I must express genuine thankfulness and praise to you. 

As much as I might hate a seasonal change and as much as I might not understand a seasonal change I must shout for joy, I must worship you with gladness, I must come before you with joyful songs, and I must enter into your presence with thanksgiving and praise.

O God, may it be so in this season of our lives.