When I was a little girl, I would often read a Psalms before I went to bed. I had a Sunday School teacher who told our Jr. High Girls class that this was a great way to close out the day. I have to say at even a young age, they did truly speak to me. I felt comforted and safe. I still love to read from the Psalms, and still feel safe after reading many of the verses.
As I said in Monday's post, I have always been a KJV reader. This is what was used by my family, my pastor, and my Sunday School teachers. Recently I was reminded at how that can be hard for such a little one to understand. As I was reading Ps. 68:35 I had a flashback of being a young girl reading this verse and many other verses in the Psalms over and over and over again. I knew my eyes had to be reading it wrong, or I was just missing some hidden meaning. It says, "O God, thou are terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Isreal is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God." What a wonderful verse. He gives us strength and power! But, how could the same author who tells us this call Him "terrible". There were several places in Psalms that used that word seemingly describing our God. How?
This same thing is found in Duet. 7:21, "Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible." The Isrealites were told not to fear because God was with them and protecting them from their enemies. He is "mighty"! But, "terrible"?????
This word "terrible" is used many times throughout the Bible to describe God. But, how could anyone describe Him as terrible. When I was older I did receive a Bible that had little numbers beside some words in the verses. You could then look in the middle column and find the meaning of that word. I realized when I was about 15 that it meant "awesome". Wow, what a cool word for a teenager to use to describe God. He is TOTALLY AWESOME. In the dictionary, terrible had many definitions such as "extremely bad, repulsive, extreme terror." But there is one that is also not used "formidable in nature: meaning awesome".
Verse for Today
"Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations." Duet 7:9
Our God is God! The Only God! The Faithful God!
He shows us mercy and grace! He loves us no matter what! He is Everything!
He is simply awesome!
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