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highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity,
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Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for THERE IS
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Bishop Soc Villegas
25 July 2007
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LESSONS OF JOB
(Part 41)
THE AWESOME GOD OF THE COVENANT
December 24, 2009
Today’s reading is taken
from Psalm 89, which is a lament over God’s promise to David. The
psalm is very instructive as to the God who entered into covenant with
us, just as He did with David.
First, there is the affirmation of the awesomeness of God, that there
truly is none like Him. “Who in the skies ranks with the Lord? Who is
like the Lord among the gods? A God dreaded in the council of the holy
ones, greater and more awesome than all who sit there! Lord, God of
hosts, who is like you?” (v.7-9a).
God is the Creator. The psalmist affirms: “you founded the world and
everything in it.” (v.12b). Thus everything belongs to Him. “Yours
are the heavens, yours the earth” (v.12a).
As Creator-God, He is all-powerful. “Mighty your arm, strong your
hand, your right hand is ever exalted.” (v.14). He controls
everything, even the destructive floods of Ondoy and the tsunamis.
“You rule the raging sea; you still its swelling waves.” (v.10).
Awesome as He is, God reveals Himself as just and righteous.
“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne”
(v.14,RSV).[1] God rules as King of all kings, but the
foundation of His rule is justice and righteousness.
As just and righteous King, God becomes our strength and shield. “You
are their majestic strength; by your favor our horn[2] is
exalted. Truly the Lord is our shield, the Holy One of Israel, our
King!” (v.18-19). God is there to care for us and to protect us. He
favors the weak and the lowly, giving them strength. He looks to the
vulnerable and oppressed, protecting them with His shield.
Why does God do this? It is because He has entered into covenant with
His people.[3] God’s covenant is one of love and loyalty.
God’s “love and loyalty march before you.” (v.15b). God loves us
and will stand by us. God cares for us and will provide for all our
needs. Now unlike human agreements that are often broken, God, being the
eternal King, has made an enduring covenant. “My love is established
forever; my loyalty will stand as long as the heavens.” (v.3).
What an awesome blessing covenant is! What is our part? Our part is to
obey. It is to not veer away from God’s will and commands. Thus can we
continue to reap the fruit of His love and loyalty.
But what if we veer away? That is when we will be severely punished.
“If his[4] descendants forsake my law, do not follow my
decrees, if they fail to observe my statutes, do not keep my
commandments, I will punish their crime with a rod and their guilt with
lashes.” (v.31-33). If we do not respond also in love and loyalty, if
we turn away from God, then He will afflict us with the rod and with
lashes.[5] This actually is a manifestation of His love for
us, as He desires for us to stop our infidelities and turn back to Him.
Even as we turn away from Him, God is still loyal to us.
When we turn back to Him, God assures us that He will restore. He will
restore us in His love and in our covenant with Him. “But I will not
take my love from him, nor will I betray my bond of loyalty. I will not
violate my covenant; the promise of my lips I will not alter.”
(v.34-35).
What a wonderful God we have! Faithful and loving, patient and
forgiving. Unfortunately we often take God for granted. When our life is
going well, we neglect our covenant, and even veer away. Oftentimes it
is only through suffering that we begin to truly see how fragile our
lives are and how so very dependent we are on God. It is often in our
affliction that we begin to truly see God in the fullness of His
majestic splendor and beauty.
Job was a good and upright man, but He did not truly understand the
Almighty God. Like many, he did good, and he expected blessings to be
his natural reward. It was only when God turned his world upside down
that he began to question, to search, to grapple. In the end, Job was
just confronted with the grandeur and majesty of God. That was enough.
Though he still could not know the mysterious workings of God, now he
had entered into a deeper relationship with Him (Job 42:3,5). Now Job
knew God better, and he was content.
We too will find our happiness in knowing God for the awesome Almighty
that He is, and in knowing our proper relationship with Him, that of
covenant. “Happy the people who know you, Lord” (v.16a). As we know
God, as He teaches us His commands, then we simply obey, knowing that to
obey is for our own good. This too is the way we find our happiness.
“Happy the people .... who walk in the radiance of your face.”
(v.16b).
Because God is the Almighty who is just and righteous, loving and loyal,
our strength and our shield, our lives ought to be filled with joy. We
can live victorious lives. “In your name they sing joyfully all the
day; at your victory they raise the festal shout.” (v.17).
Because God is the God of our covenant, we obey Him and keep on the
right path. This path is the path of holiness. We are to be holy as God
is holy. We are to be part of “the assembly of the holy ones”
(v.6b).
Because God is the awesome and all-powerful Creator and King, we are to
give Him worship and praise. When we do, we join with all of His
creation, with the heavens and all the angels and saints. “The heavens
praise your marvels, Lord, your loyalty in the assembly of the holy
ones.” (v.6).
We worship the Almighty God on earth, and this is the way we prepare for
all eternity in heaven.
[1]
Verse 15 in NAB.
[2] A symbol of strength.
[3] Israel then, and now with us.
[4] David. We too are his descendants.
[5] Including destructive floods and other natural
calamities.
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