A Margin Meditation on Psalm 106

[Margin Meditations are things I wrote in the margins of my bible as I journeyed through it from cover-to-cover intentioning to glean something from every page.]

 "Intercession of a faithful few can turn away the wrath of God for the faithless many."

Followers of Jesus, do you believe this is true? There are examples of it ALL over the Bible.

Prayer is not necessarily intercession. It is not difficult to pray for someone or something; prayer is as simple as communing with God.

Intercession is a different sort of thing. We see in Psalm 106 that Moses “stood in the breach before [God] to turn away His wrath from destroying [Israel]” A breach is defined as “a break in a wall made by battering.” To stand in the breach would be to face great danger that the wall protected from, and it would require great courage.

We also see in verse 30 that Phinehas “stood up and intervened” to end a plague that Israel was experiencing because of their idolatry. To intervene means “to come between so as to prevent or alter a result or course of events.” Phinehas placed himself between righteous, angry God and his dying people and changed the course of the plague.

Who were these men to stand between God and the people who had continually and repetitively sinned and rebelled against Him? I will tell you my thoughts…They were men who knew the character and nature of God, who believed that His default is love, not anger. God’s wrath is a responsive attribute, it is provoked and poured out in precise measure to the sin and evil that caused it to arise. But does He take pleasure in administering it? No! However, He does take great pleasure in our turning back to Him. And intercession can stop His wrath as it appeals to the great mercy of His loving nature.

As you watch the year unfold, I want you to remember this meditation. Instead of wrath this year—because of intercession—we get severe mercy; what is going to happen is for the purpose of turning hearts back to the Lord.

And here is one other little gem I found in Revelation relating to this meditation: Unlike His love, grace, power or so many of His other attributes, the Lord’s wrath will end (Rev 15:1), because one day sin will end.

But until that day, may our lives reflect that we truly believe that “the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16b)

The Saints on the Battlefield

I wanted to share with you a vision the Lord gave me several months ago, I wasn't sure what to do with it at the time, but feel like it is time to share. 

I was reading in Psalm 102 where the Psalmist speaks of Zion (the dwelling place of God), just going through my reading in the usual way, when I read a verse and suddenly found myself bawling—tears streaming out of my eyes. I was startled, and reread what I had just passed: Verse 14 says “For Your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust.”

Suddenly I found myself standing on a huge battlefield, it stretched endlessly for as far as the eye could see in every direction. It was covered in rolling hills (similar to the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), and sprinkled across these hills were saints (anyone washed by the blood of the Lamb). Every single one of them was holding in their arms a gigantic boulder; a rock so heavy it required all their strength and left no room in their hands for any other weapons. They were standing, looking out across the battlefield, which was covered with piles of rubble, and they were weeping. Not just “crying,” but weeping with the desperation and sorrow of ones who had just watched their loved ones be completely destroyed.

The battlefield was the Church. And the saints who remained standing at the end of the war were the ones who had not set down the boulders in their arms; the stones of Truth revealed to us in the Word of God. The piles of rubble were the fallen saints who had compromised and disregarded the Truth of the Bible.

Followers of Jesus, to survive the battle that is coming, you will only remain standing if you are rooted deeply in the Truth of the Word of God. You must consider the foundational truths found in the Bible of Who God is, what He is like, what He says is right and wrong to be dear…so dear that you are unwilling to lay them down for any reason to appease any person, including, for the ease of your own life, yourself. You must also remember who your enemies truly are (not each other or other people) and fight this spiritual battle not with physical weapons, but with prayer.

"The spring of him who called"

This song was inspired by a story found in Judges 15. Samson had just been given a miraculous, though strenuous, victory and he was very thirsty. And he called out to God, and the Lord opened up for him a spring--a well--of water for him to drink. There he drank and was revived and satisfied, and the name of this well was En-hakkore: The spring of him who called. 

I love that. I love that we have an abundant, lavish God who waits with compassion and eagerness to pour out His overflow at the sound of our voice. May your voice lift up to our Jehovah, and may He open for you wells from which to draw that meet the deepest needs of your deepest depths.

A Spring for the One who Calls
©1-12-21 Hannah McLean

Near quiet waters
You walk with me
though raging rivers
I see
Your gentle hand
keeps my heart at rest
though mighty
the testing may be

Your ears
they hear my cry to You
Your eyes
they see my plight
There are fountains for valleys
and wells for the one
who cries out
to the Lord of Life

There’s peace when the heart
has been shattered and torn
Hope when the
desolate longs
There’s joy for the soul
who can see no light
For the outcast
a place to belong

For His ears
they hear our cry to Him
His eyes
they see our plight
He has fountains for valleys
and wells for the ones
who cry out
to the Lord of Life

The bended knee
will be lifted up
The burdened back
be made straight
Innocence lost know
the years restored
Justice for the one who
must wait

For His ears
have heard our cry to Him
His eyes
have seen our plight
He has fountains for valleys
and wells for the ones
who cry out
to the Lord of Life

burn away the dross

 a purified cry
©12-14-2020 hannah mclean

oh to lock eyes
with Your eyes of fire
let them burn away the dross
You see into my
heart and soul
i will not suffer loss
for the fire of
Your faithful flames
makes pure
and right and true
and all that must
be burned away
leaves me nearer, Lord, to You

my heart
it burns within me
my soul
for You it longs
my life
it reaches heavenward
my spirit
pours out song

this i know,
Faithful and True,
i will endure the ashes
for the beauty
that is drawn by You
i kneel upon the altar
as a living sacrifice
burn away the dross
that when i rise
there stands
an overflowing fountain of new life

Your diadem befits You
as my cry begins to ring
“behold the Lamb”
behind me
before me
“behold the King”

-----
Revelation 19:11–13 “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The One sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, and He has a name written that no one knows but Himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which He is called is The Word of God.”

The Chasm and the Blood of Peace

I was in prayer the other night for our country, and my heart was drawn to the painful present overview of the response to the pandemic. As I prayed, I watched the land be split in two and the space grow between the 2 pieces of ground until a vast, bottomless chasm was left. In prayer, I saw on one side of the expanse the “haves”…the rich, the powerful, adults. And on the other, the “have nots”…the poor, the weak, children. As I watched the divide grow between the people, I looked at what was tearing them apart and separating them in such a grotesque way. Huge principalities of “fear,” “greed,” “pride” and “hatred” propelled the sides outward, and a call echoed throughout the divide, “Every man for himself!”

And as I looked upon the devastation of the “have nots” with even less, and the “haves” who had gathered more, I sat and wept before the Lord.

Eventually, I quietly, humbly asked Him, “What can heal such a divide?”

And He said, “The blood is the bridge.”
And He brought to mind this verse:

Colossians 1:19-20 (21-23)
“For in [Christ] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.”

There are ones who can bridge the divide…who can walk across the chasm as if on solid ground. They are the ones redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

Why the redeemed?
Two reasons:
1) They are at peace with the LORD.

I told Nathan the other day that the least appreciated piece of the armor of God we have received in Ephesians 6 are the shoes of readiness. They way I understand these shoes is different than I’ve ever heard anyone explain them, so I will try to articulate how I see them. Ephesians 6:15 says, “and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.” The readiness given by the gospel of peace: What is this peace the gospel has given us? It has justified us before our righteous Judge; it has given us peace with the Father, through the work of Jesus so we can enter into the very presence of God, just as Adam and Eve did before the fall in the Garden of Eden. Because of the blood of Jesus, we are at peace with our Maker. Do you know how powerful a position that is? I hope you do. It’s like the apostle Paul is wrestling with in Philippians 1 where he’s setting life and death before him and stating simply, hey, both have their benefits for me, where God takes me doesn’t matter because for me, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” When we are at peace the the Lord, the demands of life, the opinions of people, and the dividing factors of fear, greed, pride and hatred lose their power over us. By the grace of God, we redeemed sinners carry with us the call to die to self and live out the love of Jesus in the world around us…come what may. Romans 16:20 says, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” OUR feet.

Which leads us nicely into the second reason:

2) The redeemed carry with them the power of the blood to make whole.

Remember in Luke 4 when Jesus stood in the synagogue and read from the scroll of Isaiah (chapter 61), He read verses 1-2a and stopped abruptly with the declaration that Him standing there that very moment was a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.

It’s one of everyone’s favorite verses to quote, but they stop too soon. So Isaiah 61:1-4 says:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
    because the Lord has anointed Me
to bring good news to the poor;
    He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, 

This is where Jesus stopped…declaring this portion was fulfilled in Him.

    and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
    to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
    the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

If you have been redeemed and raised up by the finished work of Jesus—brought from death to life—He has planted you as an oak of righteousness for His glory….and He has done it with PURPOSE!

We find that purpose in verse 4:

They shall build up the ancient ruins;
    they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
    the devastations of many generations.

At this moment, we stand in verse 4. Right now, through the Church AT THIS TIME, this verse is to be fulfilled.

We are to BUILD and RAISE UP and REPAIR. Looking out over this chasm, it is not the result of just the Pandemic…it is the result of ancient ruins and generations of devastation. We look upon the culmination of years of ruin and devastation; wickedness has taken it’s filthy hands and ripped apart the fabric of society and civility and dignity, it has celebrated the violence and violation of humanity because we are marked by the image of God, whom it detests.

The redeemed must rebuild upon the divide, because we carry the healing properties of the blood of Christ upon the white robes that cover our sin scarred bodies. Every place our feet tread should leave the mark of hope…the promise of possibility because we are the ones who KNOW the power of the blood…we’ve received the good news, our broken hearts have been bound up, we’ve been freed from the captivity of our side and released from our prison chains, we’ve been comforted, we’ve seen the Lord bring beauty from ashes, and praise from our fainting spirits…and we’ve known the utter glory and wonder of being made righteous by God Himself poured out for us.

And so, He says, Build up…raise up…repair. Because contrary to the call echoing across this charm of “every man for himself,” we do not seek self, we seek the eternal good of those around us, no matter which side of the divide they stand upon. We don’t have to bow to fear because He is with us; we don’t have to be consumed by greed when the One who provides for us has called us to pour ourselves out; we can humbly bear up under the disapproval of others because we’re at peace with the One who sees us clearly; we don’t have permission to hate because we are called to love with the greater love of Jesus that we have mercifully received.

The blood is the bridge. And if you are covered in the blood, you carry the materials for the bridge. So RISE UP, Church! Rise up and stand in the power of the God of Peace who will crush Satan under your feet.

laments upon the mountain top

 honest outpour
©11-24-2020 hannah mclean

Father
i lament
the severity of my weaknesses
the intensity of my deficits

before You i kneel
longing for Your all
expand me

expand my heart
my mind
my spirit
to receive
Your greater beauty
mercy
grace
and power

the greatness of
Your fullness
accompanies Your
mighty moves

set me in my place
for such a time as this

You have stripped me of
all desires
but to know You

my arms are splayed
before You
my heart is united
in fear and affection
my eyes locked upon You
in awe and wonder and worship

if i have only Your eyes
Your ears
Your heart
i hold within myself
the pinnacle of joy

oh Worthy One
ALL worship belongs to You
ALL praise learns its dance
before You
who both delights
and draws

i bow
my tears fall upon Your feet
and splash upon Your royal robes
 

washed by Your blood
my tears should stain
but leave instead
only the mark of gratitude

and i am overwhelmed

"yet, i will rejoice..."

Habakkuk 3:17-19 "Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls...yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer's; He makes me tread on my high places."

yet

©8-30-2020 hannah mclean

 

“...yet...”

the cry of the heart

rebelling against

the doubt

despair

desperation

of circumstances

and situations

“...yet...”

the rebellious declaration

that refuses

to follow the course

of rushing currents

but digs in its heels

and shouts

to smother pressures

of inevitability with

certainty that

there is One who

speaks the final word

“...yet...”

the word the

tramples doubt

with faith

that turns the

tables of “thoughs”

strengthening

the feeble knees

and emboldening

the drooping shoulders

with determination

“...yet...”

the battle cry

of the faithful

who has lifted

their eyes

to the One

who is not derailed

by things

seen