Mercy and truth go before Your face.
Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound
They walk, O Lord in the light of Your countenance.
In Your name they rejoice all day long,
And in Your righteousness they are exalted.
Psalm 89:14-16 NKJV
These verses struck me today.
We are often painfully aware that there is much that is not right or just in our world - including for the ones we love.
Lets look at these verses again with some of the Hebrew words highlighted:
Righteousness and justice (mish-pawt – a verdict)
are the foundation of Your throne;
Mercy (kheh'-sed – kindness, goodness) and
truth (eh-meth – stability, trustworthiness) go before Your face.
Blessed (eh'-sher – happy!) are the people who know the
joyful sound (ter-oo-aw'- like trumpets sounding)!
They walk, O Lord (Yahweh), in the light of Your countenance.
In Your name they rejoice all day long,
And in Your righteousness they are exalted.
I believe that these verses are about the joy of knowing God as the loving and righteous Judge – and being able to go Him to render a “mish-pawt” – a verdict on our behalf. Indeed, I can imagine the sounds of the trumpets – the “ter-oo-aw” as God’s verdict is proclaimed! It is our joy to live in the light of His face – His countenance. Face to face – not far away!
I further believe that because of Jesus, we as His Church, being led by His Spirit, living as His sons and daughters – have full access to His throne to ask for “it to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven”. So, go with both reverence and confidence into the Court of Heaven and ask for justice in the Earth realm.
The spiritual realm is complex. Besides angels and demons, there are powerful spiritual beings that were originally given various kinds of authority by God. Paul the Apostle describes them as “powers and principalities”. Many of these beings are not following their Yahweh-given charter; but have become “spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places” (Eph 6:12) – overseeing evil influences on the Earth. Through Jesus, we as the church have been given the grace to reveal the manifold wisdom of God to these spiritual beings:
Ephesians 3:9-12 (NKJV)
9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; 10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.
For some issues, the Holy Spirit will call a larger group of us together to petition God for His righteousness and justice to be accomplished on Earth as it is in Heaven. For example, it took many people to pray for me over a period of several weeks so my life would be saved from a deadly illness during June-July of 2011. In April 2012, Mario Murillo prophetically spoke that “the devil himself” tried to kill me. The one known as “the devil” - is also called “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2). I needed the Great Judge to render a verdict for me and against the actions of this principality. Thank you Abba! And thank you my sisters and brothers! As another example, many of us have been asking for God’s verdict to shift the atmospheric high-pressure ridge over the Pacific – and bring the abundant snow and rain that our land needs….
For other issues, it is sufficient for us to go individually or with a brother or sister into the Court Room and ask Papa Abba Yahweh to judge on our behalf or on behalf of others. A single man – Elijah prayed fervently - and rain returned after 3 ½ years (James 5:17-18). Sometimes God’s verdict is immediately carried out. And sometimes the effects of the verdict take quite a while to be seen. Sometimes what we ask for is not aligned with Papa Abba Yahweh’s life-giving wisdom (see James 3:17 – 4:3). In His love, He will not fulfill those requests. As we grow together to be mature in love - like Jesus; more and more of our petitions can be granted.
There is great joy and exaltation when we live “face to face” with the One who is loving-kindness and stability for us – and see Him render verdicts on our behalf - so that it is done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Russ Fochler
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