Jan. 12, 2016 1 Chronicles 16:8-14

1 Chronicles 16:8-14
8 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
9 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
10 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
11 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually!
12 Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
his miracles and the judgments he uttered,
13 O offspring of Israel his servant,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones!
14 He is the Lord our God;
his judgments are in all the earth.

You know those Braveheart speeches? Those rally cries that we all love in movies?
This morning this sounded like one of those to me.

Remember that the hebrews were very ORAL in their tradition and would have read this aloud!
In fact it is known that if a priest, who was ordained JUST to read, could be fired and 'de-frocked' just for reading it poorly!

Just think about vs. 8. You can't read that without wanting to add a 'You' in front. Now that does make this come alive but in Hebrew culture again it was CORPORATE.

OH WE give thanks... etc...

Are you in community with believers that can all say this?

Read it once this morning making it personal but then read it once adding in the plurals to make it corporate!

Do you sing praise to Him?
Do you get your STRENGTH from Him?
Do you take time to remember the things that He has done that only HE could do in your life and in your communities (Oikos, family, friends, community!)

Is HE your Lord, your God?

Then look at that last verse. It seems a bit strange doesn't it.
We just heard these great things and then it says "His JUDGEMENTS?"

One meaning was to decide a case... or the process and procedure before a judge....
So all of these things (Getting our strength from Him etc) are part of HIS judgement?
The way I take that is that HE is so loving that He judges himself on how much He makes known to us His love?

Isn't that amazing?
He really LOVES US!