November 2003 chaplain's corner
The Chaplain's Corner is a monthly message for chaplains.
Chaplain's Corner - November, 2003
Rev. Rich Hines
This message is primarily for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ as
their own Lord and Savior, and are serving as correctional or rescue mission
chaplains within the United States
This month, due to a backlog in our Production Department caused by so many
doing so much to try to get the Children's Bible done (3rd grade reading
level), we do not have access to the recording studio, where I do the recording
of the spoken message. Although the web site says you can "Listen In Real Audio," that will not be true for this month's
message, which now follows.
November is the month we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. This holiday gives
you chaplains an excellent opportunity to proclaim the excellencies
of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light! It's our prayer
that you would proclaim Him to inmates and staff alike in the correctional
facility and to guests and residents at the mission.
In Scripture, the idea of giving thanks, and of offering praise and worship to
our most wonderful Lord are linked together. A good example of this is Psalm
103.
A Psalm of David
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies.
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like
the eagle's.
6 The LORD executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of
8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and
abounding in mercy.
9 He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to
our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward
those who fear Him;
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our
transgressions from us.
13 As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him.
14 For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he
flourishes.
16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and
its place remembers it no more.
17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who
fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children,
18 To such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to
do them.
19 The LORD has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.
20 Bless the LORD, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word,
heeding the voice of His word.
21 Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His
pleasure.
22 Bless the LORD, all His works, in all places of His dominion. Bless the
LORD, O my soul!
Though this Psalm never uses the word "thanksgiving" or "give
thanks," the motive for giving thankful praise to the LORD is the heart
and purpose of this Psalm. Seven times (three times at the beginning, in verses
1,2 and four times at the end, in verses 20-22) the
command to "BLESS THE LORD" occurs.
The verb "bless" in this Psalm means to worship and adore, to bow
down to, to bend the knee to. This word also contains the concept of speaking
out to Him. Connected to this command in verse 2, is another command that calls
the heart to "FORGET NOT ALL HIS BENEFITS."
Put in the positive, that means to remember every good thing He has done for
you. The Psalm then in verses 3-19 proceeds to remind the reader (or the
singer) of many of those very "benefits" from the LORD, so that they
might indeed worship Him more intensely, with a greater sense of gratitude for
all He has done.
Inmates need to hear and ponder these "benefits" because their
culture is extremely self-centered. They need to center their thoughts on the
true and living God, even Jesus Christ the Son. I have CAPITALIZED words and
phrases in the Psalm that focus us on our Lord's attributes and beneficial
deeds towards His covenant people, the true believers in Christ.
A Psalm of David
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless HIS HOLY NAME!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not ALL HIS BENEFITS:
3 Who FORGIVES all your iniquities, who HEALS ALL YOUR DISEASES,
4 Who REDEEMS your life from destruction, who crowns you with LOVINGKINDNESS
and TENDER MERCIES.
5 Who SATISFIES YOUR MOUTH WITH GOOD THINGS, SO THAT YOUR YOUTH IS RENEWED like
the eagle's.
6 The LORD executes RIGHTEOUSNESS and JUSTICE for all who are oppressed.
7 He MADE KNOWN HIS WAYS to Moses, His acts to the children of
8 The LORD is MERCIFUL and GRACIOUS, SLOW TO ANGER and ABOUNDING IN MERCY.
9 He will NOT ALWAYS STRIVE WITH US, NOR WILL HE KEEP HIS ANGER FOREVER.
10 He HAS NOT DEALT WITH US ACCORDING TO OUR SINS, nor punished us according to
our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so GREAT IS HIS MERCY toward
those who fear Him;
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has HE REMOVED OUR
TRANSGRESSIONS FROM US.
13 As a father pities his children, so THE LORD PITIES those who fear Him.
14 For HE KNOWS our frame; HE REMEMBERS that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he
flourishes.
16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and
its place remembers it no more.
17 But the MERCY OF THE LORD is from EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING on those who
fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children,
18 To such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember HIS COMMANDMENTS to
do them.
19 The LORD HAS ESTABLISHED HIS THRONE IN HEAVEN, and HIS KINGDOM RULES OVER
ALL.
20 Bless the LORD, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word,
heeding the voice of His word.
21 Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His
pleasure.
22 Bless the LORD, ALL HIS WORKS, in all places of HIS DOMINION. Bless the
LORD, O my soul!
In VERSE 1, we are reminded He is Eternal, He is sovereign, He
is Creator and Covenant Maker. This is all in the word "LORD," which
signifies the Hebrew tetragrammaton,
"YHWH." In the same verse we see He is holy. In VERSE 2, the fact
that He has benefitted us makes the case that He is
good. VERSE 3 points to His forgiveness of our sins and His will to sustain us
through illness. Eventually all disease and death will be "healed" in
the new perfect body He will give each of His blood-bought children.
VERSE 4 points out He is the Redeemer as well as loving and merciful. The most
repeated attribute of God in Psalm 103 is His MERCY. Note it in verse 4, 8
(twice), 10, 11, and 17. God's mercy is His not giving us what we deserve. You
chaplains need to stress this to the inmates.
Ps.103:10 says, "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor
punished us according to our iniquities." Any inmate who has truly been
saved knows for sure they have been punished less than their sins deserve. Show
them Ezra 9:13, where the scribe says "You our God have punished us LESS
than our iniquities deserve." By contrast those inmates who are still
centered on self are usually constantly complaining about getting a bad deal
and about how they didn't deserve the sentence they received.
VERSE 5 stresses God's goodness and His work as Sustainer. Though inmates tend
to complain about mainline chow, they ought rather to thank the Lord for it!
Then VERSE 6 stresses His righteousness and justice.
VERSE 7 says He made Himself known to Moses. This reminds us that the true God
is Self-Revealing. The greatest revelation of Himself to us is in Jesus Christ.
John 1:18 says, "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God,
who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." Hebrews 1:1-3
says, "God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to
the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son,
... who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His
person..." The real God isn't playing hide and seek with men, He reveals
Himself to them, most perfectly in Jesus Christ.
VERSE 8 also states that He is gracious. That's the flip side of merciful. Grace
is when He gives us what we don't deserve. Then, it can be stressed form VERSE
9, that He is patient with us sinners. VERSES 10-12 stress His merciful saving
work and VERSE 13 stresses His compassion. We should also be thankful and
praise Him because as VERSE 14 suggests, He is omniscient, knowing everything.
Man is brief, but the true God is eternal and so is His mercy. That's the
emphasis of VERSES 15-17. The fact that He gives commandments in VERSE 18
suggests what VERSE 19 clearly states: that He is Sovereign, King over all, in
control of everything. Even in the final VERSES (20-22) with the command to
bless Him repeated four more times, His sovereignty, and the fact that He is
creator, and active in the affairs of His creation, are hinted at.
What a wonderful section of God's word. It lifts us up to praise and thank God
for who He truly is. This Thanksgiving Holiday why not
challenge professing believers to obey the command to BLESS THE LORD by making
their own thanksgiving statements. You could suggest they work on an acrostic
through the English alphabet and come up with a Christians Thanksgiving
Alphabet from the Bible. An example of what I mean is given below.
Jesus, Our God is:
ALMIGHTY - Revelation 19:6
BEAUTIFUL beyond imagination - Ezekiel 1:26-28, Revelation 1:12-18
CREATOR and COMPASSIONATE - Ps.103:22 see also Genesis 1:1, John 1:1-3 and
Colossians 1:16 compassionate - Psalm 103:13
DELIVERER from sin, Savior - Ps.103:12 and see Matthew 1:22
ETERNAL, with no beginning or end - the word LORD includes this concept and see
Ps.103:17, John 8:58
FAITHFUL and FORGIVING - Numbers 23:19, see also Heb.11:11 and Rev.3:14, 19:11
forgiving - Ps.103:3,12
GOOD and GRACIOUS - Ps.103:2,4,5,8
HOLY, HOLY, HOLY (set apart by moral perfection) Ps.103:1 and see Isa.6:3
IMMENSE, beyond infinity yet INTIMATELY INVOLVED with His creation -
Jer.23:23,24
JUST and fair, will JUDGE rightly - Psalm 103:6, Psalm 96:10 with Acts 17:31
KING over everything - sovereign in control and KNOWS everything - in the word
LORD, Ps. 18,19,22 and Ps.103:14
LOVE - Ps.103:4 see also 1 John 4:8
MERCY - Ps.103:8,17 and Ps.103:13
NEVER TIRED, (He cannot be depleted in strength after exerting Himself) -
Isaiah 40:28, Heb.
OMNIPRESENT, always present everywhere (by His Spirit) - Psalm 139:7-12
PATIENT, longsuffering with us - Ps.103:8,9
the QUENCHER of our spiritual thirst - John 4:13,14 and John 7:37,38
RIGHTEOUS and REDEEMER (the One who pays to set us free from sin)- and
Ps.103:4,6
SELF-REVEALING and the only SUSTAINER - Ps.103:7 and Ps.103:3,5
TRUTH, ultimate reality - John 14:6
UNCHANGING, always the same - Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8 and James 1:17
VICTORIOUS over His enemies, over sin and death - 1 Cor.
15:26,55-57
WEALTHY - Psalm 24:1, Philippians 4:19
the X-RAYer of hearts - John 2:24,25 and Hebrews
4:12,13
One who YEARNS for our fellowship - Luke 19:10
One who ZEROS in on the smallest details in our life - Matthew 10:29-31
Doing an exercise like this will cause any true believer to overwhelmed with
wonder, praise and thanksgiving to their matchless Lord. This is especially so
when a person camps on any one attribute or deed of God, and really starts to
think deeply about what it means in their life and future.
Together with Psalm 103 you may want to point them to Psalm 30:4 -
"Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, and give thanks at the
remembrance of His holy name."
God's name is the sum of all His attributes.
Yet another praise and thanks producing exercise is to
exegete the biblical support for phrases in great spiritual songs and hymns.
Using a spiritual song, below is an example of what I mean: Remind believing
inmates that in Christ:
We are heirs of the Father (Galatians 4:7)
We are joint-heirs with the Son (Romans 8:14-17)
We are children of the kingdom (Colossians 1:12,13)
We are family, we are one (Acts 4:32; Acts 8:17; Acts 20:36-38; 1
Corinthians12; Ephesians 4:4-6)
We are washed, we are sanctified (Acts 3:19,26; Acts 26:15-18; 1 Corinthians
6:11)
We are cleansed by the blood (Romans 3:25; 1 Peter 1:18)
We are born of the Spirit (Acts 16:14; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Titus 3:3-7; 1 John
3:24 and 4:13)
We are children of the Lord (Romans 9:26)
We are called, we are chosen (Acts 2:39; Ephesians 1:3,4)
We are saints of the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:2)
We are ransomed from destruction (1 Thessalonians 5:2-5)
We are reconciled, we're restored (2 Corinthians 5:18-20; Colossians 1:20-22)
We are members of His body (Ephesians1:22,23; Colossians 1:24)
We are objects of His love (1 John 3:1,2 and 4:9,10)
We're partakers of His holiness (1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 7:1; and 2
Peter 1:4)
We are citizens of heaven above (Ephesians 2:6 and 19; Philippians 3:20,21)
We shall reign with Him forever (2 Peter 1:11; Revelation 22:1-5)
Men and angels shout and sing (Revelation 5:5-14 and 11:15-18)
All dominion shall be given
To the family of the King (Matthew 5:3-12)
("WE ARE FAMILY" by Jimmy and Carol Owens, copyright 1975)
Some great hymns to challenge the inmates or residents to work through the same
way would be "Great Is Thy Faithfulness"or
"Praise To The Lord, The Almighty," and "To God Be The
Glory."
"Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy
name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits" (Psalm
103:1,2) May we truly obey this command and the one in Hebrews 13:15 that calls
us to "continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the
fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name."
Bless the Lord this Thanksgiving Holiday and teach others to do the same!
Rich Hines
Minister To Chaplains -