From “Light and Truth: Bible Thoughts and Themes” by Horatious Bonar

     Sometimes, I think we forget or fail to realize who God is, and just how great He is, and therein, I think, lies the root of the biggest and greatest problems we have both as a country and as human beings.  In many ways I think people tend to make God less so that that they can be less, and do more of what they want to do.  You don’t have to answer to a God or pay much attention to one who is like you and does and feels the same way as you.  How wrong we are to think that God is anything like us in any way, or that we won’t have to some day give an account of our lives.  God is in indeed great.   Let Bonar’s words remind you. 

Jehovah’s Greatness. 

“Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet.”- Act_7:48. 

“Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord: do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.”- Jer_23:23-24.

It is of the greatness of Jehovah that these words speak. It is with a great God that we have to do; as great as He is loving, and wise, and true, and holy. “Ascribe ye greatness to our God.” Creation says that God is great; sun, moon, and stars; sea and mountains; storms and earthquakes. The Law says God is great. Heaven says God is great. Hell says God is great. The Cross says God is great. The Gospel says God is great. There is nothing little about Him-His works, His words, His ways, His judgments, His mercies. All are on a mighty scale. He is a great God.

I. He is all-present. He is here, He is yonder; as much yonder as here; on the sea and the dry land; at home and abroad, the same Jehovah everywhere. We are as near Him in the road, in the market, in the shop, in the fields, in the railway carriage, in the ship, as in the closet and the church. He is omnipresent-present everywhere; present Himself truly; not representatively, but really and personally; as much in the desert as in Canaan; as much in India as in Britain. It is with an all-present God that we have to do. In Him we live and move.

II. He is all-seeing. His eye is everywhere; at all times; in all regions and places. As really as every man sees and knows himself, so really does God see and know every man. He sees into the darkest chamber, the deepest dungeon, the most secret cave; on the sea or under the sea, on the mountains or under them, is the same to that eye which is as a damning fire. Who can hide from Him?

III. He is all-filling. It is not merely that He is everywhere, and sees everything; but He fills everything, every place, heaven and earth; more fully and powerfully than light or air He fills everything. Where can we find an empty spot, a void in the universe, a place that is not filled with God? They may be empty of everything else, but they are full of Him. He is the fullness that filleth all in all.

(1.) Let us be reverent and solemn. Levity and folly cannot dwell in His presence, reverence and godly fear are what He expects. Bow reverently before Him, and speak reverently of Him; worship Him. “The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.”

(2.) Let us be humble. He is not our equal, but infinitely far above us. It becomes us to lie low. We are creatures, we are sinners; let us lie lowly. Abjure high thoughts of self. Learn our poverty and helplessness.

(3.) Let us lean on Him. He is so near, so very near; near in all His power, and greatness, and love. Let us rest on Him. His arm is ever stretched out for us to lean upon, for support, for defense, for rest. The greater He is, the more suited to be the prop of such feeble sinners. His strength suits our weakness.

(4.) Let us beware of insincerity in dealing with Him. He sees and fills everything. All things are naked and open in the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. He sees us through and through; searches us. We cannot impose on Him. Of what use is an insincere religion, a hollow profession, lip worship, with Him? What mockery is there in all such hypocrisy! Were God not so great, we might indulge in dishonest service, eye-service; but with so great a God, we must be sincere. A heathen may be a hypocrite, for his god cannot search him; but our God sees us through. Let us be sincere before Him.

(5.) Let us beware of superficial religion. A man may be superficial even when not insincere. But with a God like this, how deep, how real, should our religion be! Let our faith, our repentance, our love, be deep: let them go down to the very depths of our inner man. Let us not be deceived. God is not mocked.

(6.) Let the wicked tremble. With what a great and terrible God they have to do! This God is their Judge; He will one day arrest them; one day take vengeance on them. He is infinitely great-all-present, all-seeing, all-filling. What a God is this! Shall we not fear before Him? Shall we not tremble at the thought of being unreconciled? With such a God for our enemy, what hope have we of safety? He is a God of love, yet no less of holiness and judgment.

　

　

 

Excerpt from “What Really Ails America” By William J. Bennett

     There are things we need to realize as citizens of what has always been called the greatest country on earth.  The freedoms we enjoy have been fought for, and others have paid a price for them.  With freedom comes responsibility.  We have a responsibility to use our freedom to build, to make better, to improve, and to help and love people around us.  Our country is great because our people are great, but if our great people do not stand up for what they believe in; if they’re not willing to fight for what’s right, then our great people have ceased to be great, and our country will cease to be great.  You have a question to answer.  Will you be great?  Will you stand for what you believe in?  Will you fight for what’s right? 
     We can no longer afford to be a people who leave it to others to do what we should do ourselves.  You can make a difference.  You have the ability to touch someone with your life.  You can teach, You can inform, You can help, You can love.  You have no excuse.  Will you make the choice to be great?
     We must give voice, hands, and feet to our faith, to our beliefs, to our values every day that we live.  God does not call His people to stand aside, to lay down, to give way to evil without so much as a by your leave, and if you think He does then you had better ask yourself whether you truly know Him or not. 
     The following is an excerpt from a speech that really shows where our country is at.  A line in the sand is being drawn, and our country (Our Great Country) hangs in the balance.  Which side of that line are you going to be on?

Last year I compiled the Index of Leading Cultural Indicators, a statistical portrait of American behavioral trends of the past three decades. Among the findings: Since 1960, while the gross domestic product has nearly tripled, violent crime has increased at least 560%. Divorces have more than doubled. The percentage of children in single-parent homes had tripled. And by the end of the decade 40% of all American births and 80% of minority births will occur out of wedlock. These are not good things to get used to.

In 1940 teachers identified the top problems in America’s schools as: Talking out of turn, chewing gum, making noise and running in the hall. In 1990, teachers listed drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, suicide, rape and assault. These are not good things to get used to, either.

There is a coarseness, a callousness and a cynicism to our era. The worst of it has to do with our children. Our culture seems almost dedicated to the corruption of the young. We have become inured to the cultural rot that is setting in. People are losing their capacity for shock, disgust and outrage…

The ancients called our problem acedia, an aversion to spiritual things and an undue concern for the external and the worldly. Acedia also is the seventh capital sin–sloth–but it does not mean mere laziness. The slothful heart is stepped in the worldly and carnal, hates the spiritual and wants to be free of its demands.

When the novelist Walker Percy was asked what concerned him most about America’s future, he answered, “Probably the fear of seeing America, with all its great strength and beauty and freedom…gradually subside into decay through default and be defeated, not by the communist movement, but from within, from weariness, boredom, cynicism, greed and in the end helplessness before its great problems.”

I realize this is a tough indictment. If my diagnosis is wrong, then why, amid our economic prosperity and military security, do almost 70% of the public say we are off track? I submit that only when we turn to the right things–enduring, noble, spiritual things–will life get better.

Most important, we must return religion to its proper place. Religion provides us with moral bearings, and the solution to our chief problem of spiritual impoverishment depends on spiritual renewal. The surrendering of strong beliefs, in our private and public lives, has demoralized society.

Today, much of society ridicules and mocks those who are serious about their faith. America’s only respectable form of bigotry is bigotry against religious people. And the only reason for hatred of religion is that it forces us to confront matters many would prefer to ignore.

Today we must carry on a new struggle for the country we love. We must push hard against an age that is pushing hard against us. If we have full employment and greater economic growth–if we have cities of gold and alabaster–but our children have not learned how to walk in goodness, justice and mercy, then the American experiment, no matter how gilded, will have failed.

Do not surrender. Get mad. Get in the fight.

Excerpts from What Really Ails America, condensed from a speech by William J. Bennett, delivered December 7, 1993 at the Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C., reprinted in Reader’s Digest, April, 1994.