What Are We To Tell?

In a time past which we now call history, The Lord God of Heaven raised up a persecuted people who desired to serve Him only. He took from them all their pleasant things, caused them to be ridiculed, mistreated and estranged from their church, their country and even their families. When they saw no other way, they embarked on a perilous journey to seek out a new place to worship Him in freedom and peace. Many of their group died in the journey and in the establishing of a new home where the love and obedience of God Almighty was the preeminent rule of the land. Each struggle they endured, each battle they fought saw the miraculous deliverance of the One who had promised to provide and protect as they followed Him. They declared among the people what great things their God had done. They knew that without God they could do nothing. Although they did not always understand why many of the struggles came upon them, they knew He meant it for their good, always.

Through all they lived, there was one enduring truth they held to. “And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done unto all these nations because of you; for the Lord your God is He that has fought for you.” Above every victory, above every leader and godly example who came upon them and passed from the scene, this one thing was true. God had fought for them. Their heritage was that God Himself had directed them, instructed them, emboldened them and delivered them in each battle, in each victory. Theirs was a fearsome tale. They declared among the people what great things their God had done. The often repeated exploits put fear in the hearts of all who opposed them. The world was completely open before them and all who had trampled them before now trembled.

They did much good for the kingdom of God. They conquered evil in His name. They promoted faith to all nations in His name. Everywhere they went they were accepted and influential. Where they cast their net, they reaped a harvest for their labors. Soon they came to see themselves as invincible. Soon they believed that without them God could do nothing. They were now well able to go to battle in their own strength. They could choose which laws they would obey and mold them to fit their own desires. Their leaders became mighty men of renown for their own accomplishments. Yet they still told of God’s great deeds among the people even when they, in their own power, won their own victories.

As they became more self sufficient they began to tell of their own conquests. They reveled in how they had relied on Him in the past ,but now, needed nothing from him. They had become their own basis for right and wrong. They decided who should live and who should die. They took of the treasures of the world and honored Him with none of it. Their power and might was great and they shook their collective fist at the face of any who would deny them their pleasure. The trampled any who would refuse their praise. They taught their new ways as right and twisted the old right to seem archaic and evil. Their strength was in their own sin weakened hearts and selfishness proclaimed them as their own gods.

The Word of our God declares that it shall stand forever. It pronounces woes unto those who would change its right into wrong or promote evil for good. The Word of our God promises to provide light for the path of the just. It offers a certain fearful expectation for those who choose their own path contrary to the Word of God. The Word of God simply says there is blessings to all who will read and obey. If anyone will believe in the truth found within its pages, they will receive from the creator of the universe the riches of its treasures. In the Word of God is written that by them is His servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

Israel knew and understood the promises of God to protect and provide if they would follow Him. The writer of Psalm 78 says “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done”. They freely declared “The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad”. Their prophets gave wise council in knowing that the purpose of telling and retelling His victories was so “That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath made it”. Even when the day of their deliverance came upon them, Jesus said unto those He healed, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how great things the Lord has done for you, and has had compassion on you”.

If there is any place where we have ceased to love the Lord God. If there is one lacking we have today, it must surely be that we do not tell of His excellent works and His mighty deeds. We do not do so because we think and believe that we do them ourselves and have no need of Him. You and I do not make known His deeds among the people because we want to take the credit to ourselves. We want to be high and lifted up. We want to be the ones whom others believe are Holy, Holy, Holy. There is no shame in bowing before your king and laying the trophies of victories at His feet. But no king would stand for even a moment for someone to take the kings army and declare they had won the victory in their own power.

It is the command of God that we make known among the people of the world the great things which He has done for us. We are the recipients of His Grace so that we may tells others how to obtain it. We are the ones healed of sickness and disease so that we may be the announcers of the source for others to be healed of sickness and disease. We are the People of God by His choosing and His Mercy and His love. We are also the mouthpieces designed and molded to tell of the great works of our Lord which He has done among the children of men. No one else is charged with the responsibility to Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. If we do not declare it, they will not know. Those who do not know will never believe. Where is the Glory in that?