NetWord #6

Praise Him

By Michael Day

In Luke chapter 2, verses 8-14, the scene is simple. There's a group of outcasts, some people who live a very tough life, out working the midnight shift. Their job keeps them isolated a lot of the time from other people. They live outside, under the open sky. They're sort of like wildlife baby sitters. They're known as shepherds. They're not the most educated, wealthy, sophisticated people around. They may not even "go to church." Nevertheless, there they are, tending to their sheep.

Then all of a sudden an angel appears before them "and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid." At this point, these guys have a GREAT story that in this century, they could make a living doing the talk show circuit. They've had an "encounter".

The angel of the Lord tells them about a Savior who was born that day. Then "suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God and saying: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men!'"

Now that's curious. This angel and these heavenly host, they must have known God's glory first hand. They'd seen this whole world history thing take place. They were in His presence all the time and yet, they all had to give praise to God at this announcement. It looks to me like these heavenly host had never gotten used to God's glory. They'd ALWAYS been with Him and yet they had not gotten over Him. And on top of that, this nativity thing was an ENORMOUS, INCREDIBLE BIG DEAL - even to a bunch of beings that would not even get the benefit from it all. WOW !!!!

Here's my only question for you: Have you gotten used to God's glory ? Has His incarnation lost its splendor ? You've experienced Him. You've seen Him do incredible things, miracles even. But have you gotten used to His majesty ? Or have you just not thought about it today ?? Why don't you just sit back for a while and REALLY ponder His fabulous glory and then........ PRAISE HIM !!!

md