Lenten Devotional, Day 16: Hymn 95, Buy Bread that Can Mold, "All the Fulness of God"
Dear Saints,
The Readings for Thursday are Psalm 95, Exodus 16:1–8, Colossians 1:15–23.
HYMN ON PSALM 95 (short couplet)
Let none forswear the Lord endowed:
O sing, ye saints, His praises loud!
Or even joyful noise will do,
Save that the canticle be true.
To Him are mountains grains of sand;
The depths fill not His hallowed hand.
Supernal over any realm —
Behold thy Lord be glory whelmed.
The heavens too exceeding great,
Yet over thee dare not elate.
Thou art in God's ver' image formed
And to His Son will be conformed.
So worship flock and boweth down;
Let Shepherd thy affections own.
Who called — oasis in His voice —
And madeth unkempt sheep His choice.
When shadows come and whisper death,
Beware the bitter shibboleth.
Confess His Word against distress —
See table in the wilderness.
Yet wand'ring lamb thou still art dear;
He seeks thee now and draweth near.
Upon His shoulders will bear thee whole,
And place thee back within the fold.
Note:
• Written as a hymn in a technique to make it feel old, although it is contemporary.
• Many writers say a work is never really finished, unless it is published I suppose. This one has orgins in 2014, edited hard in 2024, and just now in 2026, I added two stanzas and re-worked the others.
• Numerous allusions to Psalm 95, others in order include: Genesis 1:27; Romans 8:29; Luke 10:27; John 10:27; Song of Songs 2:13b–14; 1 Corinthians 1:26–29; Psalm 23:4; Hebrews 12:15; Judges 12:6; Romans 4:18; Luke 4:4, 8, 12; Psalm 78:19; Psalm 23:5; Luke 15:4–6; Psalm 23:1–3.
• (c)2014, 2024, 2026, +IMCOOK27 / Poetry27, all rights reserved (just in case one ever sells in Nashville ;)
BUY BREAD THAT CAN MOLD:
The Exodus Passage is thick. Let me do a more devotional take. A friend (long ago moved away) used to say every Sunday: I want fresh bread (word/sermon) with lots of butter (anointing). Sometimes he approved, mostly I proved to be not Pentecostal enough for him. He wasn't buying my conviction called: "Precept upon Precept, Precept upon Precept, Line upon Line, Line upon Line, here a Little, there a Little." (Isaiah 28:10). But we were friends and loved each other.
But I've never forgotten that and really do not disagree with his principle and only somewhat his application. In fact my sermons are 95% meditation & prayer, say 5% study. The Holy Spirit is the best Teacher (cf. John 16:13). And I'm not an elitist either; He's your Holy Spirit too!!! Someone else's display case can be fun and helpful, but lasting grace takes mining your own gold, silver, precious stones (rf. 1 Corinthians 3:12). The New Testament "best practice" is both: "Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." (Acts 17:11). And though it can be misapplied, two of the greatest Bible teachers ever were: "uneducated, common men ... that had been with Jesus." (Act 4:13).
Encouraging you to find your own Bread was the real desire behind "doing" Lent. Helper help! But it was also to encourage you to seek for it daily: "Give us this day our daily Bread." (Matthew 6:11). And if He is willing to give it daily, fresh & warm from the oven, and slathered with butter, then why settle for stripped, chemical, nutritionless bread, less filling, just because it cannot mold? Indeed, my urgency about all this is because it is really not an option: "Wo/man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4).
"ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD"
O my, this Passage is a weapon of mass PROduction. Let me point to something ineffable, inexpressible in it. The best things cannot really be explained; they can only be wondered at.
Notice: "For in Him [Jesus] ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD was pleased to dwell. (Colossians 1:9). (What is "all the fullness" of the infinite, boundless, immeasurable God?). Now compare that with an eternal, Biblical prayer for us: "To know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD." (Ephesians 3:19). Us, created beings, "filled with all the fullness of God!!!!???" David Ruis, songwriter, did the math: "Then how much more of Your love is for me than I'm tasting, Lord?" And lest I be charged with heresy, we are not the Divine Nature as is Christ, but invited, yea promised, to be endless, progressive partakers of it. (rf. 2 Peter 1:4). The implications of that are staggering gladness and have true devotional warrant.
The Only Best in/is Christ,
tIM