Beside Me Stand

Father please, beside me stand.

Walk with me through thirsty land.

I need Your grace-bless every hour

to learn to spurn my own flesh power,

for only loss can let me gain

Your strength, which comes from knowing pain.

So grant me, Lord, the time to pray,

and in Your presence daily stay

will I as humble, servant-child,

learning to be meek and mild

and love and laugh and let hurt go,

and let Your Spirit through me flow.

We Will Go...Will You Go?

Exodus 10:9--And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the LORD.

Repetition is a commonly used literary tool, especially in lists, probably because it is so effective and easily used. It's almost natural. By using it, writers or orators can add emphasis to certain points or draw contrast between them. Here, Moses uses it to encompass the entire nation of Israel in every aspect.

Moses and Aaron have gone before Pharaoh once again, requesting permission to leave Egypt, go three days into the wilderness, and worship God. The plague of hail has just occurred, and Moses and Aaron have warned Pharaoh about the plague of locusts. This time, Pharaoh said, "Go, serve the LORD your God: but who are they that shall go?" And Moses answered with the above verse: "We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds...."

Moses' answer contains two points of repetition: 1) Repetition of the word "with" emphasizes the fact that every item listed will be included, and 2) repetition of a phrase containing two opposites. The first phrase is young and old, the second sons and daughters, and the third flocks and herds (sheep and cattle).

So what's the lesson? Well, by using repetition, Moses made sure Pharaoh knew that every person had a part and a job in worshiping the Lord. It should be the same way today. It is every person's job, every person's obligation, every person's privilege to serve and worship the Lord God almighty. It doesn't matter how old you are, what gender you are, what color or creed you are, where you live, how much money you have, or what talents you have, you have a place in praising and worshiping God. We are not worthy to serve Him or praise Him, but He is worthy of all praise, glory, honor, and thanks. The greatest thing is that God loves us and wants it from us. So let's give it to Him, shall we?

In the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 150, verse six: "Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD."

Romans 6:23

I decided to go ahead and start posting today, but my posts will probably not come every Wednesday. Anyway, the text verse for this post is Romans 6:23--For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What a great verse this is! Today I want to look at a literary tool called an antanagoge, which is used perfectly in this verse. An antanagoge is the statement of a negative point counteracted by the statement of a positive point afterward, such as "That girl's a blond, but she's a great athlete." (My apologies to the blonds reading this.)

This device is used to the extreme in Romans 6:23. "For the wages of sin is death" is about as negative as it gets; I don't know of any worse news you could receive. But praise God for the positive statement! "But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." It absolutely does not get any better than that. I'm so glad that, although we're death-deserving sinners, God gave us the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

And remember, it is a gift. It is not earned; it is freely given. There's nothing we can do to deserve it; God simply gives it out of love. And it is through Jesus, and through Jesus only. There is no other way.

So please, go and spread the positive statement that Jesus came and died to take away our sins, and rejoice in that fact. There is no better news you could give. And if you don't know Him as Savior, come to Him now. You won't regret it. I promise.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and I'll see you next time on The Devoet. God bless!

Hello, World!

Hello, world! This is Zachary Sigmon here! Hope you'll join me on my journey to share the Word of God through none other than the written word.