I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria.

I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon, and there will not be room enough for them. They will pass through the sea of trouble; the surging sea will be subdued and all the depths of the Nile will dry up. Assyrias pride will be brought down and Egypts sceptre will pass away. I will strengthen them in the Lord and in His Name they will walk. Zechariah 10:10-12 It never ceases to amaze me just how fruitful the study of the Word of God is for those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Over the past months I have been engaged in a careful study of the Old Testament prophetic book of Zechariah. One of the consequences of the meditation on this book has been an enhancement of my own worship of the Lord. D. A. Carson in the first volume of his devotional series For the Love of God writes the following reflections on the meditation for May 22nd. One of the important functions of corporate worship is recital, that is, a retelling of the wonderful things that God has done. Hence psalm 78:2-4: I will utter hidden things, things from of old what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from our children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done. Similarly, if more briefly, psalm 75:1: We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds. In fact, the New English Bible is a little closer to the Hebrew: Thy Name is brought very near to us in the story of Thy wonderful deeds. Gods Name is part of His gracious self-disclosure. It is a revelation of who He is (Ex. 3:14; 34:5-7, 14). Gods Name, then, is brought very near us in the story of His wonderful deeds: that is, who God is is disclosed in the accounts of what He has done. What Carson claims for corporate worship holds true for personal worship as well. At its heart worship requires a reverent, submissive meditation upon the Word of God as we meditate upon the wonderful things that God has done. This explains something which Jonathan Edwards referred to when he wrote about the overwhelming joy that flooded his heart whenever he meditated upon the Word of God. As we meditate upon the Scriptures, reminding ourselves of all the wonderful things God has done for us it is as if the curtain is pulled back so that we can glimpse something of the character of God. In fact, I am discovering more fully each day that through His Word God is revealing himself to His people as He gives us a glimpse of His character. Leon Morris, on pages 162 and 163 of The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross puts it this way as he deals with the Biblical concept of the wrath of God. Referring to the Greek word translated as wrath in the New Testament Morris writes, Which signifies to be getting ready to bear, growing ripe for something, and comes to mean the natural disposition or character. What Morris is telling us is that Gods character is revealed to us in all of the works that he has done, is doing, and will ever do. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed His Name, the Lord. And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does

not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation. (Exodus 34:5-7) What precious truth is found in the Word of God. As we meditate upon it we begin to see more clearly than ever the character of God as it is revealed to us in the wonderful things He is doing. Wont you join me in praising the Lord who reveals Himself to us in this way?