Summer is a great time to have extended periods of study and devotion in the Word of God.  The Lord has been very gracious this past week as I’ve been reading in Deuteronomy and the Psalms.  This morning I was in Psalm 97 –

 1. The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice.

 2 Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

3 Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side.

We may think that reality is everything we can see, hear, taste and touch before us but that is not the case.  Psalm 97 presents the true reality that transcends all the show and pretense of the world.  We cannot see this, yet, but it is true.  This is who God is.  He reigns over all the earth, right now.  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne, right now.  Fire goes before him, right now.  In Daniel 7:9-10 Daniel has a vision of the throne of God that’s similar to what the psalmist presents.  His throne is a flame of fire and a river of fire was flowing before him.  In Revelation 1:14 Jesus is described as having eyes flaming with fire.

Thinking and meditating on this picture of God, of who he is right now on the throne “looking down on the sons of men” (Psalm 12) immediately brought conviction to my spirit.  The Lord spoke to me about something I watched last night on television but over the course of my time with Him, this conviction brought home a much deeper lesson about how little I understood sin’s evil treachery in the world and in my own fleshly heart.