Great and Mighty Is He -- Todd Pettygrove

 

Great and mighty, and splendor and glory….though easy enough to pronounce, they should be reserved for someone uniquely qualified to wear them. These traits of God are mentioned throughout scripture (dozens of times), so the author of these contemporary praise verses (Todd Pettygrove) could have been reading from among any number of incidents in which God is called upon in this way. From Moses through Paul, writers lauded Him with these terms, recalling their encounters with Him and reacting as any one might – with terror and profound humility, but also with great confidence in His ability to rescue and protect those who belong to Him. It began in creation when He formed everything out of seemingly nothing, including humanity (see the image here, Creation of Adam, from Michelangelo’s imagination of what this looked like, in one of his 16^th Century works). “Great and Mighty Is He” might be words from any of us in various circumstances, but it certainly would not be too frequent to say these words just once more.

 

Sometime around 1987 Todd Pettygrove perhaps was reading about this awesome being we call God, or maybe he and another or several others were sharing about His character. We don’t frankly know what spurred Todd to convert these few attributes of Him into a praise chorus, but it nevertheless hits the bullseye for believers, because it connects us with centuries-old fellow believers. Some of those believers felt so strongly about Him and their contact with Him that they couldn’t keep this too themselves. We might take it for granted today that they wrote poetic words about their experiences, but what they had to say was something that was overflowing about Him whom they’d experienced. Perhaps it was like someone who sees something so amazing, like an unidentified flying object, something other-worldly that just makes it impossible for you to move on and approach your day with a sense of normalcy. It’s life-changing. He was that way for Moses, the Israelites’ leader who had an especially closeup experience with Him, such that when he spoke about Him, it was often with these traits about him on his lips (see Deuteronomy 3:24; 4:34; 7:19; 9:26; 10:17; 26:8). Or, how about David, who also had an especially close relationship with Him, and instructed others in how to regard Him (see 1 Chronicles 16:29; 29:11), including his own son Solomon who likewise told others how to think of Him (see 1 Kings 8:42; 2 Chronicles 6:32). Pick out any of the prophets to see how this was carried on through successive generations. Centuries later, these characteristics had not worn off, not even a little bit. He transformed an enemy of His son into an obedient servant, who then spent the rest of his life exclaiming His qualities while facing hardships most of us cannot imagine and went to his death to do so – that was Paul (see Ephesians 1:19). He’s not done.  

 

So, maybe Todd was reading any of the passages that underscore this God’s majesty, and how He might terrify and send shockwaves through those who’ve not accepted Him. Or, how about those who have accepted Him, and have tried to coax others that it’s great to be on His side, versus the alternative? It is admittedly pretty difficult sometimes to appreciate what an encounter with Him would be like when He’s still physically invisible. But He’s made all of it that I can see. And, some of it’s really amazing, and there must be so much more that we’ve not yet seen that speaks of Him, too. For example, are there other-worldly things that we’ve not yet understood? Check out the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, as I did the other night, and imagine how people might react to an experience with something terrifying and yet fantastically awe-inspiring. Our world seems to be coming to grips with the possibility that other things or beings, perhaps originating beyond our planet Earth, have been visiting. (Read at the following link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ufo-files-pentagon-3rd-release-documents-videos/ ). Are you and I ready to encounter them? It makes one think for a few moments, doesn’t it? The only way I have to respond is that God must have made them too, if my bible is true. Encounters with the incredible could be in earth-dwellers’ future. Some of our ancestors have already had such encounters, with Him.         

 

 

See information on the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michelangelo,_Creation_of_Adam_04.jpg.... The author died in 1564, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1931. …found inside this document: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God 

Holy, Holy, Holy Is the Lord of Hosts – Seraphim and Nolene Prince

 

Isaiah encountered them. And then centuries later, an exile named John saw and heard some creatures like the ones Isaiah met (see the image here of seraphim that Isaiah described, as imagined by artists in a 14^th Century manuscript) in what seemed like a repeat of an apocalyptic vision. So, it was really these creatures who sang “Holy, Holy, Holy Is the Lord of Hosts” and caused Isaiah and John to feel awestruck, unworthy even to be in their presence. That’s what happens when mortals come that close to God or His representatives, as when Simon Peter had to acknowledge that he was in the presence of God Himself (Luke 5:8). Evidently, a 20^th Century songwriter, Nolene Prince, also wanted some of this same sensation, so she musically translated the words that Isaiah and John recorded into something we can sing today. There’s not much more that we can surmise from what the creatures said. We can take from the behavior of Isaiah and John how we too might react when we see Him or His heavenly beings someday. Trepidation, astonishment, reverence…His presence will be like nothing we have ever seen or heard before.  

 

We can be sure that Nolene was reading from Isaiah 6:1-5 and perhaps Revelation 4:8 also, and was struck by the imagery and even more so by what these beings had to say. God has other creatures that serve Him, like the cherubim (Genesis 3:24; and other places, especially in Ezekiel chapter 10) that, like the seraphim, inspire wonder when the human eye beholds them. But the seraphim actually speak and sing for the mortals they contact. All they had to say to each other was for Isaiah’s consumption, and also necessarily to make him aware of his poor state in God’s presence. But God didn’t want Isaiah to wilt. Instead, He had a mission for him. In Isaiah’s case, the seraphim helped usher in God’s message and commission for Isaiah – that he was to be a prophet to the people. So, the message the seraphim deliver can be a way to help assign someone a task. What John the beloved apostle saw and heard during his exile on Patmos was likewise a Divinely-inspired idea for a human to take up, something for John to broadcast (Revelation 4:8). The four living creatures that John saw had six wings each, so they were perhaps rather similar to the six-winged seraphim that sang for Isaiah. And, the song they sang was also very succinct and yet potent, with the ‘holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty’ phrase that is reserved for Him alone. John’s apparent takeaway was to recount this experience to other believers of his era, those who felt the weight of a Roman Caesar (Domitian) who decreed that his empire’s subjects call him Lord. ‘Hold on Caesar, let me tell you who is really Lord’, John said to gird the faith of his Christian brethren. ‘This Lord is not only Almighty, but also ‘who was, and is, and is to come’, so just keep listening to these four living creatures. Domitian can make believe what he wants, but we know the truth.’ In Isaiah’s experience, the seraphim followed up the introduction of the holy Lord, by saying ‘the whole earth is full of His glory’. What they said was literally an earthshaking revelation (Is. 6:4). He can rock earthly kings (like Caesar) through a Christian movement, while also physically shaking another’s foundations.

 

This ‘Lord of Hosts’ is not to be ignored. He evidently has beings that work for Him, communicating with humans who carry His messages to others. The things they say about Him aren’t very complicated. He’s holy, a declaration that’s important enough to say three times for effect. And, He shakes things up and is eternally existing. In short, He’s the one in control, then, now, and forever. If He were evil, we’d all be in trouble. But those who introduce Him say He’s holy. Webster’s says that means He’s exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness. Don’t believe Webster? But why would Webster say this? Have you met this God yet? People here on earth may not represent Him and His holiness perfectly at all times, as Webster’s describes holiness. And yet, that’s why we’re humans, and He’s God, and why each of us needs Him. We’re aiming to be with Him who will perfect us one day.            

 

Read about the four living creatures and the Tetramorph here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetramorph  or seraphim here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph

 

See more information on the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seraphim_-_Petites_Heures_de_Jean_de_Berry.jpg ... This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. {{PD-1996}} – public domain in its source country on January 1, 1996 and in the United States. …found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph

Flee As a Bird -- Mary S. Dana

 

It was her way of therapy as she grieved. Thirty-year old Mary Dana (some 11 years later, she remarried and took the last name of her second husband Robert Shindler) had experienced enough death in her life in the period around 1839-1840, and one of David’s psalm images gave her some solace, as she thought about “Flee(ing) As a Bird” to escape and find in the Lord the One who could provide comfort. Perhaps she’d had enough of funerals and even the beautiful flowers at them that are intended to bring hope and healing (See here the typical habit of placing flowers at a gravesite in a cemetery, like this one in France, on 4 July 2011.) And so, Mary turned to writing verses to express her feelings, crying out to Him on behalf of herself and others like her. Evidently, she had found what she so desperately needed in His embrace, and thus she urged others with her poetry put to music.    

 

Mary suffered one tragedy upon another, then another, and another. At what point in watching as many as four others die did Mary think of fleeing? Her young son and husband both succumbed during a fever that became rampant in Iowa where they had recently arrived in 1839. This was after she had apparently already lost a sister and a brother in the space of the previous two years. She soon thereafter returned to her native South Carolina, perhaps as a way to leave behind the gloom and start anew. She must have felt like she was in flight, much like the bird fleeing to a mountain in David’s Psalm 11:1, even if that psalmist felt that this refuge-seeking method was ill-advised. When one is afflicted repeatedly, the reaction is oftentimes a gut-level response to fear, and one could excuse Mary if she was indeed feeling so much distress that she retreated into a secluded place. Unlike David, she must have thought that the mountain shelter was where she eventually found the succor of the Lord, for her poetry indicates that it was in this isolated place where she could wash in the ‘clear-flowing fountain’ that He provides (v.1). In short, she needed a place where only His voice – not death’s -- was in her head and heart. Instead of standing firm, as some might advise, Mary said to ‘haste’ (or ‘fly’, as some versions have it) in order to avoid ‘th’Avenger’ (v.1). Indeed, could Mary have also read of the many episodes when Jesus retreated, including so often to mountains, to pray by Himself and seek His Father’s face? (See Luke 5:16; Matt. 14:23/Mark 6:46; Luke 6:12-13; Luke 21:37; 22:39-46.) Especially if it’s sin that is ‘weary(ing)’ the soul, one needs to find Him in His space, to find ‘His bosom’ on which one can rest. Other miseries will surely come, but Mary said that He would not ‘forsake’ (v.2) someone who would ‘haste’ to Him, who needed to be free of ‘sighing’. He ‘wipe(s) every tear’, a promise that Mary must have read with hope in her bible’s concluding book (Revelation 7:17; 21:4).

 

Mary wrote the tune for ‘Flee As a Bird’ in the key of either D- or E-minor, but evidently not as a way to wallow in her sorrow. Instead, the uplifting parts of her lyrics are counterpoints to the burdens she bore that she could not just wish away. The woe she felt was not easily laid aside, but was certainly salved when she realized that He’s the remedy. Part of life’s challenge is not to wear rose-colored glasses and pretend that troubles are insignificant, but to know to whom you and I can go for strength, a most-certain strength. He also suffered in His physicality, and so His own body felt pain and His spirit also felt desolate, but He ultimately overcame. Hence, part of the minor key sensation that you and I hear in ‘Flee…’ must also be an acknowledgement of His awesome power to conquer death. Try hearing 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 in a minor key in your head, which is what Mary might have been thinking when she thought of death. You can hear it too, if you got Him with you.

  

Read about the hymn’s origin here: https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780271096308-004/html  and here: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40071689 and here: https://drhamrick.blogspot.com/2018/11/flee-as-bird.html

 

See the hymn’s original verses and the short biography of the hymnist here: https://hymnary.org/text/flee_as_a_bird_to_your_mountain  and http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/f/l/e/e/fleeasab.htm  and http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/h/i/n/shindler_msbd.htm

 

See information on the image here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2011_Enterrement_de_Jacquotte.jpg …The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission…. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en  …found inside this document -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral