The God Who Bursts Out

God is a God Who bursts out. David personally observed that when he fought against some of his enemies. 2 Samuel 5:20 quotes David in response to his victory. (Repeated in 2 Chronicles 14:11)
So David went to Baal-perazim and defeated them there and said, “Like a bursting flood, the Lord has burst out against my enemies before me.” Therefore, he named that place the Lord Bursts Out.

But “bursting” can be a double edged sword. This happened when a guy named Uzzah in 1 Chronicles 13:11 when he violated the sanctity of the Ark of the Covenant by touching it. The Lord immediately struck him dead.
David was angry because of the Lord’s outburst against Uzzah, so he named that place Outburst Against Uzzah, as it is still named today.

Even doing something "good" like keeping the Ark from upsetting is not a legitimate means of obeying the Lord. He had given specific instructions as to how the Ark was to be transported. They did not do that, but chose "their own way." This is a recipe for disaster from Adam on down.

This is the background for our thoughts today. If God is a bursting God, then would it be appropriate to “burst out” in praise to Him? It seems that Paul did. At the end of Romans 11, where Paul explains the dynamics of God’s choice of Israel, then the grafting into their place of the Gentiles, followed by the unification of both groups in worship to Him.

Paul bursts out in praise to the Lord in Romans 11: 33
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments and untraceable His ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? 35 Or who has ever first given to Him, and has to be repaid? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

Amen! Paul is about to jump out of his skin, and after a study of the chapter, I am jumping too. God was able to bring two diametrically opposed (philosophically, at least) groups together in one. We all know the tale of woe that accompanied God’s choice of Israel and their often illegitimate response to Him. God’s discipline included shipping them off to Babylon, en masse, then returning them to the land. They still rejected Him, to the point of killing the Messiah. But God did not give up on them nor abandon them.

Read the chapter to find out the resolution that God crafted. It is worth it.

Then Paul was talking about his ministry in Ephesians 3 and began to focus on the power of prayer. He just burst out again.
20 Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us— 21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

In the Old Testament, Jeremiah had an episode of bursting in chapter 32. He had just redeemed a parcel of land in his hometown in the face of the Babylonian invasion. He had been prophesying that Jerusalem and Judah would be overrun by the Babylonians and be in captivity for 70 years. So his “purchase” seemed to make no sense in light of the current circumstances.

After “closing the deal” he experienced an “ah ha!” moment. Listen. Verse 17
Ah, Lord God! You Yourself made the heavens and earth by Your great power and with Your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!

So if God had created the heavens and earth, preserving Jeremiah’s investment would be a minor accomplishment. (Notice again that creation is assumed to be valid and not speculative, figurative, or mythical.)

Our recent thoughts have focused on the wonders of the solar system and, I don’t know about you, but I am bursting with wonder at the spectacular vistas included in our solar system. And compared to the entire universe, this is not even a speck on a flea on a hair on a wart on a frog on a log on the bottom of the lake. (More on the Eclipse.)

Jeremiah did not have this perspective, but he did have a perspective of God. This God bursts out against illnesses and problems on a regular basis. We can all enumerate several examples of where God “burst out” against cancer, liver disease, strokes, heart attacks, weather events, and on and on. He takes care of us. Jeremiah understood and proclaimed that.

Count me in that crew. Glory!