Are we HisDominion?

When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
Judah became God's sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
Why is it, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?
O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.
[Psalm 114]

The song above described the exodus experience of the ancient Israel as they depart from Egypt and heading toward the promised land.  It mentioned a few supernatural interventions from God, the parting of the Red Sea and the Jordan river; earthquakes; getting water from a rock, etc.  The author asked "Why is it?" to underscore an important point, the Israelites became "God's sanctuary" and "His dominion".

In my life I often desire to see the supernatural displays of God's power.  And I got to see quite a few.  From the dramatic routing of the pirate boats when I escaped out from Vietnam, to rain-stopping prayer, to demon-casting.  I have seen God's power.  The question that I often had is "Why can't I glimpse more of that supernatural world?"  According to the author here, the answer was fairly simple: we would need to be more of God's dwelling and God's subject.

The first concept about God's dwelling were understandable. It's the second concept of "God's dominion" - becoming God's subject is what I am picking up today.  At first, I thought the word was kind of strange - why use "God's dominion" and not "God's people" or "God's country".  So I look up my Hebrew dictionary and began to realize that the underscore idea of the word used there was ruling, controlling, reigning over.  It's the idea of we become obedience to God's ruling.

And most of the time, I want to see the display of God's power without willing to submit myself under God's control.  Our faith community won't see God's visible intervention if we are not willing to abide in His reign.

O God my ruler, reign over my life; guide me in the path of simplicity and fidelity.

On some other random notes... 

• I pray that Jen will also experience God in the way Psalm 114 described here when she's back to RI.  Godspeed Jen!  It was such a blessing to know you and have some awesome conversation with you, including this one.
• Our church dug deep for the Katrina's Relief; I will post the results as soon as I find out.  I haven't post anything on it because concrete actions are more needed than reflection in this case. Besides, I had work through this issue of "Where was God when this happened?" back in the wake of the Asian Tsunami through a study from John 11.
• This strong-language secular blog spoke out very well on the issue, as well John Piper's defense for God.  If you want to continue to track front line relief effort, you can follow this Intervarsity blog.