Bulletin 9.24.23

It was my mother who first mentioned the Queen of Sheba.

The royal name is one of my earliest memories. When someone annoyed her,
I’d wait for my mother to mutter, “Who does she think she is—the Queen of
Sheba?”

- Stanley Stewart; “In Search of the Real Queen of Sheba”
(National Geographic UK Edition Online; Dec 5, 2018)

We only cease to be the slave of one appetite because another taste has
brought it into subordination. A youth may cease to idolize sensual pleasure, but
it’s only because the idol of material gain has gotten the ascendancy. There is
not one personal transformation in which the heart is left without an object of
ultimate beauty and joy. Its desire for one particular object may be conquered,
but its desire to have some object is unconquerable. The only way to
dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one.

- Thomas Chalmers (1780–1847), “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection”
(sermon on First John 2.15: “Do not love the world, nor the things that are in
the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”)

Psalm 72:1-11

Give the king Your judgments, O God,
And Your righteousness to the king's son.
May he judge Your people with righteousness
And Your afflicted with justice.
Let the mountains bring peace to the people,
And the hills, in righteousness.
May he vindicate the afflicted of the people,
Save the children of the needy
And crush the oppressor.
Let them fear You while the sun endures,
And as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
May he come down like rain upon the mown grass,
Like showers that water the earth.
In his days may the righteous flourish,
And abundance of peace till the moon is no more.
May he also rule from sea to sea

And from the River to the ends of the earth.
Let the nomads of the desert bow before him,
And his enemies lick the dust.
Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring presents;
The kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.
And let all kings bow down before him,
All nations serve him.

(Prayer)