A MARE USQUE AD MARE (from sea to sea)
Suggested Reading: Psalms 72
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
A young Roman believer in Jesus offered to drive my son Reynold on his photographic trip around Rome. He held Reynold's Bible, the eternal Word of God with its message of the forever-Kingdom of God (God's Dominion), as a contrast to the temporal Empire of Rome exemplified by the ruins of the Roman Colosseum.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verse: Psalm 72:8
He shall have dominion also from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.
This is one of two Psalms of David’s son, Solomon (the other is Psalm 127). According to the Rabbis, today’s reading could only apply to the coming Messiah. No earthly king could ever fulfill all the magnificent words spoken here. However, we are told that this Psalm was meant to be sung at the coronation of a descendant of King David. Perhaps this happened when Solomon was crowned. We remember that Solomon had prayed for wisdom to rule well. Surely these words are about ruling very well.
Of course this is Canada’s Psalm. Our country’s motto is our key verse. What a platform or goal this would make for any person who aspires to leadership. (1) Righteousness and Justice, (2) Abundance of Peace, (3) Deliverance for the poor and needy, (4) Prosperity, (abundance of grain sounds like the Canadian prairies – 72:16). We are truly a blessed people, but when it comes to God having dominion over our land, we’ve got a long way to go! These statements can only be fulfilled when Jesus returns as our long-awaited Messiah. There is a cry to God in the last two verses of our Bibles. “Even so, come Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen!”( Revelation 22:20b and 21).
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, I pray fervently for You to have dominion from sea to sea here in Canada and all over the world. I know that the word “dominion” comes to us from the latin “Dominus,” meaning “Lord.” I ask You to put Your grace upon our Queen, our head of state, upon the leaders of our governments at various levels, and upon me too, that I may be a part of moving Canada and the world in the direction of these magnificent principles, which I’m reading about in Your Holy Word today. In the Name of the only One who, as Messiah, could and will do it all, the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray! Amen!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
In 1981 Crossroads commissioned the publishing of “Canada, Sharing Our Christian Heritage.” Sir Samuel Leonard Tilly, Premier of New Brunswick at the time of confederation (1867), put the words of our key verse into Canada’s founding document. Here’s a quote from Tilley’s son, which we included in this book about our beloved Canada:
“I have heard my Father state how he came to suggest it at the conference….there had been considerable discussion the day before as to what the new United Canada should be called, and no conclusion had been reached. The next morning, as was Sir Leonard’s custom, he read from the Bible, and that particular morning he read Psalm 72:8, ‘He shall have dominion from sea to sea.’ The thought occurred to him that this would be a splendid name to give the newly united colonies of Great Britain, ‘The Dominion of Canada.’ When he went back that morning to the conference, he suggested this name, and it was unanimously accepted.”
The words of that verse became Canada’s official declaration, and Psalm 72:8 is inscribed in stone over the main entrance to our Parliament buildings. Tilley’s biographer wrote that “The secret of his life was that he loved his God and his country.”
I spent some time at Tilley’s grave site meditating on his life and the words on his memorial stone. Engraved for all to read are the words, “HIS TRUST WAS IN JESUS.” Tilley explained, with his fading breath, that he wanted passersby to know that his faith in Jesus Christ had been the true source of any success he had known and the power that had most influenced his life.
Yours for moving our country and our world in the direction of the high goals of Psalm 72 by making Jesus the Lord of our individual lives,
David
P.S. Ron has placed below the Canadian coat of arms with the quote from Psalm 72:8 in the Latin language, and a picture of Sir Leonard Tilley from one of the books Crossroads has published, “Canada, Sharing Our Christian Heritage.”
Canada's coat of arms includes the words "A MARE USQUE AD MARE."
Sir Leonard Tilley (1818-1896), Premier of New Brunswick, Father of Confederation and MAN of GOD!
If there’s any proof that one solitary soul can make a difference, this is it! Thanks so much for sharing this historical piece with us David, it’s an important bit of history about our land that I never knew about. Sir Tilley, a believer in Jesus, a man of God indeed! Pray for our land, it’s people, it’s future, it’s leaders, that all may move in the direction of Psalm 72, that God would have dominion from sea to sea.
Thank you David and Scott we do need to pray for our land ,its people and the future
Lianne Hogg
Amen Scott and Lianne.
Thank you David.
Diane 🙂
I thank you David for your historical research …it is wonderful to remember Canada’s Godly heritage. And thank you lovely fellow bloggers for responding to my request for prayer for my son…I am touched.
Lord, let us hasten Your coming with our faith and with the good works we will do in Your name today.
Like Scott I was not aware of the history of Sir Tilley….thank you Pastor David and Ron for the pictures of the coat of arms and Sir Tilley.
I pray we all read that Psalm again and again where we see part of our heritage and continually pray for God to raise up godly men and women to govern our land CANADA. May we all be able to say “OUR TRUST IS IN JESUS”
Will continue to pray for Jacob and Thomas as they struggle with different emotions, praying they will feel God’s leading and love.
Blessings to all our fellow bloggers.
Thank you too Reynold for the picture today.
Dear Heavenly Father give wisdom and knowledge and boldness to stand up for Jesus, and give them the power of the Holy Spirit lead our Queen and prime minister Harper and make the decisions you want made to run our country in a godly way help all those in parliment to be honest amd hear your voice draw them by your Holy Spirit because you are in charge and we believe your word 100% ! Help all the mayors of our fine country to make godly decisions and may many come to you Lord and elp us as laborers in the harvest field to gather in the sheaves of lost souls help us to be bold and take our stand for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ the son of the living God ,
Stand up Stand up
For Jesus ye soldiers of the cross
And fight the good fight
In jesus name Amen
Amen! Amen! And Amen!
It has been recently suggested that with Christianity on decline, having once been central and integral to Canadian culture and daily life; Canada has come to enter a post-Christian period in a secular state, with irreligion in Canada on the rise. The practice of religion is now generally considered a private matter throughout society and within the state. Additionally a majority of Canadians consider religion to be unimportant, but still believe in God. I too add my prayer for Canada to honour Dominion from sea to sea, as was the vision of Sir Leanord Tilley and the Fathers of our Confederation.
Peter said we would become bestial when we become apostate. It is happening in Canada.
Philippians 2:10-11 (NKJV) “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Have a great day, in Jesus’ name, to all!
“Would bow.” Yet, as Peter said, people would twist all the scripture to deceive themselves and others. As Jesus and the apostles said, false prophets and false christs will deceive many but we can know a tree by it’s fruit. Perverted people have used Jesus’ name to deceive people and are always trying to deceive people.
NKJV does say shoujd but my point still stands. It is not to men that we should bow or even angels but Jesus and God.
Thank you David for sharing our country’s Christian heritage. Say “Amen” to Brenda’s prayer. May each individual family in Canada serve God and our country well by” rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto God that which is God’s.”(Matt. 22:21). Am going to learn more about the history of Sir Leonard Tilley. God bless you everyone.
Saying Amen to everyone’s prayers.
My favourite verse from today’s reading is this,
Psalm 72:17 May him name endure forever
May it continue as long as the sun.
Then all nations would be blessed through him,
And they will call him blessed.
May this be our portion fellow bloggers in JESUS NAME!!! Amen
Have a blessed day everyone
Dear Rev. David M. and precious fellow bloggers
Will be making a point of distributing your book Canada sharing christian heritage to many of my family and friends as a christmas gift . So many of them are in desperate need of coming back to thier christian faith . I pray that The Holy Spirit will guide me and show me what to say to each of them as I give your book away.
Looking forward in the next few days to reading about Sir Samuel Leonard Tilly will be sharing this marvellous history moment especially with the younger generation .
Heavenly Father I pray that this nation of Canada d un ocean a l autre puisse de noveau retourner a la seule est unique source de vie par Jesus Christ Notre Sauveaur Ainsi soit il .
So David M . and fellow bloggers excuse me for switching my prayer to french but I felt a yearning in my heart to also turn Psalm 71 to our very lost province of Quebec and Ido this trusting Our Lord and Saviour who is capable of doing much more then we could even imagine in Jesus name Amen .
Have a blessed day
xxxx Carole.
Amen sister Carole
If you will, Samuel, please let us know how your grandson is managing with respect to his pet Daisy?
I second that motion
Thank you David & Patricia fjor asking about my Grandson’s Pet Cat, Daisy. After 3 years on medication for kidney problems, Daisy stopped eating and drinking; thus, spent the past week in Hospital. This continued until Monday when there seemed to be very little change. So the Vet allowed us to bring Daisy home and, in her own environmnet, may start eating. But to no avail. We stayed up most the night and returned to the Vet knowing that she was suffering and Jacob knew he needed to make the difficult decison to allow her to die. He wanted one more day but the vet thought the cat would not last and Jacob wanted to be with Daisy, holding her till the very end. I think because his mom died suddenly and he wasn’t with her, he wanted to make sure he gave all the love and care he could to his little special friend and companion. He held her as she passed away. We had time to love her and have some final pictures taken as we shared this difficult time together. I prayed with Jacob before knowing how difficult it is on the one hand, to see your pet suffer and life ebb away – and not want this – and yet, difficult to let her go. I know some may think – your acting like this is a real person; but not so much a person, but a beautiful companion and presence to Jacob for 11 out of his 16 years. Maybe this was God’s way of allowing some of fhe deep held grief in his heart for his mom come out in love and teaars when he shared in the death of his pet. I found a verse in Ps. 36:6, “O Lord, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love.” (NIV). The LB Paraphrase says, “You are concerned for men and animals alike. How precious is your constant love, O God!.” I read this during the 100 words and it just popped out of scripture in a new way. For the past four years, I returned to parenthood as I have custudy of Jacob and have been walking with him through his journey of grief – first for his mom and now for another special treasure. Life is fragile – and his is – handle with prayer. I am praying Jeremiah 29:11 for him. He is in need of a lot of prayer and support and I am privileged to be healthy to provide the care he needs. Thank for for asking. Thank you for prayers for Jacob and – for me.
as I maintain good health (had a heart attack two months before my daughter’s death” but survived and doing well. This couples with the fact my wife has alzheimers (10 years) and has been in a nursing home for the past two years. So, I have proven over and over again, God’s grace is sufficient and I do praise him for his unfailing love, wisdom, strength and perfect plan. As Psallm 91:2 says, ” I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Whom I trust”. I write all this hoping it might also be encouraging to others going through trauma times. “Through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus”…Blessings. Eph.1:3 Kind regards, Samuel
Thank you for sharing, Samuel. You have given abode to a great deal of care and responsibiliy in your life by being available for your beloved wife in her late stage of Altzeimers and your grandson, Jacob. Moreover, you are recovering from a heart attack and trying to stay strong through it all! Your story is significant to me about the meaning of living a Christ-centred life.
The comparison of people to sheep and Jesus to a lamb showes that we can love animals. Also, God compared Uriah to a loved pet. Yet, how much more does God love Uriah and Jesus to a lamb. In your troubles, God’s love is seen in you.