Land

 Today we begin worship with:

Exodus 3:7-8
Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey."

The ancients did not have a highlighter or a type font with bolded or underlined characters.  Here "surely seen" is the Hebrew word for "seen" rā'â repeated.  Three words are repeated three times in scripture:

• Woe, Woe, Woe (Revelation 8:13), which announces the seven trumpets of judgement.
• Holy, Holy, Holy (Isaiah 6:3, Revelation 4:8), which is an attempt to put into words purity and character of the LORD God almighty.

The third word repeated three times brings us back to our call to worship.  It is land, land, land (Jeremiah 22:29).  

We often think too little of our community and the purpose God has for us here.  With or without "milk and honey" He has brought us to this place.  We need to be observant, then, of our responsibility in this place.