Questioning God

 It's truly amazing how God's words in His Word speak to us just when we need to hear them!

I say, "Lord, how could You truly love someone like me?"

He answers, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness" (Jeremiah 31:3).

I say, "Lord, why would You draw me to You?"

He tells me that He takes great delight in me and that He rejoices over me, singing to me while quieting and soothing me with His words (Zephaniah 3:17). He tells me I am His (Psalm 100:3).

"But, Lord," I protest. "How can You accept me? My weaknesses, my return to sin, my disobedience! Even I wouldn't want me!"

He answers, "Though the mountains be shaken  and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor My covenant of peace be removed"(Isaiah 54:10).

Doubts press in. But He overrides them with His perfect promise from Lamentations 3:22 that His love and compassion never fail -- in fact, they are new and fresh every morning!

He has spoken! Case closed!

Nothing can stop His love.

LORD, help me accept Your love for me and to joyfully display it every moment of every day! Amen.

{Thoughts from Anchor Devotional, November, 2024}

Restore My Joy - Is it too much to ask?

 

                                          Restore My Joy - Is it too much to ask?

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin...Create in me a pure heart, O God....restore to me the joy of your salvation." (Psalm 51:1, 2, 10, 12)

I find it necessary to read this psalm multiple times. It appears in centuries past that congregations recited it together every week at worship services. I can see why.

David  composed it just after he was confronted with his sin with Bathsheba and his attempt to cover it out by having her husband Uriah killed.

When I was younger I was amazed at David's presumptuous attitude! -- What gall, I thought! Such serious sins and to ask God to restore his joy!!?

Asking forgiveness -- that's OK. But asking for his joy in God's presence to be restored? That's just too much!

But now I am older and have seen more clearly - and more frequently - the darkness of my own heart and realize that all sin is treason against our holy God-- all sin is serious - displeasing to Him and deserving of judgment and death.

But His gracious forgiveness of all our sins does restore us - brings us back into our close fellowship with Him and brings back our joy in His presence.

Yes, it is hard to believe, and that's why we call it 'Amazing Grace'!

His total complete forgiveness does this for us.

And so I pray, with David, when I confess my sins and experience the miracle of forgiveness,  please restore the joy of your salvation to me, a sinner saved by your grace!

Who Wants a Tin Can Without a Can Opener?

                                      Who Wants A Tin Can Without a Can Opener?

We  can always count on God's timing. It's perfect, down to the last second accurate.

In Ephesians 2:10 He tells us that "We are God's handiwork [masterpiece], created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Not only did He prepare the tasks He wanted us to do, but He also prepared us to be able to do the tasks!

We read in 2 Timothy 2:16-17, that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

His timing is perfect! When the task is ready for us we are ready for the task!

Our human timing is not so great. I remember reading that Napoleon Bonaparte, in the 1790's, discovered that food, when heated, could be preserved for long periods of time and still retain flavor if kept safely in a secure container.

I don't know how he discovered that - but he talked about it - he didn't realize that by killing the bacteria and applying a sealed vacuum it was kept from recontamination - he just knew it kept food longer and preserved more of its taste.

A British inventor in 1810, applied this study to his own work, and created the world's first canned goods. But his 'cans' were wrought iron and so thick they had to be opened with a hammer and chisel!

It wasn't till 50 years later that an American inventor, with thinner steel cans, invented an actual can opener that had a blade that could puncture a can and saw the lid off!  And it wasn't until 1870 that a rotary can opener  appeared on the market that could actually be used by home consumers.  A huge advancement in food consumption!

But it took 60 years for the practical, operational can opener to be invented so those marvelous cans of food could be opened!

I am thankful for the variety of food tin cans made possible. And how the ideas of "canning" food right at home changed our diets forever. But I am also thankful we can get into them without a hammer and chisel! 

Nothings compares to God's perfect timing in all He does.

He has a job He wants us to do. And He has already prepared us to do it!

The Problem With Trying to Make Yourself Look Stupid

Looking  back to the beginning -- When the Lion (Aslan) Created Narnia 

(From "The Magician's Nephew," The Chronicles of Narnia, by C S Lewis)

"When the Lion had first begun singing, long ago when it was still quite dark, [Uncle Andrew] had realized that the noise was a song. And he disliked the song very much. It made him think and feel things he did not want to think and feel. Then, when the sun rose and he saw that the singer was a lion ('only a lion,') he said to himself, he tried his hardest to make believe that lion had never been singing, only roaring as lions do in our world.

And the longer and more beautifully the Lion sang, the harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring.

Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. And Uncle Andrew did. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan's song. Soon he couldn't have heard anything else even if he had wanted to.

And when at last the Lion spoke -- 'Narnia, AWAKE!' -- he didn't hear any words, just a snarl. And when the Beasts spoke in answer he heard only barkings, howling, baying and growling."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Poor Uncle Andrew. He didn't want to see or hear the truth. He preferred to hear and see a lie. He didn't even hear the Talking Beasts! He was there, but he missed it all! Missed the joyous magnificence of Aslan personally creating Narnia!

And so he exchanged the truth for a lie, as explained in Romans 1. He had ears and eyes, but he could not hear or see!  I know some people like that around me right now - and we aren't even in Narnia! You probably do, too!]

More about baby birds....

I ran across these verses in Deuteronomy:

                When you come across a bird's nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground,
                and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with
                the young. You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may
                go well with you and you may have a long life.
                                          Deuteronomy 22:6-7

Why are these verses in the Bible? If there is, as I believe, no "filler" in God's Word -- if, as I believe, every Word from Him is important...then what is the importance of this?

I turned back to the Chumash (the Jewish commentary).

Here are some thoughts from the venerable Rabbis....

1. It is referring to an ownerless bird - not someone's poultry from their farm
2. The oldest commentaries say that the Torah forbad  taking an ownerless bird while sitting on the nest of eggs or young because it is cruel to do so.  

 Here's the exact wording in the Chumash:

 "The Torah forbids one to take an ownerless mother bird when it is sitting on its eggs or young. One must send away the mother bird --  even many times if it keeps returning to the nest -- and only then is one permitted to take the eggs or young....the reason for this commandment, as the prohibition against slaughtering a mother animal and its young on the same day (Leviticus 22:28) is because it is cruel to do so, especially since animals instinctively love their young and suffer when they see them slaughtered or taken away...Another reason is to symbolize that people should avoid doing things that will destroy a species, for to slaughter mother and children on the same day is akin to mass extermination.....these commandments are meant to inculcate compassion in people...that people should accustom themselves to act mercifully."

I am so touched by these thoughts from the ancient Jews.

The reference to Leviticus 22:28 is when God told the Jews "do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same day."


Another thought from the Chumash....the Rabbis said that God would honor obedience to this simple commandment, that involved no financial loss, and so it demonstrated how much He would honor obedience in areas that caused hardship.

If we would obey God in small areas it showed that our hearts are yearning to be obedient in all areas.

The next verses in the passage from Deuteronomy talk about being responsible human beings, not only within nature, but within our communities, with each other. Verse 8 says that the Jews were to build a fence or other form of barrier around his roof, to keep people, who often entertained visitors on the flat roofs of their houses in the Holy Land, from falling off the roofs. Modern Jews use this verse to require them to build protection around their pools, or tall stairways that need railings.

The earlier verses in the Deuteronomy passage  talk about an ox, or sheep or goat that has strayed. They are to be returned to their brother. If the owner lived too far away, or perhaps was unknown, the finder was to keep the animal safe and fed until the owner came to claim it. He was to do that for any lost items -- even a garment.

 [And Jesus talked about a lost coin, a lost sheep, a lost boy .Just because the item is lost doesn't mean it changes owners!  Finders keepers, losers weepers is not God's description of holiness.]

And you were to help your neighbor, whose ox or donkey had fallen, get the struggling animal to his feet.

The Torah says, "Do not hide yourself" from these everyday situations. Our NIV says, "Do not ignore it."

So God is deeply concerned with all details of our lives. He is watchful that we care for His creation. That we care for the endangered species around us. That we not treat carelessly the animal world nor our great natural resources that have come to us from the bounty of God.

And that we are watchful of the welfare of our neighbors -- helping them whenever we can. We must not 'hide oursevles' or ignore problems we can help fix!

What a wonderfully caring God we worship!

Bro Mike says he is himself a "tree hugger" in the sense that he recognizes that God has put us "in charge of" His vast creation. We are to be careful, thoughtful stewards of the bountiful world we live in.

From the words of our Redeemer Savior:

         Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God.
                Luke 12


And from my childhood, the Westminster Catechism:


Question 11. What are God's works of providence?
Answer: God's works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all of his creatures, and all their actions.
(Psalm 145:17, Psalm 104:24, Hebrews 1:3, Nehemiah 9:6, Ephesians 1:19-22, and Psalm 36:6.)