Bundle of the Living

We were reading in 1 Samuel 25 - the beautiful story of David, Abigail and Nabal.

We came across this part of Abigail's message to David, honoring him:

...for the LORD will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my master, because he fights the LORD's battles. Let no wrong doing be found in you as long as you live. Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my master will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD your God. But the lives of your enemies He will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.   (1 Samuel 25:28-29)

I don't ever remember seeing  (or noticing)  the phrase "bundle of the living" before. What a beautiful thought! We are permanently bundled with God's people - under His protection. We are in His bundle of the living!


The New Living Translation says:

Even when you are chased by those who seek to kill you, your life is safe in the care of the LORD your God, secure in his treasure pouch! But the lives of your enemies will disappear like stones shot from a sling!

The New King James Version also uses the phrase: bound in the bundle of the living!


When we picture a bundle we think of various items grouped together, securely contained, wrapped or sealed, with nothing slipping out -- sometimes I bundle clothes to take to the washing machine. All different types of clothing - all together ih one bundle - I like that picture! In God's family we are all bundled together, safely in His arms -- one package made up of different kinds of items.

A bunch is different - a bunch or bananas, or a bunch of grapes. Those items are grouped together so we can pull one out. A bundle is different - each part is securely safeguarded against slipping or falling. Nothing can slip out of a bundle!

Whose Will?

                                                              

                                                                     Whose Will?

Jesus' prayer in the Garden was "Not My will, but Thine, be done."

Most often I would rather pray, "Let my will be done."

And that gets me into trouble! The sin in my life, and probably in yours, can be traced back to pursuing our own wills, goals and desires, rather than His -- the will of our heavenly Father who made us, knows everything and plans our best in all things all the time.

So when we pray we should ask  God to reshape our will, to realign it with His Will through the Word of God.

Our hearts are inclined toward sin, rebellion and walking out of step with God.

But God, in His infinite mercy and grace, has given us His Spirit and His Word to  reshape our will and recalibrate the desires of our hearts to bring us back into step with Him!

He always give us what we need to obey and glorify Him!

 What a great and loving Father we have!

The Promise and the Oath - part 2

The LORD promised Abraham (Genesis 15):

"I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."

But Abram said, "O LORD God, how am I to know that I am to possess it?"


How can I know for sure?


Abraham, in spite of what God had already done for him, still harbored some degree of un-faith.

In the verses before this, when God promised him numerous, countless descendants, Abraham, the text says, "believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness."

But now when it comes to the promise of the land, Abraham does not speak with such faith.

"How can I know for sure?" he asks.

This is even more telling when we notice that Abraham addresses God with His Yahweh/Covenant personal title - LORD. The Name above all Names that was synonymous with Faithfulness.

"Even though I know You are faithful and true to Your Covenant, I still need more proof," he seems to be saying.

This display of lack of faith might have made an earthly parent angry.

But God patiently and lovingly gives him a further act to assure him.

"So the LORD said to him, 'Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.'

"Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half....

"As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him....

"When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, 'To your descendants I give this land ...'"


The Oath

God told Abraham to prepare a sacrifice.

When men made a legal contract in Abraham's day,
this is the ceremony they held.

Today we write out the contract, take it to a notary
and get the signatures verified. Or take it to the court house to be filed. Or to an attorney for processing.

In those days they held this ceremony described here in Genesis (and referred to later in Jeremiah 34).

The sacrificial animals would be divided and the two pieces placed opposite each other on the ground.
(The small birds were not divided, but placed whole on opposite sides.)

Suppose one man was buying property, or live stock, from another man.

The one initiating the contract would quote the terms, the men  would join hands, and walk between the sacrificial pieces.

When they were finished the deal was done.

Both men participated in the ceremony. Both brought
something to the table - property to sell or funds to buy it.


But this ceremony was different.

Jehovah's contract with Abraham was unconditional.
He was chosen by God for His mission and blessing.

Abraham had nothing to bring to the table.

God was promising, making an oath, to Abraham.
Abraham's role was simply to believe.

So God performed the ceremony with Himself, and Abraham slept in darkness.

Hundreds of years later, there was another ceremony
at Calvary.

God gave us His unconditional oath to save us and bring us into His family, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

There is nothing we can do to fulfill that oath. It's all in God's hands.

Abraham slept in a "thick and dreadful darkness" as God performed the ceremonial oath.

At the cross as Jesus, the Perfect Passover Sacrifice,
died, "there was darkness over the whole land...while the sun's light failed" (Luke 23:44-45).


Like Abraham, we have nothing to bring to the table.



 

What is more than a simple promise? - Part 1

When God made His promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for Him to swear by, He swore by Himself, saying "I will surely bless you and give you many descendants."

And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument.

Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath.

God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us, may be greatly encouraged.
(Hebrews 6:16-18)


Notes:

1. There is no One greater for God to swear by. We go to court and swear to "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

That's our promise.

And then we add, "So help me God." That's our
oath. Two elements: a promise and an oath.

2. Those are the two unchangeable (immutable) statements in which it is impossible for God to lie: His promise and His oath.

3. Why both? Why a promise and an oath? God doesn't need to give us both. His promise is all we need.

Because He wanted to make the unchanging nature of His promise clear to the heirs of His promise(everyone since Abraham, including us) and so that we may be greatly encouraged.

Two reasons: to make sure we understand clearly what God is doing and to encourage us in our walk with God.

I notice here how patiently loving and kind God is.

He anticipated how doubt would creep in and distract us. How unbelief would blind us from seeing God's work. How fear would cause us to take our eyes of God's promises.

He remembers who we are.....


Remember Abraham?


God promises him:

 Look up at the heavens and count the stars -- if indeed you can count them...so shall your offspring be.

Abram believed the LORD and he credited it to him as righteousness....

I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of. (Genesis 15:5-7)


But Abraham, who followed God from his homeland in Ur all the way to Palestine, had a moment of doubt.

He said,

O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it? (Genesis 15:8)


What other words in God's promise would convince him? What wasn't clear? What more could God do the reassure him?

I am so comforted the see that God didn't condemn Abraham for His response.

God didn't answer in anger and tell Abraham to just forget the whole thing - go back where you used to belong and I will get someone else to work with, He could have said.

Or, I will punish you for not believing Me! Just for your sin of unbelief I will not use you to further my Kingdom, to rescue my people. You are toast, Abraham, I can't count on you! Why don't you listen to Me?

No, God did not say anything like that. But what He did do was provide a way for Abraham to witness God's confirming oath.

By that oath Abraham could understand more clearly and be greatly encouraged that His faithful God was indeed going to fulfill His promises.

He had the promise - now he gets the oath!


The Oath - see part 2

The Jesus Story - Is it really true?

The Jesus Story - Is it really true?

If we want to investigate Jesus's life, to discern whether Jesus really did live and die and rise again, to know if the Easter story contains even "a grain of history" or perhaps even the key to history, we need to go to the Gospels, the historical documents that tell Jesus's story.

These Gospels are named after their authors: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

....Two hundred years ago, some scholars began to propose that the Gospels were oral traditions and embellished with many legendary elements over the generations, and were not written down until more than one hundred years after the events of Jesus's life.

These claims have convinced many people over the years that we cannot know who Jesus really was.

There is now a countermovement going on, however.

One hundred fifty years ago it was confidently asserted that no Gospel existed before the third decade of the second century A.D.

But over the past century the evidence has become overwhelming that the Gospels were written much earlier, within the lifetime of many of the eyewitnesses to Jesus's life and death.

This has led to "faith reversals," as in the well-publicized cases of Anne Rice and A. N. Wilson.

Richard Bauckham's Jesus and the Eyewitnesses
makes, I think, the most conclusive argument that the Gospels are not long-evolving oral traditions, but rather oral histories, written down from the accounts of the eyewitnesses themselves who were still alive and active in the community.

Bauckham cites extensive evidence that for decades after Jesus's death and resurrection the people who were healed by Jesus, like the paralytic who was lowered through the roof; the person who carried the cross for Jesus, Simon of Cyrene; the women who watched Jesus being placed in the tomb, like Mary Magdalene; and the disciples who had followed Jesus for three years, like Peter and John -- all of the participants in the life of Jesus continually and publicly repeated these incidents in great detail.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote down these accounts and so we have the Gospels.

Bauckham also observes that the Gospels are too counterproductive in their content to be legends.

For example, it is astonishing that in the very foundational documents of the Christian church we would have a record that one of the greatest leaders of the church, Peter, was an enormous failure who even cursed Jesus in public.

The only reliable source for the account of Peter's denial and betrayal of Jesus would be Peter himself.

No one else could have known the details we are given.

And no one in the early church would have dared to highlight the weaknesses of its most revered and significant leader with such candor -- unless that very weakness was an important part of the story.

And unless, of course, the accounts were true.

--From King's Cross, by Timothy Keller, in Before.

The Devil Made Me Do It - The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges

From The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges


...Not only must we guard our minds, we must also guard our emotions.


We need to realize that while God most often appeals to our wills through our reason, but sin and Satan usually appeal to us through our desires.

It is true Satan will attack our reason to confuse and cloud the issues, but that is only to enable him to conquer us through our desires. This is the strategy he employed with Eve. He attacked her reason by questioning God's integrity; but his primary temptation was to her desire.

We read that Eve saw the tree was good for food; it was a delight to the eyes; and desirable for making one wise (Genesis 3:6).

Knowing that Satan attacks primarily through our desires, we should watch over them diligently and bring the Word of God to bear on them constantly.

This is not asceticism, it is spiritual prudence. Each of us should seek to be aware of how sin attacks us through our desires and take preventive actions. This is what Paul urged Timothy to do when he instructed him to "flee the evil desires of youth" (2 Timothy 2:22).



But the guarding of our desires is more than fighting a rear-guard defensive action against temptations from the world, the flesh, and the devil. We must take the offensive.

Paul directs us to set our hearts on things above, that is, on spiritual values (Colossians 3:1). The psalmist encourages us to delight ourselves in the law of God (Psalm 1:2), and it was said prophetically of Jesus, "I delight to do Thy will, O my God" (Psalm 40:8). So we see that we are to set our desires on spiritual things and delight ourselves in the law and will of God.

Normally our reason, wills, and emotions should work in that order, but since we so often reverse the order, giving attention to our desires, we must work at directing those desires toward God's will.

We must guard what enters our minds and what influences our emotions. Solomon said, "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life" (Proverbs 4:23).

David said, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word"(Psalm 119:9)

David guarded his way with the Word of God. The Bible speaks to us primarily through our reason, and this why it is so vitally important for our minds to be constantly brought under its influence. There is absolutely no short cut to holiness that bypasses or gives little priority to a consistent intake of the Bible.

From The Pursuit of Holiness, by Jerry Bridges

Man - Doesn't Need Improvement - C S Lewis

Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms.


Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realising that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor -- that is the only way out of our 'hole.'


This process of surrender -- this movement full speed astern --is what Christians call repentance.


Remember, this repentance, this willing submission to humiliation and a kind of death, is not something God demands of you before He will take you back and which He could get you out of if He chose: it is simply a description of what going back to Him is like.


If you ask God to take you back without it you are really asking Him to let you go back without going back. It cannot happen.

 -- From Mere Christianity by C S Lewis

David's Audience of One

 

                                                       David's Audience of One

When David brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem -- what a celebration!

"David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the Ark of the LORD with shouts and the sounds of trumpets...Michal, daughter of Saul, watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart. She came out to meet him and said, 'How the King of Israel has distinguished himself today disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his savants as any vulgar fellow would!'

And David said to Michal, 'It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father when He appointed me ruler over the LORD's people Israel - I will celebrate before the LORD.'"

David remembered who he was celebrating and who was his real audience  -- 

              The Audience of One! The only Audience that really matters!

We need to remember every day that our only important Audience is our Audience of One! No one else matters!

US: In George Washington's Words

 

I found dozens and dozens of references to God's Providence in George Washington's correspondence and speeches.

Here are just a few:

In a letter to Thomas Nelson, 1778

The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this [the survival of the Continental Army] that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.


In a letter to Jonathan Trumbull, 1788

We may, with a kind of grateful and pious exultation, trace the finger of Providence through those dark and mysterious events which first induced the states to appoint a general convention and then led them one after another (by such steps as were best calculated to effect the object)...That the same good Providence may still continue
to protect us and prevent us from dashing the cup of national felicity just as it has been lifted to our lips is my earnest prayer.


Speech to government leaders in Philadelphia, 1789

When I contemplate the interposition of Providence, as it was manifested in guiding us through the revolution, in preparing us for the reception of a general government, and in conciliating the good will of the people of America toward one another after its adoption, I feel myself almost overwhelmed with a sense of divine munificence.


From his First Inaugural Address, 1789

No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nations seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.


In a letter to John Armstrong, 1792

I am sure there never was a people who had more reason to acknowledge a divine interposition in their affairs than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten the agency which was so often manifested during our revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them.


In a letter to Lund Washington, 1779

I look upon every dispensation of Providence as designed to answer some valuable purpose, and I hope I shall possess a sufficient degree of fortitude to bear without murmuring any stroke which may happen either to my person or my estate from that quarter.


In a letter to William Pearce, 1794.

At disappointments and losses which are the effects of Providential acts I never repine, because I am sure the divine disposer of events knows better than we do what is best for us or what we deserve.

US - Prayers of Great Americans - George Washington's Birthday

 

O most glorious God...remember that I am but dust, and remit my transgressions, negligences and ignorances, and cover them all with the absolute obedience of thy dear Son, that those sacrifices (of sin, praise and thanksgiving) which I have offered may be accepted by thee, in and for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ offered upon the cross for me...Direct my thoughts, words and work; wash away my sin in the immaculate blood of the Lamb; and purge my heart by the Holy Spirit.

-- George Washington (1732-1799).
From a small prayer book he composed when
he was about 20 years old.

US: How to Welcome the French

In June of 1778 the British troops evacuated Philadelphia, and the colonial leaders came back to their capital city. The French had brought aid -- and there were 16 ships with 4,000 troops on the coast ready to come in and join the American forces in defeating the British.

As Congress re-convened they concentrated on how to welcome the French leader, Mons. Gerard.

Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee were appointed to "report to Congress on the time and manner of the public reception of Mons. Gerard, minister plenipotentiary Majesty of his most Christian majesty, the King of France." (plenipotentiary means that this ambassador represented the king and had been granted his full royal power and authority--the highest rank for an ambassador.)

There were several days of debate (remember the colonies were still at war but the importance of proper protocol for the "monarch" took their full attention!)

Finally the elaborate ritual was developed.

The French diplomat would bring his credentials to the President of Congress. Then he would wait for a formal audience with Congress. Two members of Congress would come, in a coach, belonging to the United States, to escort him to Congress. And then they...

shall return with the minister plenipotentiary, one Congressman giving the minister the right hand, and placing himself on his left, with the other Congressman on the front seat.

When the minister plenipotentiary is arrived at the door of the Congress hall, he shall be introduced to his chair by the two members who will stand at his left hand. Then the member first named shall present and announce him to the President and the house; whereupon he shall bow to the house and to the Congress, and they to him.

He and the President shall then again bow unto each other, and be seated, after which the house itself will sit down. Having spoken and being answered, the minister and the President shall bow to each other, at which time the house should bow, and then he shall be conducted home in the manner in which he was brought to the house.

(This congressional audience would make a good 'pop-up book').



*****************************************


I'm just thinking about how we approach God, remembering John's reaction in Revelation 1 and Isaiah's in Isaiah 6.....we should be struck with awe and a fearful awareness of His power and glory. But there is another attitude also:

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so they we may receive receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need.    Hebrews 4:16

Therefore there is no no condemnation for those who are in Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Christ Jesus; because through Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1

The Throne of Grace......This is how we approach our God...

Man-made or heavenly - Hebrews 9

For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; He entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence.

Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.

Then He would have to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people;
and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.
                             -- Hebrews 9:24-28


Before Christ came, the Jews had to depend on a human high priest who annually visited the Holy of Holies in a man-made sanctuary.

He would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of the sacrificed animal on the Mercy Seat cover of the Ark.

This critical rite was designed and ordained by God to cover the sins of His people.

But now we depend on our heavenly High Priest, Jesus Himself, who has entered once and for all into the heavenly sanctuary, with His own blood, to take away our sin.

There He represents us before God, and He always will.

We must not rely on anything in our spiritual life that is "made with hands." It cannot do the eternal work God wants to do in our lives.

The early Jews had a tabernacle, a tent, that temporarily housed the Ark of the Covenant and in  which the people worshipped and the priests offered sacrifices.

This tabernacle accompanied them in their wilderness journey and was their center of worship in the early days in Israel.

It was then replaced by Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed by the Babylonians.

When the Jews returned from their Babylonian exile, they rebuilt the temple, though on a humble scale. 

Later Herod rebuilt and embellished the Temple and it stood in architectural splendor in Jerusalem to bring awe and majesty to the Name of God.

But the Romans destroyed that temple about 40 years after Christ was crucified and it has never been rebuilt.



Things that are "made with hands," the author of Hebrews is telling us, are perishable, but the things "not made with hands" are eternal.

We must not entrust our salvation and our obedience to God to temporary, "made with hands" symbols, philosophies, and institutions around us.

Our salvation is based on the atoning work of Jesus Christ, who has entered the heavenly, eternal realm and appears right now and forever before God as our Advocate.

And we await His return as rightful King of His Creation!

V E R Y Interesting - Pharaoh Necho - Not Fast Food!

Pharaoh Necho was Egypt's leader about the time of Judah's King Josiah ---in fact, Josiah was killed in battle with Necho, which in itself is a fascinating story- See 2 Kings 22-23 (609 BC).

Anyway, from non-biblical ancient sources we learn that Pharaoh Necho (Neco) commissioned a crew of Phoenician sailors to circumnavigate Africa--from east to west--from Egypt, south and around what was later named the Cape of Good Hope, then north up around Africa and through the Pillars of Hercules (which we now call Gibraltar) and back to Egypt, reporting to Necho at the mouth of the Nile.

The trip took 3 years...that's right, 3 years!

Here's the deal about that--the ships were small, each carrying about 50 sailors. We don't know how many ships. But we do know they were row galleys. There was limited space for fresh water and food.

"Since sea-going row galleys, with little storage space, had to keep a crew of at least 50 officers and oarsmen live and healthy, this Egyptian fleet had to stop ashore when autumn came, to plant, grow and reap a crop of grain. That was their only means of solving the logistics problem."

Imagine that! They had to stop regularly for food and water, and when food was scarce, they had to stop long enough to plant and reap a crop! Determination and perseverance...do we posses these qualities these days?


I found that great information while reading Samuel Eliot Morison's The Northern Voyages.

In those days, like in the days of Christ, people often nibbled on the grain itself. When Christ and His disciples wandered through a grain field (Matthew 12) eating the grains, it upset the Pharisees. Because they would rub the grain to remove the chaff, and that was considered preparing a meal, which they were not to do on the Sabbath!

Taking the grain was not the issue - God had told His people to leave grain in the field for the poor and strangers who needed food - so they were not stealing - they were working on the Sabbath! That was the issue.

I've always been curious--dining on kernels of grain doesn't sound that great. Sounds to me sort of like eating popcorn kernels before they are popped! I guess we are all just spoiled. I prefer my grain ground and made into bread and cakes and cookies!

Waiting for a Do-Over?

  

                                                    Waiting for a Do-Over?

What Isaiah tells us:

"This is what the LORD says -- your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: 'I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to My commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the seas.'"

--Isaiah 48:17-18

IF ONLY...Why didn't I?...How I wish I had paid attention...

No, we don't get do-overs. So I can't go back and change anything. I can't redo the past.

But God in His amazing grace allows us to begin anew today, to start fresh and new, with a clean slate and softly tender heart and conscience.

A successful Christian life is a series of 'starting over agains.'

Remember 1 John 1:9 -- 'If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'

Over and over again!

So we can always have a clean slate!

Actually, isn't that a lot better than having do-overs?

Trying to be Good - C S Lewis

 

                                    Trying to be Good  -  Thoughts from C S Lewis

A Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good.

They hope, by being good, to please God, if there is one, or -- if there is not -- at least they hope to deserve approval from good men.

But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him.

He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us, just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it.

Darkness and Light

This morning I woke up hearing Beethoven's "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" -- especially these words, "Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, op'ning to the sun above....Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away...Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day...

It is overcast today, and rain seems to hover somewhere up there over us.
But our hearts are filled with eternal joy and God's true light.

I had to go back to Psalm 111 and 112 again. Lately I have been unable to focus on other Psalms -- These parallels are impossible to ignore. In Psalm 111 we see God's holiness, and in Psalm 112 we see how man can be holy -- and they are the same traits. That sure clarifies how we are to live and shape our character -- to follow God's character!

In 111 "His [God's] righteousness endures forever." In Psalm 112 "His [man's] righteousness endures forever." In Psalm 111 "He [God] is gracious and compassionate" and in Psalm 112 it says the righteous man is gracious and compassionate. And Psalm 111 tells how God shares and provides and Psalm 112 tells how righteous men are generous and share. And many more.

But I have to stop at 112:4--"Even in darkness light dawns for the upright.."
And then in Isaiah 9 we read "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."

I was one of those people -- living in darkness and then -- the Light of God dawned -- didn't arrive -- it had always been there -- but it 'dawned.'
(And that's a reason we call it the 'good news', right?)

We talk a lot about light and darkness these days. We talk about a curtain of darkness beginning to cloud over our land. Well, in a practical sense, darkness must come when the light is no longer shining. We leave a room and shut off the light.
So part of the darkness around us is because we are no longer shining. And any small flicker of a flame will dispell some darkness. (And if we all lit just one little candle?")

Now I am trying to concentrate on darkness. What do we know about it? Is it just the absence of light?

Oh, before I forget, I have to include this C. S. Lewis quote: "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everthing else."

That is part of my experience -- seeing God's light enables me to see everything else clearer.

Well, anyway, a great writer is Hugh Ross, who is a well-known astrophysicist and astronomer. He is the author of numerous books and earnest in his endeavor to teach "Creation as Science" in our universities. He has founded a Christian group of scientists called, Reasons to Believe.

So I decided to see his thoughts on darkness:
He says, "...twenty-first century discoveries about cosmic darkness have yielded the most impressive scientific evidence to date for a supernatural, super-intelligent Creator, the God of the Bible.

"In Job 38 God asks, 'Where does darkness reside? Can you take it to its places? Do you know the paths to its dwellings?' For over 3000 years no human could answer. But now astronomers know that darkness makes up 99.73 percent of all the stuff of the universe. They know that dark stuff comes in 3 forms. They've even determined where these different forms of cosmic darkness reside:

1. Ordinary dark matter - resides in halos closely surrounding galaxies of all types
2. Exotic dark matter - resides in halos closely surrounding galaxy clusters
3. Dark energy - resides everywhere, evenly distributed."

Dr. Ross goes on to say, "The precise locations and amounts of this exotic and ordinary dark matter provide exactly what's needed for a stable spiral galaxy, and advanced life is possible only in a stable spiral galaxy....spectacular evidence for supernatural, super-intelligent design. The level of fine-tuning in the dark-energy component alone is astounding. If it varied by as little as one part in 10 120th (that's 10 with 119 zeroes after it) life could not exist in the universe.
What explanation, other than the God of the Bible, can anyone give for this level of design?

Job 38 includes nearly 50 questions about nature that underscore the incomparable wisdom and power of God. Scientists today can only answer 10. And yet the answers we do know show the intricacy of God's plan, the steadfastness of God's purpose, and the magnitude of God's care for the creation, including His living creatures."

Dr. Ross points out, "What's more, each answer researchers find yields powerful new evidence for believers and doubters alike that God exists and that His Word can be trusted. Both our hearts and our minds can embrace His provision for our redemption and our eternal life with Him."

Praise God for His power and for His revelation to us, His humble creatures. We can count on His faithfulness as He has revealed Himself to us.

Just another reason to keep singing Beethoven's "Ode To Joy"

All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heaven reflect Thy rays
Stars and angels sing around Thee, center of unbroken praise,
Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea
Singing bird and flowing fountain, call us to rejoice in Thee!

Sally Lloyd-Jones - A happy/sad celebration/revival

One of my favorite books is a children's Bible story book by Sally Lloyd-Jones titled The Jesus Story Book Bible -- Every Story Whispers His Name.

I read it myself often and share it in Bible study classes.

This is how she paraphrases Nehemiah 8-10; Malachi 1, 3 and 4; and Ezra 7:

Have you ever been to a party that lasted a whole week? How about a sermon that went on all day?

Well, that's what happened to God's people after they came home from being slaves. They had forgotten how God wanted them to live, or who they were supposed to be. So Ezra and Nehemiah read them the rules God had given Moses.

But something odd happened: the more the sermon went on, the sadder they got. Why? Was the sermon that boring? No, not really. It was strange, you see. As Ezra read the book of rules, it worked like a mirror. It showed them what they were like, and they didn't like what they saw. They saw that they had not been living the way they should. They saw that they were cruel and selfish.

"We've blown it," they cried. "Now God will punish us!"


They thought they knew what God was going to do. But they didn't. Of course, they might have picked up a clue from Ezra's name, which means, "Help is here!" And an even stronger one from Nehemiah's name because his name means "God wipes away our tears."

And that, as you'll see, is just exactly what God was getting ready to do.

Ezra looked at God's children. Great, hot tears were welling up in their eyes, and streaming down their cheeks. He stopped his sermon--mid-sentence--and shut the book. "We're having a party!" he shouted.


And so that's just what they did! All week long.

"God wants us to be happy!" Ezra said.

All day they listened to stories about the wonderful things God had done for His people. How He made the world. How He gave a special promise to Abraham. How He rescued them from slavery. How He spoke to Moses and showed them how to live. How He brought them to a special land, how He rescued them -- no matter what -- time after time, over and over again -- because of His Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always Forever Love.

They remembered how God had always, all through the years, been loving His children -- keeping His promise to Abraham, taking care of them, forgiving them. Even when they disobeyed. Even when they ran away from Him. Even when they thought they didn't need Him.

Then God told His children something more...

I can't stop loving you.
You are My heart's treasure.
But I lost you. Now I am coming back for you.

I am like the sun that gently shines on you, chasing away darkness and fear and death.
You'll be so happy--
You'll be like little calves running free in an open field.

I am going to send My Messenger -- the Promised One.
The One you have been waiting for.
The Rescuer.

He is coming! So, get ready!

It had taken centuries for God's people to be ready, but now the time had almost come for the best part of God's Plan.

God Himself was going to come. Not to punish His people -- but to rescue them.

God was getting ready to wipe away every tear from every eye. And the true party was just about to begin....

Why do we worship God? C S Lewis

It's God's Will That We Worship Him      

To worship and to glorify God is to declare and demonstrate the greatness of His character.
 
After we have received the gospel of Jesus, what spurs us into worship?

We worship God in obedience to Him and because we want to.

We worship Him because we enjoy Him!


C S Lewis describes this:

     All enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise...

     The world rings with praise -- lovers praising mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game...

     I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.

              From Reflections on the Psalms,
                  by C S Lewis


All enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise....

Praise is the natural result of enjoyment.

I can't think of anything I enjoy in life that I don't joyfully praise unreservedly - a song, a bird sighting, a book, a spiritual experience - praise for things we enjoy pour out of our hearts continually, spontaneously.....

To not praise something I enjoy is to bind me in joyless chains.

It is not possible to enjoy something without expressing grateful praise.

Isn't this the heart of following Jesus: enjoying God as our Father, through Jesus Christ the Son and our Savior?

And to enjoy is to praise!

Praise not merely expresses our joy, it completes it!


When this becomes reality to us, our lives are forever changed.

Bless the Lord, O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy Name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy Name

Our Father Knows Best - Isaiah 48

This is what the LORD says -- your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

     I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what
     is best for you, who directs you in the way you
     should go.

     If only you had paid attention to My commands,
     your peace would have been like a river, your
     righteousness like the waves of the sea.
    
                    -- Isaiah 48:17-18


If only....how I wish I had...we don't get "do overs"...so I can't go back and re-do...

But God in His amazing grace allows us to begin TODAY....

Alexander Whyte said that the successful Christian life is a "series of starting agains."

So today is the first day of the rest of your (and my) life!

Where Did the Scientist Find the Theologian?

 

                  Where Did the Scientist Find the Theologian?

Robert Jastrow was a well-known and influential astronomer and physicist. He was the founder and director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and a self-described agnostic. He died in 2008. Before he died he wrote this:

     "For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason,

     the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of

     ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls

     himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who

     have been sitting there for centuries."

 

How amazing is that?

The Greatest Saint in the World - William Law

From A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, by William Law.

Who is the greatest saint in the world?

Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who gives the most alms, or is most noteworthy for temperance, chastity or justice.

It is he who is always thankful to God, wills everything that God wills, receives everything as an instance of God's goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise God for it.

All prayer and devotion, fasting and repentance, meditation, sacraments and ordinances are only ways to make the soul fit and conformable to the will of God--and to fill it with thankfulness and praise for everything that comes from God.
This is the perfection of all virtues....

You need not wonder, therefore, that I lay so much stress upon singing a psalm at all your devotions, since you see its purpose is to bring your spirit to a constant state of joy and thankfulness to God, which is the highest perfection of a holy life.

If anyone would tell you the shortest and surest way to all happiness and perfection, he must tell you to make a rule to yourself to thank and praise God for everything that happens to you. For it is certain that whatever apparent calamity happens to you, if you thank and praise God for it, you turn it into a blessing.

If you could work miracles, you could not do more for yourself than by this thankful spirit, for it heals without speaking a word, and turns all that it touches into happiness.

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

Jesus' Close Friend - Andrew - Part 2

From Part 1...


So we have seen that the New Testament only gives us 3 personal pictures of Andrew. And we see from these 3 incidents that he was a man who brought others to Christ, including his famous brother, Simon Peter.

Notes

1. Andrew's first mission field was his family. "We have found the Messiah!" he proclaimed to his brother.

Not, "we might have..", "we think we have..." "we want your opinion..."

No, he declared as clearly as a gold miner might cry out: "Eureka! I found it!"

WE HAVE FOUND THE MESSIAH!

The long-expected and longed-for Messiah, the Son of God, the Anointed of God to redeem His people had arrived!

There was no doubt in Andrew's mind.


It was true then, and it is true now, that most people who come to Christ, come because of a testimony of another family member. The biggest mission field in the world is right at our own doorstep.


2. Andrew was sure of his message because he had spent many hours with Christ. From 4 PM until the following morning he had experienced being in the presence of God. We don't know what they discussed, likely much like Jesus' words to the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24) when they reported, "were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

Andrew did not go into great explanation to Simon. He did not argue. He did not "set up" the conversation with questions and thought-provoking
scenarios. Just a statement: "We have found the Messiah!"

When we have spent time with Jesus, our hearts will "burn within us" and we will feel compelled to go to our family and friends, with fervor and confidence.


"Come and you will see," Jesus had told them. And they did.


3. What happened to Andrew? According to tradition, Andrew was crucified during the reign of Nero, about 60 AD, in Patrae, Greece. We are told he "embraced" his cross and welcomed the opportunity to suffer as Christ suffered.

A more recent legend (14th century or so) tell us that he was given (or requested) an X-shaped cross, like we see today on his icons for his position as Patron Saint of both Scotland and Russia, as well as various
old manuscript illustrations and tapestries and paintings.

Questions

1. When Andrew brought his brother to Jesus, do you think he knew he would himself take a smaller role in the group of followers around Jesus?  Did he anticipate that his brother would eclipse him in position and influence?

(Andrew is always listed in the group of disciples as one of the first four - along with Peter, James and John.)

2. Why do you think Andrew told Jesus about the young boy with a few loaves and fishes in John 6 at the Feeding of the Five Thousand event?

3. What do you admire most in Andrew's life?  What would you wish to imitate?

4. When the Greek came to Philip and asked to meet Christ, why do you think Philip went to Andrew first? Why did the Greeks approach Philip?


Philip was a Greek name, meaning, "lover of horses" and was a popular name among Greeks, probably because of Alexander the Great's famous father, Philip of Macedon, who lived in the 4th century BC.

Did Philip perhaps speak Greek? (Andrew was also a Greek name.)

AfterThoughts

Hardly anyone remembers the name of Mr. Edward Kimball. But he was a very influential man and his dedication to Christ's mission changed the lives of thousands about a hundred years ago, just as Andrew's testimony to his brother Peter changed history two thousand years ago.

Mr. Kimball was a Sunday School teacher at Mount Vernon Church (Boston) where one of his young students (age 16) was Dwight L. Moody.

On young Moody's first Sunday in class, Mr. Kimball handed him a closed Bible and told him the lesson was in John. Moody fingered the Bible, opened it and began looking for the text.

Other young boys began to react to his ignorance, making fun of him as he attempted to locate the proper place in scripture.

Mr. Kimball realized what was happening and gave him his own Bible which was already opened to the text. Moody recalled that kind act years later.

But just teaching Sunday School class was not Mr.  Kimball's full mission. He also visited with his young students and sought every opportunity to explain the full gospel message to them.

He decided to visit Moody at his work (Moody was a shoe salesman at Holston's shoe store). Kimball relates later:



    I started down to Holston's. When I was nearly
    there, I began to wonder whether I ought to go
    just then, during business hours. And I thought
    maybe my mission might embarrass the boy, that
    when I went away the other clerks might ask who
    I was and when they learned they might taunt
    Moody and ask if I was trying to make a good
    boy out of him.

    While I was pondering over it all, I passed the
    store without noticing it. Then when I found I
    had passed the door, I determined to make a
    dash for it and have it over at once.

    I found Moody in the back part of the store
    wrapping up shoes in paper and putting them
    on shelves.

    I went up to him and out my hand on his shoulder,
    and as I leaned over I made my plea, and I feel
    it was a very weak one. I don't know what words I
    used...I simply told him of Christ's love for him
    and the love Christ wanted in return. That was all
    there was to it.

    I think Mr. Moody said later that there were
    tears in my eyes. It seemed the young man was
    just ready for the light that then broke over him,
    for there in the back of that shoe store in Boston
    the future great evangelist gave himself and his
    life to Christ.


Later Mr. Moody recalled, "....here is a man who
never saw me until lately, and he is weeping over
my sins and I never shed a tear about them.

"But I understand it now, and know what it is to
have a passion for men's souls and weep over
their sins. I don't remember what he said, but I
can feel the power of that man's hand on my
shoulder here to-night."


                                  ~~~~~

Historical Marker

Historical Plaque commemorating the place where Dwight Moody was converted in 1855:

D. L. Moody
Christian Evangelist
Friend of Man
Founder of the
Northfield Schools
Was Converted to God
In a Shoe Store On
This Site
April 21, 1855

~~~~~

[Note: Notice Kimball's hesitation and second thoughts before he actually came to Moody and spoke with him. Ever feel that way?]