In the Hands of the Master Carpenter

 

In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

—2 Timothy 2:20-21

I have several articles made of wood that were finely crafted. They are among my prized possessions because of their beauty, even though they each have a useful purpose, as well. I can imagine the carpenter beginning with a rough piece of wood in which he spied some beauty even before he started. As he sawed and chiseled, rubbed, and finished the piece, it took hours of delicate and expert work.

Imagine a fine violin, a carved piano leg, an exquisite jewelry box, and Indian canoe, each built for a “noble purpose.” But, think of what the piece of wood has been through to get to the place of beauty and purpose. Can you see the floor under the carpenter’s bench, full of sawdust and wood shavings? The wood has gone through a complete transformation under the artistic hands of the master carpenter. He has cut out imperfections, chiseled away knots, and rubbed down and smoothed every inch to get rid of splinters. He has covered the piece with a carefully chosen finish.

We Christians resemble a piece of wood, carved and sanded by our Master. Theologians call this process “sanctification.” God sanctifies—or “makes holy”—those of us whom He has already called and justified. He has chosen us, not because of something He sees in us, but because He wants to fashion an instrument for His use out of our rough origins.

The process of sanctification, like the work of a carpenter, appears to us as torment and distress. Sometimes we think God has left more “shavings” on the floor than He has left the remainder of us to use. But, He understands the process much better than we, and can see the finished product: an instrument for noble purposes—His purposes.

Trusting Him in this lifelong process of sanctification, and co-operating with His means to get us there, will yield for Him the person He wants us to be. He will use us in noble and in ordinary ways to glorify Him, our Master Carpenter.

 

 

Trees

 

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

—Psalm 92:12-15

I love trees. I always have. I remember as a child lying in the grass under the huge maple in our front lawn and watching the leaves dance under the blue sky. As a teacher, I admired a line of trees that I observed every day on my way to school. I enjoy looking at the various shapes of trees, and marveling at the “perfect” contour of some of them.

As noted in the passage of Scripture at the beginning of this blog post, Psalmists particularly like the image of the tree in their poetry. In addition, the Book of Genesis speaks of two very important trees (Genesis 2:9). And, the Book of Revelation describes the River of Life in the Heavenly Kingdom with the Tree of Life on either side of the river yielding fruit. (Revelation 22:1-2).

In some places we are referred to as “oaks of righteousness.” (Isaiah 61:3). But, in the passage of Scripture at the beginning of this blog post, the righteous in Christ are likened to a palm tree. These trees are graceful and erect, standing like sentinels.

We are also compared to cedars of Lebanon. These trees exhibit strength and majesty, and of course, fragrance. Both the palm tree and the cedar tree are planted—established—in the house of the Lord. What an honored place of protection.

I love the part that says they will still bear fruit in old age, fresh and green. No craggy, dried up, fruitless boughs here! They still declare that the Lord is upright, a Rock, with no wickedness in Him. They still praise Him to all, whether verbally, or in the strength of grace that keeps them still tall and valuable to the King.

This week, let us notice the trees. Wonder at the age and glory of each one, the unique fruit, the leaves, the beauty they possess. May they remind us of our Christian sisters and brothers of all ages, and the importance they carry in Christ’s Kingdom.

 

 

God: the Mosaic Artist

 

“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.”

—1 Peter 1:6 AKJV (emphasis added)

“As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

—1 Peter 4:10 AKJV (emphasis added)

“O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.”

—Psalm 104:24 AKJV (emphasis added)

Someone once told me that in the Bible the word “manifold” means “many-colored.” Having never studied Hebrew or Koine Greek, I can only assume that this defnition is correct. But, it has often made me consider the beautiful way in which God artfully uses His grace to meet the various—or manifold—needs and trials of His people.

God perfomes very much as a mosaic artist, who chooses exquisite tiny tiles that He can see as He works. God can also envision the full masterpiece and how all those tiles fit together. He chooses the crystalline white stones that glint and shine with the light. He chooses the colorful clays that catch the eye and make us happy. He chooses bright turquoise, the brilliant reds, the sparkling purples, and the rich greens. He also chooses the inky black tiles that set off the other colored tiles, in order to lend variety and luxuriant contrast to the whole mosaic picture.

He sees the objects created by these various tiles in the picture that we never see—even though we may get just a hint of them in our lifetimes. But certainly, God envisions the total picture for which we have no eyesight, and He plans a masterpiece made from the pieces of our lives: manifold graces for the manifold trials. As 1 Corinthians 13:12 states:

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

We can be thankful that God will sometimes allow us to see the intricate work of His loving hands, as He makes something beautiful out of our confusing and seemingly helter-skelter experiences of this life. Once we graduate to heaven at the end of our lives here on earth, I can’t wait to see the many mosaics of the lives of the many believers gathered there. Then, each of us will see the artwork God is creating now, and we will surely adore the Artist, as we view His workmanship in the most magnificent gallery ever!

 

 

Harrowing Predicaments

 

“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

—2 Chronicles 20:12

On November 12, 2014, two window washers became trapped 68 floors up at One World Trade Center in New York City, when their scaffolding came loose. We hear of such events because they rarely happen: a person’s parachute doesn’t open; a trapeze artist dies from a fall because he had no net beneath him; a bridge collapses, plunging cars to the river below; or other such terrible events.

We humans try to cover all eventualities, to make sure we are never caught without the help we need in any situation. We live in a country with regulations for every “worst-case scenario.” We use seat belts in our vehicles, have smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors in our homes, receive weather alerts, equip our boats with life preservers, fly on planes with all the safety technology available: all to keep people safe in an emergency.

Regardless of the lengths to which we go in order to avoid trouble, we can’t avoid it entirely. We must deal with scary diseases, horrible accidents, injuries from war, and a host of other maladies outside of our control. We need reminding of how many times in Scripture we read the words: “Do not fear” or “Be not afraid.” Nearly every Book in our Bibles has something to say about fear in the face of overwhelming odds.

We can’t get ourselves out of serious trouble any more than those window washers could save themselves. We must learn to trust in a God who has promised to care for us, and who will show us goodness and mercy every day of our lives. This bare-knuckled kind of faith comes to us hard, and only through severe adversity. It tests our dependence on God, as well as His ability to help us.

In a book of Puritan devotional readings, I came upon this paragraph by Thomas Lye: ¹

Faith is the antidote and healer of all diseases. It allows a believer to live in the midst of death. God has extraordinary means to bear us up when ordinary ones fail. He can turn poisons into antidotes, hindrances into furtherances, and destructions into deliverances. The ravens give Elijah food. A whale becomes Jonah’s ship, and pilot too. An Almighty God can work without means. God often brings his people into such a condition that they do not know what to do. He does this that they might know what he can do. God is with his people at all times, but he is most sweetly with them in the worst of times.

God can speak peace to us in the midst of terrible circumstances. He can bring help from strange places. Quite often, those things we often fear never happen, or come in a different form than we expect, so that we are able to bear them. Hear God say, “Trust me in this. I love you!” and experience His peace that passes all understanding.

______________________

1 Lye, Thomas. In Richard Rushing (Ed.) Puritan Sermons in Voices from the Past. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009. p. 185.

 

 

In Spite Of ...

 

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

—Habakkuk 3:17-18 (emphasis added)

Faith is belief in spite of—the contradiction of sight and reason. In the Gallery of the Faithful, recorded in Hebrews 11, we read of many courageous, Spirit-filled saints, who lived out faith in spite of. A hymn reflects this sentiment: ¹

Faith of our fathers, living still,
in spite of dungeon, fire and sword.

Faith like this does not come to those who “dabble” in Christian belief. That is, those who call themselves “Christian,” or “Christ’s-ones,” but rarely work it out in powerful prayer, or by courageous action. Instead, God calls to trust Him those who will devote themselves to faithful discipleship and who will acknowledge His all-powerful hand, which He can use in response to His people’s faith. Puritan writer, Thomas Manton, states: ²

We give up the visible for invisible rewards. We do not look at the things that are seen, but unseen … Faith provides invisible supplies to endure visible dangers … Sense judges only the outside of God’s dispensations, but faith looks within the veil.

Even if everything for which we pray does not come to pass in exactly the way we hope, the truly faithful look for God’s hand and trust His ultimate wisdom in every situation. Psalm 23:4 reminds us:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

God still works miracles. We may see His power in miraculous reversals of circumstances and health. But, when we trust Him in those in spite of times, He gives miraculous grace to sustain us, to give us peace, to give us courage, to give us joy, and to give us a grateful spirit. His grace allows us to see His hand above all the circumstances. Hymn writer William Cowper wrote the following: ³

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
and rides upon the storm.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
in blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense
but trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
and scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
and He will make it plain.

God reserves His awesome power and grace for those who place their faith in Him, who pray, and then, who leave the working out of all things to Him. As we walk our walks of faith, let us determine to rely on God’s power, in spite of.

______________________

1 Faber, Frederick. “Faith of Our Fathers!” Public Domain. This Hymn is included in various Hymnals that are copyrighted by the publisher of the Hymnal. Though this citation is noted to be in the Public Domain, in the case of anyone claiming Copyright protection of this material, citation of any Copyrighted material is made on this blog post strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

2 Manton, Thomas. In Richard Rushing (Ed.) Puritan Sermons in Voices from the Past. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009. p. 59.

3 Cowper, William. “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.” Public Domain. This Hymn is included in various Hymnals that are copyrighted by the publisher of the Hymnal. Though this citation is noted to be in the Public Domain, in the case of anyone claiming Copyright protection of this material, citation of any Copyrighted material is made on this blog post strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

Please note: In all cases, any citation of any Copyrighted material is made on this blog post strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder, if any.

 

 

Flying Debris

 

They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

—Mark 4:41

Many of us watched the movie Twister that came out in 1996. Remember the flying cow? The story made for good entertainment. But, it also showed the deadly nature of the damage that flying debris from such a storm can cause. People in this movie became fascinated with tornadoes and that fascination continues in real life today. I even found a website devoted to facts about such storms. Did you know that every tornado has its own color, sound, and shape?

In 1931, a tornado in Mississippi lifted an 83 ton train and tossed it 80 feet from the track. And, speaking of flying debris, a tornado destroyed a motel in Oklahoma and people later found the motel’s sign in Arkansas!

Sometimes life can feel like a tornado. We can feel that we are caught in the path of “flying objects” that threaten to kill or maim us, and threaten to change forever the way of life we’ve known. Often, in such a “storm,” we don’t know where to run or hide. Nothing makes sense. And, even the familiar landmarks we had always used to guide our way seem to have disappeared.

The story of Jesus calming the storm, found in Matthew 8:23-27, tells us that the storm came “without warning.” Meteorologists struggle to predict tornadoes and other such deadly storms. These storms appear suddenly with little time to warn people in their path.

So, what does Scripture tell us about surviving storms, whether we get hit with flying debris or not? Jesus rebuked His disciples for their lack of faith. He wants us to trust Him and remain at peace—hardly an easy task when we see the terrifying objects swirling around us.

In Matthew 7:24-29, Jesus told His disciples:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Notice Jesus insists that in order to stay standing when “the winds blow and beat against the house,” we need to build a strong foundation of hearing God’s written Word and obeying it.

I like the story of Elijah who had fled to Horeb. He was fleeing a “storm” in his own life. But, the Lord had an even bigger lesson for this prophet. In 1 Kings 19:11-12 we read:

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. [that is: a still, small voice].

Sometimes it seems that storms come one on top of the other. And, we cannot get our bearings, even enough to hear what God says to us. But, we can be assured that He will stay with us in the boat. He does cover us in the wind and in the earthquake and in the fire. Eventually, we will hear His voice speaking peace to us: “Everything is under my control. Don’t fear the flying debris. My love surrounds you!”

 

 

Stitch by Stitch

 

“Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior and my hope is in you all day long.”

—Psalm 25:4

Having spent fifty-plus years of my life in a school setting, I tend to think like both a teacher and a learner. My natural bent toward learning forces me to think in a sequential way about understanding, processing, and retaining knowledge. And, on top of that, my experience as a musician reinforces the notion that learning is longitudinal—that is, over a period of years.

No one has ever received the maximum benefit from learning a musical instrument if they take a lesson every six months and rarely practice. Nor, can a person enjoy success by taking lessons from one teacher for a brief time and then jumping to another teacher. The budding music student must carefully and deliberately follow a long, slow process, in order for learning to properly progress from foundational, to detailed, and onward to become specifically more complicated, as time goes by.

How should we study the Scriptures? In the same very careful and deliberate way: in a long, slow, sequential manner over many years. In Psalm 1:2, the Psalmist says that the blessed man …

… delights in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

Creative teaching, with a carefully crafted and enjoyable methodology, will tend to produce eager learners, who don’t mind the perseverance they need to complete the process. And, the deliberate process will increase the effectiveness of the learning.

I note that during Colonial times in America, out of necessity, women taught their daughters to sew. The women would have their daughters practice by doing counted cross-stitch patterns with thread and cloth. These patterns taught not only useful stitching, but also taught letters, numbers, and Scripture verses. Each such lengthy project would allow these young girls to concentrate on God’s written Word, while they slowly improved their sewing skills.

I’m not proposing that we all learn to cross-stitch in order to learn God’s written Word. But, I am suggesting that each of us should make an effort to discover a pleasant way that will help us learn more effectively. Then, we should use that method to “meditate day and night” on God’s written Word.

Most people learn best using one of three ways: visually, aurally, or physically. Something learned in the style best suited to the individual will help him or her retain what he or she intends to learn. Some learn best by journaling, or in some other way that uses their hands to learn. Others like to listen to God’s written Word as they work or exercise. Others learn best by reading aloud, or by quoting passages of Scripture as they drive. I’ve known still others who like to paraphrase portions of the Bible to hide the written Word deep inside themselves.

The Apostle Paul, writing in Philippians 1:6 and speaking about God, tells us that:

He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

God, our ever present heavenly Tutor, wants to partner with us as we learn His written Word and put it into practice. “Stitch-by-stitch,” day by day, God opens His truths to us. Just as, over time, many children enjoy the learning process, may we each make time to find the exquisite delights of learning God’s written Word all the days of our lives.

 

 

It Takes All Kinds

 

God does not judge by external appearance.

—Galatians 2:6

I remember Cordelia as a woman from my childhood who attended my little country church. Cordelia stood out among the farm women in the congregation. As she sat in the pew, Sunday after Sunday, her trim figure displayed showy, colorful clothing, topped off with large stylish hats. Cordelia’s husband wasn’t a farmer like most of the men of the congregation either. They lived in a tidy little ranch house at the edge of the small nearby town. Cordelia painted in oils, and she had quite a reputation for her artistry. Yet, here she sat with her red fingernails, in her mink stoles that intrigued me with the mink’s beady eyes, and her “just-so” demeanor.

I wonder if the Early Church, described in the Book of Acts, had characters like Cordelia—just a little out of place style-wise, but perfectly at home in God’s house. I think I’ve found such a woman in Acts 16. Her name was Lydia. She was a Gentile from Thyatira in Asia. She was known as a “seller of purple.” She apparently had means, influence, and a large enough house to serve as the church meeting place in Philippi.

This woman, if not the very first, must have been one of the first converts to Christianity in the continent of Europe. As soon as the Lord opened her heart, she and her household were baptized, and immediately she offered hospitality to the evangelistic team who had come to their region. Her life had been changed by her coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ, through the ministry of the Apostle Paul.

Sometimes Christians pre-judge others by their outward appearance, by how they “fit in and look the part.” Writing in Galatians 2:6, the Apostle Paul makes it clear:

God does not judge by external appearance.

Also, in 1 Samuel 16:7, the Lord said to Samuel:

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

Wouldn’t it be fun to find a “Lydia” right smack-dab in the middle of our church who doesn’t “look” like we might expect her to look? Be alert! There probably is a one-of-a-kind, genuine, disciple there, who doesn’t look the part—at least as we would see it. God may have some wonderful surprises ahead. We must remember that God doesn’t see things the same way we do.

 

 

Space to Grow

 

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

—Philippians 1:6

I laugh about it now, but when I was five, having to wear high top black PF Flyers for gym class embarrassed me to death. Since I was the oldest child in the family, and my mother had no knowledge of what “gym shoes” should look like for little girls, she drove me to the country store and picked out a pair that would fit me for two or three years. I could “grow into them.” Remember, too, that in the 1950s little girls never wore slacks to school. So, my sporty look—offset by these odd gym shoes—while it might be very “in” today, mortified me then.

My mom expected me to grow. She never questioned whether my feet would eventually fit properly in those shoes. In fact, if I hadn’t matured appropriately by age seven or eight, my parents would have spent all the money they had to find me a doctor to help me develop like normal children.

God expects us to grow, too. In fact, Paul wrote the following in Philippians 1:6:

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

God will provide opportunities for our growth. And, He will help us along. In 2 Peter 3:18, the Apostle Peter instructed believers to:

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Similarly, in Luke 2:52, Jesus, Himself, was said to have grown:

… in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. …

Spiritual growth, then, is a normal expectation for believers. Yet, there seems to be many people who claim to be Christians, but lack the evidence that they have grown into their own spiritual “PF Flyers.” If we find ourselves in this group, we must understand that some of the onus falls on us for this lack of growth. The author of the Book of Hebrews scolded Christians in his day by stating in Hebrews 5:12-14:

Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!…Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

What better evidence of a healthy child are growing feet? What better evidence of a healthy Christian is step-by-step growth into mature faith?

If we feel in need of a “growth hormone,” we should start by setting a regular time for reading the Bible and for daily prayer. We should determine to make it a habit to be in church for both Christian Education class and for the Worship Service every week. These steps are critically important because while God provides the means for growth, we remain responsible to take full advantage of what He provides for us.

 

 

The Wail

 

“And he [Joseph] wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.”

—Genesis 45:2

“With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.”

—Mark 15:37

Other-earthly; prolonged and deathly; loud and terror-ridden—this sound came from Joseph’s body, up from the depths of his soul, when he revealed himself to his brothers. This unnatural act of forgiveness came with a terrible cost: months and years of heratbreaking turmoil.

Philip Yancey perfectly expresses this occasion: ¹

The brothers Joseph struggled to forgive were the very ones who had bullied him, had cooked up schemes to murder him, had sold him into slavery. Because of them he had spent the best years of his youth moldering in an Egyptian dungeon. Though he went on to triumph over adversity and though with all his heart he now wanted to forgive these brothers, he could not bring himself to that point, not yet. The wound still hurt too much.

I view Genesis 42 - 45 as Joseph’s way of saying, “I think it’s pretty amazing that I forgive you for the dastardly things you’ve done!” When grace finally broke through to Joseph, the sound of his grief and loved echoed throughout the palace. What is that wail? Is the king’s minister sick? No, Joseph’s health is fine. It was the sound of a man forgiving.

Now, change the scene. In your mind, see Jesus during the last twenty-four hours of His life. During Jesus’ time in the Garden of Gethsemane, He fought in prayer with His Father:

“Would You possibly take this dreadful task away from me? If not, I will bow to Your will.”

Jesus prayed until He could agree with the Father’s will. This pain had to run its course. This death had to take place. There was no other way. In order to fully love us, Jesus willingly agreed to the Father’s plan. On the cross, in tortuous agony, Jesus gave Himself for the sins of all the people who had ever lived, all the people who were currently alive, and all the people who would ever live on the earth.

What is that wail? Listen! Hear that horrible sound! The terror of Jesus’ outcry graphically illustrates that He was born, would live, and willingly died for us all. The wail revealed the sound of the only Son of God, this perfect Man, forgiving—forgiving us!

Jesus asks us to forgive others as He forgave. We bow in prayer during this day after the celebration of Christ’s resurrection to ask for His grace that will allow us the healing that comes from His wail and from our own.

______________________

1 Yancey, Philip. What’s So Amazing About Grace? Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997. Pp. 84-85. Citation of Copyrighted material is made on this blog post strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

 

What Will We Do?

 

	“Leave her alone.” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me …  She did what she could. She poured perfume for my burial.”
	—Mark 14:6, 8

Jesus reprimanded those who complained about this woman’s gesture and told them that what she had done in anointing His body for burial would be remembered wherever the Gospel is preached. This passage of Scripture makes it clear that: “She did what she could.”

In John 19:23-24, we find these words:

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

We don’t know the source of that seamless garment, but it must have been the finest of all of Jesus’ possessions. Jewish tradition called for a mother to make a robe like this for a son just before the time when he left home. Did Jesus’ mother, Mary, make it for Him? Indeed, if she did: “She did what she could.”

In Luke 23:50-53, the Scripture records:

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.

This man had come at the risk of his own life and and at the risk of his credibility with the Jewish leaders. With determination and without fear: “He did what he could.”

In the events of this momentous week—Holy Week—we also read in Mark 16:1-2:

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb.

They rose early in the morning. Ministering the rite of burial to Jesus’ body was the foremost thing on their minds. It could most certainly be said of these women that, out of deep love for Christ: “They did what they could.”

Just as Jesus gave Mary from Bethany the honor of being remembered wherever the Gospel is preached, so Joseph of Arimathea and the women at the tomb are honored with their stories that will cause them to be remembered for all eternity. At the time, they probably thought each gift they gave was an insignificant part of the story. But, we can be certain that God saw and rewarded each one of them.

Out of love for Christ and for His sacrifice for us, what gift of obedience, time, talent, and treasure will we give? Will it be said of us: “We did what we could”?

 

 

Access

 

“He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”

—Ephesians 2:17-18

It’s not much of a perk, but I have security access at the hospital where I volunteer. Yes, my badge will get me into wings of the building where visitors cannot go. Similarly, those who have business in highly secured government buildings must go through lengthy security clearances, so that they can have access to all areas where they must enter. They must show a badge or other certified proof of their right to enter.

When Jesus died on the cross and cried in a loud voice His final words, Matthew 27:51 records:

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

But what did the tearing of the temple curtain have to do with Jesus’ death? D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains: ¹

The temple at Jerusalem was divided into different places or courts. The most important place was the “holiest of all,” the innermost sanctuary, where the presence of God was revealed in the Shekinah glory over the mercy seat. And into that “holiest of all,” into the very presence of God, only one man was allowed to go. That was the high priest, and he only went in once a year.

Then there were the courts. The outermost court of all was called the “Court of the Gentiles.” They were the furthest away from God! They were not even allowed into the “Court of the People,” the Court of the Jews. The ordinary Jews were not allowed to go where the high priest went … They who were furthest away have been brought in, have been made nigh, in a most amazing manner … This is the position of all who are Christian.

For us who have been born anew into God’s Kingdom, what does this statement above mean? We now, by the gift of God’s grace, have an “access code” to the Father without any human intermediary. Jesus Himself became the eternal intermediary, in His role as our very own High Priest.

Hebrews 10:19-22 gives us this good news:

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.

Jesus, by way of the cross, changed His “Throne of Judgment” into a “Throne of Grace.” We may, at any time—along with any Jews or Gentiles who claim Christ’s clearance—go to the Father directly in prayer. We no longer are treated as strangers, but rather we are welcomed as sons and daughters. We have access into the Holy of Holies, and have fellowship with God. What a wonderful Easter gift!

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1 Lloyd-Jones, D.Martyn. God’s Way of Reconciliation. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1972. p. 182. Citation of Copyrighted material is made on this blog post strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

 

The Cup

 

“This is what your Sovereign Lord says, your God, who defends his people: See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again.”

—Isaiah 51:22

Often in our culture, we lift a cup in celebration. That use of a cup signifies light-hearted camaraderie. Not so the cup in Scripture. Here, most often, the cup represents suffering arising from the wrath of God. In Matthew 20:20-22, the mother of Zebedee’s sons, James and John, came to Jesus, asking if He would grant her the honor of having her sons sit on either side of Him in His Kingdom. His response:

“You don’t know what you are asking.” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”

When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, we read in Matthew 26:39:

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

The cup indicates the retribution for sin that God needed to “pour out” on Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. He, the perfect and sinless Lamb, obeyed God’s plan and drank that cup for us.

In our Christian tradition, we pass the cup to one another during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper—the Sacrament of Holy Communion. We are part of the Body of Christ, and we need each other in the suffering of discipleship.

From Seek Treasures in Small Fields by Joan Puls, ¹ I read the following:

Draining the cup of suffering is the final test of our sincerity in claiming discipleship. We can expect no right or left hand seats of honor, no prerogatives of power or monopoly on truth, no thrones, no outsiders. But we can have the privilege of holding one another, broken and bruised, in the embrace of our circle, of keeping watch with the dying or keeping vigil with the condemned, of walking alongside the exiled and the weary, of standing at the foot of the cross, not in despair or in bitterness, but open to the miracle of the pending resurrection.

Because Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath for us, in the presence of our community of faith, we can drink our own cup of suffering that connects us to Him.

This Lenten season, when you take the cup, as part of the Lord’s Supper, feast upon His obedience for our sake, and commit yourself to accept the cup He has given you, as part of the fellowship of His sufferings. May we be able to say with Paul, as he wrote in Philippians 3:10:

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

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1 Quoted in Shawchuck, Norman and Rueben P. Job. A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God. Nashville, TN: Upper Room Books, 2003. Citation of Copyrighted material is made on this blog post strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

 

All Will Be Well

 

“Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever.”

—Deuteronomy 5:2

When everything seems to go wrong, when life gets really hard, when disappointment and pain accompany us every day, do we, as adults, just wish our loving parent would come and soothe our worries by taking over and making things right? We long for these words: “Everything will be okay.”

When my younger sister learned she had a very aggressive cancer that might take her life, she said to her weeping grandchildren, “I’ll be okay. And, even if I’m not, everything will still be okay.” In other words, God will work everything out as we hope. Or, He will work out everything to go well, just as He has planned.

We read in Isaiah 3 about the judgment God was about to bring on Jerusalem and Judah. He warned them that supplies of food and water would dry up, the military, legal, and governmental supports would become destroyed. He warned about oppression and disaster. Yet, He tells His people this in verse ten:

“Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.”

Even when all seems hopeless, we can trust God to bring good out of any evil. In His goodness, He rewards our faith with joy and peace. Our Heavenly Father comes and assures us that He has everything under His control. And, because this is so, it will be well.

Let us allow this hymn text to encourage our faith today, no matter what our circumstances might be: ¹

Through the love of God, our Savior,
All will be well;
Free and changeless is His favor,
All, all is well.
Precious is the blood that healed us,
Perfect is the grace that sealed us,
Strong the hand stretched out to shield us,
All must be well.

Though we pass through tribulation,
All will be well;
Ours is such a full salvation,
All, all is well.
Happy when in God confiding,
Fruitful if in Christ abiding,
Holy through the Spirit’s guiding,
All must be well.

We expect a bright tomorrow,
All will be well;
Faith can sing through days of sorrow,
All, all is well.
On our Father’s love relying,
Jesus ev’ry need supplying,
Or in living or in dying,
All must be well.

______________________

1 Peters, Mary. Through the Love of God, Our Savior. Public Domain. Though this citation is noted to be in the Public Domain, in the case of someone claiming Copyright protection of this material, citation of any Copyrighted material is made on this blog post strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

 

 

Becoming a Bridge

 

“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.”

—Psalm 68:19

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

—Galatians 6:2

Did you ever stop to think what your life would be like without bridges? People who live near rivers, or even swamp land, would have a nearly impossible time getting to work, or to common shopping areas, without the bridges that span the water. We can all be grateful for the continual burdens that bridges carry to allow us ease in our daily lives.

Have you ever been a bridge for another person? As such, you became their help in traversing a tough spot in life, or helped them move on to the other side of a difficulty. I can’t help but think of the Paul Simon lyrics from a song ¹ on the 1970 Simon & Garfunkel album, Bridge Over Troubled Water:

When you’re weary, feeling small.
When tears are in your eyes, I’ll dry them all.
I’m on your side, oh, when times get rough,
And friends just can’t be found.
Like a bridge over troubled water,
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water,
I will lay me down.

Certainly, we followers of Jesus should act as a willing bridge for those who need us to help carry them to wholeness. After all, we have the example of a God who bears us through this life, and of a Savior who bridged the gap on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.

Sometimes it even becomes necessary to act as a covered bridge for others: protecting them from more winds of adversity and from the cruel and bitter sting of sin and shame. Such people need the hospitality and healing of a safe and guarded place. And from time to time, God calls us to offer this solace to His hurting children. As Jesus told us in John 15:13:

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

The next time you drive over an expansive bridge, or see a covered bridge, remind yourself that, just as we sometimes need bridges to arrive at our next destination, so Christ may have need for us to become a bridge for someone else on their journey through life.

______________________

1 Simon, Paul. “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” New York: Sony Music Publishing LLC, 1970. Citation of Copyrighted material is made on this blog post strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

 

Buried Treasure

 

“If you look for it [wisdom] as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”

—Proverbs 2:4-5

Don’t we all remember stories from our childhood about buried treasure? Reading such accounts, we wished we could be surprised to find some rare and expensive fortune in our backyards. Yet, God clearly entices us to search His written Word for jewels that He has waiting for us within those precious pages.

To find most buried treasure takes work. Those seeking the treasure must search diligently and, hopefully, dig up that treasure. Similarly, it takes work for us to diligently comb the depths of the Scriptures and “dig up” the marvelous truths stored there. Puritan writer, George Swinnock, puts it this way: ¹

Precious things cannot be had without the greatest difficulty. They that desire great reward must run through many dangers. Nature herself will not bestow her precious treasure without much labor. Dirt lies common in the streets, but gold is buried deep in the earth. Stones may be found everywhere, but pearls are hidden in the bottom of the sea.

As with buried treasure, to find the deep truths in Scripture we need the element of discovery. Please let me illustrate this truth:

In 2 Kings 22, we read that a young King Josiah instructs his men to supervise the renovation of the temple in Jerusalem. Verse 8 of this passage describes that as they worked:

Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.”

What follows this verse is a description of the revival and renewal of the covenant that took place among God’s people. The discovery of God’s written Word literally changed the society in which these people lived.

Today, not only should we seek the hidden truths of Scripture, but we should also meditate, rejoice, and determine to follow what we learn there. In the longest chapter of the Bible, Psalm 119—which line-upon-line expounds the glories of God’s written Word—in verse 11, we read:

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.

Beyond just discovery, there exists the obligation for us to obey what we find in God’s written Word. We discover the treasure, not to merely enrich ourselves, but in order to purposefully live out the precepts given there, in order bring glory to God.

As an exercise of “digging for buried treasure” in God’s written Word, let’s take one loaded verse we find and meditate on each word within that text. Then, seeking definitions and exploring the ramifications, let’s look for examples in Scripture that make that particular verse come to life. Next, we should pray the words of the verse. Finally, we should memorize the text from that verse: planting God’s truth in the depths of our hearts and minds.

As we spend time doing this spiritual discipline, uncovering deep truths, we will very likely exclaim as Hilkiah the high priest did: “I have found it!” Have fun digging!

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1 From “Works” by George Swinnock, as quoted in Rushing, Richard, editor. Voices from the Past. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009. p. 308.

 

 

The Gourd and the Worm

 

Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish… [Jonah] answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”

—Jonah 1:3, 9

Jonah was proud of his Hebrew heritage, and he considered himself a prophet of the Most High God. Yet somewhere, as he traveled the road of his life, he lost his way. Jonah’s attitude changed, and he began to care less about God’s will than he cared for his own selfish will.

Yet God, in His faithfulness—faithfulness not only to the Ninevites to whom He had sent Jonah, but to Jonah himself—took extraordinary measures to discipline his servant Jonah. The Hebrews hated the Ninevites and would have rather seen them destroyed by God than saved. Jonah bought into this cultural opinion. Therefore, Jonah turned away from helping the Ninevites in prophesizing to them and facilitating their return to God in repentance. Instead by ship, Jonah headed in the opposite direction.

Even after God called Jonah a second time and he reluctantly obeyed, Jonah became very angry that the people of the wicked city of Nineveh turned and repented. So, he sat down outside of the city and pouted.

In kindness, as Jonah experienced the extreme heat of the day, God provided for Jonah by causing a gourd with large foliage to protect Jonah from the sun and scorching wind. This vine became the only thing in this story that made Jonah happy. Then, God did something that again made Jonah angry: God sent a worm to eat the gourd, causing the foliage shading Jonah to wither and die.

God went to extreme lengths to call His wayward servant, Jonah, back to Himself. What a readjustment Jonah needed! God used a storm, a fish, a gourd, and a worm to call Jonah back into the center of God’s will for Jonah’s life. If God would do this for Jonah, we can be assured He will not let us disobey and turn from what He has called us to do. God is faithful. He will keep us from going and straying away from Him. Please note the Scripture passage found in 2 Thessalonians 3:3 that tells us:

But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

God expects of us, His servants, today the same thing He expected of Jonah: complete obedience to God’s perfect will for our lives. And, God will not let us focus more on our own comforts than we focus on His sovereign plan for us. God will direct us to the best that He intends for us, even if He has to provide a “gourd and a worm” to do so!

 

 

Our Inheritance

 

“Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

—2 Timothy 4:8

My mother wrote my name on a label attached to a baby blanket that she had kept for me from my Grandmother’s items. My other Grandmother put my name on a pendant watch that came from my Great Grandmother’s estate. Although I never sacrificed to pay any price for them, I claimed them as my own. Why? Because my name appeared on them.

If we call ourselves “Christians” because we believe in the work of Jesus on the cross, we all can lay claim to an inheritance that consists of salvation from our sins, and of the blessing of eternal life because the blood of Jesus has placed our names on these great gifts from God. Although we did not sacrifice to pay any price for these precious items, they have become ours, as a gift of God through His Son, Jesus.

As Charles Haddon Spurgeon explains:

There is one crown in heaven which the angel Gabriel could not wear; it will fit no head but mine. There is one throne in heaven which Paul the Apostle could not fill; it was made for me, and I shall have it. ¹

The Psalmist David assures us, too, of our inheritance—some of which we may even enjoy in this life. Read these words from David, as he speaks to God, found in Psalm 31:19:

How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you.

Whenever we travel, it reassures us when we hear that someone has reserved a room for us, or has put our name on a rental car reservation, or even has bought us a ticket to an event. We will have every right to claim those items when we arrive. In just the same way, God is storing up for us a place. Along with that place, He has reserved special items that will surprise us. He has reserved these special gifts out of the inheritance planned before the foundation of the world. As the Apostle John shares these words of Jesus, found in John 14:1-3:

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Truly, when we see our names written in “The Lamb’s Book of Life” by our Savior, we will rejoice in the goodness and amazing love our Lord has shown toward us. Praise His name!

______________________

1 Spurgeon, Charles Haddon, Morning and Evening. McLean, Virginia: MacDonald Publishing Company, Public Domain. p. 20. Citation of Copyrighted material is made on this blog post strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

 

Enjoy the Simple Gifts

 

“How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all … When you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.”

—Psalm 104:24, 28

Out the children came: mouths open, tongues out, excitement showing on every face. I stood by the front door of the school doing my daily end-of-the-day bus duty. As though playing from some script, over and over again, the children ran out of school into the newly fallen snow with the same reaction: cries of delight, eyes skyward, they couldn’t have been happier.

The adults—teachers, aides, custodians, and bus drivers—reacted with far less joy. We complained and worried about the drive home. Snow offers a challenge and we found nothing so gleeful in it.

Thinking about those long-ago days, I wonder which group pleased the Lord more. God must have looked with pleasure, as the children enjoyed this gift He’d brought to an otherwise ho-hum school day.

As I watched the children’s reaction and delight, God reminded me of the many simple gifts we receive from His wonderful creation. And, I also remembered His kind and gentle way with children. God gives us the happy spirits of children to remind us of life’s simple pleasures, and to remind us of the beauty He constantly provides around us.

Watching the joy of the children, I breathed this simple prayer:

“Thank you, Lord, for revealing the beauty that I wouldn’t have seen except for these gleeful children.”

As we live through the gray, lifeless, even challenging days of winter, let us determine to look for the beauty and wonder that the children see. When we do so, we may find that we, too, can find enjoyment in God’s simple gifts.

 

 

Cruise Control

 

“In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”

—Proverbs 3:6

I know people who like using the cruise control in their vehicles. Not me! There’s something about trusting myself and my passengers to a computer that maintains a constant speed, as we rocket down the highway, that makes me very uncomfortable. From moment to moment, I would much rather manually control my own pace.

My attitude towards cruise control makes me think about our lives, as we travel with God “at the wheel,” so to speak. We often feel quite uncomfortable surrendering the controls to Him, too. Yet, there comes a time when He asks all of us to trust Him with the “steering wheel,” the “accelerator,” the “brake,” and all other “controls” we may have over our lives—especially when the road we are on in our lives isn’t clear, and when our visibility seems especially poor!

We are not alone in allowing God to take the control of our lives: think of Abraham, as an example. In Hebrews 11:8 we read:

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”

Now that’s giving up control! The Bible tells us of other times in Abraham’s life when he trusted God’s leading, even though it must have made more sense to do something else. We see the reason why we call Abraham the “Father of our Faith.” His faith in God controlled his actions, time and again. And, because of his trust in God, Abraham saw magnificent acts of God’s power and love.

When we read the account of Abraham’s life, we also clearly see that those occasions when he did not choose to obediently take his hands off the “wheel” of his life, and surrender to God’s control, were the very times that he faltered. The consequences of those few times when Abraham pushed God’s hands out of the way, and all-too-eagerly grasped the wheel for himself, have reverberated down through the pages of history, right up to the present day.

It always helps to remember the One who controls the “wheel.” While good driving for me may mean disengaging the cruise control, good faith means putting all we see and can’t see through the “windshield” of our lives totally in the control of our God. We can rely on His vision, His hearing, His wisdom, His reflexes, and, of course, His unfailing love.

Let us join together in learning to “cruise” through this life giving up control of our lives to the One who knows us the most and loves us best. God is the One whom we can always trust to see what’s around the corner of the road ahead. There are no accidents on the road He chooses for us. And, though it may seem rough, narrow, steep, and dangerous at times, it is always in our very best interest to leave the “driving” of our lives to Him!

 

 

Of Ill-Repute

 

“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”

—John 1:46

“Abused,” “treated harshly,” “neglected,” “given a bad reputation,” “emotionally tormented,” “rejected”—each of these labels can far too often apply to someone for whom it seems all hope is lost. But with God, there is always room for redemption and restoration.

“Of the Sons of Korah.”

Have you seen that inscription as you’ve read through the Psalms? In fact twelve of the Psalms bear that heading. To see the point and the glory of those particular Psalms, it helps to know the history of these men: the Sons of Korah.

In Numbers 16, we read the story of a rebellion by some Israelite men in the Jewish camp traveling to the Promised Land from Egypt. Verses 1-3 tell us that they:

… became insolent and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”

Moses tried to reason with the men, to give them pause because of all that the Lord had done for them, and to warn them. Then, he called for them to meet with the Lord carrying their censers for incense. In verses 31-32, after Moses prayed and finished speaking:

… the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah’s men and all their possessions.

From that time on, no one forgot the judgment of the Lord on Korah and the other men. Yet, when we read in Psalms these creative songs of the Sons of Korah, we realize that God showed His grace to the family line. Even though they lived with the reputation of the terrible incident that had happened so many generations before, God used the Sons of Korah to glorify Himself and bless all those who, subsequently, have ever read their words. I like what the late Dr. James Montgomery Boice writes about this: ¹

For some reason the Sons of Korah were spared, and it seems from their later employment that, in gratitude to God and his mercy, they must have dedicated themselves to producing and performing the music used to praise God at the wilderness tabernacle and later in the temple in Jerusalem. This interesting fact is a reminder that there can be devout children of reprobate fathers, as well as devout fathers with reprobate children, and that no child needs to be kept from serving God because of his or her parents’ sins.

This story must hearten those who have lived, harboring a dark past, with remembrances of abusive or ungodly parents, or with remembrances of poverty and meaninglessness. God can take even the most damaged people and use them for His glory. Out of their brokenness, He can place the wonderful light of His divine presence, so that they gleam like shards of glass in the sunlight. Even Jesus had to live down the reputation of his hometown. Nazareth has been described as a place that:  ²

… stood in disrepute, generally attributed to the people’s lack of culture and rude dialect … [The people] had a bad name among their neighbors for irreligion or some laxity of morals.

God calls us to “redeem” those things in our lives ruined by sin—to “salvage” them, even as He has salvaged us from the penalty for our sins. We should rejoice in God’s ability to “make lemonade” out of all the “lemons” we have given to Him because of our unfaithfulness and our sins. He wants to show forth from our lives His powerful ability to transform that which others would condemn. Praise be to God!

______________________

1 Boice, James Montgomery, Psalms: An Expositional Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996. Vol. 2, pp. 366-367.

2 Unger, Merrill F., Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Chicago: Moody Press, 1961. p. 779.

 

 

A Prepared Place

 

“From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”

—Acts 17:26

“Number 10 B Dutch Way”—my Mom’s last address before she left us for Heaven. She only lived four other places during her entire eighty-nine years of life. This last address identified her room and bed number in a nursing home. A year before, we would never have considered choosing that kind of “home” for her last days. When we saw that particular room—the one bed available in the facility, right by a window—we knew it was a perfect room for her.

My Mom loved birds and trees and nature in general, having always lived on a farm. Even here she could look out over the lawn, and after my brother-in-law brought her bird feeder and placed it just outside her window, she could enjoy a few last days in a very comfortable place—a prepared place just right for her.

I have always been fascinated by Acts 17:26, as stated above. This verse gave me assurance at a time, early in our marriage, when we had to make a very sudden move from a nice apartment. The owner had decided to transform our apartment into a condominium. We could not afford to buy this place we had lived in four years. We had just a few days to find a new place to live.

We looked high and low for a place to accommodate the two of us. We finally found a rental condominium through some miraculous answers to prayer. Little did we know that within a few months, my husband’s father would die and his mother would need to come to live with us. Suddenly, we needed all of the additional space this new living place provided. We could never have anticipated this need. But, not only did God prepare it for the two of us, He prepared it for my husband’s mom, as well.

The Apostle John talks about the way that God is preparing a place for us, His children, in Heaven. The Apostle writes in John 14:2:

“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”

When we read that God prepares a place for us, after this life on earth ends, I think it is also safe to assume that He pledges to take care of every place in which we need to live until He calls us home to be with Him forever. Like a loving Father, He watches over us and reassures us that He will make certain we will always have a place prepared for us!

Though we may not have to think about finding a new place to live very often in our lives, it can become a most stressful time when it happens. If you need a new home, or a loved one does, trust God to take care of this need. Surely, our God who said He would take care of our need for food and for clothing in Matthew 6:25-34, will also take care of providing us a place that He has prepared just for us.

 

 

While Looking for Donkeys

 

Now the donkeys belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.”

—1 Samuel 9:3

In my own experience, the surprising event described in the Scripture passage above might as well have read:

“Now, while she was vacuuming the bedroom.”

In just such a setting, a life-changing phone call came to me from a music supervisor—whom I did not know personally—from a nearby town. A recently hired music teacher had resigned. They needed a long-term substitute. I later learned that she had resigned because of the behavior of the unruly students.

I took the position on a temporary basis. Two months later based on a recommendation from that music supervisor, the superintendent of schools offered me a full-time job. And, 26 years later, I retired from that same school system.

Scripture shows us many examples of the way God turns the lives of ordinary people in a new direction. Saul, the son of Kish, while looking for donkeys, came upon the prophet Samuel, whom God had prepared to look for a candidate to become king. To Saul’s complete surprise, he received an invitation to dinner and a proposal to become the first king of Israel.

Another man, shepherding the flock of his father-in-law, was jolted out of a hum-drum day with the sight of a burning bush. Drawing near, he heard a call from God to help deliver the Israelites from servitude in Egypt and lead them through the wilderness for forty years. You can read this story of Moses beginning in Exodus 3.

Then, in Genesis 24, we read of Rebekah. She had a custom of drawing water at the well with the other women of her village during the evening. One evening, as she went about what she believed was a normal task to obtain water, she met a man sent by the prophet Abraham to search for a wife for his son Isaac. God led this servant to her. The servant convinced Rebekah of God’s call, and took her back to become part of the patriarchal family, whose line eventually produced the Messiah.

We do well to consider the ways in which God has made critical “turns” in our lives. Most of these cannot be explained away as coincidences. They happen as God’s sudden way of answering prayer, or introducing us to a new place in which to serve Him.

Whether or not we realize it, God prepares us over a long period of ordinary, routine days. He hears every prayer and has a way in which He answers. Sometimes He does so with an extraordinary occurrence. Other times, He answers with the word, “Wait!”

Have you prayed and prayed until you begin to think God has ignored your requests and that, for some reason, His answer must be “No!”? Instead of becoming discouraged, believe that God has you in His mind, and can turn your situation around with a remarkable twist in your daily life. Trust Him to show you His direction in astonishing ways. And, have your heart ready to receive His surprise!

 

 

Distracted

 

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

—Luke 10:41-42

Trisha was one of those children: always busy, but always attracted to the wrong things. On one visit to her classroom, I observed her moving from pencil sharpener to sink, to closet, back to her desk to play with her crayons and erasers. She did all of this in just a few short minutes of time. In the hallway one day, I watched her stop, for several moments, to stare at a piece of fuzz on the carpet. In my classroom, I required that she sit next to me in the front of the room, so that she could have a reasonable chance of paying attention to the music lesson I was sharing with her class.

Trisha usually kept quiet. Yet, her distractibility would keep everyone’s eyes on her. She seemed like such a happy child—but thoroughly happy for the absolutely wrong reasons. She allowed things to interfere with the place where her attention should focus. Not surprisingly, we can have this problem, too. Said another way: “How often do we behave like Martha in the Scripture passage above?”

Like me, have you sometimes sat down to meet with the Lord in the morning and before long found your mind on something else? Usually, when I get distracted at such times, I remember something I need to take care of in the kitchen, or an email I forgot to send. Or, worse yet, I worry about something that turns my mind away from the right and proper spiritual matters—the very purpose of my morning quiet time.

Jesus wants us to sit at His feet and listen to Him. As students ourselves, God justifiably wants us to give Him our complete and undivided attention. If we neglect to focus on Him, from where will our strength, wisdom, love, patience, and the true satisfaction of our needs come?

In Colossians 3:1-2, the Apostle Paul tells us that we have this responsibility:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

If we have difficulty concentrating on God’s voice in the morning, when we spend time alone with Him, how can we hope to hear His voice during the busy day ahead?

 

 

Searching and Finding

 

“God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”

—Acts 17:27

What child doesn’t enjoy a good hunt? From Easter eggs to a game of “Hide and Seek,” children delight in the fun of searching and finding. Frustration only sets in when the pastime becomes too difficult. Even “Where’s Waldo” ¹ can become discouraging if the red and white stripe shirt and the big round glasses don’t appear in a reasonable amount of time.

God delights in lovingly creating a sort of “Hide and Seek” game for us. God wants us to seek Him, to hunt for clues that He has written all over creation, all over our lives, and in His written Word, the Bible. He wants us to know the joy of finding Him. God has promised that if we earnestly seek Him, we will find Him. In Matthew 7:8, The Apostle Matthew quotes Jesus as saying:

For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

As another illustration of the sincere desire He looks for in seekers, Jesus told a two verse parable, as recorded in Matthew 13:45-46:

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

God wants us to seek Him and He wants us to find Him. Searching reveals our earnest desire and finding reveals our greatest joy in Him. From an old gospel hymn: ²

All my life long I had panted for a draught from some cool spring that I hoped would quench the burning of the thirst I felt within. Hallelujah! I have found Him Whom my soul so long has craved! Jesus satisfied my longings; through His blood I now am saved.

Much like it would disappoint a parent to have a child look hard for something and never find it, God waits and watches us to see if, with the sincerity of a true seeker, we hunt for Him until we find Him. Oh the joy!

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1 Handford, Martin. Where's Waldo? Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2007. Citation of Copyrighted material is made on this blog post for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder. 2 Williams, Clara Tear. “All My Life Long I Had Panted.” Hymns of Faith and Life. Winona Lake, Indiana: Light and Life Press, 1976. Citation of Copyrighted material is made on this blog post for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.