Monday 24 June 2019

He Knows Our Name.




I was reading Jeremiah when I came across this verse:

O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.  Jeremiah 7:13

I didn’t remember reading it before, but the thought came, “That is like the story of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus bend down and wrote something in the dirt. What he wrote convicted the men who wanted to stone her and they walked away from doing so.”  John Chapter 8.

Many think Jesus wrote the men’s names down and also the sins they committed. I think that is right because these men were the hypocrites of Jerusalem who were always trying to trip Jesus up so they could kill him. They were self-righteous men and yet men who did great evil. I think when Jesus wrote, the men saw how evil they were and also did not want their sins to be made public. 

If our names are written on the earth it means earth is the place we consider our home. We belong to the world and want to belong here. All our thoughts are on this world and our role in it.

Jesus talked about people who consider this earth their home. He said they are like good seed planted by the thorns. He said, “The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word and it becomes unfruitful.”

We can have our name written in heaven, in the Book of Life, if we so choose. It means heaven is our true home. Instead of constantly thinking about jobs, houses, movies, family, romantic love, sex etc. we will choose to make time to talk with God, ask him to be in us each day and study about him in the Bible.

There is a verse in Revelation that always makes me smile. It is about a new name that God will give us. That name will only be known between us and God,
“To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’  Revelation 2:17

Here are some verses about the Book of Life:
Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."  Luke 10:20

And all who dwell on earth will worship the beast, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.  Revelation 13:8

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books.  Revelation 20:12
And of course, there is the Name Above All Names: Jesus Christ.

Therefore, God exalted Him to the highest place
and gave Him the name above all names,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Philippeans 2:9-11









Monday 17 June 2019

The Path of Wisdom.



Photo by, Thomas Nugent
   https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/4827

I often listen to, “The Bible Study Podcast,” by Chris Christensen. I enjoy having someone read the Bible to me and he gives very interesting commentaries.
His program has been on for a few years, so I go back and listen to those older ones too. The one I am listening to now is the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs’ main theme is getting wisdom from God. God calls out wisdom to the world. He shouts to the world what is right and what is wrong. Many times, he says that if you choose the wrong path, you will pay for it in your life. Your own foolishness will bring disaster upon yourself.

It is so easy to see that happening in the world and in our families. Perhaps someone we are close to makes a terrible decision; everyone around them can see what they are doing is bound to end in heartache. Yet they won’t listen to advice; they are determined to do what their emotions tell them to do.

But the wonderful thing about God is that he gives us the freedom to do that. We can choose the wrong path, and sometimes we will learn from our mistakes that God was right all along. We can look back at our bad decisions and realize we need God’s help. And he is so quick to receive and forgive us.

Mr. Christensen said, “It is wise to learn from our own mistakes; but it is even better to learn from the mistakes of others.”

I like what he said. I remember when I was a teenager in the 1960s and drugs were flooding California. I was curious about these drugs. I smoked pot and liked it a lot. I liked it far better than even beer. It didn’t make you sick, angry or stupid – it was just fun.

Then LSD and Speed came to our school. Lots of people I knew were doing these drugs, but I was leery. My parents used to buy Time and Newsweek and I read the articles on what Speed did to people and how some had died. I had a dear friend from school who got hooked on Speed and his life was ruined. When Art Linkletter’s daughter jumped from the window of a high building when she was on LSD, it horrified me. I learned from these people’s mistakes.

My high school did a wonderful thing; they had us all watch a movie about a man who was hooked on heroin. His life was so awful that I was never tempted to try heroin either. I learned from his life.

It is good to pray for wisdom. In my life, I have let my emotions rule me far too much. I can see how much I needed wisdom then and need it now. Maybe if we look carefully at ourselves and realize we are making a decision based on our emotions, then that could be a warning signal for us.

It is kind of scary when we want to do something to say to God, “I’m giving this to you. If you don’t want me to do it, then let me know. I know you only do what is best for my life.” It is hard to give control over our lives to someone else, even if that someone is God. But I know from experience that his path leads to great peace and happiness.


Thursday 13 June 2019

God Surrounds Us.


Photo by: Antonysamy Xavier
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Antonysamy_Xavier&action=edit&redlink=1

I haven't published for awhile. My mother had a few minor heart attacks and was in the hospital overnight. They gave us some medicine and she is fine now. I'm so glad she is still here at 92 years old.


In the third chapter of Joshua, the people of Israel are prepared to go into the promised land and take it. The Jordan River flows between them and Jericho. God tells Joshua to have the priests take the Ark of the Covenant to the river. They were to go ahead of the people with the ark and stop in the middle. Then the people could pass over. The river stopped flowing the moment the priest’s feet hit the water.

I thought about how God promises to go before us.  “It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”  Deuteronomy 31:8

My granddaughter just finished taking a college course on office work. She has been doing very well and is now in her practicum at the college itself. She loves the people there along with her desk space which has a lovely view out the windows. She would like to get a job there but there are no openings right now. She is concerned about getting a job.

One reason I love God is that he says, “Don’t worry about anything.” I’m not worried for her because I know God has gone before her and she will get a job. A job is a need, and he promises to supply all our needs. Many times he doesn’t do this swiftly. Many times he does. However long he takes, we can ask him to make us patient and to learn how to trust him in the waiting.

In Isaiah chapter 58, God tells us that if we are good to our neighbors and help the poor he will be our rearguard. The rearguard is a detachment of soldiers protecting the army as it marches ahead into battle. Yes, that is God.

Isaiah 58:8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

God also promises to be beside us.

“For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”   Isaiah 41:18 

Finally, God promises to surround us.

Psalm 3:3   But you, O LORD, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high.

Treasury of David: Bible Hub.
“Here David avows his confidence in God. "Thou, O Lord, art a shield for me." The word in the original signifies more than a shield; it means a buckler round about, a protection which shall surround a man entirely, a shield above, beneath, around, without and within. Oh, what a shield is God for his people! He wards off the fiery darts of Satan from beneath, and the storms of trials from above, while, at the same instant, he speaks peace to the tempest within the breast.

It is good to meditate on these words. We can picture Jesus in front of us, beside us, behind us and then realize he is all around us. When I think hard about the fact the God of the universe, a being that powerful and amazing, walks with me through life, I stand in awe of him.