Wednesday Thought -- August 20, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31)

The strongest among men can’t do it on their own. Even their strength will give out at some point in the journey. Rely upon yourself and there will come a time, probably many of them, when you won’t last.

But there is Someone who can be relied upon. He’ll never get tired. His strength will never give out. He’ll never grow weary of helping you. There will never come a time when He’ll not know what to do, when His wisdom will fail.

As I understand the eagle’s flight, that powerful bird allows the wind to do much of the work. The eagle rides the wind. So, too, there is a Wind that we can ride and it is found in trusting the Lord.

Try to do it yourself and you’ll collapse along the way with nothing left to give. Trust God and there will be wind enough to see you through to the very end of the race!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Tuesday Thought -- August 19, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?” (Isaiah 40:10-14)

Two images come out of this passage for me.

1.    The Sovereign Lord. His characteristics include: power, wisdom, judgment, strength.

2.    The Great Shepherd. His characteristics include: tenderness, love, gentleness.

Both images are true of God.

The Sovereign Lord, with all of His power and might is also our loving Shepherd. It is He who gathers us in His arms, holds us close to His heart, leads us gently.

That’s a very comforting image. To be in His arms and close to His heart is to be in the place that is more trustworthy and safer than any other place. He knows what He is doing. No one has to give Him counsel to help Him discern what is right. He is powerful enough to protect us from any danger. No danger on earth or in heaven can harm us when we are close to His heart.

The Eternal Father, the Almighty God, the Sovereign Lord loves you. He is your Father, your Shepherd, your Friend! Now that’s a good thought on which to dwell!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Monday Thought -- August 18, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:6-8)

The life span of a man on earth is so brief. The older I get, the more apparent that becomes to me. Life moves so quickly. It seems like it was such a short time ago that I graduated from high school and now my children have graduated and in another year my oldest grandchild will start high school. Life goes by so quickly.

To some extent I can delay the ravages of age. Face lifts and tummy tucks could help to preserve my body and give it the appearance of being younger than it is. If I was a woman I could get away with makeup to cover some of my wrinkles and blemishes. But the truth is that any of the efforts I put into delaying the aging process will make only a slight difference. Time marches on without stopping. Soon, perhaps very soon, my body will be done with its time here.

That’s not meant to be discouraging, only challenging. There are things that time will not cause to fade or disappear. The Word of God will continue for eternity. It’s been having its impact on people’s lives for thousands of years already and that impact will continue as long as men are on earth! My spiritual life will not fade with time, either. How I grow spiritually in these short years of earthly life will go on through eternity. And the same is true of the spiritual lives of others.

There are some things we can focus our lives on that will not be ravaged by time. They seem like good things to put at the top of our priority list!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Friday Thought -- August 15, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

Sennacherib was king of Assyria, whose capital was Nineveh. He and his powerful and large army came against Jerusalem, intent on capturing it. Hezekiah was king in Jerusalem and he cried out to the Lord and sought the Lord’s guidance and help.

Scripture records that when Hezekiah heard what Sennacherib was doing “he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah.” (Isaiah 37:1-2) When the nation faced military and political trouble, the king did not turn to his military and political advisers, he turned to the Lord and to the Lord’s prophet. What an interesting and unusual response to such a problem, so different from what we would expect in our own day of our own leaders.

Then Hezekiah received a threatening letter from Sennacherib and “he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. Hezekiah prayed to the Lord.” (Isaiah 37:14-15) In time of trouble, the king turned to prayer!

Isaiah responded to what Hezekiah had done with these words, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word the Lord has spoken against him.’” (Isaiah 37:21-22) Isaiah goes into a long account of how the Lord will defeat Sennacherib, concluding with this promise, “He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here.” (Isaiah 37:33) Sennacherib did not enter the city and did not even shoot an arrow against it. In the night, the angel of the Lord put 185,000 Assyrians soldiers to death and Sennacherib and the rest of his army fled back to Assyria where Sennacherib was assassinated!

We’re facing tremendous problems in our country, so complex that no one knows how to deal with them all. We have financial distress that threatens the very fiber of our economic system. We have a broken health care system that costs too much, helps too few, and locks too many out. We have moral deterioration that seems to have no end. We have such political infighting that little of significance can be accomplished in our national and state capitals. We face problems around the world and struggle to know how to respond. You can add your own ideas of other complex problems that you see in our time.

Don’t you wish the leaders of our country would seek the Lord for our national problems like Hezekiah did for Israel’s in Isaiah’s day?

Or here’s a more personal question – facing     problems like that, how come we don’t pray?

His, by Grace,

Steve

Thursday Thought -- August 14, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“A highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” (Isaiah 35:8-10)

There is a secure pathway that leads to the Lord. The enemy cannot touch us there. No danger will be present. Instead, it will be a path of joy, filled with singing. The end of the road is heaven.

It sounds like a great pathway. But not everyone will be on it. It’s a pathway reserved for the clean, the unclean are barred from it. It is a way of holiness, so the wicked and their wickedness are locked out of it. Only the redeemed and ransomed, those who have been bought back from their slavery will be on the road.

There is an important point made by Isaiah in this vision of the way to heaven. It is a way of holiness and those who walk on the path will be holy. But it’s not those who have made themselves holy who are allowed on the road. It’s those who have been redeemed and ransomed, bought back from their slavery. Entrance to the road is not earned or paid for by those on the road. They are on the road because Someone else paid their entrance fee!

The end of the road will be great joy and rejoicing. But never forget how you got on the road. It was not your doing. It was not your holiness that got you admitted to the road. Someone paid the price for you. And a high price it was!

Enjoy the road, look forward with anticipation to its destination, and keep thanking the One who put you on it!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Wednesday Thought -- August 13, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest. Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile field. The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely, how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.” (Isaiah 32:14-20)

I like the picture that Isaiah paints in this passage. He paints the picture of a place that is desolate and dry, devoid of life and health. That’s a description of our current world. There is so much about our time that is devoid of life and health, so much about our day that is desolate and dry. We live in a spiritual wasteland of our own making.

Though we live in such a place, we don’t share its lifelessness and desolation. The Spirit has been poured out from on high and He dwells within us. Our hearts – desertlike before we came to Christ -- now bloom as a fertile field with roots that run deep like a strong forest. Though we live in a place in which justice and righteousness are rare – in our hearts they reign supreme because we serve the just One and the righteous One. We live in a place of turmoil – but have hearts that rest in God’s peace. Though devastation comes to the world – in our hearts is a place of blessing and peace and freedom.

I know, we don’t experience those things perfectly – because our hearts are not perfectly in line with God’s heart. But we taste them and we’ll know them more and more fully as we know Him more and more completely -- until that day when we’ll know peace and joy and freedom completely in the eternity of God’s presence.

Don’t despair because of the condition of the world around us. Instead, focus on the life within you – and on the One who bought it for you and brought it to you.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Tuesday Thought -- August 12, 2014

Good Morning Friends,

“Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD. Yet he too is wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words. He will rise up against the house of the wicked, against those who help evildoers. But the Egyptians are men and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, he who helps will stumble, he who is helped will fall; both will perish together. This is what the LORD says to me: ‘As a lion growls, a great lion over his prey -- and though a whole band of shepherds is called together against him, he is not frightened by their shouts or disturbed by their clamor -- so the LORD Almighty will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights. Like birds hovering overhead, the LORD Almighty will shield Jerusalem; he will shield it and deliver it, he will 'pass over' it and will rescue it.’ Return to him you have so greatly revolted against, O Israelites.” (Isaiah 31:1-6)

We have our financial advisers who can make sure that our future is secure. We have our doctors with their insightful tests and powerful drugs and equipment, we trust them to keep us healthy. Our national military forces are the most powerful in the world and are armed with weapons of destruction and defense that are unparalleled.

We are secure and so is our future!

But that’s really not true. Not if those are the counselors upon whom we rely, whose wisdom we trust. They are like noisy children when compared to the wisdom and power of the Lord. He is the One to trust, the only one to rely upon for security!

Financial advisers, doctors, military forces, they are not wrong to have. But they are wrong to put our trust in. God can use them as His tools to help us, but it is God we need to trust, it is Him we need to look to for the present and for the future.

We are secure and so is our future! True, but not because of what we have done to make it so. We are secure only as we trust in God.

His, by Grace,

Steve