Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Praise the Lord!

Perhaps I'm a little off (well, I know that to be the case, but you know what I mean), but when I hear a chorus of birds in the morning or a symphony of cicadas and tree frogs in the evening, I can imagine them lifting their little voices in praise to their Creator.  That was the case with this little video.   One evening while walking, the cicadas were going quite strong - con anima!  It made me wonder what hymns they sing..."Great is Thy Faithfulness", the Doxology?  I wish we could know, but it's one of those mysteries of life...perhaps some day we'll know.

It did also make me think of a couple verses I'll share with you.  Hopefully they will bless you on this Tuesday as they blessed me on that Thursday evening.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord!  Psalm 150:6
This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.  Psalm 118:24


 
 

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

In the Cleft of the Rock

I took this video a few months ago while sitting in the chapel at the St. Vincent Carmel Hospital where I have worked for the past year.  It started storming, and while I was watching the rain pour down on the windows above me, it made me think of a sermon I had heard by Bro. Bud Culbertson a few years back and the old hymn "He Hideth My Soul".  It was such a revelation to me as well as an extremely peaceful moment.

A few years ago Bud Culbertson came to our church to hold a revival.  He preached on a little animal called a coney.  When I Google this little creature, I guess it looks something like this:
This little animal lives in mountain gorges and rocky land around Israel.  It makes its abode in the cleft of the rocks and also finds its hiding place there.  When a predator is chasing it, it can run and hide in small clefts of the rock to find protection from the one trying to harm it.  Bud correlated this with how we as Christians are in Christ.  When we are being chased by life's troubles, we can run to the Rock and find protection...always.  Just as the rocks of the hillside don't move, they're always there for that little coney; Christ is always there for us as well.

The window above me made me feel like that little coney.  The storm was raging outside, but I was safe in the cleft.  I could still see the storm, hear the storm, but I was safe.  Wow!  Isn't that how Christ is for us?  Life's troubles can bear full on us, but with Him as our Comforter, we can be safe.  Many times He doesn't necessarily make the storm go away, but what peace we can feel while we're waiting for it to pass.  It is truly amazing!

It was then that I realized that God had put me at Carmel for this past year to keep me safe and allow me to heal in preparation for whatever He has in store for me next.  I had taken two pretty serious emotional blows last year that knocked me down hard.  It was like He picked me up and, like the coney, put me in this cleft so I could heal from these wounds and prepare for life once again.  Now, He must feel I'm healed because I begin a new chapter in my life next week.  We'll see what He has in store.

I had said that this time also made me think of the song by Fanny Crosby called "He Hideth My Soul", which is where the title of this post came from.  It speaks of being in the safe cleft of The Rock of Christ.
The chorus goes:

He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
That shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life in the depths of his love,  
And covers me there with his hand,
And covers me there with his hand.

I think that sums it up!  God bless you today!

Friday, September 5, 2014

The God of Second Chances

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9)  Our problem is we often have a hard time forgiving ourselves.  Let’s look at one of God’s most wonderful qualities – how when we mess up, he forgives, forgets, and gives us another chance to try to get it right. 

This is demonstrated in the Bible again and again.  Let’s look at three people who God gave at least a second chance.

Jonah
The story of Jonah is a very familiar one.  God told Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach to the people there and try to convert them to Judaism.  Jonah did not like that plan because he did not much care for the people of Nineveh, so he caught a boat and went the opposite way.

Because of how Jonah reacted to God’s request, God reacted in a way that is often times the way he reacts when we do not obey.  God sent a great storm.  In our lives He can allow financial troubles, health problems, or family problems to come our way to get our attention.  He also can withhold that inner joy and peace we have when we are in His will.  This is not a good situation to be in, and Jonah realized that as well.  He had the men in the boat cast him overboard because he knew he was the cause of the storm.

We all know about the great fish swallowing Jonah.  It is that time while he was in the fish, though, that two great things happened.  First, Jonah’s will finally broke.  He repented of not doing what God asked him to do, and agreed to finally do it.  Second, Jonah did actually die in the fish’s belly. J. Vernon McGee says this would not be a miraculous event had Jonah not died.  Jonah experienced a resurrection both physically and spiritually.  God forgave him of his disobedience and gave him a second chance to do what God had called him to do.

David
Actually David had more than two chances, but we’ll focus on one sin in particular – David numbering the people (2 Samuel 24).  This was a direct disobedience of what God told him not to do.  According to God, David was to feel blessed by the number of citizens God permitted him to have and not be prideful thinking that he built such a great kingdom himself.  What did David do?  He numbered the people or, in other words, took a census.  God did execute a punishment for David’s sin, but He let David choose the punishment.  He also forgave David and had mercy on David and the people of Israel.

This shows us that sometimes sin takes us to a point where there are repercussions for our sin.  David had to be punished for his outright disobedience.  This is the same way with us.  We are God’s children, and just like our own children, disobedience can lead to punishment to show us the seriousness of the offense so we will not continue with it.  If we continue in the sin, the punishment can end up being eternal.  We want to avoid this at all cost by knowing Christ as Lord and Savior of our life and striving to know Him and keep His commandments.

Peter
Peter’s story in Matthew 26 is a great example of how we can become arrogant in our own faith.  We are never too good to fall, so are always in need of Christ’s mercy and goodness.  Peter was so prideful in his faith that he thought he would never deny Christ; however, Christ prophesied differently.  He told Peter that before the rooster crowed that next morning, Peter would deny him three times.  Christ’s prophesy came to pass, and when Peter heard the rooster crow, it reminded him of what Jesus had said.  He wept and repented…the one condition for God’s mercy.  Repentance (sincere confession and asking of forgiveness to God)…it will find us God’s renewed mercy, grace, and love. 

What happened to Peter?  He went on to be a great apostle for Jesus, and even ended up dying for His cause.  This initial failure made Peter stronger, and that’s what can happen to us if we just learn from our mistakes.

God’s mercies are new every day.  We need just repent and ask for them.  As time passes, it will draw us closer to Him and stronger in Him.


I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.  Psalm 89:1