A Grain of Sand

Reading:  Jeremiah 5
My Verse:  "Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
                         who have eyes, but see not,
                         who have ears, but hear not.

                   Do you not fear me? Declares the LORD.
                  Do you not tremble before me?
                       I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea,
                       a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
                       though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
                       though they roar, they cannot pass over it" (Jeremiah 5:21,22).

This passage reminds me of two things:  our insensitive heartless ingratitude to You and
our total lack of understanding of Who You are LORD God.  For if we truly knew Who You are we would not be "foolish and senseless people."  We would realize the beauty and strength and awesome purpose even in the "grain of sand" that You ordain.

The Amplified clarifies this with -

     "And though the waves of the sea toss and shake themselves,
     yet they cannot prevail 
     [against the feeble grains of sand
         which God has ordained by nature to be sufficient for His purpose];
         though [the billows] roar,
         yet they cannot pass over that [barrier].
      [Is not such a God to be reverently feared and worshiped?]"

If one would but truly look at the things in nature -  the incredible complexity not only of the structure of all things but the intricate interactions of all living things, the amazing balance of all that is- we could not help but fall on our knees before You, Oh LORD God!

In the "Poetry Out Loud" competition for high school students  one of the girls recited Trees by Joyce Kilmer.  

"I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is rest 
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear 
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree."

If we would but gaze upon Your creation LORD God we would realize the wonder of Who You are.  We might begin to get an inkling of the great things You want for us - the joy, peace and sense of purpose.

"We are half-hearted creatures,  fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are too easily pleased." -CSLewis

Oh, LORD God, because of Who You are, the very fountain of goodness and light You cannot help but emanate that goodness and light out to us Your creatures!  Your goodness and light flow out to us, lighting up our darkest corners, filling us with a longing for Your goodness!

In the first verse of this passage You, LORD God direct Jeremiah to "go to and fro" searching for any "who does justice and seeks truth" so that You may pardon them.  But sadly Jeremiah could find none, he goes to all the levels of society and finds none!  There is only pretense and hypocrisy.  But You, LORD God see through all that, You see the heart, You are not fooled.

I was gazing at the full moon the other night and wondering at the beautiful light it reflects from the sun. The moon is so very plain in reality, it has nothing to make itself beautiful, yet there it is simply gorgeous!  LORD God I thought how wonderful if I could but reflect even a little bit of Your beauty as the moon reflects that of the sun.  If I could, though I am as nothing, be a glowing, beautiful refection of You in this sad and broken world.

Thank You, for this wonderful lesson of the simple grain of sand.

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

Return Faithless Children!

Reading:  Jeremiah 3, 4
My Verse:  "Return, Oh faithless children,
                         says the LORD,
                    for I am the LORD and Master and Husband
                         to you,
                    and I will take you one from a city 
                    and two from a tribal family -
                    and bring you to Zion" (Jeremiah 3:14).

Because of Who You are, LORD God, You will not give up on us until all possibilities have been searched out to bring us to You!  Because You are love and goodness You are constantly reaching out to us to bring us to that same love and goodness.  Thank You, LORD God for pursuing me . . .

Your story of how You pursued the Israelites is a most beautiful illustration of how You seek us out.  We in our messiness, rebellion and inability to realize Your goodness cannot defeat or stop You, LORD God - You and Your purpose or grace.

Verse 19 again tells us how we cause our own misery

     'Your ways and your deeds 
           have brought this upon you.
     This is your doom, and it is bitter;
           it has reached your very heart" (Jeremiah 4:18).

You love cries out to us . . .

"O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil,
      that you may be saved . . ." (Jeremiah 4:14

"I am merciful, declares the LORD;
 I will not be angry forever.
 Only acknowledge your guilt,
 That you rebelled against the LORD your God" (Jeremiah 3:12,13).

"Return, Oh faithless sons;
     I will heal your faithlessness" (Jeremiah 3:22).

All else here on this earth, all other pursuits are a delusion.

"Truly the hills are a delusion,
     the orgies on the mountains" (Jeremiah 4:23).

They are a chasing after the wind, totally unattainable!  This was the only sad conclusion Solomon could come to after devoting his wealth and God-gifted wisdom to the pursuit of earthly sensual pleasures.

"I have seen all the things that are done under the sun,
     all of them are meaningless,
     a chasing after the wind" (Ecclesiastes 1:14)

As Easter approaches I am constantly reminded of the Love You have for me.  A love that passes all understanding!

My prayer for all who are searching for love and peace.

"For this reason I bow my knees  before the Father,
     from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
     that according to the riches of His glory
     He may grant you to be strengthened with power
        through His Spirit in your inner being,
    so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - 
    that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
    may have strength to comprehend with all the saints
      what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
      and know the love of Christ
      that surpasses knowledge,
      that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:14-19).

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

We Cause Our Own Misery!

Reading:  Jeremiah 2
My Verse:  "Have you not brought this upon yourself
                         by forsaking the LORD you God
                         when He led you in the way?

                    Your own wickedness shall chasten and correct you,
                         and your backslidings and desertion of faith shall reprove you.

                    Know therefore and recognize that this is an evil and bitter thing,
                         [first] you have forsaken the LORD your God;
                         [second] you are indifferent to Me
                            and the fear of Me is not in you,
                            says the LORD of hosts. (Jeremiah 2:17,19 Amplified Bible).

 Wow, LORD God, You are up front with us! It cannot be more clear than this that we need You in our lives!  Pastor at church this morning spoke of how messy we humans are.  He jokingly stated that churches would be perfect if not for the people!  We do know how to mess things up making our lives way too complicated!  You, LORD God want to simplify it.  You want us to drop everything and simply, obediently follow You, give our all to You.  We don't have to be so miserable!

A web site godandscience.org lists all these studies that show a positive correlation between our good health and well-being to that of a faith based life and the activities involved in that.  Here are some quotes from a few of those studies.

     "Found that depressed patients who had a strong intrinsic religious faith recovered over 70% faster from depression that those with less strong faith; among the subgroup of patients whose physical illness was not improving, intrinsically religious patients recovered 100% faster" (American Journal of Psychiatry 155: 536-542).

     "The relationship between religious activities and blood pressure was examined in 6-year prospective study of 4,000 older adults.  Among subjects who attended religious services once a week or more and prayed or studied the Bible once a day or more, the likelihood of diastolic hypertension was 40 percent lower than among those who attended services and prayed less often" (International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine 28: 189-213).

     "Frequent church attendees were more likely to stop smoking, increase exercising, increase social contacts, and stay married; even after these factors were controlled for , however, the mortality difference persisted" (American Journal of Public Health 87: 957-961).

The church I am presently attending has communion every Sunday.  I thought this was a bit much, as I was used to having it once a month.  But I am beginning to like it as I am forced to pause and assess where I am.  Stopping to really focus on You, LORD God and my relationship with You is good.  Thank You for that.  I need to examine where I am in regards to You frequently!  Thank you for telling us to do this as a reminder of You! (Luke 22:19-20)

You call me, LORD God, but I need to respond to Your call.
"Come to me, all you that are weary and burdened . . ." (Matthew 11:29).

You tell me You will clean me up, heal me and enable me to love You but I need to ask You to do that.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in  my statutes and be careful to obey my rules" (Ezekiel 26:36,37).

You do not force anything upon us.  We need to ask, we need to respond to You and then You will lead us on a most incredible journey, a journey with and end that promises to be even more amazing than we can imagine!

A.W. Tower speaks to this in We Travel An Appointed Way!

     "To the child of God, there is no such thing as accident.  He travels an appointed way. . .
     When true faith enters, chance and mischance go out for good.  They have no jurisdiction over them that are born of the Spirit, for such as these are sons of the new creation and special charges of the Most High God. . . 
     The man of true faith may live in the absolute assurance that his steps are ordered by the LORD.  For him, misfortune is outside the bounds of possibility.  He cannot be torn from this earth one hour ahead of the time which God has appointed, and he cannot be detained on earth one moment after God is done with him here.  He is not a waif of the wide world, a foundling of time and space, but a saint of the LORD and the darling of His particular care."

Matthew 5:13-16 states that You, LORD God consecrated us.  You tell us that we ARE salt, we ARE light!  You say it and so it is so.  I need to live that.

We are not to blindly follow what any man says but to look to You LORD God always for truth and understanding.  We are to use that powerful brain You gave us to examine all that we hear.

"Think over what I say, for the LORD will give you understanding in everything" (2 Timothy 2:7).

Thank you for this, LORD God.  We each of us do have that choice, we do not have to live a life of emptiness, miserable in our constant searching for that something to fill the void in our lives.  You offer us so much more!

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!
     





































  

God Will Carry Out His Word!

Reading:  Jeremiah 1
My Verse:  "And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
                         "Jeremiah, what do you see?"
                         And I said, "I see an almond branch."
                    Then the LORD said to me,
                       "You have seen well, 
                         for I am watching over my word to perform it" (Jeremiah 1:11,12).

Thank You, LORD God for this!  You always seem to know when I need this kind of reminder.  This reminder that Your word, the Bible is truth - all that is said in it will come to pass!

I love the beauty of this passage, the use of the phrase, "an almond branch."  The almond branch is one of the first trees to bloom in the earliest spring, like our pussy willow here in Alaska.  Because it is the earliest tree to bloom, it has become in this part of the world, as the Amplified Bible states; "the emblem of alertness and activity."

The ESV Study Bible study note says this:

"Since the almond tree was the first tree to bud in the spring, it was said to "watch for spring."  Thus, God is watching over His word for the first opportunity to carry out His threats and promises.  Jeremiah can expect that when he (Jeremiah) speaks God's words, the words will come true."

One has only to do a bit of research to find out the veracity of the Bible.  It is all out there for one to read for oneself if only one is so inclined.

"Unique among all books ever written, the Bible accurately foretells specific events-in detail- many years, sometimes centuries, before they occur.  Approximately 2,500 prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2,000 of which already have been fulfilled to the letter-no errors." (Article: "Fulfilled Prophecy: Evidence for the Reliability of the Bible"  reasons.org).

Another wonderful site provethebible.net goes through and explains how each of the major prophecies came to pass, particularly those that have to do specifically with the life and death of the Messiah.  The article here also points out that of the 2500 prophecies,  500 remain unfulfilled.  The last 500 all have to do with the return of this same Messiah, our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.

The site bibleistrue.net goes deeply into this topic.  One thing it first clarifies is the definition of prophecy.

    1. the foretelling or prediction of what is to come
    2.  something that is declared by a prophet, especially a divinely inspired prediction, instruction, or exhortation.
    3.  a divinely inspired utterance or revelation; oracular prophecies.
    4.  the action, function, or faculty of a prophet.

The Bible itself states what is truly the word of You, LORD God.

     "And if you say in your heart,
          'How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?'
      When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD,
           if the word does not come to pass or come true,
           that is a word that the LORD has not spoken;
           the prophet has spoken it presumptuously.
       You need not be afraid of him" (Deuteronomy 18:21,21).

I especially love this passage in 1 Peter concerning prophecy.

     "And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed,
       to which you will do well to pay attention 
          as to a lamp shining in a dark place,
       until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,
       knowing this first of all,
          that no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man,
          but men spoke from God
             as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (I Peter 1:19-21).


Forgive me, LORD God, for my doubts and trepidations!  The world seems to be becoming such a dreadfully muddled mess that I cannot seem to help myself at times and wonder why does it have to be so awful?  I fear so for our country, for my dearly loved ones, for the many children that suffer so.  Oh, LORD God, thank You for reminding me of Your Sovereign Supremacy - Your ever constant and alert watch and timely intervention into our history.  Your Word will come to pass!  Maranatha!

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

This Is The One To Whom I Will Look

Reading:  Isaiah 66
My Verse:   "But this is the one to whom  I will look:
                        he who is humble and contrite in spirit
                        and trembles at my word" (Isaiah 66:2).

LORD God, You remind me what it is You want.  You want me to give myself up totally to You.  You don't want a lukewarm heart (Revelation 3:16).  You want my all.

"My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
     a broken and contrite heart you, God,
     will not despise" (Psalm 51:17).

You speak here of hypocrisy, of those that rely on rituals and traditions in their worship.  You expose them.  You expose their true heart condition.  You tell us what it is they are truly doing.

"He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man;
     he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck;
     he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig's blood;
     he who make a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol.

 They have chosen their own ways, 
     and their soul delights  in their abominations"  (Isaiah 66:3).

Those who choose to be false before You, LORD God will suffer dreadfully.  For You are a holy God.  You see the heart and the truth behind all lies.  These You cannot abide.  For You, LORD God "know their works and their thoughts."

"Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens,
     following one in the midst,
     eating pig's flesh 
    and the abomination
    and the mice,
    shall come to an end together, declares the LORD" (Isaiah 66:17).

In the end, though they may seem to be successful in life they will ultimately pay for their rebellious hearts.  They will be in unending judgement. . .

"their worm shall not die,
     their fire shall not be quenched,
     and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh"  (Isaiah 66:24).

But to those with a "contrite and humble" heart You "look" upon with love and forgiveness!

This from Calvin Miller's The Unchained Soul.

"Saint John of the Cross said that the total management of Christ was possible when we learn that Christians are helped by one thing; loving God!

     "My soul is occupied, he said,
       And all my substance in his service.
       Now I guard no flock,
       Nor have I other employment,
       My sole occupation is love.

       Before the soul succeeded in effecting
       This gift and surrender of itself to the beloved,
       It was entangled in many useless occupations
            by which it 
       sought to please itself and others.

       All this is over now--
       For all its thoughts, words and actions
       Are directed to God.

       All my occupation now is the practice
       Of the love of God.  All I do
       Is Done in Love."

Thank You, LORD God for this.  Thank You for being the keeper of my soul  You certainly do not promise easy but You do promise to keep us!

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
     and why art thou disquieted within me?
     hope thou in God;
    for I shall yet praise Him,
    Who is the health of my countenance,
    and my God"  (Psalm 42:11).

Ditat Deus- God Enriches!

"Here I Am! Here I Am!"

Reading:  Isaiah 65
My Verse:  "I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;
                    I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
                    I said, "Here I am, here I am,"
                         to a nation that was not called by my name.

                    I spread out my hands all the day
                         to a rebellious people,
                         who walk in a way that is not good,
                         following their own devices . . ." (Isaiah 65:1,2).

Oh, LORD God, it is as Edwards said.  You are constantly emanating Your goodness out to us.  You want us to know the goodness, truth and purity that You are!  You beseechingly "spread out my hands all the day" calling us to come to You!

But we are a stubborn people.  We stubbornly "walk in a way that is not good."  We continue to "follow" our own "devices."

We walk "in the counsel of the wicked"
We stand "in the way of sinners"
We sit "in the seat of scoffers" (Psalms 1:1).

While our rebellious behavior disappoints and hurts, You do not stop loving us.  You will not stop calling us to You!  You sent Your only begotten son to die a most dreadful death, to make it possible for us to come to You!  We cannot even begin to fully understand what that meant for You, LORD God.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

You tell us that we must come to You, believe in You if we are to see heaven.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. . . Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again" (John 3:5, 6).

The entire Bible speaks of Your relentless pursuit of us!  The lyrics of Hillsong's "Relentless" say it so very well.

"Tearing through the veil of darkness
     breaking every chain
     You set us free
Fighting for the furthest heart
You gave your life of all to see"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3O_pAOiGuo


Francis Thompson's The Hound of Heaven speaks to this most eloquently . . .

"I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
     I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
     I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways . . .

Of all man's clotted clay the dingiest clot?
     Alack, thou knows not
How little worthy of any love thou art!
Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee
     Save Me, save only Me ?"

Thank You, LORD God for pursuing me!  Thank You, for holding onto me!

"His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness" (2 Peter 1:3).

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

Rend the Heavens!

Reading: Isaiah 62 - 64
My Verse:  "Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
                    that the mountains might quake at your presence . . .

                    From of old no one has heard
                         or perceived by the ear,
                         no eye has seen a God besides You,
                         Who acts for those who wait for him"  (Isaiah 64:1,4).

Love passages like this!  I love to read these kinds of pleas from these great men;  Isaiah, Jeremiah, King David.  These pleas show their humanity, their impatience with man's rebellion.  It is so very hard to see bad people seeming to thrive.  And  yet, and yet . . . You, LORD God can "rend the heavens."  You can make the "mountains quake at Your presence."  Because You are a holy and almighty God.  You have power over all of creation.

We have only to read Your Word to see how again and again You rescue Your loved ones, "those who wait for him."  You step in - intervene in Your own timing when we are in a difficult situations.

We have but to ask and You will answer!

 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?  (Matthew 7:10-12)

Oh, LORD God, how often have I asked for something and not received an answer from You!  And yet here You tell me I am to ask.  I like how the Amplified Bible says it.  "Keep on asking . . . keep on seeking . . . keep on knocking . . ."  Persevere!  I need to persevere!  

Also James tells us we ask and do not receive because we ask wrongly - with sin in our hearts.(James 4:3)  Oh, LORD God cleanse my heart, correct my wrong thinking!

I especially like how Oswald Chambers addresses this topic in a December 16 post.  He tells us we are not to wrestle with You, LORD God but before You for things.  He also makes a crucial clarification.  

"Always distinguish between God's order and His permissive will, i.e., His providential purpose towards us.  God's order is unchangeable; His permissive will is that with which we must wrestle before Him."

He then tells us we must persevere, we must be courageous before You, LORD God!

"Beware of squatting lazily before God instead of putting up a glorious fight so that you may lay hold of His strength."

And then You, LORD God, "will rend the heavens"!  You will move the mountains!  You will change hearts!

"Yet, Oh LORD, You are our Father;  we are the clay, and You are our Potter, and we all are the work of Your hands" (Isaiah 64:8).  

https://youtu.be/n_aVFVveJNs

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

God's Goodness Flows Out To Us!

Reading:  Isaiah 61
My Verse:  "For I the LORD love justice;
                    I hate robbery and wrong;
                    I will faithfully give them their recompense,
                         and I will make an everlasting covenant with them" (Isaiah 61:8).

God, You are good.  You can't help but  emanate that goodness to us, Your creation.  Because of Who You are You can't help but want all that is good for us.  You constantly call us back from wrong living, because You know it will only hurt us.  Like a loving parent You watch and care for our every step.  Your goodness flows out to us and draws us back to You.

In the words of Jonathan Edwards.

"In God there is an infinite fullness of all possible good.  He has the fullness of every perfect attribute.  He has as his very nature all excellence and beauty. . . . Furthermore, all of this fullness is capable of overflowing out of and from God.  He can, in other words, communicate his fullness.  He has the capacity to cause the fullness of his glory to emanate from himself outward to others.  This being the case, it seems to be agreeable and valuable in itself that it should flow.  It is right and  proper for the infinite fountain of good to pour out into abundant streams!"

In this fallen sinful world all that is good is turned by our selfishness.  A study note in the ESV study bible states this.  "Every human ideal falls into ruins in this world of death . . ."

We are bad, sinful.

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

Like a parent, you love us despite our sin, our badness.

"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

You will not stop loving us.  You will not stop doing all that You can to bring us to You, LORD God!
All I can do is be grateful and rejoice in that.

"I will greatly rejoice in the LORD;
     my soul shall exult in my God,
     He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
     as a bridegroom decks himself 
     like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
     and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
     and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
     so the LORD God will cause righteousness and praise
        to sprout up before all the nations" (Isaiah 61:10, 11).

Thank You, LORD God, for Your infinite beauty and goodness that flows ever outward to me!

Ditate Deus - God Enriches!