His Hope

The night is mother of the day,

The winter of the spring;

And ever upon old decay

The greenest mosses cling.

Behind the cloud the sunshine lurks,

Through showers the sunbeams fall;

For God, who loveth all His works,

Has left His hope with all.

Whittier

Man the Giver?

The passage in Luke 18 continues. depicting man as the great giver (?!).

And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 

And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?” 

But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” 

Then Peter said, “See, we have left all and followed You.” 

So He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Luke 18:24-30).

You can't out-give God. 

Man is not the great giver; our generosity does not even begin to overwhelm the One Who came up with the idea in the first place and gave us everything we have and everything we try to give and feel so good about ourselves. 

As a Little Child

A good parent leads his children towards independence, so that the child can one day become a good parent himself and produce more good parents, and the cycle never ends. And God is the best Parent, right? So of course He guides His children toward the ability to be independent, too? 

That's where it gets interesting. Yes, we are to become spiritual parents in a sense: "For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord," (1 Corinthians 4:17a). But God has no grandchildren. We all remain His children forever - His little children, if you will.

"Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to Him and said, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it'" (Luke 18:15-17). You have to be childlike. But what does that look like? Well, let's look at the very next verses; Jesus is going to teach us via opposites. 

Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?” But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” 

Little children came to Jesus to receive, to be blessed by Him. They knew they were the needy ones. But the rich young ruler came to Jesus for an assignment, apparently thinking that God needed him to do some good work. The rich young ruler felt good about himself; he felt important. I'm sure that when he said what a good law-keeper he had been, he expected Jesus to be kind of amazed and to congratulate him - he wasn't expecting to be told to become poor and follow in faith.

Little children are typically unafraid to ask grown-ups for what they need, and they expect us to be happy to give them what they ask for. Do you see God as a giving Father that you desperately need or as some religious icon that demands a certain kind of life from you?

One More Miracle

God has worked miracles in my life. The fact that I am breathing and thinking and typing this post defies what the doctor thought several months ago. But I have recently realized another great gift God gave me. For the first few months after I woke up, God mercifully held Satan back from major temptation and major emotional attack of any kind. For the longest time, the only sin I could think of that I struggled with was that of not praying without ceasing. 

Now things are much more normal. God recently allowed the devil to return to some of his old temptations as well as some of his old trials. But "The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy." And He is "the God of all comforts." So although my life is much more "normal" now, God didn't give me to the wolves by any means. He enabled me to soon conquer the temptations (at least temporarily) and blessed me with sweet Heaven-hugs.

One of those was the sermon this past Sunday out of Luke 10:30-34. A man went on a journey and was wounded. As he lay there by the side of the road, he had to have thought of it as a bad thing. He probably wondered why. But then the good Samaritan came along and poured oil in his wounds and took care of him.

Oil, in the Bible, is a picture of the Holy Spirit. So whatever wound you are dealing with now is actually a gift, an opportunity for a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I don't claim to fully understand it, but the thought does carry comfort.

What If God Says No?

We pray for things we want. So, what do we do if God says no? Can He say no? What if we're "the persistent widow" and are faithful in prayer? Then He has to say yes, right? I used to kind of think that, but Sunday's sermon made me rethink it.

Jesus asked three times not to have to go to the Cross, and He still had to go.

Paul asked three times for the thorn in the flesh to be removed, and God didn't take it away.

God works in mysterious ways, and we'll understand it better by and by. :)

Man of Sorrows

Man of sorrows Lamb of God
By His own betrayed
The sin of man and wrath of God
Has been on Jesus laid

Silent as He stood accused
Beaten mocked and scorned
Bowing to the Father's will
He took a crown of thorns

Sent of heaven God's own Son
To purchase and redeem
And reconcile the very ones
Who nailed Him to that tree

See the stone is rolled away
Behold the empty tomb
Hallelujah God be praised
He's risen from the grave

Teach Me Thy Way!

Teach me Thy way, O Lord, teach me Thy way!
Thy guiding grace afford, teach me Thy way!
Help me to walk aright, more by faith, less by sight;
Lead me with heav’nly light, teach me Thy way!

When I am sad at heart, teach me Thy way!
When earthly joys depart, teach me Thy way!
In hours of loneliness, in times of dire distress,
In failure or success, teach me Thy way!

When doubts and fears arise, teach me Thy way!
When storms o’erspread the skies, teach me Thy way!
Shine through the cloud and rain, through sorrow, toil and pain;
Make Thou my pathway plain, teach me Thy way!

Long as my life shall last, teach me Thy way!
Where’er my lot be cast, teach me Thy way!
Until the race is run, until the journey’s done,
Until the crown is won, teach me Thy way!