Praise the Lord for
this snowy day. People who love snow and all the winter
sports love this day. My wife loves this kind of day. It has
snowed, and the sun is shining on fresh snow, all dazzling and sparkling. A
warming trend is on the way.
I
listened to classical music this morning. My soul was full.
Hellen
Keller wrote: "No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars
or sailed to an uncharted land or opened a new heaven to the human
spirit."
From
the wonderfully encouraging book of Philippians,
especially chapter 1, verses 3-14, let us look at how our Lord is at work in the world. The
Philippian church had given Paul a gift for the other churches, and Paul
returned their gift with this letter, in which are remarkable gifts of
truth that can change lives.
Paul thanked God upon
every remembrance of them. Their ministry had produced some great things
in the past; they had helped other churches and had been a blessing to the body
of Christ. Paul thanked God for them and for the fellowship they enjoyed
in the past.
Remembering
is a sacred act in the Bible, one commended by God. The Passover was an
observance in which Israel was to remember how God had liberated them from an
oppressive life of bondage and into freedom. The Lord's Supper is a
commandment to remember that Christ is our Passover for us, that in His body
and blood we have our freedom and are on the way to our promised land. The Book
of Psalms is filled with the command to remember. David, in Psalm 77:1, honored what God had done in the past: "I will remember
the works of the Lord; surely I will remember Your wonders of old."
Failure
to remember what God has done is sinful: "Our fathers in Egypt did not
understand Your wonders; they did not remember the multitude of Your mercies,
but rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea" (Ps. 106:7). When we bring to remembrance about the mighty deeds of
our Lord in the world and in our own lives we are encouraged and blessed.
When we recount all His blessings and promises in our lives we are encouraged
and are provoked to press on and keep on running the race.
There
was a young man whom we shall call Toby. Toby had Down syndrome, but
Toby also had a dream. Toby wanted to be in the Special Olympics and try
to run a 50-yard dash. Toby was nearly 30 years of age, very overweight
and had asthma, but he had a dream, and he knew that he could accomplish
it. So it was that these special needs people lined up on that sunny day
at a football field, the gun sounded, and off they went! Though you
probably would not have recruited any of them for a track team, it
became evident that they were giving it their all. Toby was so
heavy that he had problems breathing, causing him to fall far
behind, and finally he just fell. There, face to the grass, his
tears now mixing with the sod, his big body heaved with disappointment.
Then,
out of the corner of everyone's eyes came his dad. You see, Toby's daddy
had a dream that was greater than his son's dream. He wanted that race
for Toby more than Toby wanted that race for himself. He only wanted him
to finish, not to compete or necessarily to win, but he wanted his boy to
have a victory. He was more sure even than Toby that it would happen.
For this reason he ran out, picked up that big boy and started running
with him thrown over his shoulder. He started hollering to his boy,
"You are going to make it Toby! You will make it all the way,
son!" Toby got into it, as well, and started hoping and
hollering! "Yeah, Dad! We gonna make it!"
We
are like Toby. We will be victorious not because of who we are but whose
we are. We belong to a loving and mighty Savior who is
unwilling that any should be lost. He will see victory. He will
see that we are kept, that we will be brought to a place of
rejoicing by the Lord Himself. He is strongest in our weakness. Of
that, we are more than confident and and sure. His sovereign
grace and His unstoppable kingdom leave us no other option but to
believe.
In Christ,
Brown
Psalm 4:8
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