Praise the Lord for
this Wednesday. It is apparent that we are going through another
midsummer heat wave in our region. It is going to be in
the nineties over the next few days. The students in our
region are going back to school today. Our grandchildren living in Boston
are going back to school tomorrow. Another season, another adventure,
filled with all the promises of our Lord indeed. We will be starting Fall
Bible Study and fellowship hour beginning next Wednesday, the 14th of September.
I
spent some time yesterday just hanging out with the senior saints and citizens
at the our town Civic Center yesterday during the lunch hour. It is
always interesting and intriguing to hear their stories and testimonies.
I
was talking with a young family in the evening. The husband is
one of my wife's former students, who is married and blessed with two
children. His wife shared with me that she is going to home school her
oldest daughter. As a family they are going to visit
her parents, who live in Colorado where her dad owns a dairy farm, milking 5000
cows.
Praise
the Lord for the farms and ranches. We praise the Lord for His
abundance. Alice and I picked to well over two bushels of garden fresh
and (mostly) garden ripe tomatoes last evening. Thank you Jesus.
Our
town is gearing up for our Annual "1890 Union Fair", which will be
held this Saturday the 10th of September. The fair was started by the
Methodists of Marathon in 1890. The theme for this years fair is "For
Those who Serve - Past and Present". The Exhibits will start at 9:00
AM, which include Baked Goods, a Flower Show, Garden Stock, Poultry and small
animals, Handwork, crafts collections/ hobbies, and an American Quilt show.
The Parade will start at noon on Main Street. Things to eat
include Hamburgers, Hot dogs, BBQ Pork, Hot Sausage, French Fries, Pop corn,
Elephant ears, Maple Cotton Candy, and Ice Cream. The Party is on.
One
of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 91. Known as the Messianic Psalm, it
is both powerful and provocative. The Lord of life and peace infuses
us with His abiding presence and overwhelming peace as we allow the Lord
to converse with us in and through His word as we read this Psalm
prayerfully and worshipfully.
In
the Believer's
Bible Commentary, William MacDonald begins his comments on Psalm 91 by telling of a five-year-old boy who was dying of diphtheria in
1922. As his mother turned her back so she could not see him take his last
breath, her brother-in-law knocked at the door. He said, "I've come
just to tell you that you don't have to worry about the child. He is
going to recover, and God is going to save his soul." He then
explained that the Lord gave him this assurance as he read Psalm 91.
MacDonald,
the author of the commentary, was that dying boy. God spared his
life. Thirteen years later, God saved him, and for many decades God used
him to preach and write the gospel. MacDonald labeled his comments on
Psalm 91 as "My Psalm." He stated his willingness to share the
psalm, but insisted that it was his psalm. So it is with every believer
who knows what it is to live in the protective custody of God.
Psalm 91 is good news for everyone who trusts in God. Psalm 90 is a warning about the reality of death, but Psalm 91 is a
promise of protection for life. Martin Luther called this psalm "the
most distinguished jewel among all the psalms of consolation." This
psalm must not be used to turn true faith into religious superstition, but the
message of this psalm is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth. The Lord will protect the one who trusts in him. It is a
life of confident trust, total security, and divine assurance. This psalm does not
guarantee immunity from trouble in life or tragedy and death.
Instead, it celebrates the benefits of confident trust in God.
Trust
in God will not keep us from experiencing the trials, tragedies, and
tears of life, but it will keep us in the grip of His
grace as we walk through the valley of shadows of doubt, despair,
and even death. "Whoever dwells in the shelter of
the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." God is
a shadow for those who trust in him. A human shadow produces fear, but
the divine shadow gives comfort. It means God is near to provide relief.
Warren Wiersbe wrote: "The safest place in the world is a shadow, if
it is the shadow of the Almighty."
Lord
Craven was a Christian nobleman who lived in London during a plague that
ravaged the city in the 15th century. Craven determined to flee the city
for his country estate to escape the spreading plague, but as he prepared to
leave, he overheard a servant innocently say to another, "I suppose by my
Lord's quitting London to avoid the plague that his God lives in the country
and not in town." Convicted, Craven canceled his journey, declaring,
"My God lives everywhere and can preserve me in town as well as in the
country. I will stay where I am." He remained in London to
help the plague victims but never caught the disease himself, because God is a
refuge and fortress to those who trust in him. God provides perpetual
protection.
It
is written, "You will not fear the terror of night, nor the
arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the
darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday." In the face
of terrors, arrows, pestilence, and destruction, the believer refuses to
succumb to fear. This is not personal courage; it is confident
trust. In Christ and because of Christ, we are under His
round-the-clock protection, under His eternal surveillance .
In Christ our solid
Rock.
Brown
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