Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for this Friday. Praise the Lord for the Sunday that is coming. One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 84. It is a Psalm of pilgrimage, about going on a journey. Every Jewish male was required to worship at the temple at least three times a year if at all possible (Deut. 16:16). For many families, it was the highlight of the year, to be able to go to Jerusalem and see the sights and sounds of the big city, to be able to enter into the temple and see the splendor of it. Many traveled great distances and endured hardship to be able to make it to Jerusalem. The way was sometimes discouraging, so they would sing and worship as they traveled. This psalm is believed to be one of the ones that they sung, to remind them, especially during the discouraging parts of the journey, of the glory of God’s house. This psalm is expressed with deep longing for the presence of God; to be in His house, to be in His courts, and to dwell in His presence is the object of this psalm. For many of them that traveled, it was like a homecoming. They would see family that they had not seen for a while, but still the highlight was to be in the temple of God, worshipping and praising Him.
As they traveled, outside of Jerusalem was a valley called the Valley of Baca. Most of pilgrims had to pass through this valley to make it to Jerusalem. When I read this, I am reminded of the story about the old country preacher, that was asked what his favorite part of the Bible was. He replied, “My favorite part is that one that says, “and it came to pass”. Someone told him that didn't make any sense, why not choose a passage like the 23rd Psalm, or the Golden rule. He replied, “Those verses are mighty good too, but I like “and it came to pass”. He was then asked what is so special about that verse. He said, “I know that whatever I go through, no manner how bad it is, that it too will come to pass, and I will make it through.”
While we must, from time to time, journey through dry, harsh places on our spiritual journey, it’s good to remember that those places are not our home.
We know that Satan is the thief; he comes to steal. Remember that you are on a pilgrimage, and Baca is not your home. God has designed you for something better. You are only passing through. If you continue on your journey, all that you are going through will soon pass away.
2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
10. Paul is saying that here our troubles, our valleys are only for a moment, especially when it is compared with the eternal weight of God’s glory. That is what the pilgrims needed to remember while traveling through the Valley of Baca. They need to focus on the glories of God’s temple, and the joy of being in His courts. Keep your eye on the prize.
11. When you are traveling through the Valley of Baca, remember those mountain top experiences, remember the joy of being in God’s presence. Remember what it is like to be above the storm clouds and bask in the sunshine of His presence. Remember the promises of God, the providence of God, the presence of God, and the power of God.
David said that they made a well, or dug a well while in the Valley of Baca to refresh themselves so they could continue on their way. Sometimes what we have to do, as we travel through the Valley of Baca, is to make the extra effort and dig down to find the refreshment that we need to make it through the Valley.
Notice what David said in verse 7, that they go from strength to strength. While we don’t like valleys, it is in the valley that our faith is exercised, and we grow in strength. They go from victory to victory, from might to might. Every difficulty overcome means a higher strength to overcome difficulties until, finally, every obstacle is overcome and they enter in before the presence of the King. Every one that dug deep, makes it to Zion, the holy city, to appear before the Lord. If we dig deep, God will give us the strength we need to make it through.
Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
May the Lord remind us that we are pilgrims and sojourners here on earth. We are resident aliens. May the Lord give us the heart of a pilgrim. If we lose the heart of pilgrims, we become frustrated and disappointed very quickly.
The Month of September is a special month in our household. I came to the USA on September 5,1974. Gerald Ford was the President. There was an energy crisis in the nation as the Gas prices rose the people began to pay $0.50 cents a gallon. There was a great threat of the Nuclear war. Nuclear Fallout shelters had been built. The Cold war was ever looming on the horizon. There were no cell phones, no Internet, no cable television. Color television was a rarity. The minimum wages went up to be $2.25 an hour. Janice, our oldest daughter, was born in Texas on September 13,1976. I will celebrate my 50-something birthday on September 17. The US Constitution was signed on the 17th of September. Sunita and Andy were married on the 1st of September.
Sunita and Andy are back in Washington, DC. They would be happy for you to check out their wedding photos at: http://proofs.AyerPhoto.com
The link is: Naik-Groth Wedding
The password is: Sun7Andy
In Christ alone,
Brown
Benefits and Drawbacks of Being Old Looking:
Kidnappers are not interested in you.
You get the senior discount without asking for it.
Used car salesmen give you a lifetime guarantee with your purchase.
Boy Scouts will help you across the street.
People who call you after 9 p.m. will ask, 'Did I wake you?'
Relatives tell you how good you look.
Younger friends will tell you secrets because they figure you'll never
remember them anyway.
At funerals, friends ask you how you are feeling.
Your kids will borrow money from you and hope that you'll forget they
borrowed it.
People no longer say, 'See you later.'
The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no-one dreams of questioning. And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt. It is a curious fact that historians have often been much readier to trust the New Testament than have many theologians.
F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? [1949], p. 15
Either the Bible will keep you away from sin, or sin will keep you away from the Bible I am convinced that a downgrading in priority of . . . prayer and biblical meditation is a major cause of weakness in many Christian communities. . . . Bible study demands pondering deeply on a short passage, like a cow chewing her cud. It is better to read a little and ponder a lot than to read a lot and ponder a little. Denis Parsons Burkitt (1911-1993)
it be a certain truth, that none can understand [the prophets' and apostles'] writings aright, without the same Spirit by which they were written.
The Journal of George Fox (1624-1691)
Friday, September 14, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
Brown's daily word 9-10-07
Good Morning,
Praise the Lord; it is Monday. We come to Monday through Sunday. I trust that you had a beautiful and blessed day on the Lord's day yesterday. It was a great blessing to be in the house of the Lord to worship Him and offer our praises to Him. Sunita and Andy have gone to the Dominican Republic for their honeymoon. They will be back in Washington this week. You can view some of their wedding photos at http://Proofs.AyerPhoto.com , Link: Naik-Groth Wedding, Password: Sun7Andy . Click on the link on the right of this post under Sunita & Andy's wedding pictures.
Psalm 139 was the Psalm for yesterday.
I want you to think for a moment about what would it be like for somebody to know everything about you. Do you think you’d like that? It’s not unusual to hear someone complain, "Nobody really knows me, nobody understands me." And it’s true that there is generally a shallowness to our relationships. We think we would like to have someone who understands us fully. But are we sure about that? Can you imagine having someone who really does know you? Such a person would have access to every thought, every action, and every mistake in your life. Imagine not having anything secret!
In Psalm 139:1-6, David wrote, "O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O LORD, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it."
In this passage, as much as we say we would like to be known, this is a really frightening psalm. I think one of the reasons it’s so frightening is because it’s hard to find much comfort in it. Here is this God who sees everything there is to know about us, even what we’re thinking.
David uses some descriptive words to talk about how God knows us. And it’s not just that God knows everything. We sometimes say that God is omniscient, and by that we mean that God knows everything there is to know. And that’s certainly true. You can read in Job 38-39, where God says to Job, "Do you know how the foundations of the earth were laid and do you know how the sun sits in the sky and do you know how this happens and that happens?" The answer that Job gives is obviously, "No." And the implication is that God does know all that. He knows everything. But that’s not David’s point here. His point is not that God knows all the mysteries of history and the riddles of the universe. Rather, David’s point is that God knows me personally. He knows everything about me. In my desire to know God, I need to remember that he knows me before I can know him.
"O Lord, you have searched me..." (Psalm 139:1). The Hebrew term here originally meant "to explore" and sometimes conveyed the idea of digging into something. It’s the word that’s used in Judges 18 for spying out the land. It’s used in Job 28 for digging for mineral ore. It’s an intent looking. David says here, "God, you have searched me, you have dug down into my life."
Have any of you lost anything recently -- keys, wallet, remote control for the TV, glasses? Your glasses are the worst things to lose because you need them to find them. But whenever you misplace something, you go all over, looking desperately, turning things upside down. Looking here, looking there, all over, searching. That’s the first word David uses here Lord, you have searched me. God digs into your life, he looks intently.
The second half of verse 1 says, "You know me." It’s repeated again in verse 2: "You know my sitting down and my rising up." Not "know" in the sense of just knowing something about us, he knows me in the sense that my best friend knows me. God knows me more than I can even imagine, more than I want at times. Whether I’m taking it easy or whether I’m on the move. It doesn’t matter; God knows me.
The latter part of verse 2: "You understand my thoughts from afar." The idea is that God can get inside of my head. He can see what’s going on there. You know, doctors can do some amazing things with the technology that’s available today. They can take a tube and stick it down your throat and look at your insides. That’s amazing, but magnify that a billion times. You have God seeing everything inside, not just my physical body but even my thoughts. God knows everything you’ve ever thought about. Think about that for a moment, and see if it doesn’t begin to scare you just a little bit.
In the beginning of verse 3: "You comprehend my path and my lying down." The New American Standard translation says, "Thou dost scrutinize my path..." God examines us thoroughly -- and I mean thoroughly!
Then at the end of verse 3: “And are acquainted with all my ways.” It comes out just a little bit stronger maybe in the Hebrew. “I can’t get away with anything” is my loose translation. God knows my habits, my strengths, my weaknesses. He knows all my business.
Perhaps most amazing of all, in verse 4, "For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it altogether." Even before I speak a word, God knows what I’m going to say! Have you ever been so close to somebody that they know what you’re going to say before you even say it? I think that’s one of the most irritating things about marriage. You can never have an original statement because you start a sentence and pause and your spouse finishes it for you. After knowing you for 10, 20 or 30 years, they know what’s coming. They know what you’re going to say, they can predict you. It’s that way even more so with God. David says, "Before it even reaches my tongue, he knows."
God knows so much about us. In Matthew 10:30, Jesus said, "The very hairs of your head are numbered." That’s amazing. Granted, for some of us it’s more amazing than others. But the idea is not that God concerns himself with mental trivia; it’s simply that he’s all-knowing, that he’s aware of everything about you, everything you do and everything you think. He knows what goes on in private as well as what you do in public. He knows more about you than you want him to know.
Verse 6, loosely translated, says, "That blows me away!" "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it." To realize that God knows us, he scrutinizes us, he studies us 24 hours a day. It blows our mind to try to comprehend it. Having said all that, let’s try to reduce the amount by which we are known. Let’s try to get away from God and shield ourselves for a while. Is there some way to hide from this penetrating look? Can we, like children, pull blankets over our heads so we’ll be "safe"? David asks, "Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?" Maybe we could head upward -- no, God is in the heavens. What about the other direction? Let’s go to Sheol, the place of departed spirits. Nope, God is there, too.
Well, let’s try the east and the west. Let’s take the wings of the morning, that’s toward the east. We head that way but it doesn’t help. So let’s go to where the sea is. If you’re in Palestine, the sea is to the west. But God’s there, too. So trying all the different directions isn’t going to do much for us. "Even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me." Let’s just wait out the daytime and let the darkness protect us. That won’t help either, because God can see in the dark. In verse 11, "If I say, ’Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’ even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from you, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to you." It doesn’t help to put up a steel-plated wall with God. He can see through it. There’s nothing that stops his vision. Night won’t help, hiding won’t help, jumping on a ship to Tarshish won’t help.
Verses 13 and following are significant for several reasons. For one, I think it does have something to say about the value of life before birth. But especially here David is saying, "Even before my Mom gave birth to me, you were present, your Spirit was there. You were knitting me together, it wasn’t just some outgrowth of evolution. But you were right there in the womb. I couldn’t get away from you even before I was born."
Again, a summary statement in verse 18: "....When I awake, I am still with you."
It may be that this psalm bothers you because you can’t find much comfort in it. David says to God, "You search me, you discern me, you’re familiar with me, you know me. You even know my private thoughts. I can’t escape you. I try up and down, east and west, and I can’t get away from you." Do you understand how disturbing that is, that God knows everything about you?
In his conclusion to the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon said, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
In I Corinthians 4:5, Paul said, "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts."
For someone who is not living in a right relationship with God, that should be a sobering thought. Because when you stand before God on the day of judgment, there are going to be no secrets, there’s going to be no hope that God didn’t pay much attention to what your life was all about. He knows. Trust me, he knows.
But for a faithful child of God, that thought is not nearly so frightening. In fact, it’s rather comforting. And I think the comfort of it all comes out at the very end of the psalm. The last two verses set the context -- a context of security and acceptance. In verses 23-24, David says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." David says to God, "Search me even more." It’s the same word that we looked at in verse one. David wants God to penetrate his outer shell and dig down deeply within him.
Why would David invite God to continue searching? Isn’t that somewhat like being audited by the IRS and you say to them, "Oh by the way, why don’t you go ahead and pull out my returns for the past seven years and take a look at them while you’re at it. Go ahead and search a little more thoroughly."? You would never invite anybody to do that if you didn’t know they were going to come at you with a little bit of care and love. But David said him, "Search me, O God, and know my heart."
There is one relationship in my life that has helped me to understand why David might welcome God’s continuing search. There is one person who knows more about my shortcomings and my sins than anyone else, and yet, at the same time, it is the one relationship where I am loved the most. And perhaps that’s where the word of grace comes in. You’ve got this whole psalm where you say, "God, I can’t get away from you. You’re searching, looking, digging." And then at the end you beg him to search a little more, beg him to test you, to see if there’s anything not pleasing. You say, “God, find out those thoughts that carry me away from fellowship with you. Show them to me so that I can understand them and their effect on my walk with you.” I don’t think you would say that to somebody who you didn’t know loved you.
"Search me and know my heart" could only be spoken by someone who feels completely loved and accepted. These words could only be spoken to someone who unconditionally loves the person he is watching. He sees every square inch of my life -- and still he loves me. He knows my successes and my failures; he sees my strengths and my weaknesses; he understands how holy and unholy I can be. And even though he expects me to bring my life closer and closer to what he would like for me to be, he never withholds his love.
Psalm 139 describes not the eye of a critic that is searching for an opportunity to put you down. Rather it is the eye of a loving parent or a true friend.
Sometimes we feel the penetrating gaze of God, because of things that we have done that are wrong and we do want God to deal with those. Being a godly person includes occasions where you expose your entire inner being to God’s searching and you welcome any insight he might give you, regardless of the difficulty involved in facing it. But even in those penetrating moments, we know that God is looking down on us in love. One of the things that I can be sure of is that I am absolutely positively loved by God. And what he tells us is, "I see you, I know you, and yet I still love you."
In Christ,
Brown
Weight Limit
There was a man driving down the road behind an 18 wheeler, at every stoplight the trucker would get out of the cab, run back and bang on the trailer door. After seeing this at several intersections in a row the motorist followed him until he pulled into a parking lot.
When they both had come to a stop the truck driver once again jumped out and started banging on the trailer door. The motorist went up to him and said, "I don't mean to be nosey but why do you keep banging on that door?"
To which the trucker replied, "Sorry, can't talk now, I have 20 tons of canaries and a 10 ton limit, I have to keep half of them in the air all the time!"
Praise the Lord; it is Monday. We come to Monday through Sunday. I trust that you had a beautiful and blessed day on the Lord's day yesterday. It was a great blessing to be in the house of the Lord to worship Him and offer our praises to Him. Sunita and Andy have gone to the Dominican Republic for their honeymoon. They will be back in Washington this week. You can view some of their wedding photos at http://Proofs.AyerPhoto.com , Link: Naik-Groth Wedding, Password: Sun7Andy . Click on the link on the right of this post under Sunita & Andy's wedding pictures.
Psalm 139 was the Psalm for yesterday.
I want you to think for a moment about what would it be like for somebody to know everything about you. Do you think you’d like that? It’s not unusual to hear someone complain, "Nobody really knows me, nobody understands me." And it’s true that there is generally a shallowness to our relationships. We think we would like to have someone who understands us fully. But are we sure about that? Can you imagine having someone who really does know you? Such a person would have access to every thought, every action, and every mistake in your life. Imagine not having anything secret!
In Psalm 139:1-6, David wrote, "O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O LORD, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it."
In this passage, as much as we say we would like to be known, this is a really frightening psalm. I think one of the reasons it’s so frightening is because it’s hard to find much comfort in it. Here is this God who sees everything there is to know about us, even what we’re thinking.
David uses some descriptive words to talk about how God knows us. And it’s not just that God knows everything. We sometimes say that God is omniscient, and by that we mean that God knows everything there is to know. And that’s certainly true. You can read in Job 38-39, where God says to Job, "Do you know how the foundations of the earth were laid and do you know how the sun sits in the sky and do you know how this happens and that happens?" The answer that Job gives is obviously, "No." And the implication is that God does know all that. He knows everything. But that’s not David’s point here. His point is not that God knows all the mysteries of history and the riddles of the universe. Rather, David’s point is that God knows me personally. He knows everything about me. In my desire to know God, I need to remember that he knows me before I can know him.
"O Lord, you have searched me..." (Psalm 139:1). The Hebrew term here originally meant "to explore" and sometimes conveyed the idea of digging into something. It’s the word that’s used in Judges 18 for spying out the land. It’s used in Job 28 for digging for mineral ore. It’s an intent looking. David says here, "God, you have searched me, you have dug down into my life."
Have any of you lost anything recently -- keys, wallet, remote control for the TV, glasses? Your glasses are the worst things to lose because you need them to find them. But whenever you misplace something, you go all over, looking desperately, turning things upside down. Looking here, looking there, all over, searching. That’s the first word David uses here Lord, you have searched me. God digs into your life, he looks intently.
The second half of verse 1 says, "You know me." It’s repeated again in verse 2: "You know my sitting down and my rising up." Not "know" in the sense of just knowing something about us, he knows me in the sense that my best friend knows me. God knows me more than I can even imagine, more than I want at times. Whether I’m taking it easy or whether I’m on the move. It doesn’t matter; God knows me.
The latter part of verse 2: "You understand my thoughts from afar." The idea is that God can get inside of my head. He can see what’s going on there. You know, doctors can do some amazing things with the technology that’s available today. They can take a tube and stick it down your throat and look at your insides. That’s amazing, but magnify that a billion times. You have God seeing everything inside, not just my physical body but even my thoughts. God knows everything you’ve ever thought about. Think about that for a moment, and see if it doesn’t begin to scare you just a little bit.
In the beginning of verse 3: "You comprehend my path and my lying down." The New American Standard translation says, "Thou dost scrutinize my path..." God examines us thoroughly -- and I mean thoroughly!
Then at the end of verse 3: “And are acquainted with all my ways.” It comes out just a little bit stronger maybe in the Hebrew. “I can’t get away with anything” is my loose translation. God knows my habits, my strengths, my weaknesses. He knows all my business.
Perhaps most amazing of all, in verse 4, "For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it altogether." Even before I speak a word, God knows what I’m going to say! Have you ever been so close to somebody that they know what you’re going to say before you even say it? I think that’s one of the most irritating things about marriage. You can never have an original statement because you start a sentence and pause and your spouse finishes it for you. After knowing you for 10, 20 or 30 years, they know what’s coming. They know what you’re going to say, they can predict you. It’s that way even more so with God. David says, "Before it even reaches my tongue, he knows."
God knows so much about us. In Matthew 10:30, Jesus said, "The very hairs of your head are numbered." That’s amazing. Granted, for some of us it’s more amazing than others. But the idea is not that God concerns himself with mental trivia; it’s simply that he’s all-knowing, that he’s aware of everything about you, everything you do and everything you think. He knows what goes on in private as well as what you do in public. He knows more about you than you want him to know.
Verse 6, loosely translated, says, "That blows me away!" "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it." To realize that God knows us, he scrutinizes us, he studies us 24 hours a day. It blows our mind to try to comprehend it. Having said all that, let’s try to reduce the amount by which we are known. Let’s try to get away from God and shield ourselves for a while. Is there some way to hide from this penetrating look? Can we, like children, pull blankets over our heads so we’ll be "safe"? David asks, "Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?" Maybe we could head upward -- no, God is in the heavens. What about the other direction? Let’s go to Sheol, the place of departed spirits. Nope, God is there, too.
Well, let’s try the east and the west. Let’s take the wings of the morning, that’s toward the east. We head that way but it doesn’t help. So let’s go to where the sea is. If you’re in Palestine, the sea is to the west. But God’s there, too. So trying all the different directions isn’t going to do much for us. "Even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me." Let’s just wait out the daytime and let the darkness protect us. That won’t help either, because God can see in the dark. In verse 11, "If I say, ’Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’ even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from you, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to you." It doesn’t help to put up a steel-plated wall with God. He can see through it. There’s nothing that stops his vision. Night won’t help, hiding won’t help, jumping on a ship to Tarshish won’t help.
Verses 13 and following are significant for several reasons. For one, I think it does have something to say about the value of life before birth. But especially here David is saying, "Even before my Mom gave birth to me, you were present, your Spirit was there. You were knitting me together, it wasn’t just some outgrowth of evolution. But you were right there in the womb. I couldn’t get away from you even before I was born."
Again, a summary statement in verse 18: "....When I awake, I am still with you."
It may be that this psalm bothers you because you can’t find much comfort in it. David says to God, "You search me, you discern me, you’re familiar with me, you know me. You even know my private thoughts. I can’t escape you. I try up and down, east and west, and I can’t get away from you." Do you understand how disturbing that is, that God knows everything about you?
In his conclusion to the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon said, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
In I Corinthians 4:5, Paul said, "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts."
For someone who is not living in a right relationship with God, that should be a sobering thought. Because when you stand before God on the day of judgment, there are going to be no secrets, there’s going to be no hope that God didn’t pay much attention to what your life was all about. He knows. Trust me, he knows.
But for a faithful child of God, that thought is not nearly so frightening. In fact, it’s rather comforting. And I think the comfort of it all comes out at the very end of the psalm. The last two verses set the context -- a context of security and acceptance. In verses 23-24, David says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." David says to God, "Search me even more." It’s the same word that we looked at in verse one. David wants God to penetrate his outer shell and dig down deeply within him.
Why would David invite God to continue searching? Isn’t that somewhat like being audited by the IRS and you say to them, "Oh by the way, why don’t you go ahead and pull out my returns for the past seven years and take a look at them while you’re at it. Go ahead and search a little more thoroughly."? You would never invite anybody to do that if you didn’t know they were going to come at you with a little bit of care and love. But David said him, "Search me, O God, and know my heart."
There is one relationship in my life that has helped me to understand why David might welcome God’s continuing search. There is one person who knows more about my shortcomings and my sins than anyone else, and yet, at the same time, it is the one relationship where I am loved the most. And perhaps that’s where the word of grace comes in. You’ve got this whole psalm where you say, "God, I can’t get away from you. You’re searching, looking, digging." And then at the end you beg him to search a little more, beg him to test you, to see if there’s anything not pleasing. You say, “God, find out those thoughts that carry me away from fellowship with you. Show them to me so that I can understand them and their effect on my walk with you.” I don’t think you would say that to somebody who you didn’t know loved you.
"Search me and know my heart" could only be spoken by someone who feels completely loved and accepted. These words could only be spoken to someone who unconditionally loves the person he is watching. He sees every square inch of my life -- and still he loves me. He knows my successes and my failures; he sees my strengths and my weaknesses; he understands how holy and unholy I can be. And even though he expects me to bring my life closer and closer to what he would like for me to be, he never withholds his love.
Psalm 139 describes not the eye of a critic that is searching for an opportunity to put you down. Rather it is the eye of a loving parent or a true friend.
Sometimes we feel the penetrating gaze of God, because of things that we have done that are wrong and we do want God to deal with those. Being a godly person includes occasions where you expose your entire inner being to God’s searching and you welcome any insight he might give you, regardless of the difficulty involved in facing it. But even in those penetrating moments, we know that God is looking down on us in love. One of the things that I can be sure of is that I am absolutely positively loved by God. And what he tells us is, "I see you, I know you, and yet I still love you."
In Christ,
Brown
Weight Limit
There was a man driving down the road behind an 18 wheeler, at every stoplight the trucker would get out of the cab, run back and bang on the trailer door. After seeing this at several intersections in a row the motorist followed him until he pulled into a parking lot.
When they both had come to a stop the truck driver once again jumped out and started banging on the trailer door. The motorist went up to him and said, "I don't mean to be nosey but why do you keep banging on that door?"
To which the trucker replied, "Sorry, can't talk now, I have 20 tons of canaries and a 10 ton limit, I have to keep half of them in the air all the time!"
Friday, September 7, 2007
Brown's daily word 9-7-07
Good Morning,
It is still like summer here today. The temperature is expected to be in the nineties. Praise the Lord for the fresh fruits and vegetables of the summer season.
Some time ago I read that in the year 1820 a crowd of curious people gathered around the county courthouse in Salem, New Jersey. The county fair was in progress, and the people massed around the stage, pushing and shoving to get a good place to see what was going to happen. The crowd was filled with anticipation because they were about to witness a daring feat.
Soon a man appeared on the steps, holding in one hand a beautiful red-ripe fruit which had been part of the fair’s decorations. Members of the crowd whispered excitedly to one another as he held it up for them to see. "Is he really going to eat it?" some asked, as though they expected the answer to be "absolutely not".
The man on the stage was Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson and the fruit was - a tomato. Tomatoes were called love apples in those days and they were considered to be deadly poison. Love apples were tokens of courtship or lawn decorations. Young men gave them to their girl friends, who would afterward wear the seeds in sachets around their necks. The fruit was admired for its beauty, but no one would dream of eating it.
The crowd gasped in horror as the colonel deliberately placed the tomato in his mouth, and ate it as though it was better than candy. They waited breathlessly, expecting to see him writhing in agony, dying on the stage. But nothing like that happened. Instead - he ate a second tomato, explaining that tomatoes were delicious either cooked or raw. He praised their color and texture. Then he invited the onlookers to join him in his meal, and a few of the braver ones went forward. Soon they too were pronouncing the tomatoes good.
The news spread rapidly, and eventually tomatoes graced most of the tables of the world, an accepted article of diet everywhere. If Colonel Johnson had not eaten that tomato, it is possible that people would still be admiring "love apples" and shrinking with horror from the thought of tasting how good they are.
Living a Christian life is much the same. We seem to take what tastes good to us, such as the Love, Grace, Mercy and Provision of God, and then leave that which we deem to be bitter, such as Discipline, Commitment, Obedience and being a Servant to our neighbor. The fact is that many Christians spend all their lives claiming to love Jesus, admiring his life, accepting his work, but never really tasting of Christ personally. David, in Psalms challenged us all to "taste and see that the Lord is good." Psalms 34:8, "O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him."
Psalms 19:8-10, "The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb."
In Acts 17:30-31 Paul is preaching to the Greeks at Areopagus. These were highly educated people but they didn’t want to hear about the “One True God” because it required them to change their ways. Here’s what Paul said about those who thought that remaining ignorant to the Truth would excuse them from judgment to come, "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."
If only we will taste and see that everything about the Lord is good; even His judgment, His commandments, the fear we have for Him, all of it will cause us only to desire more of Jesus. All that He is and all that He gives to His children is richer than all the gold in the world, and has a greater and sweeter taste than even the purest of honey straight from the honeycomb.
My heart’s desire is for more of Jesus, more of his Love, more of His mercy, more of His grace, more of His presence in my life and in your lives for His honor and for His glory.
In Him,
Brown
Why, Oh Why, Oh Why . . .
Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?
Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when they know there is not enough?
Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle?
Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?
Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?
Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
Whose idea was it to put an "S" in the word "lisp"?
If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?
Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?
Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?
Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?
Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?
Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try?
How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?
When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, "It's all right?" Well, it isn't all right, so why don't we say, "That hurt, you stupid idiot?"
Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?
In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?
How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?
And the Number 1 - why . . .
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.
It is still like summer here today. The temperature is expected to be in the nineties. Praise the Lord for the fresh fruits and vegetables of the summer season.
Some time ago I read that in the year 1820 a crowd of curious people gathered around the county courthouse in Salem, New Jersey. The county fair was in progress, and the people massed around the stage, pushing and shoving to get a good place to see what was going to happen. The crowd was filled with anticipation because they were about to witness a daring feat.
Soon a man appeared on the steps, holding in one hand a beautiful red-ripe fruit which had been part of the fair’s decorations. Members of the crowd whispered excitedly to one another as he held it up for them to see. "Is he really going to eat it?" some asked, as though they expected the answer to be "absolutely not".
The man on the stage was Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson and the fruit was - a tomato. Tomatoes were called love apples in those days and they were considered to be deadly poison. Love apples were tokens of courtship or lawn decorations. Young men gave them to their girl friends, who would afterward wear the seeds in sachets around their necks. The fruit was admired for its beauty, but no one would dream of eating it.
The crowd gasped in horror as the colonel deliberately placed the tomato in his mouth, and ate it as though it was better than candy. They waited breathlessly, expecting to see him writhing in agony, dying on the stage. But nothing like that happened. Instead - he ate a second tomato, explaining that tomatoes were delicious either cooked or raw. He praised their color and texture. Then he invited the onlookers to join him in his meal, and a few of the braver ones went forward. Soon they too were pronouncing the tomatoes good.
The news spread rapidly, and eventually tomatoes graced most of the tables of the world, an accepted article of diet everywhere. If Colonel Johnson had not eaten that tomato, it is possible that people would still be admiring "love apples" and shrinking with horror from the thought of tasting how good they are.
Living a Christian life is much the same. We seem to take what tastes good to us, such as the Love, Grace, Mercy and Provision of God, and then leave that which we deem to be bitter, such as Discipline, Commitment, Obedience and being a Servant to our neighbor. The fact is that many Christians spend all their lives claiming to love Jesus, admiring his life, accepting his work, but never really tasting of Christ personally. David, in Psalms challenged us all to "taste and see that the Lord is good." Psalms 34:8, "O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him."
Psalms 19:8-10, "The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb."
In Acts 17:30-31 Paul is preaching to the Greeks at Areopagus. These were highly educated people but they didn’t want to hear about the “One True God” because it required them to change their ways. Here’s what Paul said about those who thought that remaining ignorant to the Truth would excuse them from judgment to come, "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."
If only we will taste and see that everything about the Lord is good; even His judgment, His commandments, the fear we have for Him, all of it will cause us only to desire more of Jesus. All that He is and all that He gives to His children is richer than all the gold in the world, and has a greater and sweeter taste than even the purest of honey straight from the honeycomb.
My heart’s desire is for more of Jesus, more of his Love, more of His mercy, more of His grace, more of His presence in my life and in your lives for His honor and for His glory.
In Him,
Brown
Why, Oh Why, Oh Why . . .
Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?
Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when they know there is not enough?
Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle?
Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?
Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?
Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
Whose idea was it to put an "S" in the word "lisp"?
If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?
Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?
Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?
Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?
Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?
Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try?
How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?
When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, "It's all right?" Well, it isn't all right, so why don't we say, "That hurt, you stupid idiot?"
Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?
In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?
How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?
And the Number 1 - why . . .
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.
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