All in God's Character
My husband and I lead a newlywed class at church. The couples progress through stages. They usually begin the class dating or engaged. Next comes the commitment of marriage. Eventually the class size increases as babies are born. Five babies have been born this year in our class. They are obeying God’s command to be fruitful and multiply! “I am [El Shaddai]. Be fruitful and increase in number ”(Genesis 35:11).
She ran. She wouldn’t stop until she was far away. Maybe the wilderness would offer some relief from the harsh treatment she had endured at the hands of her mistress, Sarai. Hagar could go no longer. She stopped by a rare spring in this parched land.
Yesterday, we looked at God as Elohim, or Creator. Our Creator is involved in every aspect of his creation. The painting, The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo, depicts God reaching down from heaven touching Adam, fingertip to fingertip--the perfect, divine Creator initiating a personal relationship with his creation.
“What’s in a name?” young Juliet asks in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Juliet argues that a name is an arbitrary label with little meaning. However, in the Bible names carry much significance. As God’s relationship with His people unfolds, He reveals His nature through various names.
For some reason, God prepared my heart last year about the seriousness of living with an epidemic. I was viewing websites of colleges our granddaughter was considering attending in the fall, which included Abilene Christian University. It was there I read the featured story of Alumnae Kent and Amber Brantly.
“They’re back! I see four cows and a calf from the neighbor’s west pasture! I can’t tell where they came through!” yelled my husband. We donned our boots and gloves to search the fence line. Sure enough, broken wires and a rotten fence post solved the mystery. Time for repairs.
What thoughts run through our minds during this time of a pandemic! Whoever would have dreamed something like this virus would happen during our lifetimes? We can so easily sink into a state of depression.
Our daughter recently got a puppy which had been rescued from a trash bin. She named it Gwinny -- cutest little black and white thing you ever saw. Of course, she stocked up on all sorts of puppy items for Gwinny including a comfy little bed with soft sides.
Female carpenter bees bore holes the size of a small finger into wood every spring.
These bees are often mistaken for bumblebees and are capable of drilling about one inch every 5-6 days and in the end, their tunnels can be up to several feet long with several egg chambers. They are about one inch long, do not have teeth, but they have mandibles like teeth that cut and tear through wood in circular patterns to perfectly fit their bodies.
While on a mission trip to California, our team spent one afternoon at the beach—an afternoon I’ll never forget. My best friend and I were swimming, when I suddenly realized I was caught in the current and unable to swim toward shore. No amount of effort on my part helped. My friend noticed my dilemma and began screaming for help. Immediately, a tall, strong guy on the mission team swam to me and began throwing me shoreward. He rescued me! Years later, we saw him and his family. The first thing he said to my girls was, “I saved your mother’s life!” He did, and I’m thankful!
Martin Luther used Psalm 46 to write his victorious hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” Luther faced numerous trials because of his belief that salvation is by grace through faith alone. It is said that when he grew discouraged, he would say to his friend and co-worker, “…let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm.” Luther wrote, “We sing this Psalm to the praise of God, because God is with us, and powerfully and miraculously preserves and defends His church and His word, against all fanatical spirits, against the gates of hell, against the implacable hatred of the devil, and against all the assaults of the world, the flesh, and sin.”
When David wrote these verses, many of the things he considered secure in his life were crumbling around him. He was pursued by an enemy and forced to flee from his home. He was separated from loved ones. He was separated from the temple and, therefore, from corporate worship of God. He faced desperate times of danger and uncertainty. He, who had bravely fought lions as a shepherd and defeated a giant as a young man, was now too familiar with fear as a companion.
I have never heard a sermon preached on it. I’ve never taken a Bjble study built around the subject. Yet with age and experience, I am realizing that our perspective is a crucial factor in both our thoughts and our actions.
Eme had outgrown her dance shoes. But it was just two weeks before her recital and the end of the season.
And really, Eme only needed one shoe. She has one foot larger than the other. They buy shoes to fit the larger foot. Unfortunately, the larger foot was growing quickly.
Have you seen all the hype about the releases of new phones, video games, etc.? People guess about release dates, and news is made when information about the product is leaked. People line up, maybe even camp out for days, to get the latest and greatest.
At the moment of realization that I had left my wallet in a busy interstate highway gas station two hours earlier, my heart began racing while my brain began rehearsing the rapid steps of what to do next. Call the bank card company. Call the credit card company. Call the station where I left it. Tomorrow, go to the driver’s license office to reorder my license.
…And the glory of the Lord shone around them… (Luke 2:9). The glory of the Lord is the revelation of His being. Anytime God’s nature, character, and powerful deeds are revealed, His glory is manifest. And so, on the blessed night when God came to earth as an infant, His glory filled the heavens.
In the beginning God…(Genesis 1:1) Before time as we know it began, God was. Before time as we know it began, Jesus Christ was. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning (John 1:1). This Christmas season, we worship the Almighty, uncreated One! Jesus is the One who was, who is, and who is to come! (Revelation 1:8)
While reading the Christmas story, I was struck by God’s abundant provision for his people.
The story opens with Zechariah and Elizabeth who were older and had no children. But God had a plan. He opened Elizabeth’s womb, and she conceived a son. She was overjoyed! “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people (Luke 1:25).”
One last stop in Oregon ladies, at the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park in Astoria. Surely you know of Lewis and Clark; but let me refresh your minds.
