Being Versus Just Knowing

            I was a youth pastor in a growing church in upstate New York when I was in my twenties. I remember spending a lot of time with parents of teenagers who were struggling with issues and problems with their children. I tried to be supportive and encouraging, but was not always successful. I remember one dad once telling me, “Until you have had a teenager, you can’t really understand. You’ll never know.” I remember inwardly bristling about that, because I thought it was possible to have an idea of what parents went through, even though I was not yet a parent. After all, Catholic priests and counselors of many types serve others whose experiences are not a part of their own. Why couldn’t I as a youth pastor?

            There are different levels of understanding, however. Cognitive awareness is good, but it lacks the full experience of emotion and personal involvement that being the parent entails. I could be sympathetic, and maybe even empathetic to a point, but I have to admit: when I became a parent and eventually the parent of a teenager it was a lot different than just knowing about kids. These children were my responsibility. Their lives were in my hands. The working out of life in relationship with a child is intense and deep in ways that are very different than a more third-party connection. There are definitely things that are more fully realized and understood through experience. To say “I was happy the day the Red Sox won their first world series in 86 years,” is one thing. To say, “I was at the game in St. Louis the day they won it,” is another thing.

            All of this is to get me to the joy of becoming a grandparent. I have heard many wonderful things about having a grandchild. I believed the people who said them and understood the concepts that they expressed. But actually becoming a grandfather about four weeks ago was so much better. You feel the joys of your child, and you are joyful for her (or him). You also feel new fears and worries for the new baby and his well-being and his future. You spend your time just looking at him and you feel a depth of love that goes back to when you had your own children. You’re proud of your daughter and son-in-law and prayerful that God will supply all they need to be loving, godly parents. All of this and more comes into your life and it is wonderful. You feel tremendously blessed and you appreciate the depths of God’s grace. You put your grandson and his parents into God’s hands, because he belongs to the Lord.

            There was nothing new to becoming a grandparent. People do it all the time. It is a common experience that’s really no big deal… until you see him – your grandson - for the first time and you are the one he’s going to call Grampa or Grammie (or whatever works in your family). The Bible speaks about such experiences as being a blessing from the Lord. For this blessing I glorify God and lift up my heart in thanksgiving. And for blessings like this (and different as well), I encourage you to bless the Lord today. AMEN.

Psalm 103:15-17 (NIV) ¹⁵  As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; ¹⁶  the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. ¹⁷  But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children--

Psalm 126:5-6 (NIV) ⁵  Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. ⁶  He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

Proverbs 17:6 (NIV)  Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.

Psalm 139:14-18 (NIV) ¹⁴  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. ¹⁵  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, ¹⁶  your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. ¹⁷  How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! ¹⁸  Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.

PRAYER:  Father, thank you for the joy and privilege of being a grandfather. May your blessing be on Mason and on his mom and dad. May Jesus Christ be the center of that home and their life together, and may you be glorified much in them and through them. Thank you that you knew him before he was even made in his mother’s womb. May he know from his earliest moments how great is your love for him, and may he walk with you all the days of his life.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!    

Scott

More than a Feeling

            A Bible study leader of a group I was in as a teenager once asked the group to define love. We all took a stab at it, but I don’t think any of us could get a real handle on a definition that was complete in any way. Just about every resource you look to for a definition of love describes it as a feeling of some kind… usually intense in nature. Feelings are certainly relevant in any understanding of love, but a big question is “But where does the feeling come from?” What is love’s genesis in us? Why and how does it start? Why did I come to love Joanne instead of any number of other potential women in my college? Isn’t love much more than just feelings of attraction or infatuation?

            We can never truly and fully understand love if we leave God out of the picture or the conversation attempting to define it. An article in The Wall Street Journal (2/14/13) tried to explain that real love doesn't come from God; instead, love is just a bunch of chemical reactions in your brain. According to the article “How Neuroscience Can Help Us Find True Love”, Leil Lowndes says:

      “Valentine's Day is here so get ready to send and receive heart-shaped chocolates and cards decorated with big red hearts. But wait a minute! Not so fast. Neuroscience has discovered that the heart has very little to do with romance. For accuracy you should send your main squeeze a Valentine's Day card with the image of a squishy gray blob evocative of a rotting cauliflower—the brain—because that's where romance really resides. And instead of saying "I love you," the knowledgeable lover would say, "Darling, dopamine floods my caudate nucleus" every time I look at you. Love and attraction are all tangled in the convoluted wiring of the brain.

      So what is love? Neuroscience tells us that love is a condition involving neurons, neurotransmitters, hormones, receptors, and circuits in your brain. Cognitive science defines passionate love as an "elevated activity in the brain pathways which cause feelings of euphoria, strong motivation, and heightened energy which can induce sleeplessness, loss of appetite, and obsessive thinking about the beloved.”

            Can the human mind describe and explain what love is and how it works? Not in human terms alone. Not if love is from God. It is impossible for a human being to fully experience/comprehend love apart from God. I think that love is part of what it means to be in the image of God. The Scriptures tell us that love comes from God. Love has its genesis in the Lord. Therefore our experience of love is a result of God’s grace to us. God, who is love takes that which is a part of His very nature and shares it with us and graces us with the ability to love. What a mystery this is!

            I don’t know of anything that has ever topped the Holy Spirit’s words through Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 when it comes to describing love: “ ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”  What a delight to be the object of love. But what an even greater delight to be able to give such a thing to another person! Love is learned. We learn it from God and from our families and from others. Take God out of the picture and take love out of a family and you have a recipe for loveless people, living only for themselves, incapable of thinking or caring for others: incapable of love. You and I have the capacity - and the calling from God – to teach (by word and by demonstration) how to love. And that is something that is “caught”, not intellectualized or scientificated (I know that’s not a word, but I like it.) May the Lord raise up a love in us that reflects His own, and may we have true joy in it.

1 John 4:7-11 (NIV) ⁷  Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV) ¹⁷  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸  may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

2 Thessalonians 3:5 (NLT)  May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.

Matthew 22:37-40 (NLT) ³⁷  Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ ³⁸  This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰  The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

PRAYER:  Father, though I may not fully understand the length and breadth and height and depth of your love, I have experienced your love throughout my entire life, and it was never more fully expressed than when Jesus died for me. The deeper I go to search out your love, the deeper I go into its wonders.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!    

Scott

Adjusting My Day to the Lord's Schedule

            A couple of days ago I was driving on Cottage Street. This is not always a good idea in the middle of the summer in Bar Harbor. And it is definitely not a good idea if you are in any kind of hurry. I was behind a couple of cars that were just crawling along. It looked to me like the lead car was looking for a parking space and had stopped to wait on someone to vacate a space. I recognized a moment later that I was mistaken. As I pulled out to pass them I realized they had stopped to let some pedestrians - whom I had not seen - cross the street. I felt quite embarrassed about my haste and impatience. There was no near miss or anything seriously dangerous that happened, but I know that things can happen quickly, so I was thankful for God’s grace in the situation. I didn’t get any grace from the driver I passed, though. No doubt I deserved the words she sent my way.

            The whole situation was another reminder (I seem to need many such reminders) that not being in a hurry is a good thing. It seems to me that more bad things happen in life when we’re in a hurry than when we are in a relaxed “slow mode”. Most spiritual blessings do not come into our lives when we are in a hurry for them. I don’t think God likes to be “on the clock” of our schedules and demands, as if we could snap our fingers at Him and say, “I want it now!” and have Him deliver. How presumptuous of us if we ever treat Him this way! And yet we struggle often with the Scriptural truth and guidance directing us to wait on the Lord. Which is best: to adjust my schedule and reference of time to the Lord… or to expect the Lord to adjust to my schedule and my reference of time?

            Here’s a good prayer to start your day: “Father, what do you have planned for me this day, and how may I serve Your purposes between now and when I lay my head down to sleep again? Give me grace to adjust my day to Your plans, to wait on You, and rejoice in what the day brings forth. Teach me to wait on You today. Amen.”

            At this moment in time I am waiting for my first grandchild to be born. I am at an age when I am not old enough to retire, but old enough to think about it. There’s a sense of waiting about that. I am waiting for a few weeks of vacation. These and other matters in my life I must constantly place in the Lord’s hands and say, “In Your time, Lord.” I like the way Fanny Crosby put it in her hymn, “All the Way My Savior Leads Me”. This prolific hymn writer is known for having lost her sight at six weeks of age because of an improper medical treatment. As an adult one day she received an answer from the Lord to a prayer expressing a desperate need for five dollars. Such basic and simple things in life were common matters of prayer for her. When that need was met in a way she could not have planned on, she said, “I have no way of accounting for this, except to believe that God put it into the heart of this good man to bring the money. My first thought was that it was so wonderful the way the Lord leads me, I immediately wrote the poem and Dr. Lowry set it to music.” The hymn was published in 1875, when she was 55 years old:

“All the way my Savior leads me, what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy, who through life has been my Guide? Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell! For I know what’er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well.

      All the way my Savior leads me, cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial, feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter, and my soul athirst may be, gushing from the Rock before me, lo! a spring of joy I see.

      All the way my Savior leads me; Oh, the fullness of His love! Perfect rest to me is promised in my Father’s house above. When my spirit, clothed immortal, wings its flight to realms of day, this my song through endless ages: Jesus led me all the way.”

            Everything Jesus does… He does well. And everything Jesus does is always worth waiting for. When we wait on Him, we are never disappointed. Amen.

Psalm 27:13-14 (KJV) ¹³  I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. ¹⁴  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Psalm 130:5-7 (NIV) ⁵  I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. ⁶  My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. ⁷  O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.

Isaiah 8:17 (NIV)  I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in him.

PRAYER:  Father, give me grace to adjust my schedule today to your voice and your way. I surrender my schedule to yours and look for the goodness of your plan.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!    

Scott

Consider the Taste Bud

            When I was in Kindergarten, one day I was called and taken up to the 5^th grade classroom. I was not aware at the time, but I had been chosen to help with an “experiment”. The teacher set four unidentified strips of what looked to me like paper in front of me and asked me to taste them – one at a time. Evidently the experiment had to do with the different tastes. I remember the 5^th graders laughing at my (facial) reactions to the strips. It was the same response that I myself had recently when I watched a YouTube video of babies’ first reactions to tasting a piece of lemon. It was quite funny.

            Consider the taste bud. Taste buds are onion-shaped structures on the tongue and elsewhere in the mouth. In the wonderful design of God, up to 100 taste receptor cells are arranged in each taste bud. On average the human tongue has between 2000 and 8000 taste buds. From these a series of nerve connections carry the taste messages to the brain. Five basic taste qualities (five elements of taste perception) are now recognized by scientists and by eaters: salty, sour, bitter, sweet, and umami (a Japanese term for a savory sensation). As these elements work, they combine to assist us to identify flavors. While the old saying – “There is no accounting for taste” – may be about more than what just taste buds do, it is also true in the physical realm. Taste, like beauty, is in the eye (or the tongue) of the beholder. What one person enjoys, the next person may gag at the idea of eating. All human beings vary regarding what foods they like… or love… or hate. When I was young I disliked the taste of many foods that now I enjoy a great deal. Just the “idea” of a certain food can convince us that we do not like it. But when we take our mother’s advice – even decades after she first said it – and tried “it” we realized we liked it, and felt bad for missing out on it all those years. “How do you know you don’t like it,” she asked, “if you’ve never tried it?”

            Salty and sour detection is needed to control salt and acid balance in our bodies. Bitter detection warns of foods containing poisons. The sweet taste receptors provide a guide to calorie-rich foods. Our sense of taste has a simple goal: helping the human being decide whether to swallow or spit it out. It's an extremely important decision, but it can be made based on a just a few taste qualities. A 2004 scientific taste study by Jane Bradbury reminds us that the ability to taste food is a life-and-death matter. Failure to recognize food with a high enough caloric content could mean a slow death from malnutrition. Failure to detect a poison could result in near-instant expiration.

            The psalmist applies the metaphor of taste to both the Word of God and to God Himself, suggesting that if we “taste”, our response will be something like the child having his first lick of ice cream: “It’s gooooood!” How else could we say it? “Yummy”… “Delicious”… “Pleasing to the palate”… “Amazing!” And it is likely that, once we’ve tasted, our next word will be “More!...” The deep and profound goodness of the Lord will always draw us to want more as we benefit from it… as it blesses us with joy and happiness. We want more: a deeper walk, the filling of the Holy Spirit, the cleansing of our sin, the fruit of the Spirit, power to proclaim Christ. And God always obliges the hungry soul. He is generous and “fills our cups” to overflowing. May you find Him to be one who does above and beyond all that you ask or imagine today.

Psalm 34:8 (NIV)  Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 119:103 (NIV)  How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Matthew 5:6 (NIV)  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

PRAYER:  Father, may I live as Jesus indicated,... not by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God, and may it be pure joy.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!    

Scott

When I Am Afraid

            In the 1980’s actor Michael J. Fox played a teenaged character named Marty McFly in one of the most popular movie trilogies of all time: Back to the Future. McFly is sort of a runt of a kid who doesn’t usually fit in with his peers. One of his main character flaws is his reaction to taunts that he might be too “chicken” to do something (something often dangerous). This is his weakness, because it makes him angry. He cannot abide the idea that someone might think he is too afraid to respond to the “challenge”. But whenever he does, something always goes wrong. The ironic thing about all this is that in his desperate desire to avoid being thought of as fearful, or a “wimp”, or “chicken”… his often foolish, unstoppable actions are themselves all motivated by fear. His biggest fear is that someone will perceive him as afraid… as a “baby”… as a nerd… or in some other undesirable way.

            The fear of man will lead a person to do strange things: silly things… even crazy things. If others knew that we were speaking or not speaking, or doing something a certain way because of worry about what someone else thought, they would probably laugh at us. That’s why we rarely share these kinds of things with others. On many occasions, what others think (or what we perceive others are thinking) is the primary driver of what we say or don’t say, and what we do or don’t do.

            In preparation for the Bible study on this topic that I am beginning on July 2, I have been making a list of how this works in my own life. Just how much of what we do, think, and say is motivated by the fear of man. For example, one of mine happens in the restaurant. I have been served a meal that is less than satisfactory. I complain to Joanne about it. But when the waiter/waitress comes by and asks, “How is everything?” inevitably I respond with “Fine.” Even if it’s terrible. Why do I do that? It’s because I don’t want to make waves… don’t want to get a bad reaction… don’t want to get someone in trouble… don’t want to make someone feel bad… or some such idea. Not everyone thinks the way I do. I have a brother who very easily sets the restaurant straight when something isn’t quite right. Many people have no problem doing this. But me? I just “let it go”.

            Have you ever hesitated to bow your head in observable prayer in a restaurant to ask God’s blessing on your meal? How about going along with a group doing something you knew was wrong, just so you could fit in? What about speaking about Christ to another person? Not being able to say no? Avoiding a certain person? In our study together we are going to examine what fear of man does to us, and how we may fear the Lord more and fear man less, and experience transformation in the power of the Holy Spirit. I invite you to join us if you are in the area.

            May the Lord deliver us from the fear of man and its many manifestations, so that we might fear Him and live to His glory. AMEN.

Psalm 56:3-4 (NIV) ³  When I am afraid, I will trust in you. ⁴  In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?

Psalm 118:4-7 (NIV) ⁴  Let those who fear the LORD say: "His love endures forever." ⁵  In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free. ⁶  The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? ⁷  The LORD is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.

Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)  So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

1 Peter 3:13-16 (NIV) ¹³  Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? ¹⁴  But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." ¹⁵  But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶  keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

PRAYER:  Father, teach me the fear of the Lord. Let me understand it fully, and let me practice it maturely, so that my respect and love for you is true. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!    

Scott

Becoming Scam-Proof

            Do you know what word this definition fits: “a dishonest way to make money by deceiving people”?

            I checked my phone messages last night after a long day away and heard this one: “The IRS has filed a lawsuit against you. Call xxx-xxx-xxxx to assure that you are not prosecuted for failing to respond.” I googled the phone number and learned that it was connected with a scam. The invention of telephones, computers, the Internet, and just about any kind of technology is always accompanied by people (sometimes dumb and sometimes clever) who use it to try to steal from unsuspecting people who do not know any better. Sooner or later most of us become the object of someone’s attempt to scam us.

            The word “scam” is both a noun and a verb, just like the relatively new word “google”. If you ever are a victim of a scam, you feel foolish and gullible. Usually you don’t want anyone to know that you were so naïve. The problem is that scammers can be quite sophisticated and convincing (think Bernie Maddoff, who cheated 4800+ clients out of some 64 billion dollars and was sentenced six years ago to 150 years in prison). They can look good and sound good, but they are false. They do not have your well-being in mind. They only have their interests in mind, and they do not care if you lose anything or everything. Con artists like this come in many shapes and sizes, so the average person must practice vigilance and care in order to protect themselves.

            There is a spiritual lesson in this, for Christians need to practice vigilance as well. When the Apostle Paul was traveling on his second missionary journey, his team was called into Macedonia to bring the good news. After stopping in Philippi and Thessalonica, there is a brief passage in the book of Acts that describes his next stop. It was the small city of Berea. As he writes about what happened there, Luke describes the Bereans as having noble character who didn’t just “swallow” the message Paul was bringing. They examined the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul was saying was true. The “Scriptures” referred to here would have been what we know as the Old Testament. They had a foundation of truth in these Scriptures, and they tested anything that came their way by the truth of them. This is still an excellent practice for the Church today. In a world filled with so many spiritual messages, the foundation of God’s Word helps us to root out the spiritual scammers who are pursuing gain (ideas of the mind, power and control of others, financial, etc.) at the expense of others.

            We must be like the Bereans, with noble character pursuing the truth. Jesus told His disciples that they would minister as sheep among wolves. To survive they would need the innocence and purity of doves and the cleverness of serpents. May God’s Word always be our foundation, and may He deliver us from all that is false in our world today.

Acts 17:10-12 (NIV) ¹⁰  As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. ¹¹  Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. ¹²  Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV) ¹⁶  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷  so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

PRAYER:  Father, your Word is my guide. Fill my mind with wisdom and understanding as I read the Scriptures. Shape my life with them, to your glory. Protect me and my church from those who seek to harm us in any way. Keep us close to Jesus. In His name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!    

Scott

Nahum is not Ho-hum

            “What do you know about Nahum?”

            “Not anything really. Who is Ho-hum?”

            “Nahum, you idiot. Not Ho-hum.”

            “Another one of your Old Testament prophets? Tell me, where do they get these names?”

            “Never mind that. I want to tell you a little about Nahum. He lived and prophesied about 600 years before Jesus. The world was a very different place then. The northern kingdom of Israel was gone – destroyed and absorbed by the Assyrian Empire and their capital city, Nineveh. The southern kingdom of Judah – where Jerusalem was – still had a king, but things weren’t going real well there either. Just read Jeremiah sometime. There’s a reason he was called the weeping prophet, you know.”

            “Well, what does Nahum have to do with that?”

            “God gave Nahum a prophetic word about Nineveh.”

            “Nineveh… That sounds familiar. Where have I heard that before? Oh… I remember. That’s where Jonah went. I do remember Jonah. You know… the big fish and all that.”

            “That’s right. Jonah was a prophet of Israel who had been called by God to go and preach to Nineveh. He didn’t want to go and tried to get out of it, but he finally ended up there and preached the message of warning and repentance that God gave him. And – I think you will remember – all the people of Nineveh repented. They were sorry for their evil ways and turned to the one true God.”

            “So, is Nahum doing the same thing… all over again?”

            “No, not this time. Now, about 150-200 years later, God’s message to Nineveh is totally different. It’s a message of justice and judgment. Because they had destroyed Israel… because of their legendary and unending cruelty… because of their pride and their belief they were invincible… and because of their idolatry… God finally plans to bring destruction upon Nineveh. It is always wise to be on God’s side, rather than to set yourself up against Him. And that’s what Nineveh did.”

            “Well, I want to be God’s friend. I know I don’t want to be His enemy, that’s for sure.”

            “That’s good, because God’s vengeance and just judgment is a terrible thing to face. The Bible says He is slow to anger. God does not revenge hastily. Assyria had been prominent in the region for 600 years, with at least 300 of them in supremacy. Jonah’s time is now long past. It is good for us to learn from history, because God is the Lord of history. Unlike Jonah, Nahum preached to the people of Judah. He wanted them to know that God would always act justly in the affairs of the world. The affairs of the world can span centuries, you know, so God’s ways are not always easy to understand, but He is just as much Lord today as He was when He finally and ultimately brought justice to the Assyrians.”

            “Sounds kind of scary.”

            “Well… it is, when you think of it. The Bible says ‘It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.’ (Hebrews 10:31). But we have hope, because we are followers of Jesus, and He calls His followers ‘friends’. God is a stronghold for those who take refuge in Him. God gives freedom to those who are in bondage. The coming of Jesus is good news. Just think where we would be without Jesus!”

            “Sounds like we might be in real trouble, like the people of Nineveh.”

            “Well, I know one thing. We can always trust God to do what is right. When He judges it is right. When He is patient and forbearing, it is right. When He is forgiving and merciful, it is right. And when He calls us into friendship with Him, it is right. Whatever He does is just and right. So we will be careful never to point our fingers at Him in an accusatory way. That just shows that we think we know better than Him.”

            “I don’t think I could ever say or believe that I know better than God… about anything.”

            “Me neither!”

Psalm 103:8 (NIV)  The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

Numbers 14:18 (NIV)  'The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.'

Nahum 1:2-3 (NIV) ²  The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. ³  The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished…

Nahum 1:5-9 (NIV) ⁵  The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it. ⁶  Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him. ⁷  The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him, ⁸  but with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of [Nineveh]; he will pursue his foes into darkness. ⁹  Whatever they plot against the LORD he will bring to an end; trouble will not come a second time.

Proverbs 16:18 (NIV)  Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

John 15:12-17 (NIV) ¹²  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴  You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ¹⁷  This is my command: Love each other.

PRAYER:  Father, thank you that in Christ I, like Abraham, may be called your friend. It is by faith, because I trust in your Son. Thank you that you are a just God, and also that you are merciful. Oh, how I need your mercy, and you are generous in your grace. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!    

Scott