The unseen hand

I just finished reading the book of Esther. It's an amazing book that doesn't mention God once, but you can't read it without seeing his hands all over the events of each page. God is everywhere in this book, but not mentioned once. Strange, isn't it, that we are often so unaware of his unseen hand as he directs the events of life and our world?

Esther is a great book to help us see things clearly in our day. The great sovereign of the universe is still working in the events of history and in the lives of men and women to accomplish his purposes. He's still doing amazing things just as he did in the lives of Esther and Mordecai.

"Who knows," said Mordecai, "perhaps you have come to this place for such a time as this." Those words could ring loudly in each of our ears. God has placed us where we are and when we are to accomplish his great work on planet earth.

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Even if you don't always see what he is doing know that he is busy about working in time and history for his glory. When they write the story of our lives you will see his fingerprints everywhere.

Knowing God

We can only imagine it. No one has seen it. Artists draw pictures of it, but we have no idea what it would be like, what it will be like when all of creation has the knowledge of God. What a difference that will make. It will affect how all of creation interacts with one another. Knowing God will change everything. Here are Isaiah's words as he looks into the future to that day,

Isaiah 11:⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb,

the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
⁷ The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
⁸ The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

Why are all these strange things going to happen? Because all the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. Apparently we don't have that knowledge now. What a difference knowing God will make for everything. The picture Isaiah paints is vivid. It's surreal. It's inviting. Imagine the perfect day. This will be what it looks like and it's all based on knowing God.

The atheist will tell you that we can only have peace when we all turn away from our notions about god, but just the opposite will be true. It's only when we know him that peace will come for all of creation.

Here is Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

Why would knowing him better be important? Because it changes how I interact with everyone and everything! Knowing God affects the world around me. It's the only thing that will bring our universal longing for peace into reality. Why will the world suddenly change and become a peaceful place? Because " the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea." It's only when we know God that the world becomes what we always dreamed it would be.

Saturday's cartoon

Isn't it amazing what knowing Jesus can do in a life?

Advertising sin

I'm fascinated by the way the world promotes and advertises sin. It's packaged so nicely, in such a pretty package, that we are often enticed into its trap, but sin never fits a good adjective. You should never hear "good sin" or " nice lie" or "healthy hatred" but we do. We dress sin up in a pretty outfit and claim it's "ok." But the words don't fit, they don't feel right. No matter how hard we try junk is never "fine" it's always just junk. No matter how we package it sin is still just sin. It's ugly, dirty, destructive and never, as Paul writes in Galatians, has any fruit to show for all it does. Advertising sin has become a fine art in our culture, but it's still just sin....it's still missing the best that God designed us for.

A new old book

My wife and her Kindle keep me busy. This week she's reading an old book by N.T. Wright. It's a book I haven't read, but what she has been reading to me is so good I had to get a copy. I'm looking forward to reading it for myself. I don't know how I missed it when it first came out, but I did. The book came in today and I'll keep you posted on my thoughts.

Hard hearts, blind eyes and dull ears

^{Mark 8:16} They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”

¹⁷ Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? ¹⁸ Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?

I've been thinking about my own walk with God a lot lately. I wonder why there are times of passion and love for God and then times of coldness. I can't tell you how it happens, but it does in my life. And then I came to this passage a few days ago. I began to see a pattern in my life....a pattern of coldness that makes me unable to see God's word clearly or hear his voice well. It's what Jesus described as a hardened heart. I hate to admit it or tell you about it, but I'm a victim of my own problems more than I want to admit. I'm really good at letting my heart become hardened to the things of God and then my ears and eyes are affected as well. It's a strange malady. One that the disciples, living in the presence of Jesus himself for three years, suffered from as well. Becoming dull, cold, insensitive, unable to see God's work and word well are all part of a hardened heart. When it happens we miss what God is doing. We don't see it, we don't hear him, we miss Him.

Jesus' words to his disciples are haunting, "Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?" These are words that speak to me. Is my heart hardened? I think that today it is. I'm working on it. The remedy? A step away from the roar of the world, the distractions around, a time to pray and be quiet, a time to ask God's spirit to break up my hard heart so I can see, so I can hear, so I don't miss him as he works in my life.

The Cookies

Saturday's cartoon

It's always a surprise to us when we realize we are wandering, but it's part of each life. The surprise for us is our internal sense of knowing where we are going is suddenly shocked to realize that we are wandering in circles! Welcome to the human race....or should I say the human merry-go-round?

The cascade of chaos

If you watch the news you will notice that something is happening.

It's rippling across the globe.

It's chaos.

That's the word the news media is using. It started in Cairo, but it has spread across the globe and is increasing. The cascade effect, the discontent from every country and quarter has erupted because of frustrations over work, food, governments and religions. Chaos is erupting everywhere. It's unnerving. It's a cascade of discontent that is causing chaos. It's the perfect setting for someone, anyone to come to leadership and bring peace to the world.

I think these ripples of chaos are only the first glimpses of what is to come. When you see all that is coming don't fear or panic....instead look up. The Lord's coming is closer than it has ever been. Perhaps he will come back today....perhaps today.

Don't you care?

Mark 4:³⁵ That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” ³⁶ Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. ³⁷ A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. ³⁸ Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

³⁹ He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

⁴⁰ He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

⁴¹ They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

The disciples, in the midst of fear and crisis, asked a question we have all asked, "don't you care?" Their crisis was the sea and storm that had flooded their boat. Their crisis was their apparent impending death....and so they wake Jesus and ask, "don't you care?"

Have you ever asked God that question in your own life? Have you ever wondered? Jesus' response to the question from the disciples was action, not words, "He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm." He demonstrated, in a most dramatic way, that he did indeed care!

Does he care for us in the same way? Yes! When we come to him with all our fears and worries, our panic and dread, when we come to ask, "don't you care?" Jesus takes action. The one who created the universe spoke to the wind and the sea that he had made and they obeyed. Does he care for you in this same way? Is he aware of your crisis of faith? Your fears? Your panic? Yes! Invite him into your boat. Go to him with you own question and time of need. You will find that he does indeed care for you.

Their response? "They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Who is this? He is the Lord of glory! Creator of heaven and earth. Does he care for you? YES! Bring your own sinking ship to him and watch his loving response. Does he care for me? Yes, indeed!

Simple reflections

My sweet wife and I had a great day together yesterday on our anniversary. As I think about the day I also thought about something else. It suddenly struck me that we each only live this life for a few short years and then we are gone. What struck me is how amazing it is that another person would be willing to spend those few short years with me. What an amazing thing marriage is that two people would give their lives to each other and spend them together. What a gift, what a commitment, what an amazing thing it is that two lives become one for these few short years and we gift each other our lives....our only lives...to be with each other. It's a simple thing, but I'm profoundly impacted by one other person who would spend her only life with me. I am blessed.

Sowing seed, seeing fruit

There is an interesting parable that Jesus told about a farmer and his field. It was really a story about the word of God and our lives. Here's the story explained to the disciples,

^{Mark 4:13} Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? ¹⁴ The farmer sows the word. ¹⁵ Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶ Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.¹⁷ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ¹⁸ Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; ¹⁹ but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²⁰ Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

Any farmer worth his pay will know that if you don't put seed in the ground you will never see a harvest. Somehow, in our day, many Christians I meet don't believe this is true. They have the strange idea that somehow God should just make fruit grow in their lives without any attempt on their part to, 1. put some seed in the ground or, 2. to be a field that can grow something.

The story Jesus told speaks to an interesting reality- it's easy to get distracted and end up without any fruit in your life. There's a lot that catches a life and makes it unproductive. If you know that you will realize how important this sowing seed thing really is.

Here's another thing to note- all this soil, these different kinds of soil, are all in the same field....in the same life. I have times when nothing grows and other times and places in my life that are wonderfully fruitful. It's all part of a life lived with distractions. A life lived in a fallen world.

But the key for me is this- I have to throw some seed in my field! If I don't do that then nothing can grow. In other words I have to get into God's word and read it! If I don't put his word in my mind, in my heart then the world will put it's seeds there. My life is like that field, ready to grow whatever I throw on the soil. It doesn't care what kind of seed it is, it's job is to produce fruit. And so, each life will see a harvest. Some rich with produce and other lives full of thorns and loss.

The key for me is this- that I get God's word into my life, my field. If I do that then God can make something grow....there's a harvest coming. There will be a harvest IF I plant good seed.

Special people, special days

Today is a great day! Today my wife, Joye, and I celebrate 37 years of marriage. It's a strange thing to write because only old people are married that long and we aren't old yet, but what a wonderful blessing to have such a sweet lady as part of my life for all these years.

I am a different man because of her and I know I have influenced her life as well. It's such an interesting thing...this marriage idea that God came up with...that two people could live together for a life and become part of each other is so many ways. It's wonderful when you can see what God does in two lives. How he makes them different, how he makes them one. I'm blessed to be able to be part of an amazing relationship and most thankful for my sweet wife, Joye.

Valentine's Day

Like many other men I wait until the last moment to get cards or flowers for those special days. This morning, at 4am, I was at Wal-Mart to get a card and flowers for my sweet wife. I was surprised by how many other men were there as well! I'm glad I'm not the only one to wait until the last moment. For the rest of you guys who wait until it's almost too late today is Valentine's Day. Cards, flowers, candy, balloons and stuffed toys seem to be the choices made by some of the guys this morning....at 4am.....at Wal-Mart. Have a great day.

Every blessing

^{Eph. 1:3} Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Every spiritual blessing? What an amazing statement! But here is something even more amazing...he HAS blessed us. It's a past tense event. It's already happened, we already have EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING IN CHRIST.

Those words are profound and hard to grasp. In other words we already have, in Christ, every spiritual blessing there is to give. They have all been given out. There aren't any more to give, God gave them all in Christ.

In Christ we already have every blessing God wanted to give us. That truth causes Paul to revert back to a praise style that David used in Psalms. It begins with "Praise be to the God and Father..." It's the beginning of this amazing book of Ephesians. Paul begins his thoughts with the most profound statement anyone could ever make- In Christ we already have every blessing there is to give in the heavenlies. I can't wrap my thoughts around that. I don't think we understand how important that is. Most of us are busy about asking for things that God has already given in Christ. He can't answer those prayers because he already has...in Christ.

So, with all of the blessings God can give already given what are we to do? That's the great joy of every believer...the joy of discovering and unwrapping the gifts already given, scattered through God's word and waiting to be revealed in our lives. Every blessing. What an amazing thought. What a wonderful God.