The first thing that our dogs do when I get up to take them outside — is that they stretch. Even if they were already moving around and making noise to wake me up, once they see that it is actually time to get up and go — they stretch.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Romans 12:12 ESV
And beloved, when we start our day rejoicing in Christ our hope, we have stretched spiritually in the way that prepares us to be patient in tribulation — The Way that starts the marathon of our day in that constant, abiding prayer of an enjoyable walk with the Lord.
Even though it is wrongly attributed to Confucius all over the Internet, my mind is brought to the quote first attributed to Princeton Philosophy professor Arthur Szathmary:
An old-timer I knew used to tell his students: ‘Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.’
It is amazing how a stretch, a preparation, an attitude adjustment to start our day can have such a powerful impact — it is a right alignment with God’s grace.
Lord, thank you for so many blessings. Thank you for beloved friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, and a job and calling that allows me to serve others in a way that isn’t burdensome. I know that this freedom wasn’t free and that you have bought me out of that old life where I looked at things wrong and dreaded what lay before me — mainly because I did not start by surrendering, humbling, remembering what curses I truly deserve as opposed to what blessings I have received. Your grace is so deep, so wide, so strong. Thank you. Amen.
Side Note: This is a pretty good practical application video that I watched last night that you might find interesting and helpful: https://youtu.be/B1kMj5fIUNY
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'” John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Mark 1:2-4 ESV
We see John “preparing the way”, proclaiming a baptism of repentance — and that Jesus did not do away with the message of repentance but expanded it.
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17 ESV
Look at how John himself contrasts the baptisms of water, spirit, and fire:
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:11-12 ESV
Repentance is seeing the error in our own ways and turning to go a different way. But how blind is a person who justifies and excuses and accepts and continues in his own sin? And how blind is a person who doesn’t even think he is sinning?
Many are blind who do not look and examine themselves. And many are blind who look, see, and do not repent — who see their ways but do not accept the error in them. They might acknowledge that it is called sin, but not accept that “the wages of sin are death” and “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish”.
And true repentance isn’t a one time event where a preacher scared us enough to get us to accept John’s baptism of water so that we could return to our hellish ways — like a fool who goes to a car wash once and months later sues the car wash when his car is dirty again. No, the grace and mercy of God’s extending forgiveness is meant for a deeper purpose:
Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? Romans 2:4 ESV
Do we see how kind He has been towards us?
Do we believe what He says about the presson of sin?
Cam we both admit wotrh our mouths and accept in our hearts and minds the roots of our own ways and choose to walk in The Way?
Yes, this is His will being done on earth as it is in heaven, that people like you and I should humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways.
And beloved, He delivers us to the freedom of walking in a different way — not just by our own consciousness of our error (this isn’t just weak philosophy and dead religion), but by the supernatural strength of His Holy Spirit according in us.
Lord, I can be willful, foolish, and even blind at times. I am sorry, and I see the error of my ways. Help me, Lord. You are mighty even when I have proven myself weak. Thank you. Amen.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. Isaiah 43:2 ESV
“Cookie cutter Bible verses” can be dangerous. Imagine someone pulling this verse out of context and walking into a raging river or a raging fire of their own will and being surprised when their foolishness brings them to harm’s doorstep.
Let’s please not be so eager to use “whatever we read” and “however we read it” as some systematic approach of dictating or demanding how God “must fulfill” His promises.
I do realize how in times of great need or dispair or suffering, that we may need to stand upon the promises of God and cry out to Him for help. But it seems there is a huge chasm between the two, because the first has us demanding God submit to our will and purposes — while the second has us submitting to God’s will and trusting Him for protection.
Is our focus on the part of the verse that says “I will be with you” (speaking of us and God together) — or did we skip over that to the parts that only mention us and the circumstances (“they shall not overwhelm you”, “you shall not be burned”, and “shall not consume you”).
Sadly, how often do we make what should be about Him, into something about ourselves?
God is not in the business of building up superheroes and celebrities so that people revere other people. He is revealing Himself as the Lord and Savior for His glory and honor — because He is worthy.
In this train of thought, you will see repeatedly in the Bible how “important people” (even the recognizable names of people close to God) are humbled by their own shortcomings. Whether it is wise Solomon’s foolish pursuit of women, or bold Peter’s thrice denial of knowing Christ Jesus — all are not revealed as superheroes — but as flawed people who need a perfect, holy God Savior.
And when we see religious celebrities fall hard and far in very public ways, or those around us in ministry fall by the wayside — we cannot leave cold, hard stony hearts unrevived by the measure of grace and forgiveness meant for the day to say foolishly dangerous things like, “He cast them out because they aren’t His.” What a horrible precedent to set for ourselves and others — to measure one another by the shortcomings of each other rather than by the power of the life giving blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
Imagine if your validation, your assurance, your proof of God’s love had to be proven to your physical eyes because you didn’t have spiritual eyes to see, or to your physical ears because you didn’t have spiritual ears to hear, or to your physical hands because you had not been spiritually touched by God in those deep, innermost places of your very being. Verse 8 brings this to mind:
Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears! Isaiah 43:8 ESV
Remember doubting Thomas?
Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:24-29 ESV
Do not fret if you have doubted.
Do not fret if you have foolishly demanded from the Word of God that God protect you in the way that He protected Israel and His beloved. Like an envious child seeing what his brother or sister received, I have done the same, beloved. And our God is so merciful and mighty that even in those moments, He bid me thrust my fingers into His wounds to prove my doubts unfounded. But I was not nearly as overjoyed at my protection afterwards as I was humbled by my doubt. He loves, restores, and greatly uses men and women like Solomon, Peter, Thomas, You and I — not because of our worthiness, but because of His.
Pride would have us fearing things that bring humility and favoring things that bring us honor. Pride would have us seeking to be the unbreakable hero. But pride is the enemy.
Lord, the humble and faithful pass through the waters and the fires with you — to display you, not themselves. Even the righteous man falls for your glory and honor. Help us to praise you and glorify you alone, because you alone are worthy. Amen.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV
What is the opposite of boasting?
Boasting is about inflating self — like filling oneself with hot air in order to rise higher like a proverbial hot air balloon. Many who boast the loudest and most often of themselves are actually trying to compensate for a lack of genuine self esteem and maturity by projecting what they think they “should be” in their words about themselves. It is not a pretty picture when we see it for what it is.
And Christ died for us, and saved us, not of our own works, SO THAT NO ONE MIGHT BOAST.
You see, we do not deserve praise and honor.
To a prideful man, he will look at all of his hard work and say, “But I deserve…” when things don’t turn out the way that he expected. Or he will look at the less fortunate and justify in his own mind that he has more because he is not so lazy, even as he grumbles that those with more are somehow all crooks and swindlers. It is hard to consider the sovereignty of Almighty God and that His purpose cannot be thwarted when we believe that it is our own cause and effect that gets us our good rewards and that when we don’t get what we want, it is due to circumstances beyond our control. When we have the mindset that we are the earners of the good gifts that life and others haven’t found a way of cheating us out of — God’s grace and goodness is indeed far away from our comprehension (even though He is truly the source of EVERY GOOD GIFT).
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17 ESV
It is easy to forget this, beloved, when the circumstances of life during a pandemic hit us — or when we feel the temptation to boast of ourselves. But the point of Christ revealed is to show us our right standing — humbly praising God alone. Those gifts and talents and abilities we are sometimes proud of in ourselves — God gave them to us, and He could just as easily take them away. So what good does it do to sing praises of ourselves, when He has entrusted us with these treasures and abilities to be used to bring Him glory.
Christ does not bring us pride, He opens our eyes to awe and wonder of God that naturally humbles a man before his maker. The enemy is the one who hangs out pride and lies and hypocrisy and judgement and comparison that gets us into so much trouble. But we can trade the bitter poison of that old enemy for the fresh waters of grace.
What have I “taken credit for” and “boasted of” in myself? I should lay it down, confess it, and walk in a different way, walk in The Way that Jesus had taught us instead.
How often we forget humility and end up in pride. How often we lift up the wrong person in our heart and mind as begging worthy of praise ands honor and glory. Lord, forgive us and mold us to be more like you — you who were willing to be humbled even to the point of death to free us from the trappings of sin and pride and wickedness and death. Amen.
As an online friend, Gabriel Cross, writes in his blog post today:
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:25-26 ESV
What a wonderful blessing, for the Lord to lift up His countenance upon us and give us peace. To be returned from our rebellion and restored to our place as image bearers of the Almighty. He has truly been gracious to us in doing this thing for us. Let’s rejoice, beloved!
One of the promises that doctors make as part of the Hippocratic Oath is to “do no harm”. And every level of society would do well to abide by this in our lives — to not trade someone else’s harm for our own improved well being, etc. But business goals, personal desires and all kinds of things can create conflict with this relatively low bar of “do no harm”.
I say “relatively low” because we can probably realize that “do no harm to anyone” is slightly lower “do good to everyone” — and we might even realize there is another difference between just “doing good” to someone versus “being a blessing”.
So then, while we [as individual believers] have the opportunity, let us do good to all people [not only being helpful, but also doing that which promotes their spiritual well-being], and especially [be a blessing] to those of the household of faith (born-again believers). Galatians 6:10 AMP
In our daily lives, in our workplaces, within our families, within the challenges and struggles of any given day, we can probably get real and admit that there are times that we’ve either “done harm” or at least wanted to do harm to others. That person that cut you off in traffic. That person who disagreed with you on social media. That person who opposed you at work. That person who said offe did something that offended you. That opportunity to advance your own prose or goal by manipulating or taking advantage of someone else.
Many might say, “That is just business” or “survival of ther fittest” or many other things to clearly illustrate that their own life goal is not to “do no harm”. In fact, the reality of how often and how easily people choose to do harm to others for personal gain should be easy for our minds to comprehend, because we have done it ourselves. So if we have fallen short of the “reality” of “do no harm” — many would say it is pointless or useless to discuss such lofty ideals as “do good to all” or “be a blessing” many would say that all things that appear as good or blessing are still somehow rooted in an “angle”, a “manipulation”, a “strategy”.
For example, people might see charitable people or organizations who don’t truly believe in or live out the “do no harm” in their lives or business practices — and assume that these are financial maneuverings in order to get themselves into a better tax bracket or to gain influence and positive publicity within the marketplace. Or they might see church people who do all kinds of religious things regularly that conflict with how they treat others — and assume that these are trying to “buy their way into heaven”, etc. And isn’t this what all of us look like when we have our good intentions trying to cover up and hide on the outside our selfish motivations and desires that are hungry on the inside?
Flipping through the channels recently, I heard Andy Stanley talking about the “real” versus the “ideal” when discussing foster children that had never seen a stable home environment. He shared how one in particular said that he didn’t even know that it was possible until he saw it — and then that was the goal he set for himself to provide for his family one day.
I also heard a story shared recently by a branch manager where I work about an opportunity to open a home equity line of credit at low interest to rescue a family that was trapped under almost 100k in high interest 35+% debt. They were paying over $33,000 in interest alone each year and it was crushing them. And until someone showed them a different way, they were slaves to a hard lender that was arguably doing them harm. Now, a new lender comes along, looking to help them improve their situation, not just looking to sign them up for a profitable loan. Things like this can change trajectories for families. I know what Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University did for us once we saw that it was actually possible.
Seeing the ideal in God come in the flesh as a little Jewish baby to dwell amongst us had opened a gate for us to walk through and follow. And in following Him, we can not only easily achieve those low hanging bars that once seemed so high, we can reach for ther brightest star.
Merry Christmas, beloved. Come see the babe born in a manger, Emmanuel, God with us. Amen.
Psalm 16:8: “I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.“
I have been reaching out to coworkers at my old job to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving recently, since I don’t get to speak with them now with as much or as frequency as I once did. And one co-worker was especially encouraged by a family member that had made some notable growth in maturity this year. I look at many of the struggles and challenges that friends and family face with tyrant toddlers, hormonal teens, mid-life crisis suffering 40 year olds, aging parents, etc. and I can’t help but look at how my own life has applied pressure and strain on my parents, my wife, my daughter, my closest friends, my co-workers — in those times where my life has seemingly left the rails and collided into their perfect little world, requiring their attention and help.
Isn’t this what relationships actually look like — being there for one another and weathering the storms together?
And doesn’t this weathering together and making our way through the dormant winters, through the long days plowing and planting in the spring, through the long days tending weeds during the summer, and through the long days of abundant harvest in the autumn — doesn’t it make for a beautiful journey?
I think of the strongest trees, and how they grow a lot more under the soil, establishing a firm foundation before they start making real headway up into the skies. Some of us can’t imagine a tree as big as General Sherman — rising 275 feet into the air, measuring 100 feet at the ground, and weighing an estimated 2.7 million pounds. Did you know that giant sequoia tree seeds are among the tiniest in the tree world? Doesn’t that make you wonder what God might have in store for you or your loved one whose life seems to be a hot mess right now? Isn’t it amazing how God works like that?
This morning, I’m especially grateful that He not only weathers the storms with us, but there is a purpose for us going through the seasons. I’m sure there were strong winds that easily pushed General Sherman around and swayed that tree this way or that way when it was young — but it’s anchor held. It’s foundation was firm. It’s roots ran deep. And those prevailing winds blowing against the tree influenced the growth of every branch, but they did not prevent the branches from growing strong and firm and unmovable over time.
This to me is a great encouragement for my life’s purpose and direction. It doesn’t give me an excuse to just let the wind blow me wherever it pleases — it gives me an assurance that no matter what the day holds that He has proven time and time again that I can trust Him — even in those times where I wasn’t trusting Him, wasn’t seeking Him — even in those times where I was clearly acting in opposition and making myself an enemy of God. It makes me grateful. It establishes that right relationship and attitude that allows me to enter into His presence, humble and in awe of Him.
Do you feel shaken, bent, torn and wearied by the winds of this season? Don’t let shame in self take hold — grab hold of the all sustaining one who promises that in our weaknesses His strength will be made evident!
Do you feel like you should be further along than you are? Don’t worry about what your eyes can see — you don’t know how deep your roots are spreading underneath in order to prepare you for what lies ahead!
Do you feel cold, dormant and still? Spring has not yet sprung — let your body rest like a tree whose sap has returned to its roots for a season of hibernation in order to prepare you for the explosion of new growth that is in store.
Do you feel overwhelmed by so much activity and busyness — do your best at what you can while the work is at hand, but do not worry about tomorrow, there is enough work at hand for today.
Do you know what makes a tree unshakable? Weight. So don’t fear the heaviness in your life — see it as an opportunity to praise the Lord even the greater. Remember, His never-failing promises are greater than our momentary “feelings”. So we can REJOICE!!!
Thank you Lord for allowing us to thank you frequently for your many blessings, your grace, your favor, and your hand upon our every step, our every breath. Thank you for this wild journey through this foreign land on our way home to You. Amen.
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. Psalm 9:1-2 ESV
Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, But a good (encouraging) word makes it glad. Proverbs 12:25 AMP
Can we agree that some seasons of life are heavier than others? But how much lighter does it become when we have an encouraging word from someone!
During COVID, I lost my job of 9 years unexpectedly, and I have now been working at a new job for several months. I am very thankful to be able to support my family and to be able to use my skills, abilities, training, and experience as a part of a new team. Yesterday, I had someone who used to be a customer at the old job approach me in person and encourage me about the work that I did for them previously.
Admittedly, part of their complimenting me also included noting the many “problematic changes” their company had seen as a customer to my old company (related both to the acquisition and then COVID), but we didn’t dwell in that heaviness of what can happen when long standing organizations are carved up and sold off and a global pandemic hits. In fact, we focused mostly on talking fondly of the other good, hard working, trustworthy people who have either also lost their jobs or are still there.
As I drove the once a week commute home from my new office in a nearby city, I was thinking about how positive and encouraging this conversation had been. I realized that many others who miss the long gone great benefits, company picnic, employee appreciation, awesome bonuses, and supportive management and programs of the past may benefit from a word of encouragement this Thanksgiving week as well. It is too easy to get our self image and happiness wrapped up in our career, our status, our benefits, our compensation, or our perks in life — but the value of those wonderful friends hasn’t diminished even though we don’t talk and interact and help each other daily anymore. So I began reaching out to them individually to encourage them and to wish them a happy Thanksgiving — not because I’m a great person and thought of it on my own — but because someone started the avalanche by encouraging me first.
You, beloved, find your identity in Christ Jesus. And you are precious in His sight. So precious, that He looked past your shortcomings, your sin, your flaws, your weaknesses, because He knows your value and your purpose in His Kingdom Plan — and He went to the cross FOR YOU!
I hope this thought lifts the weight, casts away the heaviness this morning, beloved. If we have been encouraged in any way, let’s take that good, encouraging word out to so many around us who might be overwhelmed with the busyness of holiday preparations that have cast a veil over the true reasons that we celebrate these holidays.
Lord, help us to slow down and appreciate the good and encouraging words and the celebrations of the holidays in spirit and in truth — not just Rushing through the checklist. Help us top know how to help lift the load and to encourage others who might be overwhelmed. Remind us that encouragement comes through truly listening and truly helping even more powerfully than just speaking. Open our eyes to those opportunities to lend helping hands, and open our hearts to seize them ands not squander them. Help us to love, to lighten loads, and see a holiday season overwhelmed with hope, joy, love and the things of your Spirit, Lord. Help us to be part of the avalanche of a good and encouraging report, because have spied out and recognize what is so beautiful and valuable in the people around us. Amen.
I was recently having a very nice conversation about Jesus with someone I had recently met who brought up the subject. And I mentioned “walking with God” and “abiding in Him” — and this noticeably caught them off guard a bit. Even though they had been talking about the differences between the pharisees and the genuine Christians — it seemed afterwards that maybe their idea of the difference between the two was that the Pharisees were zealous and that the Christians were just quiet, peaceable folks who “didn’t push their religion on other folks”. This seems to be a recurring theme for mainstream “spiritualism” in portraying Jesus as a nice, hippie teaching “love, love, love” who is “just one of the many ways to God”.
Not Jesus
I wonder if many of us at times in our lives have been most comfortable with the idea of a quiet, sleeping, inactive, almost-dead faith, because it most closely resembles our own journey where we are far from an active relationship with God — not because that is how it is actually described in the Word of God?
Remain in Me, and I [will remain] in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself without remaining in the vine, neither can you [bear fruit, producing evidence of your faith] unless you remain in Me. John 15:4 AMP
Abide
I wonder how many folks have bought into the “have you said this”, or “have you been baptized this way”, or “did you ever” checklists to “get out of hell” — instead of the call to active, abiding faith that produces fruit and brings heaven to earth? It seems to me that I didn’t understand or believe or live my life in the latter way for much of my life — that “religion” was an afterthought, like a garnish to make sure was there on the plate, but was never to actually be eaten. But I’ve found that there is so much more than that.
LORD, thank you for awakening us to our need for you daily, even moment to moment. We are your beloved, not an estranged side piece that you call up once in a while when you need some extra attention. We are your bride. Forgive us for those times in our lives when we have not treated you with the same devotion and love. Forgive us for when we have been distracted by circumstances, feelings, people, passions, desires, pride and temptations to seek after other things first in our lives. Thank you for wooing us with your great love that sets us ablaze with a fire that drives us forward in your purpose and will for our lives. Thank you for using these vessels of clay to accomplish amazing things, but even moreso for the opportunity we have to the abundant life of a restored walk with you. Our walk with you is not the “good intentioned imaginings” that the faithless spiritualist might describe as a helpful practice towards self- enlightenment and self- improvement — you are the living God who abides in His people. Let this be our lifesong, our light, our seed, and our salt upon this earth. Amen.
On a related note, this song caught my ear and made me think of Jesus, my first love:
Yesterday, we picked up my daughter Mia’s puppy for an early birthday/ Christmas present. This picture is from right when we got her yesterday. The smile on my daughter’s face lit up my heart.
Picking Up Olive
Our dog Pompom is now 3 years old and sleeps in the bed with me because I was the primary one that she bonded with as a puppy 3 years ago. Pompom loves us all equally during the day, but at night, she is going to sleep as close to “daddy” as possible. This puppy, Olive, is being crate trained at night to sleep in my daughter’s bedroom and is bonding primarily with my daughter. Mia is the one taking her outside every 1-2 hours during the day, feeding her 3 times a day, and even getting up in the middle of the night when the whimpers come to walk her. A new puppy is a major new responsibility for a 9 year old, and Mia is learning to take Olive out after eating, after naps, after hard play, and whenever Olive “starts sniffing around”.
Olive Ballinger
As I think about all of this and how blessed we are this morning, I can’t help but think about the graciousness of God. As I think of this sweet small gift that we have given our daughter, and how much joy it gave me seeing her happy, I think of the joy it must give the Father when He can trust us with the good and perfect gifts He has in store for us.
We couldn’t turn over the life of this sweet, tender puppy into my daughter’s primary care until she was responsible enough to do so. We gave her more and more responsibilities in taking care of Pompom prior to getting this puppy. And we taught her about the specific types of things she would need to be aware of as a “puppy mom”. And once we thought she was ready, we decided that it actually was an appropriate time for her to receive the puppy that she has wanted for over a year now.
Pompom contemplating no longer being the only dog
Even with the challenges of the nighttime whimpers interrupting sleep last night, and with our going outside along with her — and even with the challenges of added responsibilities — my daughter is loving her new puppy. But imagine how much of a horror it could have been if we didn’t prepare her in advance? Or if we hadn’t helped her at all last night and she was alone outside not knowing what to do to make sure Olive had walked long enough to “get it all out”? Or if we hadn’t shown her how to dry off Olive with a towel after her trip into the cold and wet grass so that she would be warm and not shivering? Or if we hadn’t shown her how to swaddle Olive with blankets in her crate rub her gently through the closed crate so that Olive knew she was not alone and wasn’t being punished/disciplined, but that the boundaries of the crate were for her protection? I’m not saying that otherwise Mia might have (in her tired, unprepared state dealing with the new responsibilities) just let the puppy sleep beside her — and rolled over on her in her sleep resulting in a dead puppy and a brokenhearted daughter, where a gift became a curse. But it could have happened if we hadn’t prepared her and if we hadn’t helped her.
Mia and Olive on Our First Morning Together
And if we have some idea (as fallible, human parents) how to give good gifts in due season to our child, how much better does God know whether we are ready for a blessing or not?
“ Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will [instead] give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will [instead] give him a snake? If you then, evil (sinful by nature) as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give what is good and advantageous to those who keep on asking Him. Matthew 7:7-11 AMP
I’m reminded of my grandfather, Bill Edge, being hesitant long ago about letting me use one of his tractors after we initially bought our farm land. He knew that tractors have through the ages killed many an experienced farmer — and he wanted to be sure that I was ready — not just with knowledge of how the thing worked — but wisdom about the dangers, the traps, the things to avoid, and how to recognize the dangers specific to using a multi-thousand pound piece of equipment that is very good at breaking things down and tearing then apart. Bill’s hesitation in just giving me what I wanted immediately was well justified, and it was more loving to help me prepare in the areas of wisdom with regards to tractors there by his side rather than just send me off into danger “because I wanted it”.
Grandpa Bill, Mia and the Tractor
The puppies and the tractors are such enjoyable gifts when received in due time — but the greater gifts are the love that insures we are prepared for the gifts to be “for us and not against us”. And while Mia saw us give the puppy to her, and I saw Bill give the tractor to me in due time — it is our Father in heaven who “owns the puppies and tractors in a thousand fields” — that are available for His beloved children.
For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. Psalms 50:10-11 AMP
I love the smell of puppy breath, and I love that smell of my tractor running through a newly cut field, and I love that aroma of loving care when loved ones give us the good gifts that come from God in due time.
LORD, too often we long for the puppy breath “right now”, when you know the beautiful, perfect timing. Help us to better appreciate our many blessings and to prepare ourselves for whatever you have in store for us. Help us to not “demand” or “expect” because of our desires and passions, but to know that we can bring our every care to you — even when we want to give good gifts to those we love in the right way. Thank you so much. Amen.
Harold J. Ballinger 