Abide Under the Shadow

 

I am aware that I used this photo before but it illustrates so clearly what I want to say

that I trust you will forgive me. It was 42 degrees when I took this photo and the sheep, very sensibly, had taken shelter in the shade of this lovely Plane tree on my Son and Daughter-in-law’s property near Gilgandra. They were free to walk out into the heat of course, but had more sense than to do that. The 91^st Psalm (Authorised Version) says that if we dwell close to God we will “Abide under the shadow of the Almighty,” As those sheep abide in the shade. How good is that? God further emphasises His keenness to protect us by describing Himself as being like a bird covering its chicks: “He shall cover thee with His feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust” and that’s not all as He says “because you have made Him your refuge, the Most High, your habitation, there shall no evil befall thee…He will be with you in trouble, He shall deliver you and honour you, with long life He will satisfy you, and show you His Salvation.” You know, we really should avail ourselves of these great offers from the Almighty God of the Universe. Then again in Isaiah, Chapter 40 and Verse 31, He offers to “renew our strength”, so we see why Psalm 73 verse 28 says “It is good for me to draw near to God”. However, you will notice that each of these “offers” is conditional; in the first case we must “draw near” to God if we want His protection, whilst in the second case we must “wait upon the Lord” for renewed strength. Just what does all this mean? Well, to “draw near” is simple enough, just as those sheep were protected when they “drew near” to the tree-trunk, so we will be protected if we draw near to God. Which means accepting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, and endeavour to live as He requires. O.K. that gives us some idea of what “draw near” implies, but what does it mean to “wait upon the Lord”? The answer is two-fold: Firstly, a waiter in a restaurant, (for example), is there to do his employer’s bidding by “waiting” on the customers. He (or she) takes their orders, and generally attends to people’s needs. Likewise, God wants us to lovingly help other people, as He told us to. Secondly, an employee waits for the “employer’s instructions.” Which means just that; We have the written word but need the Holy Spirits guidance. For example, soldiers prepare themselves for battle, to the best of their ability, but they then “wait” for directions from their Commanding Officer. There are many examples of this in the Bible. One of the earliest is where the Children of Israel were escaping from the Egyptians and panicked, so started to rebel against their leader, (Moses), but Moses just said “Stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord” (Exodus 14:13) at which time God “stepped in” and saved the day for them.  King Asa and Gideon and many others had similar success when they also “waited on the Lord”. The trouble with us is that we lack faith and often don’t wait for God’s directions. Our Governments ignore Him almost completely and what a mess they have made. They have sold off our land to the highest foreign bidders, sold our mineral resources, sold our ports, sold our electricity and even the electricity poles, to name just a few of their mistakes made because they didn’t seek God’s wisdom.

As for you and me, we will only make rational decisions if we “Trust in the Lord with all our heart, lean not unto our own understanding, in all our ways acknowledge Him” so that “He shall direct our paths.” Thus, we should “Seek  first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto us.” Mostly we don’t do that. There is an old saying that “Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread” and that just about sums up what we usually do. Which is a far cry from “waiting on the Lord”. But the good thing is that all is not lost, we are still alive and can therefore “repent” (change our ways). As Isaiah said, in Verse7 of his 55^th Chapter: “Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him return unto the Lord and He will have mercy upon him….and will abundantly pardon.” He said that a long time ago and a lot of people have changed their ways since then, so praise God, we can do that too. But we had better get on with it. Take me for example, I don’t know if I will be alive to make a decision to-morrow. In that case it is good that I have accepted Christ’s forgiveness, isn’t it? How about you then? Are you sure you will be here to make decisions to-morrow? Well if you are not sure, (and no one really can be), then you should, right now, also accept the forgiveness that Jesus earned for you. (if you haven’t already done so). That way we will both be “Righteous in His sight” “when we stand before the Judgement seat of Christ.” (Better to be sure than very, very, sorry when it is too late, don’t you think?). Best wishes, Tom.

Individuals

 

The more I see of life, the more I realise how important people like you are (Yes you). You have a very great influence on the world around you. When you have said something loving and kind you have made someone’s day. When you smile a sincere smile you will create an aura of friendship enveloping the person receiving the smile and that is lovely, and is the way God wants it.

 In this first photo an individual Bougainvillea blossom could easily feel that it isn’t important and feel insignificant when the vine is in full flower. You too can feel insignificant in a crowd at a sports meeting or such, or even in church, but neither the flower nor you are insignificant. Without each individual flower being present there wouldn’t be a display on the vine, likewise crowds are made up of individuals like you. Without the individuals like you there would be no crowd to encourage the participants and those present. We all need encouraging no matter what we do. This flower, on its own, looks lovely, but that isn’t how God (the designer) wants you and I to be. He wants us to share our
Joy, our caring and our love with others and thus encourage each other. Modern day business managers talk about “Team work” which means pulling together and sharing the work load. However the only way that will ever be a real success is if we all obey Jesus second Commandment to “Love our neighbour as we love ourselves”. When we do that, team work becomes automatic because we want to help those we care about and relieve their work load.  Jesus spoke to crowds of people but he was really appealing to each individual in the crowd. Whenever he was approached by someone in need he was quick to listen, and keen to help. However, He didn’t leave it there but was also quick to point out that we “Must be born again” because we have all sinned; To make that “re-birth” possible He allowed Himself to be crucified to cancel our debt and if we then “believe on him” and “Repent” we not only have everlasting life in Heaven, but also have the help of the Holy Spirit to love others in a special compassionate way here and now. Unfortunately, those who don’t follow Christ’s ways have just the opposite attitude being motivated not by love, but by selfishness. For example, C.E.O’s often try to increase the work load to make more profit. A lack of Christian love like that emanates from selfishness and leads to resentment and an unhappy workplace and in its worst extreme it leads to ill health, nervous break-downs and such like. The same lack of “loving your neighbour” is now becoming increasingly evident in the public school system with bullying. A child that is taught the lie, that everyone evolved from a monkey, has a different attitude to other children that are taught that we were “created” by a loving God to be His children.  The more of us that follow this teaching, the happier we will all be, just as the more flowers that open on that Bougainvillea vine, the more attractive it will be and bring joy to those who see it. So if there is anyone you are having trouble with, do what Jesus said to do: “Love them” and “Pray for them” and tell them the “Good news” of His saving grace, (if they don’t know it already). Jesus told us to do that. Prayer is God’s ultra-modern form of “texting” so we can both receive help, and request help for others. When I was at school, a boy I knew, who was a student boarder at St Joseph’s College in Sydney, sent a telegram (the old type of text message) to his father which said: “No mon, no fun, your son”. And his dad replied: “Too bad, how sad, your dad”. Well our God isn’t like that; He has requested that we pray to him, so naturally He will answer our request. Although not always in the way we would expect. But certainly in the way that he knows is in our best interest.  Have fun doing that. I am excited that the God of the universe wants you and me to call him “Father” and “text” him continually. Now that is pretty special, don’t you think? Don’t forget though that a loving parent doesn’t just want to be contacted when their child is in need, but likes to hear from them very frequently, thus sharing their joys as well as their difficulties.      Regards, Tom.