sometimes…we become unable to hear God even if he were shouting at us. and he rarely shouts.
snapshots from the jewell’s weekend blessing to a group of graduated friends.
explodingdog.com
i see, Lord, that you desire mercy more than sacricfice. “for i desire mercy and not sacirifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. hosea six:six.
“come, and let us return to the Lord. for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. after two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord, His going forth is established as the morning. He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth.” hosea six.Jesus, you are merciful. “blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” matthew five:seven. i realized, this morning, that just by my showing mercy…it doesn’t mean You will show me an extreme mercy…it means that when i show mercy, i see and value and recognize and know the mercy you already give to me! Lord, my actions open my eyes to see your goodness. you also said to those who are pure in heart, You will show yourself, matthew six:eight.
“with the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; with the blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; with the pure You will show Yourself pure…” second samuel twenty-two:twenty-six. “and with th edevious You will show Yourself shrewd…” ha. it goes the other way around, too. it always does. because Lord, You are good, but You cannot help but be just. i love that about You, Lord.
the Lord challenges us to suffer persecution and to confess Him. he wants those who belong to Him to be brave and fearless. He Himself shows how weakness of the flesh is overcome by courage of the Spirit. this is the testimony of the apostles and in particular of the representative, administering Spirit. a christian is fearless.
redemption. oh, the color of it.
rode out to lake bryan, ate our pitas and drank our wine watching the sun set down. then the stars came up, and we watched them fall.
best friday night ever.
let your eyes look straight forward; fix your gaze straight ahead..don’t turn to the right or left; keep your feet away from evil.
then a kind of promise: ponder the path of your feet, then all your ways will be established. proverbs four.
it sounds so easy.
it’s kind of scary to think that if I’m focused on the Lord, He’s going to lead me on this straight and narrow path that goes in one direction and never turns, not right, and not left. but then, thinking through it again, i realized that’s not what solomon was saying…
he’s saying something more like: don’t turn right or left by my own choice- because that makes my foot step off the path and into evil, sin, darkness. rather, God, lead me along your path as my eyes gaze straight ahead toward You: I have a feeling, the path You lead me on will curve right and left on its own. i can’t see far down that path… all i can see from here, right now, is about as far as a flashlight would shine… like, till the end of this week. or the end of the semester. or maybe graduation. i can’t see further than that, not at all.
which way this established path gonna curve?
words are so great. they describe, they bless, they explain, they direct, they help me understand. they communicate thoughts and feelings. they help create new ideas. they get things out of one head and into another, or into as many as can hear them or can read them on a page.
i like that i don’t have to be a good writer or a good talker to use words. i like that there are words in different languages, since no language ever seems to have all the right words i need for expression. actually i love that. and i like the fact that even God used words in the beginning to create the world. he didn’t have to speak them, but he did. but then again, i like that creation doesn’t have to use words to declare God’s glory.
i wish i had more words.
Page 1 of 7
