Shade Tree Wisdom 7/16/13

Shade Tree Wisdom 7/16/13

       Benjamin Franklin, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, said:
“I’ve lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth; that God governs in the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?  We've been assured in the sacred writings that unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this, and I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.”

       Yesterday I had my semi-annual doctor’s visit and he gave the usual “Keep on doing what you are doing”. The walk is slower. I often use a cane. Things in general are slowing down with age. And I left his office wondering again why the Lord has allowed me these many years.

       Then I read the Word, and I find St. Peter with the same question,. His answer, “I think it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance: knowing that shortly I must put off this tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus has showed me, “ so that “after my decease you will have these things always in remembrance,” 2 Peter 1, 12-15.

       That is a good reason to remind you always of “the old paths, and ye shall find rest for your souls” (Jer. 6,16) that our Fathers trod, and that brought them to salvation through their faith in Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection to pay for their sins, and they pay for mine, and yours.

       Because people have a tendency to do what Jeremiah said, “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” Jer. 2,13

       There is one reason, isn't there? For the Lord to allow me to remind, bring to mind, always the center who is Jesus Christ, so that “by grace you are saved, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”

GPD 7/16/13