Shade Tree Wisdom 8/21/08

It’s been raining. No, not the floods that Fay brought to Florida, but still much needed and appreciated rain. And the paper delivery person knows enough to throw the paper on the grass when it rain. So he did that, and landed it right in a slight depression filled with water. However, I was there to rescue it before it got soaked. End of drama.

Joyce Kilmer wrote this:
“I think that I will never see, A poem lovely as a tree
A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed,
Against the sweet earth’s flowing breast,
A tree that looks at God all day, and lifts her leafy arms to pray.
A tree that may in summer wear,
A nest of robins in her hair.
Upon whose bosom snow has lain, who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,’
But only God can make a tree.”

We tend to get used to, and so take for granted, much that is really wonderful. One poet wrote about flowers “born to blush unseen”. One spring friends were diving through the Arizona desert when ample rain had fallen, and they marveled at the acres and acres of blazing desert color that ‘hardly anyone ever saw’.

So we can better understand the marvel of the Psalmist who cries out in Psalm 8, “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?” We can better understand this when we really understand what sort of stuff sprouts from a sinful heart. Jesus lays it out in Mark chapter 7, 21-23 (I gave you that list in several translations yesterday).

Then, for our comfort, we turn to Psalm 46. That Psalm describes a time of calamity, yet begins with “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” and ends with “The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge.” V.l.11.

The Lord is always at work doing His will. Even when things seem to crumble and fall apart, He says, “Be sill, and know that I am God”. V.10.

And it is THIS God of whom the psalm (23,3) says He “leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake”. The same God to whom the psalm says, “Thou art my rock and my fortress, therefore for Thy name’s sake lead me and guide me.”31,3.

We sing boldly, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so”. It is true, as true as God’s word is true. That is what Jesus did in His love, He died for me, and rose again that I may be assured of eternal life. That is the miracle I cannot ever take for granted.

GPD 8/21/08