Shade Tree Wisdom 1/12/10

Ah, what a beautiful morning for a walk. Now when it’s this cold, one does not stroll. And there was a sliver of a moon hanging in the clear air which made it seem colder than it really was. You know, there is one thing I really missed these cold days, that’s my Cossack style fur hat. Ruth had given me one as a Christmas gift and I just loved that thing. Easily folded into a pocket, yet always ready for wear, and warm. That sliver of a moon hanging in the sky did seem to make it colder, as I said.

A telephone call informs me there is a break in a water main just north of us here. I imagine the crews are busy shutting off the flow and doing the work to repair that break, or are they standing there, waiting for a report from FEMA about disasters and wondering what to do. No, they are not waiting for someone somewhere to send a directive, they are doing the work that needs doing. A minute later an email shows a snowstorm in the UP of Michigan, a category five storm, and the people involved dug themselves out, helped stranded motorists, fed and sheltered them, and never asked the government for aid either.

I noticed the same thing happening in plane instances, it was the passengers who overwhelmed and restricted the danger. The government came later, made innocent people sit for hours needlessly, and then reported that “Your government will do what is needed to keep you from harm”.

And we wonder and ask God, “Why is this going on?” To find an answer to such a question we need only go to a brief Old Testament Book. Habakkuk. This prophet shows why such things go on, because he puzzles with the same question. “Why” he asks God, “And how long”. And the Lord tells him really you have seen nothing yet, because I am sending the Chaldeans to harass and overwhelm you. Why, because you never listened to me, and thought nothing would happen.

And that, it seems to me, is what is going on. God allows such things simply because we ignore His Word. Well, look at the Church, ordaining clergy that are gay, allowing women clergy, standing by as marriage is trampled and shunted aside, speaking no word about the language that seems to float out of every mouth. And we are asking, “WHY?”

In a TV interview someone asked Billy Graham’s daughter why a hurricane disaster happened, and she said, “We have made prayer in schools illegal, we have set aside the commandments, we have pushed God out of our public lives, and we wonder why?”

The Apostle John had seen much in a long life, and toward the end of it he write several letters. A line or two from one strikes me as useful for our daily selves. It is letter I, chapter 2, vv. 1.2. where He writes: 1 John 2:1-2 1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.“

In these strange times in which we live, I pray you will find that word useful for your evening devotion, to go to sleep knowing that Jesus Christ is the payment for the sins, mine, and that of everyone. And He is our Advocate, He pleads for us with the Father. I remember in confirmation class, we were a questioning bunch, one asked Pastor, what does that mean? He said, “When we stand before the Father on Judgment Day, he puts His arm around our shoulder and says, “Father, I died for this one”.. A comfort to know that.

GPD 1/12/10