Shade Tree Wisdom 3/19/10

Nice rain yesterday, and the gutters were running yellow, because this rain washed those pesky pollen off the trees and makes the air easier to breathe again. Thank you, Lord. And made walking this morning quite pleasant as well, and quiet, since spring break is going on.

When I was growing up there was a fellow, I’ll call him Klem, because that is what his name was, Klem. He was average, but observant, and stuck with it when something interested him. So, one day he was driving along and he noticed the needle on the gas gauge wasn’t moving. He pounded on the dash a few times, and wondered, when the engine sputtered once, and died. Out of gas. “So that’s why that needle wasn’t moving’ he mused, “ well, now I know.”

I think life is sometimes like that. What we forget about the Bible is that it tells the history of life. It is more than a blueprint to show us the way of salvation, it goes into great detail about the workings of God in history. When we forget that, it surprise us when things in life often do not go the way we’d like them to go.

So let’s take a look at one man who saw exactly happen what he did not want to happen. That man is the prophet Habakkuk, the fifth last book in the Old Testament. Judea lay under the threat of the Assyrians, a warring people, and the prophet cries out “How long to I cry, and you do not answer?” And the answer he gets surprises and dismays him, for the Lord tells him He, the Lord, will raise the Chaldeans, a new and strange force, to punish the land for the sins they had committed. Chapter l describes them in detail, but then the Lord also says, this in reply to Habakkuk’s second complaint, God’s judgment is sure and always right on time.

The Book ends with an expression of joyful confidence no matter how bad things look, for “I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength”. 3,18.19a.

I thought of this as I observed the maneuvering and posturing that is going on in Washington over Health Care. And we cry and ask, “Is the best for this nation being planned here, or is it all about power and image and ‘being in charge’?”

I watch and pray, and understand that the reason Paul and Peter urge us to pray for the government “established by God” is because they have such great need for prayer to give them wisdom, patience, and understanding.

Here endeth my musing for this day.

GPD 3/19/10