Grains of Sand

theheartoftheworshiper.blogspot.com (Google Images) Sometimes there remains nothing to be said. David’s words from Psalm 63 said it all this morning. O God, you are my God,     earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you,     my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land     where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary     and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life,     my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live,     and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;     with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you;     I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help,     I sing in the shadow of your wings. I stay close to you;     your right hand uphold...

news.nationalpost.com (Google Images) The events of this past week in Quebec and Ontario and the deaths of two Canadian soldiers, and their two disturbed assailants, highlights the anxiety that lies, often barely concealed, at the core of our society. It seems like the world, even our fairly isolated world here in Canada, is falling apart. As I read Psalm 11 this morning, I wanted to echo the psalmist’s confidence that everything is under control—no mean feat when danger seems to lurk in broad daylight in “safe” places like parking lots and national memorials. David begins by saying: “ In the Lord I take refuge .” That’s the best place to start. In one of my Bibles I have written in the margin: “The righteous know to go to the refuge.” But those who were not so secure immediately questioned his resolve to find comfort in the embrace of God. “ How then can you say to me, ” he wrote: ‘Flee like a bird to your mountain. For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows again...

Google Images “ Because the Lord kept vigil ” (Exodus 12:42). Oh, I love these five words! The place is Egypt on the night of the 10th plague, on the night the Lord struck down the firstborn in every Egyptian household, on the night the Israelites were finally free to leave after more than 400 years under Pharaoh’s power. It was the night of the first “Passover.” The very name tells the story. The Israelites were instructed to pack their bags. They were give specific details as to how to prepare for their last meal in Egypt. Most important of all, they were told to brush the blood of the lamb designated for that meal on the doorposts of their homes. By this sign the angel of death would know not to touch the firstborn of that home. That child was protected by the blood of the lamb. The analogy is obvious. As that ancient household was protected by the blood, so is anyone who accepts Christ as his or her Saviour protected by the blood that He shed on the cross. The blood of Jesus Ch...

Google Images The ice covered by a thin layer of fresh snow made drivers and pedestrians cautious this morning. I have a short hill to climb on my way to work and since I’ve fallen on that hill a couple of times, I was planning on taking extra care on the way up. A city plow/sander was working on the other side. He crossed the street and just as I started up the hill, the driver beeped his horn. I stepped off the sidewalk to let him by. He rolled to a stop beside me, opened his window and said: “Better let me go first; I have sand.” I thanked him. “Better let me go first; I have sand.” On that last night before Jesus went to the cross, He tried to explain to His disciples what was going to happen. But the struggle to understand, or perhaps to accept what He was telling them, was too much. At the end of John 16, Jesus finally says, “ I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father ” (vs. 28). They GOT that. It would take the disc...

Reading: Isaiah 44-48 My last remaining aunt celebrates her 100 th birthday today. I don’t know that I want to live that long but since the timing is not up to me I will rest, as my aunt does, in some neat promises from today’s reading. God, through Isaiah, is addressing His children. He says: “ Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you ” (46:3, 4, NIV). From birth until death, God promises to carry us in safety. The verses surrounded these two remind me of why God can make such a sweeping promise. He’s the Creator. “ I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself ” (44:24, NIV). He’s the Redeemer, the One who has brought us int...

The Lord is my glass window of protection… “ The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? ” —Psalm 27:1, NIV. Who hasn’t been afraid of something? And though we might wish that fear were just an occasional phenomenon, we most often exchange one fear for another, or simply accumulate them until they cripple us. For the psalmist, the fear was a “whom” not a “what” and David certainly had lots of people in his life who were a threat to him. The verses immediately following describe evil men and armies coming up against him to destroy him. Then David makes an unusual request of God. He asks the Lord for the privilege of sheltering in His house. Traditionally, the church was often regarded as a place where people could seek sanctuary and be protected against anyone looking to harm them. But long before church buildings came into being and were used for those purposes, David knew the meaning of sanctuary...

They aren't accustomed to going outside. However, it was such a beautiful day, all was quiet in the neighbourhood and they'd had a few brief forays to get a feel for the territory. It was time to face a brave, new world. Abby and Lou Lou Belle went outside into the backyard this afternoon. Abby's not quite as bold as Lou, but she did the rounds of the yard, racing for the patio door when startled by an unusual sound. I thought that she might get confused and too frightened to know the way to safety, but she was unerringly accurate. Good spiritual lesson there. It's too bad I'm not always as smart as the cat! This sweet hymn by Gloria Roe (1938-      ) expresses the lesson well: Be calm my soul, faint not with care Though burdens deep our hearts would tear; He is the Lord, all He commands, He holdeth me safe in His hands. Be calm my soul, melt not with fear, Though shadows dark press in so near, Yet in despair I see His light; Lead me, O Lord...

Ruth 1-4 " May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge " —Ruth 2:12 Ruth had returned to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law, Naomi. Her husband was dead, as was her father-in-law and her brother-in-law. She was a Moabite, not exactly someone who would be received well in Israel. But Ruth determined to stay with Naomi, even claiming the God of the Israelites as her own. Times were tough, until she began to glean at the edges of the the fields that belonged to Boaz. He was not unaware of what Noami had done in helping her mother-in-law. He pronounces this blessing on her, little knowing that he would be able to act as her Kinsman-Redeemer, and buy her into his own household. As I read these words the lyrics of an old hymn written by William Orcutt Cushing (1823-1902) came to mind. 1. Under His wings I am safely abiding, Though the night deepens and tempests are wild, Still...

Rowboats should have been the vehicle of choice here in Caracas yesterday. In the middle of the afternoon the skies opened and torrents of rain fell. The official government response was to report that nothing unusual was happening; the pictures posted by people out on the street told a different tale. Government should walk in the shoes of the hoi palloi once in a while. When the sheets of falling rain eased enough for it to be possible for me to see the street that runs in front of my building, the sight was impressive. A torrent of muddy water was racing down the hill from the mountains behind my apartment complex. It flowed down the street, crossed the intersection at the bottom of the hill and then continued to flow down into a nest of houses cradled in a hollow below the intersection. I hate to think how much water and mud they had to clean up. I was safe and dry—the advantage of living on the 13th floor. I could watch the rain, even enjoy it, from the safety and security of my ...