Grains of Sand

clarionenterprises.com (Google Images) An old friend went home to be with the Lord over the weekend. Bob was delivered from cancer, Parkinson’s, and all the beating and battering of life that remind us that, though this world will one day be restored to the pristine beauty and perfection of creation before the fall, it is now only our temporary home. As I read Psalm 33 this morning the last few verses would describe Bob’s hope, and mine. He has now seen the realization of this hope as he stands in the presence of Jesus, whom he loved greatly and served faithfully. For those of us who remain the promise lacks its crowning moment, but it is nonetheless a promise that can be trusted even while we wait to see it completely fulfilled. “ …the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust ...

Google Images There wasn’t room for both families. Abram had prospered by the time he returned to Canaan from his ill-advised journey to Egypt. So had his nephew, Lot. Tensions between the servants of the two households reached dangerous heights. Genesis 13 describes the agreement made between Abram and Lot. The patriarch’s nephew chose to occupy the lush plains of the Jordan near Sodom and Abram moved to the area around Hebron. By covenant, all this land would someday belong to Abram’s descendants (Genesis 12:7). Resting on that promise, he could easily allow Lot to make his own choice as to where he wanted to settle. It was at this time that the Lord renewed his covenant with Abram. Genesis 13:14-17 tells us, “ The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, ‘Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever...Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giv...

Google Images Death is all around us. Yesterday’s terrible events in the Navy yard in Washington once again illustrate too graphically that we are a society in deep trouble. Twelve people are dead because someone snapped and was unable to come up with a better way to solve his problems than to take an arsenal of weapons and to kill everything in sight. The doctor at the trauma centre who helped to treat the wounded spoke passionately about the need to do something to stop this senseless waste of life. Gun control is a sensitive issue. It’s a messy issue. It’s a political death sentence for the authorities brave enough to deal with it. But in the end, how does the death of ambition stack up against the death of the innocent? Unhappily, even the strictest gun control is not enough to guarantee life. Yes, death is all around us. But life is the subject of Jesus’ remarks in John 10. However death happens to us, in Christ, that fleeting moment is just a last bump in the road before ...

They had nothing to work with and couldn’t keep up with the demand. When they complained their overseers accused them of being lazy. If they had enough time to ask for time off to worship, then obviously they didn’t have enough to do! That’s the scene in Exodus 5 as Moses meets with Pharaoh and asks that the Hebrews be allowed to leave Egypt to go and worship their God. Poor Moses got it from both sides: The Pharaoh complained that he was keeping the slaves from their work, and the Hebrews complained that Moses’ interference was making their lives a whole lot harder. And Moses complained to God: “ Moses returned to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all’ ” (Exodus 5:22, 23, NIV). Have you ever noticed that sometimes, even when you are being obedient to God’s command, things don’t wor...

Reading: Ezekiel 11-15 Poor Ezekiel was called upon to do some very strange things—a kind of living illustration of the judgment to come on God’s people. His message was not usually a pleasant one—as unpleasant as some of the drama he was instructed to perform to accompany it. But I was intrigued today by some verses from Ezekiel 14. The word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel and he is told to pronounce four judgments: sword, famine, wild beasts and plague. As each of the judgments is announced, the Almighty makes the statement that caught my attention. “ ’Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, even if these three men—Noah, Daniel and Job—were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord ” (Ezekiel 14:13, 14, NIV). Four times these three men are mentioned. There is a good supply ...

Reading: Jeremiah 32-35 Sometimes God asks us to do the most humanly illogical things. He asked that of Jeremiah on more than one occasion. Jeremiah is known as the “weeping prophet.” He spent a lot of his time delivering messages of doom and gloom to God’s people. There was nothing left for them except punishment for the offenses they had committed against God. Israel had already been decimated and now it was Judah’s turn. Jerusalem was about to be invaded and destroyed by the Babylonians. The message was: Don’t resist. Resistance is futile. It sounds like the message from the undefeatable Borg set on assimilating the universe on the old Star Trek: The Next Generation series, doesn’t it? Except this was no fantasy, no make-believe. Everything would be leveled. Most everyone would go into captivity. They would lose everything. Then God asked Jeremiah to buy a piece of land (32:6-12). Jeremiah did as he was told because the Lord also gave him this word of encour...