Grains of Sand

Pixabay It’s no use trying to fool ourselves: all our idols have clay feet. If ever anyone lived (apart from Jesus Christ) who should be admired and emulated, that someone would be Abraham. His journey with God is one that borders on the exemplary—I say, “borders,” deliberately. Abraham, like any human idol, had his “clay foot” moments. Genesis 20 describes one of those moments. Biblical history overwhelmingly supports Abraham as an example of faith worthy to be followed. But God never minimizes the frailties of even those of His “nearest and dearest.” It’s one of His ways of reminding us that in our weakest moments, His grace is still, and will always be, sufficient. Genesis 20 is a story similar to one recorded for us in Genesis 12:10-12—same problem, different location. Abraham fears for his life while under the eye of Abimelech king of Gerar. Sarah is old by today’s standards, but still beautiful enough to attract the attention of the king. Abraham, fearful that his life is at ...

mkalty.org Google Images That pesky “why me?” question lurks at the back of our minds. The car keys go missing. An unexpected tax bill arrives. A job is lost. The house needs to be sold but no one seems to want to buy it even though the market is hot. I suspect a certain Saul, son of Kish, was asking the same question: “Why can’t we find those stupid donkeys!” (1 Samuel 9:3, 4). How hard could it be, right? The Israelites wanted a king. They were frustrated with Samuel’s sons who, as spiritual leaders, were the pits. Why they thought a king wouldn’t turn out as badly is as hard to explain as why we think a change in government will make any difference to our problems. Samuel, offended by the request, explained to them in 1 Samuel 8 what a king would cost them. But they insisted and God told Samuel to let them have what they wanted (1 Samuel 8:22). But God didn’t tell Samuel were to find this king. Apparently Samuel was going about his business when God brought the future king to hi...

Google Images You have to be impressed with Moses, Aaron, Caleb and Joshua when you read Numbers 14. The people have turned against them because of the spies' report on conditions in Canaan. They want to go back to Egypt. Worse yet, they are fully prepared to stone their leadership (14:10). Watch for the attitude on the part of these four men: “ Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes… ” (14:5, 6). This last gesture was one of mourning, of deep distress. These men pleaded with the people to obey God and claim the land that they had been promised. But there was more. The Lord took Moses aside and expressed His feelings about the matter, making it plain that He was prepared to destroy the nation-in-waiting and make of Moses a much greater nation (14:10-12). What an offer! What an appeal to a lesser man who, tempted to...

Google Images It’s a scene often described to us. It’s an example we are told to follow. But how often do we stop to think about why Peter felt the horror he did when Jesus bent down to wash the disciples’ feet. “ It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love ” (John 13:1) In the hustle and bustle of the Passover preparations, apparently no one thought to look after the custom of washing the feet of the guests as they entered for the meal. It would have been proper for one of the disciples to at least wash the Rabbi’s feet. But, it seems, no one did. So when Jesus got up, removed his outer garment, wrapped himself in a towel, filled a basin with water and knelt on the floor to wash His disciples’ feet, they should have been appalled. We have no record that anyone jumped up to take His place, or objected—except Peter....

Google Images We often picture Paul as a “grumpy old man.”  He’s no-nonsense, blunt, and sometimes downright offensive. So it surprises us to read these words in his letter to the church in Thessalonica: “ Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well...you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory ” (1 Thessalonians 2:7, 8, 11, 12) Paul? A nursing mother? Paul? A caring father? This is the Paul who never married and who never had children of his own. Although he had never had personal experience with either of those roles, he had observed them, and had been gifted with the instinct if not the experience, to understand how a mother and a father would treat their children. But beyond the name and expe...

Google Images He was no wimp. Nehemiah had been cupbearer to King Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2:1). To modern minds this makes him a royal waiter but in the context of the times, Nehemiah was the king's wine taster, a task that went far beyond checking the colour and bouquet! Nehemiah tasted the wine to make sure it wasn't poisoned. You have to have some serious nerve to do that job! Heading out to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall around the city might have seemed a whole lot less dangerous than wine tasting. Nehemiah was not easily frightened. So when the poor of the country complained about the "fat cats" who were ripping them off (5:12), Nehemiah didn't hesitate to take the risk of offending those of wealth and influence by rebuking them and demanding of them a whole lot more consideration for their fellow countrymen. As a man of integrity, Nehemiah resisted becoming one of those "fat cats" (5:14-16) " …out of reverence for God ." He was there to ...

Reading: Titus 1 Paul had left Titus with a daunting task.   The older apostle’s “ true son ” in the faith (1:4) had been assigned the job of appointing elders for all the towns that had been reached with the Gospel on the island of Crete. The trouble was, the Cretans didn’t have very good reputations (1:12) and that, unhappily, included some of those who claimed to be believers. The elders that Titus was looking for would be responsible for guiding the young churches and keeping heresy at bay—and it seems there was a lot of that going around that one little island! Choosing men of integrity was vital. The heresy and the hypocrisy would be challenges to Titus both in facing opposition to the Truth and in choosing men who met the standards for church leadership. From among those who had been, as Paul described it, “ liars, evil brutes and lazy gluttons, ” Titus had to find men who had been so transformed by the Spirit of God that they were now considered “blameless” by thos...

“ The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart ” —1 Samuel 16:7, NIV. You would have thought that Samuel might have learned a better head-hunting technique after the debacle with Saul. Israel’s first king had some sterling qualities but his appearance and strength were what really attracted the people to him. When the silver began to tarnish in the later years of his reign, they all realized their mistake. But here is Samuel choosing a new king, but judging among Jesse’s sons as though he were conducting the male version of Miss Universe. God had sent him on a mission. Saul’s character defects were beginning to show and among Jesse’s sons was the king God wanted to place over his people. Jesse lined them all up from the oldest to the second youngest. Somehow it didn’t occur to anyone to call in the youngest, ...

This morning's editorial in The Toronto Star : Brutal Spectacle Failed a City and its People , reveals a nasty truth. A friend of mine mentioned to me that we all would have been a whole lot better if the G8/G20 leaders had held their meeting on a cruise ship in the middle of the Pacific. It would have been much easier to isolate them (and probably cheaper to protect them), Toronto would not have such a mess to clean up this morning, its citizens would have been a lot less inconvenienced or terrorized, and Canada would not have such a shameful blot on its history as it has this morning after the events of this weekend. Have we proved once again that politicians are so far removed from reality that they really are clueless when it comes to the consequences of their actions? They come; they go, oblivious to the mess they leave behind. Sadly, history repeats itself. This morning I read the first three chapters of the book of Amos. If anything reminds me of the folly of leadership ...

She just needed me to sit down so that she could share her latest literary discoveries. The book: Experiencing Leadershift by Don Cousins. It took a while—an hour or more as she read to me all the passages she had underlined in the first half of the book. Something tells me she will read me all the underlined passages in the second half when she gets done. I can't review the book because I haven't read it—yet. However if it means anything, what I heard makes me want to rush out and buy a copy. Cousins' book is all about the heresies of leadership revealed. But what excites me even more than a new book is her excitement. If she were a racehorse, she'd be out of the gate and well on her way to the finish line and well ahead of the rest of the pack. Somewhere in the middle of the "reading" she asked me if she should buy copies for the pastor and all the elders. Then she asked what "gift" she possessed that would drive her to pass on all this i...

Leviticus 1-4 Something unusual pops out of the description of the offerings so carefully detailed as the book of Leviticus begins. “ If the anointed priest sins [unintentionally], bringing guilt on the people, … ” (4:3). Then follows the instructions concerning the appropriate sacrifice that must be made to atone for that sin. As the chapter progresses, others are singled out: “ If the whole Israelite community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden…they are guilty ” (4:13). “ When a leader sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden…he is guilty ” (4:22). “ If a member of the community sins unintentionally…he is guilty ” (4:27). In Israel’s history there were often corporate consequences to the sin of the individual, Achan being a prime example (Joshua 7). But here in this particular list the sin of the priest, however unintentional, is specifically mentioned as having consequences for the people not just for the individual who sinned. Beyond simple consequences, the wr...