Grains of Sand

Pixabay It was, to my mind, an unfortunate choice of title. A very popular author has published a 12-day devotional entitled Making Sense of God . I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he probably didn't think through the implications of that title: what it suggests about him and what it suggests about God. If he had written six volumes of 2,000 pages each on the subject he still would not have met the mandate suggested in that title. It wouldn't put a dent in our understanding of God. A 12-day devotional doesn't cut it and to suggest that it could is presumptuous even if the author really didn't mean it. Isaiah sums it up: " 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts' " (Isaiah 55:8, 9). Paul follows up with this in Romans 11:33, " Oh, the depths of the...

“ The seas have lifted up, O Lord,     the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,     mightier than the breakers of the sea—     the Lord on high is mighty ” Psalm 93:3, 4. As I read Psalm 93 this morning, Athabasca Falls in Jasper National Park, Alberta, came to mind. We were a long way from the sea when we visited the falls in June, but the roar of the water as it plunged over the falls into the gorge was awe-inspiring. It was yet another reminder of just how puny we human beings are. We can run, lift weights, bulk up, jump hurdles, wrestle steers, climb mountains, swim lakes, but we are still puny creatures when compared to the strength of water that cuts through sold rock, sweeping everything before it and drowning out any voice. There is no sound system as powerful as God’s! There is a bench at the end of the walkway that you can see in the...

video.pbs.org (Google Images) Talk about conflicted! In Matthew 8, Mark 5, and Luke 8, we have the story of the demon-possessed man who had terrorized the neighbourhood to the point that the residents tried to chain him in in the cemetery. One account describes two men being in this condition. Matthew 8:25b tells us: “ They were so violent that no one could pass that way .” Jesus chose this spot to land the boat he was traveling in. He had an appointment. The presence of the demons had driven these men crazy, literally. Even the chains and shackles could not hold them. Mark 5:5, describing one of the men, tells us that “ Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones .” What a miserable life! Then Jesus arrived on the scene. The demons obviously held these men in a powerful grip. That makes what happened in the story all the more amazing. When Jesus appeared we find one man in the posture of worship. “ When he saw Jesus from a distance, ...