Grains of Sand

Pixabay I’ve always jokingly said that I was in such a hurry to get started with life that I was born a month prematurely and have been running ever since! Like just about everything, being fast isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But then again, it can get a person into trouble. In fact, going too slowly can do the same thing. Perhaps that is why this passage from Numbers 9 caught my attention. At the end of the chapter the writer is describing the cloud that covered the Tent of Meeting, or the tabernacle, that was the centerpiece of the Hebrew camp. During the day it was a cloud, at night it was a pillar of fire—the same cloud and fire that had been with the Israelites since they had left Egypt. Moses writes: “ Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; whenever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped ” (9:17, 18). The passage goes on to say that sometimes the cloud settled f...

impactmagazine (Google Images) As soon as I read 2 Chronicles 7:1, another familiar event in the Scripture popped into my mind. Here is the story. Solomon has built a magnificent temple to the Lord. He has just finished his prayer of dedication and commitment to God. The first verses of 2 Chronicles 7 then record: “ When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The priests found not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, ‘He is good; his love endures forever ’ (7:1-3). We understand from the New Testament that those who have  come “ to lean their whole weight upon ” Jesus for their salvation ( John G. Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrid...

my2ndheartbeat (Google Images) Isaiah 30 is just one of many exposés on the heart. The record we have of Israel’s constant struggle with God reminds us so much of our struggles. God shows us one path and we follow another. The results are inevitably disastrous. The chapter is titled Woe to the Obstinate Nation and contains a litany of complaints on the part of God directed to a people who insisted on finding their courage, strength, help, salvation, in all the wrong places. When we come to verses 15 to 18 we find the summary. This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift! A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountai...

Google Images Abraham was seventy-five years old when he set out for the land God promised to give him (Genesis 12). At the time God also promised to make a great nation out of him. He had to wait twenty-five years to even get to the first step of “great nation” status. That was when his promised son and heir, Isaac, was born (Genesis 21). Genesis 21 begins with: “ Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said , and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him ” (21:1, 2, emphasis mine). It was a “hurry up and wait” situation, one that neither Abraham nor Sarah always dealt with appropriately, Sound familiar? “Hurry up” is relatively easy, but “wait” is not. But the important part of the lesson is found in those bolded portions of these two verses. God did “ as he had said .” He was faithful to “ what he had promised .” And God delivered what he had promised “ at the very time God had promised him ....

Ruins of Jerusalem—Google Images If it were not for the existence of the two books associated with him, Jeremiah and Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah would not make a huge impact on the stage of biblical history. He appears briefly in the history of the kings of Judah, but never lingers long. At the end of Chronicles it is recorded: " Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the men and women singers commemorate Josiah in the laments. These became a tradition in Israel and are written in the Laments " (2 Chronicles 35:25, NIV). Of course, the reference to these "laments" spurred me to read Lamentations, one of the two books attributed to Jeremiah. The prophet had lived through the reigns of men like Hezekiah and Josiah. Both these men followed the Lord and did much to restore Judah to her religious roots. Jeremiah also lived through some not so righteous reigns, including those of the last kings of Judah before the kingdom was overrun by the B...

The quintessential position of patience This is a test. We can identify with Saul. On the eve of battle, with his troops getting restless and ready to run for home, Saul is feeling the pressure. Samuel is expected to come to put God's "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" on the enterprise. At the end of the seven days, the waiting period designated by Samuel, there is no prophet appearing over the nearest hill. If his troops were " quaking with fear " before (I Samuel 13:7, NIV), they are paralyzed with it now. If he doesn't act, what men are left to him will take off for the hills. Saul acts. He offers the required sacrifices to God (vss. 9, 10). He takes on a role that isn't his to assume. He doesn't trust God and doesn't inspire that same trust in his men. If he'd only waited a little while longer. His impatience cost him his kingdom (vss. 13, 14). Most of us are not anticipating leading men into battle, but most of us can relate to th...

A few weeks ago I posted an article about people I had met. Several of you commented that you wanted to know more, particularly about the young woman who is constantly walking around the block in the area of the church where I work. She has Down's Syndrome and I wondered why she was always out on the street. Yesterday, as I was heading to church, I saw her out walking and took the time to slow down to her pace and talk to her a little. It turns out that she does 14 laps of the neighbourhood in the morning and another 14 laps in the afternoon because she is trying to lose weight. I discovered where she lived (having observed her in her yard with her parents the day before while I was heading downtown). Her well-worn path through the neighbourhood has made her a fixture that you can set your watch by. She never deviates from her path. This little episode fit very well into my readings from Jeremiah yesterday. One particular verse jumped out from the page. " This is what the ...

Psalm 31-33 Yes, I'm waiting for my bagel to thaw out. Someone out there is already reminding me that a microwave works really well to look after these details in life. My problem is that I don't have a microwave—one of those things that hasn't quite happened yet in my process of setting up house again. So I have to wait. Waiting is not my strong point (haven't I said this before—and recently?). I have a sneaking suspicion that many of us suffer from the same disease. Nope, cross that word "disease" out. That's just an excuse for bad behaviour, like Tiger Woods' addiction to sex. I also suspect that our tendency to impatience has something to do with how many times in Scripture we are told to wait. Here's another one from this morning's reading: " We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name " —Psalm 33:20, 21 NIV. In spite of all our technology, the ...