As the captain on the
ship bellows through his fog horn to his crew, “Now hear this!” To His flock of
sheep, Jesus said, “I give eternal life
to them, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My
hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no
one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29). And that my friends
can be taken to the bank!
Can there be any more
satisfaction and peace in one’s heart than to know you and I are in the Lord’s
hands? No man or devil can pluck me out of His hand. Is that not an
awesome thought to begin this new week?. When Satan or his minions come
at us like a flood – bringing waves of fear, discouragement and lies – we can
rest in this glorious truth: God gave us to Jesus.
Olive Tree....
I have come to the
point in my life where my blood pressure will no long stand against the steady
diet of very depressing news, so I have vastly restricted watching any news
except ICEJ' (International Christian
Embassy from Jerusalem). Their news is not any less depressing, but I can
turn to the Word and see that in the end it will all work out to His glory, and
that is sufficient to calm my nerves until the next onslaught from our national
news outlets.
In the past several
months the question "What is wrong with our government" has dominated
my mind? Why can they not see beyond the end of their noses. I have
come to the conclusion that when people cross the boundaries of the Belt Way,
they leave their common sense behind. I was recently asked why this seems
to be. My response from Solomon : “The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Prov 9:10; and the
companion verse, "The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all
your acquiring, get understanding" (Pro, 4:7).
The Book of Proverbs
is filled with similar words pertaining to the necessity of seeking wisdom
until you find it. I have concluded that the Belt Way has a serious
deficiency in wisdom, so I must assume that the Belt Way is also deficient in
the ‘Fear of the Lord’. Solomon also goes on and takes this void a step
further, "Fools despise wisdom and instruction" (1:7). Do you see a correlation here?
How many of you know
when we are struggling with a question, we need to be especially keen on
watching for God's answer to the question? Once again I asked, "What
is wrong with our government?" and He showed be a very neat passage that I
have read at least eight times before but did not see the picture. It is
found in Judges 9:7-15.
"Listen to me, O
men of America (A Hillbilly Rendition) that God may listen to you. "Once
the trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive
tree, 'Reign over us!’ But the olive tree said to them, 'Shall I leave my
fatness with which God and men are honored, and go to wave over the
trees?' Then the trees said to
the fig tree, 'You come, reign over us!' "But the fig tree said to
them, 'Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to wave over the
trees?' Then the trees said to the vine, 'You come, reign over us!'
"But the vine said to them, 'Shall I leave my new wine, which cheers God
and men, and go to wave over the trees?'
'Finally, all the trees said to
the bramble, "You come, reign over us!’ the bramble said to the
trees, 'If in truth you are anointing me as king over you, come and take
refuge in my (dole...oops) shade, but
if not, may fire come out from the bramble and consume the cedars of
Lebanon."
Soooo, do you think we
may have a barn full of brambles in the Belt Way? The people elected a
bramble, Abimeclech. who within three years God send an evil spirit between
Abimelech and the men of Shechem and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously
with Abimelech". Something to think about!!!
Blessings,
Gramps
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