Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
Let Him lead through all of your days.
Though your feelings will shout,
As they turn trust into doubt.
Seek refuge in a garment of praise.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; Proverbs 3:5
I look up and see the moon,
so familiar I cease to wonder.
Today is Good Friday,
so familiar I cease to bow.
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms,…” Ephesians 1:17-20
On another note, my latest book is now out, “The Arrogant Death of Dr. Jones.” An allegory to show the importance of faith, hope and love.
“There must be some mistake!” Dr. Jones screamed when he felt the sudden crush of a heart attack.
At the peak of his medical career, the heart of Dr. Jones teeters on a knife’s edge between life and death. As the medics administer CPR, he finds himself transported to a gray mist. There he is trapped by his arrogance. His skin burns if he tries to approach the glorious light of heaven. But closing in from the shadows is the horrific stench of hell.
Crying for help, heaven sends three of his former patients. People whom he had discounted as worthless. They become all that separates Dr. Jones from his arrogant death…
Will he listen?
The moon playing “hide and seek,” Alaska inland passage.
If you have ever played “hide and seek” then you probably said this and complained mightily if someone didn’t follow the rules. In fact, throughout life, we all want to be treated fairly… it is built into our humanity. Jesus speaks to this point in the Sermon on the Mount:
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. Matthew 5:6 NLT
Justice is something we have to hunger and thirst for… to work at diligently, and we are told we will be blessed by God if we do. Unfortunately, we have hungered for other things letting justice be put on the shelf. We hunger for power, wealth, pleasure and security. Justice gets twisted into “what I want.” We substitute what is good for me and my family, rather than what is right and good for our neighbor. Black Lives Matter is a cry for justice (don’t be sidetracked by certain people’s breaking and looting that’s wrong and evil and co-opts the call for justice). When Jesus returns He will bring truth, justice and judgement. On that day will Jesus find we have turned away from our neighbors cries for justice, or did we hunger and thirst for justice?
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. Matthew 23:23 NIV
If we have knowledge of justice as children playing “hide and seek,” how can we neglect working to act justly as Christ’s followers?
So beautiful and good
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
In Jesus I have good works prepared by God for me to do… how wonderful is that knowledge.
Obviously the good is determined by God not me. Which is reassuring because I have a tendency to choose temporary earthly pleasures over eternal goodness and true joy.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
Yes, in Jesus my life will be good, pleasing and perfect, and He will never leave me to do otherwise.
So far, yet so close
In a National Geographic story it stated that somewhere in the universe a star explodes into a supernova every second. It also mentioned that if a star exploded anywhere near us (<15 light years away) we would be wiped out by the blast. That made me ponder just how big the universe is, and how small our planet is in comparison. Personally I would not be able to locate my own solar system within our galaxy (one star among 100-150 billion), or even pick out the Milky Way from among all the millions of galaxies that are out there (over 125 billion from observation by Hubble space telescope). With this vastness of the universe how is God, who is over all, even concerned about me? I exist for such a short time, one of over 7.5 billion people who populate this insignificant planet coursing around an insignificant star tucked away in one of billions of galaxies. How do I know that the creator of all this even cares? It comes down to one word, Jesus. I do not fathom His love for me, or how He even knows me, but because Jesus the creator of the universe came and died for me, this says God loves me and will not lose me in the vastness of all His stars. Even the hairs on my head are numbered. What an amazing statement of God’s concern (Matthew 10:30). Oh how wide and deep and beyond my imagination is the love of God for me in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:18).
The heights of heaven
I can approach the throne of God in His grace and be confident I will find mercy and help. (Hebrews 4:16)
I can leave my past behind and know that it does not cling to me.
Life is be pure again.
It is not mine to lose or spoil, I can only receive it, and it is a new gift every morning.
This amazing grace comes with God’s power to live for Him,
And the knowledge that He will never leave me nor forsake me.
I do not have to worry about tomorrow for the end of my story has been written.
I can breathe in the peace of God.
I can rest in the knowledge that God will cause all things to work out for good when I walk in His love. (Romans 8: 28)
When I get lost, He finds me and restores my soul.
What Jesus has started in me will be carried onto completion by His grace and power not mine. (James 1: 6)
The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. (Psalm 145:8)
Give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His love endures forever. (Psalm 106:1)
Towering cliffs of Zion
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
(Psalm 8:3-4)
When I am in Zion National Park I feel so small, yet it is there I am struck by God’s amazing love for me.
Stephen L Hufman 