God Has Spoken To Us By Jesus Christ! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and
majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him today and what came to my heart and mind in Hebrews 1:2a,

"… in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…"

This chapter is all about Jesus Christ. Indeed the entire letter is
all about Jesus Christ. If the book had been named after its content
(like the book we call Acts) instead of being named after the
recipients of the letter, we might be calling it the book of Jesus
Christ.

This is just a tremendous book to me. It speaks so much of the person
and the work of Jesus Christ. This morning I'm looking at the above
snippet from 1:2 and thinking of the wonderful act of love God has
visited on mankind with his giving us his Son. Our God is a
communicator. He speaks to us. This book begins with this observation
and quickly moves to the point that Jesus Christ is his supreme
channel of communication to us.

And what does God have to say to us through him? "For God did not send
his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him." John 3:17.

Just how wonderful is that?

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send
me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are
receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply
and let me know.

Our Lives Belong To God - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ecclesiastes 12:6-7,

"Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it."

Solomon tells us to remember God before it is too late. It is imperative we turn to God before the end of life when our spirit returns to him. If we don't, we will return to God to face his horrific judgment. If we do, if we embrace his Son, Jesus Christ in faith, we will return to God to reap a rich reward as co-heirs with Jesus Christ. In his wonderful doxology, Jude says, "To him who is able... to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy- to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority..." Jude 24-25.

I can't help but note something that Solomon points out here, something that seems to slip my mind all too often. God is the one who gives us life. My life is something God provided. My life is not my own, it is God's and when I die, my spirit returns to him for his disposition. Here lies the most important of all implications…

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God Answers Prayer! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ecclesiastes 11:3,

"If clouds are full of water, they pour rain upon the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there will it lie."

This verse strikes me from the perspective of whatever it is, it is what it is. If something is going to happen, it is going to happen the way it will. "Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there will it lie."

Is this the only perspective? Life viewed from the perspective of "life under the sun", the perspective Solomon speaks to in this short book, it seems so. It could lead to a somewhat fatalistic outlook on what we can expect in life. There is no control, no appeal, no alternative to what happens. "It is what it is." "What will be will be."

However, as we learn about God, there is an entirely different perspective. Reality is not just what we know from "life under the sun". Reality is much, much bigger. What we see, what we know, what we sense and perceive is only a fraction of all of reality. The existence of the spiritual realm is a universe of teeming reality, of which this life is just a fraction. The Scriptures are full of information about that which lays beyond "life under the sun". From them we learn much. The One who designed this world and how it works, the One who established the laws of physics that governs it, the One who knows the hearts of all mankind and what our proclivities are, he is One who has great intelligence. He has very full and pervasive emotions. He has a will of his own and he responds to the events in our world in real time. He also answers prayer...

Although some folks struggle with the concept of God's sovereignty, a full and mature view of how God has revealed himself in the Scriptures acknowledges that our totally sovereign God responds to the wills of his creatures in his own way - and he isn't going to check in with me first. Listen to what he tells us. "If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it." Jeremiah 18:7-10.

The most wonderful acknowledgment of this can be found in the teaching of Jesus on prayer, "Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: 'In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, "Grant me justice against my adversary." For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, "Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!"' And the Lord said, 'Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.'" Luke 18:1-8a.

God does answer prayer! He responds to the pleas of his children and if he chooses to do so, he will intervene in the affairs of this world and bring about that which would not have otherwise happened. "It is what it is" is not always necessarily true, and when it comes to prayer, it just may be that where a tree falls, there it may not lie!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

No Flies in the Ointment! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ecclesiastes 10:1,

"As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor."

A jar of perfume gives off an abundance of pleasing fragrance. But just one fly in the ointment can spoil it all.

It brings to my mind the proverb, "Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked." Proverbs 25:26. The man in that proverb is a righteous man. But just one infraction, just one sin, has the effect of spoiling it all.

It seems as though one can live his life in an upright way, but one slip up, one sin and that pleasing fragrance becomes a stench. The disturbing thing about it is that, were we all to be honest about it, we would all have to admit to those things that might result in us not being highly thought of by others. Never mind all the good things done, it only takes a little sin to outweigh the good.

As I think of these things, it brings a fresh appreciation for what the Lord has done for those of us who have embraced him in faith. In addition to being forgiven our sins, the Lord has done something wonderful beyond that. In Ephesians 1:4, we read, "he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight."

Yes, we are redeemed. Yes, we have been adopted as his sons and daughters. Yes we have been given eternal and abundant life. In addition to these wonderful things, although we have done those things that are displeasing and even detestable to him, as his children, he will hold us in his arms as holy and blameless. He will not allow any odor of our own folly to interrupt a full relationship of intimacy with him.

He holds nothing against us and never will. Our sins will be forgotten. The extent of the propitiation of our sins wrought by Jesus Christ reaches to this incredible level

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Emptiness In The World, Fullness With God - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ecclesiastes 9:5-6,

"The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun."

Solomon goes where most of us dread to go: he is so honest about this life that what he has to say could be couched with that famous movie phrase, "You can't handle the truth!" Here he points out that life under the sun is futile in that it is no more than a revolving door. We're in and then we're out of this life. We enter it, experience it, have our perspectives on it, reflected in our loves, our hates, our jealousies, but then we just vanish, we die.

How well do any of us know family members from three to four generations back? Think of all there was to their lives and now it is all gone. They have long since vanished, "even the memory of them is forgotten". Little is known of them, other than a spot on the family tree and maybe just several pieces of only very public information: who they were married to, where they lived, when they came over from the old world, what war they served in, date of birth, date of death, and not much else.

What were they like? Were they grumpy when they got up in the morning? Did they like children and dogs? What were their favorite meals? Did they have strong political feelings? Were they religious? Did they like the outdoors? Were they fun to be with, have a great sense of humor? There may be a few anecdotes, but the reality is that as a whole person, "even the memory of them is forgotten" when it comes to knowing what they were truly like. The same will happen to us. Our children and grandchildren will talk about us, but after time, we will all be forgotten, with few notable exceptions. Not much more than a space in someone's genealogy with a few facts preserved. That's about it.

Non-existence can be a terrifying thought upon reflection and that is just what we face from the perspective of "life under the sun." We come and after too few years, we go. Round and round the world spins and from this perspective our lives seem so small, so insignificant. Again, Solomon is clearing the decks for the coming gospel message. If we allow ourselves to be distracted by all there is "under the sun", we will miss what our hearts truly yearn for. We don't want to be just an entry in some future genealogy. We want to live and have our lives filled with purpose and meaning. This world cannot provide it, so life under the sun is meaningless as an experience to bring what it is our hearts yearn for.

But… God so loves us, even though we have turned our backs on him in sin and rebellion and gone our own way, he sent his Son to die for us, to reconcile us to himself. He offers us a place at the table in his family, abundant eternal life with meaning and purpose, eternal pleasures at his right hand! He offers us an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, an inheritance that is kept in heaven for each of us.

The world, "what happens under the sun", cannot bring us what we really want. But God can and loves us so much he provides it to us! All he asks is that we trust in him.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God Rescues The Powerless - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ecclesiastes 8:7-8a,

"Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come? No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death."

For each of us, we have no idea what the future holds. We know of some future events that will take place: the return of Jesus Christ to planet earth, the resurrection of the dead, eternal life for those who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith. We know these things because they have been told to us in the Scriptures. But what will take place tomorrow is hidden from us. We may enjoy something wonderful or we may face some horrific event. It may be our last day in this life "under the sun". We just don't know.

The Lord knows, of course. We are told he knows the end from the beginning. Not only does he know what will take place for each of us tomorrow, as believers, we know that he intends whatever it is for our good. The well-known passage from Romans 8:28 comes to mind, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Although there is great assurance to be found in this, in our "life under the sun", it pales in comparison to the powerful assurance we have for judgment day, a day coming for us all. All sinners will be cast into a fiery lake of burning sulfur, Revelation 21:8. For those of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith, our sins have been paid for and we look forward to an eternity with our Lord: eternal pleasures at his right hand. Psalm 16:11.

At times I hear that Jesus Christ is a crutch for those who need one in this life. The point being made that Christians are the weakest among people and unable to cope with the challenges of life without a crutch. While I whole-heartedly agree that Christians find in Jesus Christ a refuge and strength, the choice of those who have embraced him has been made for another reason. We will all need rescue on judgment day to escape that fiery lake of burning sulfur. Jesus Christ has already paid the penalty for our sins. On that day, no one who rejected Jesus Christ will avoid being cast into this horrific judgment. "The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." Revelation 21:8.

"Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:11-15.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

The Day Of Death Versus Birth - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Ecclesiastes 7:1,

"A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth."

I have to admit, I'm not sure what Solomon intended to point to here, but here are the thoughts this verse generated in my mind:

This is a fascinating verse. The first half of the verse points to something easy to see and accept: to recognize someone as good certainly has the effect of enhancing their winsome stature among others. It is the second half of the verse that is an eyebrow raiser. "the day of death" is "better than the day of birth."

We celebrate the arrival of our new-borns and mourn the loss when a loved one dies. We all have built within us the will to live, to exist and to maintain our lives as long as we can. We believe that life is a precious gift that finds its sanctity in the reality that it is God himself who has provided it.

Paul spoke to this issue about his own life. He said, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far... " Philippians 1:21-23. Paul was in agreement with Solomon.

The perspective for this has to transcend Solomon's scope for his experiments. To have a fuller perspective we need to view life as we have been taught in the Scriptures. Life extends beyond the grave. As we read of the resurrection, we recognize that death is merely a doorway that ushers believers right into the very presence of the Lord himself. There we enter into the eternal phase of life that is not marked by an estrangement from God. There we will not be living under God's curse and the collective sinful nature of humanity. There we will experience eternal pleasures at the right hand of God, Psalm 16:11. There we will not face death any longer, no more sickness, no more sorrow, no more pain. Fullness of life, purposefulness of existence, a richness that will only be available where our lives conform to all God designed us for.

The day of death for believers is better than the day of birth. It signals the end of this life - terminating in the birth of the next.

For the unbeliever, no day is good.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.