Into the Future

 

But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.

Numbers 14:21

"Grandma, do you think we'll ever have time travel? I'd like to go back to the Civil War just to see what life was like." 

"Well, everything we touched would affect and change the future. I'm not sure that's a good idea but I've always wanted to be an interpreter at a national park."

This was the beginning of a conversation with my teenage grandson on the way back from the gym. Our family loves history. We've lived in Spartanburg county since before the Revolutionary War. We are surrounded by family history and when we vacation we visit historic sites. Our conversation ended by concluding that God placed us here in this time and place for a specific reason — "for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14). So do our lives affect the future? 

In Numbers 13 the Lord had Moses send twelve men into the land of Canaan to spy out the land. Ten of the men brought back a bad report — bad news. They wouldn't be able to take the good land because there were walled cities and giants. Only Joshua and Caleb were ready to go into the land and take it believing God's promise. The people chose to follow the ten spies who gave the bad report because those spies were the majority. Their choice affected their future. God was ready to destroy the people and start over but Moses' talk with God affected the future.

God agreed to let the people live but those over twenty years old would die without seeing the promised land. They would wander in the wilderness until the younger generation grew up and the faithless died off except Joshua and Caleb. We live in a troubling time. Our thoughts and actions affect the future. God sent revivals in the past. The Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th Centuries were victorious times for God's people. Then several things happened to affect the future of God's people. 

Do you think God could send revival again? Do you think He will? Our thoughts and attitudes toward God's purposes affect our future. God's purpose in leading the Israelites into the promised land was to bring the gospel to the whole world. They were to be the people used by God to bring the Messiah. Their fear and disobedience delayed God's plan. How is our obedience or lack thereof affecting God's plan for our future? 

Take the time to look back at the preaching of the Great Awakenings. Google search should bring up the preachers and their doctrines without too much trouble. Look back at Christmas carols like "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear". Think about how people thought about the future. What was their vision? Life wasn't easy but they had a hope. 

We can't and shouldn't go back to the past, but we do need God's vision for the future — that all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.

Heavenly Father, Open our eyes to the things we do each day that affect our future. Help us Lord to not be afraid to move forward. Show us how to be strong and of good courage (Joshua 1:6) knowing you go before us. Help us make choices that will bring a great awakening in our time.  In Jesus's name. Amen. 

Experiencing Eden

  

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1
... we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

II Peter 3:13

You know the feeling that you just need to get out and away, just forget about everything and have a day of refreshing? Yeah, we all know that feeling. We decided to take a day trip just to get away. We rambled around buying fall flowers and discovering a little new territory but after lunch, we ended up heading toward Cataloochee. 

We spent about thirty minutes winding back through the mountains on a dirt road finally topping out the ridge and making that final left turn. The road led us to scenic vistas, trails, old barns, and a settlement with a church, a school, and an old house. The road to the house was washed out so it was only open to foot traffic. We walked maybe a quarter of a mile along the road passing grassy pastures and signs to old graveyards before we came to a huge barn and a footbridge on the left across the creek to an early 20th Century house. An older lady sat on the bridge picking grasses and platting a crown like we used to do as kids. Her husband was walking back from the house. We spoke as we passed and rambled on through the yard and the house, taking pictures of butterflies on wildflowers and listening to goldfinches twitter about the thistle seeds. 

Now, the gentleman sat on the bridge and pointed with a stick, talking with his wife about the birds. "I've never seen a yellow bird like that." There was also a cedar waxwing, a bird I'd rarely seen, joining the goldfinches in the flowers draping over the water. We enjoyed a neighborly talk. I just wanted to cook a pone of cornbread and get some cold buttermilk from the spring house for our supper, but that wasn't to be in this 21st century.

The walk back to the truck was hot but pleasant. As we passed a field near the creek, I saw her. "Bear!" That's not my usual reaction to a bear but the unexpected sighting had startled me and apparently I startled her too. She raised up on her hind legs and looked in our direction while I fumbled with my camera. She must have decided she and her cub might need to head toward the creek.

Now, in the road near the creek stood a big bull elk. The trail signs say stay fifty yards away. Well now what, with a mama bear to our left and a bull elk to our right? He noticed we needed to pass so he kindly ambled off into the woods out of our path. 

When I got back to the truck I noticed a type of euphoria. Actually, I had been experiencing it most of the afternoon. There was joy and peace there on the mountain. There was excitement in the birds and bears and elk. Maybe it was because I'm part of the older folks my thoughts drifted to the future when God places me in the new heavens and new earth, a re-creation of the Garden of Eden. I think I got to experience just a little bit of that garden this week. The Lord surely knew I needed it on a hot summer afternoon. 

Heavenly Father, thank you for preserving just a tiny bit of your Garden of Eden for us to experience. It was an amazing walk to see the animals, respecting each other's territory, and without fear for either of us. Thank you for your promise that one day You will once again restore a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness will prevail, a place to enjoy others, the plants, and the animals. I wonder if in the cool of the day You will walk among us so we can experience that fellowship with You, our Creator as Adam and Eve once did. I'm certainly looking forward to that day but until then I am thankful for a quiet walk in the forest. In Jesus's name. Amen. 

Hey Kids:

Do you have a favorite quiet spot?

Our lives are filled with hurry and noise. It tends to busy our lives and distract our minds. 

This week take a few minutes to walk in the quiet of a park or forest. Sit beside a stream and listen. Watch the insects, birds, and animals. 

Maybe you'll want to take along a camera or a sketch pad or paper to write a short poem or story. 

Maybe you'll just want to whisper a prayer of thanks that this is not the end but a moment to take a glimpse into our future. 

Once in a Lifetime

  

 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. ~Luke 1:6

Personal devotion writers encourage us to read a chapter of Luke every day in the month of December.  By the end of the month, we will have read the entire book. I usually read a chapter every day from whatever book I am studying. Then I journal a significant verse(s) the Lord emphasizes to me.  So looking at the first few verses of Luke I thought like me, Zacharias and Elisabeth were older folks. They probably went about their daily routines not thinking much about how many things happen in the course of the day that are once-in-a-lifetime events.

Zacharias was taking his turn serving in the temple. It's my understanding most men didn't get to do that but once in a lifetime because of the number of men available. While he was serving an angel appeared to him. Now that seems like it should stand out as a once-in-a-lifetime event. The angel came with a message from God but Zacharias doubted the message. His doubt caused God to shut his mouth and his ears for a time but it didn't stop God from fulfilling His purpose. 

Then there was Elisabeth who was never able to have a child but found herself pregnant after her husband returned home. Remember she was old too. She hid herself until she was showing, maybe because the other women would accuse her of being crazy. 

The school year is beginning — a once-in-a-lifetime event. You will never have this opportunity to register your child(ren) or take them to a particular school or walk them to class again exactly like this time. Even if your child is a senior, this year is different from all the rest. It's unique. Have you thought about all the mundane things like school supplies and registration, meeting the teacher, and pictures that are so routine yet will never happen in exactly this same way? 

Then I thought the things that happen today, whatever day it is that you are reading this, will never happen again. Am I missing something that God wants to use to fulfill His purpose? Does God try to tell me the special plan He has for me?  Am I doubting His purpose in my life because of my age or my income or my responsibilities to whomever?

Do I expect God to use me? 

Now, I want to spend my time, not just celebrating a special day like a birthday or an anniversary  — but the once-in-a-lifetime events that occur every day, that God will use for His glory and my good if I pay attention. I want to enter each day looking for what God is doing. Can I put my finger on something special every day? Maybe not, but that doesn't mean I won't see it in the future. Maybe the "something special" is that I am recognizing that every day is a once-in-a-lifetime event that I shouldn't waste. 

I came across a quote that sums it all up very well. 

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. - John Wesley

Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing me to participate in Your great plan every day. In Jesus's name. Amen.

Hey Kids:

Have you wondered what plan God has for you this day? When Jesus was a boy he did many of the same things you do. He played with the other children, learned to read and write, obeyed his parents, and enjoyed being a kid. 

 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. 

~Luke 2:52

What are ways you can increase in wisdom?

-listen to adults who try to help you.
-do your schoolwork.
-think through things before you act.

How can you increase in stature?

eat healthy foods
exercise
think through things before you act.

What are ways to increase in favor with God and men?

memorize scripture
be kind to everyone you meet.
allow your actions to be guided by God's word.

Revival Rain

 

Those who dwell under his shadow shall return;

They shall be revived like grain,

And grow like a vine.

Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

~Hosea 14:7 (NKJV)

There's a storm brewing over on the mountain. The billowy clouds rise above the haze. The thunder rolls like distant cannon fire, ever increasing in intensity as the battle draws closer. As of yet, there is no sight of lightning, only heat and humidity and the silence of waiting. No stirring breeze. Then the wrens begin to fuss and the robins chirp and the crows call, alarming the trees to the impending weather war. Do they feel their lives are endangered?

 As the storm draws near, it broadens its spectrum, rolling from one valley to the next. Down the hillside and up the other. How long before I must retreat inside to safety? Away from lightning bolts and pelting rain, swaying trees? Aww, it's just a summer storm they say. It will pass. But what will lie in its path? Will there be trees down, houses crushed, fires? Or simply the passing of another summer storm?

As I survey the skies of my younger days, I see political storms that came and went, leaving a little more destruction in their path each time. The last fifty years for the most part have not been kind to us. Have we learned anything? As Israel mocked Jeremiah and the prophets, mocking seems to be quite the rage of our day. Morality, life, God-given identity, and Christians are mocked in the marketplace of today's cancel culture. 

The storm brought a passing shower and now I see a rainbow forming. I am also beginning to see a rainbow forming in the political storm of cancel culture. A rainbow is a sign of hope given by God to Noah that He, God, would not destroy the earth with a flood again. He is extending grace to all who will come to him. So what are the signs of hope? After almost fifty years of death, Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court. That doesn't mean the fight is over, but thousands of lives have already been saved because Christians in cooperation with state legislatures had plans in place to stop or limit abortion. The rights of teachers to openly display their freedom of speech, including prayer, has been upheld by the Supreme Court. SC has high school credits available for students who choose Bible as an off-campus elective. This year our school district has seen record numbers of students choosing Bible as one of their electives. I understand it's a thriving elective in other districts as well. 

 Maybe it's the sound of the rain of revival. 

Mercy drops round us are falling, 

but for the showers we plead. 

~D.W. Whittle (1840-1901)

Father, we pray for wisdom in the midst of the storm. We are thankful for the mercy drops of revival we see. Lord daily may we pray for the showers, the downpour of revival. In Jesus's name. Amen. 

Hey Kids:

The school year is beginning and there will be lots of changes. Change often brings opportunities. 

How we handle those changes and opportunities is the key to making a difference in the culture in which we live. 

Read Daniel chapter 1 with your parents. Discuss how Daniel, a young man, must have felt as a captive. 

How did Daniel handle a situation where he had to choose between serving God and obeying the authority of the king?

How can Daniel's example help you as you begin a new school year?