How to Press and When to Press
But the love of the Lord remains forever
….with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
….of those who are faithful to his covenant,
….of those who obey his commandments! Psalm 103:17-18 NLT
(Today has been one of those days that circumstances almost led to nothing being posted at all. But I thought better of it and decided to share the next installment of the posts I had shared last week.)
Matthew 16:20 (<<click here to read the passage)
There are quite a few areas in life where a small amount of knowledge applied can cause problems. I worked in the jewelry department of a Kohl’s department store for over 10 years and one of the things we did regularly back in the day was to change watch batteries. Sometimes it was a challenge to get the back off a watch, but it could also be a challenge to get the back back on. Most often, if that happened, we used a press with little dies to apply even pressure to pop them back on.
Early on in my time there, I heard of an associate who used the press but didn’t realize the need to use the dies. Without the dies, there are just two metal posts, and a metal post pressed firmly to a watch crystal has disastrous consequences! Of course, it shattered!
The disciples knew quite a bit about who Jesus was and due to the Father’s revelation, it was confirmed that Jesus was truly the promised Messiah. But that term, at this time, was not understood in the way God had intended. Applying the small amount of knowledge, they had could easily have had disastrous consequences! So, Jesus “sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.”
A while back as we studied through the Gospel of John, we repeatedly encountered the phrase, “My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4) in regard to Jesus’s lifeline. Everything, absolutely everything, comes in God’s good time. Jesus didn’t come to earth until it was time. His ministry didn’t begin until it was time. His death didn’t take place until it was time. And the proclamation that He was the Messiah didn’t occur until it was time.
Lord Jesus, may I patiently wait for Your timing – it is best. May I wait for Your direction and knowledge on how to press and when to press ahead. But also, may I not hesitate to step out on faith, if that is what You call me to do. Amen.
(June 4th, 2018, Mon, 6:34 am)
June 5th, 2022, Sun, 10:17 pm
Never Truly Alone
Father, it is a most beautiful day but not without its challenges. May decisions made be with Your wisdom. Amen.
Psalms 139:1-24 (<<click here to read the passage)
One rule of the road while driving in this part of the country is, if possible, to slow down when you see a deer. If you only see one deer cross the road, there’s a pretty good chance that there will be another one or two close behind.
On one of my morning routes last week, I saw three does and interestingly enough they were not together. I saw each of them separately and no other deer were within sight at the time. Every single one of them just stood just off the side of the road staring at me but not moving one way or the other. At least in our area, a lone deer is a bit of a rarity.
I think at one time or another, all of us feel alone. And what may seem odd but is still true, is that even if we are in a group of people or at home with multiple family members, we can still feel alone.
Sometimes people intentionally push us out of inner circles but oft times we do it to ourselves… Regardless, let me stress that we are never truly alone.
My most reason sermon was entitled, THE GOD WHO KNOWS ME, and was based on Psalms 139. (Click on the title if you’d like to hear it. The sermon begins around the 3:00 minute mark.)
This is a beautiful psalm and well worth taking the time to read through (click on the link at the top to do so.) It was David’s observation, and the big take-aways for this psalm, is that God knows us intimately, there is no way we can get away from God, and there is no way we can hide from God. If you run from him, he runs after you. If you run to him, he embraces you. But wherever you are, and wherever you go, His love will follow you.
I thought this illustration, shared by Rev. Rod Buchanan, was absolutely amazing!
Dr. John Medina, a genetic engineer, at the University of Washington helps us to understand a bit of the intricacy of the human body. He said, “The average human heart pumps over 1,000 gallons a day, over 55 million gallons in a lifetime. This is enough to fill 13 supertankers. It never sleeps, beating 2.5 billion times in a lifetime. The lungs contain 1,000 miles of capillaries. The process of exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide is so complicated, that it is more difficult to exchange 02 for C02 than for a man shot out of a cannon to carve the Lord’s Prayer on the head of a pin as he passes by. DNA contains about 2,000 genes per chromosome — 1.8 meters [nearly 6 feet] of DNA are folded into each cell nucleus. A nucleus is 6 microns [one-millionth of a meter] long. This is like putting 30 miles of fishing line into a cherry pit. And it isn’t simply stuffed in. It is folded in. If folded one way, the cell becomes a skin cell. If another way, a liver cell, and so forth. To write out the information in one cell would take 300 volumes, each volume 500 pages thick. The human body contains enough DNA that if it were stretched out, it would circle the sun 260 times. The body uses energy efficiently. If an average adult rides a bike for 1 hour at 10 mph, it uses the amount of energy contained in 3 ounces of carbohydrate. [So lay off the donuts.] If a car were this efficient with gasoline, it would get 900 miles to the gallon.”
Our bodies are complicated to the extreme and we all know that our emotional hearts and minds are more complicated still. He knows us inside and out, yet He still loves us, all the good, the bad, and the ugly.
We may feel that we are, but we are never truly alone. God readily embraces us…oh, that we would eagerly embrace Him, as well!
May 31st, 2022, Tues, 1:03 pm
You Can’t Judge a Book by It’s Cover
I’m not sure what else we could have squeezed in today, Father, but thank You, especially for family! It was a blessing for sure!
Acts 16:35-40(<<click here to read the passage)
A popular societal topic seems to be not judging a book by its cover. I’ve seen videos and read stories, from different countries even, that press home this concept. Only seeing with our eyes can have dangerous consequences.
In searching for the origin of “judging a book by its cover”, it was in a book written by George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (1860), and basically a man was called out for letting his young daughter read the book The History of the Devil by Daniel Defoe. The father’s response was, “Why, it’s one o’ the books I bought at Partridge’s sale. They was all bound alike, it’s a good binding, you see, and I thought they’d be all good books.”
That definitely wasn’t a good reason to buy a book! But aren’t we guilty of the same kinds of thought processes?
Here’s an example that’s a little out there. We were watching the out-of-state graduation of our niece last weekend via the internet when a student speaker referenced an inside joke amongst students that had to do with the lion’s den. Well until recently our area had been plagued with a business of ill-repute (a pornography store) that was called The Lion’s Den. Local believers had tried for years to close them, to no avail. But out of the blue here a few weeks ago, I noticed they had gone out of business! No complaints on my end – good riddance!
Anyway, when the student made the reference, all three of us thought about the disreputable business and quickly had to aright our minds to what he was more likely referring to in his speech. It was the graduation ceremony of a Christian high school, after all!
But our minds can easily jump the rails and off we go down the wrong track! In today’s passage, the city officials weren’t even on the right track to begin with. They weren’t thinking at all but simply reacted to the situation.
God was watching out for Paul and Silas, but when the chief magistrates decided to release them from jail, it seems to have been done more out of a “let’s get rid of these troublemakers” kind of mentality. It wasn’t until Paul pointed out that they were Roman citizens did the magistrates realize the potential trouble they were in, for it was against Roman law. The notes from the Amplified Bible state, “…it is clear from Acts that punishing a citizen without a trial and guilty verdict was illegal, probably involving severe penalties for the magistrates in charge.”
…the chief magistrates…were frightened; so they came [to the prison] and appealed to them [with apologies], and when they brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city. vs38-39 AMP
Paul and Silas didn’t press the issue but instead, let the “scare” do its work. My Life Application Study Bible states, “The word would spread that Paul and Silas had been found innocent and freed by the leaders, expressing the truth that believers should not be persecuted especially if they were Roman citizens.”
May we as followers of Jesus be alert to the temptation to judge books by their covers alone. May we see others through His eyes, and act accordingly. Amen.
May 30th, 2022, Mon, 8:06 pm
No “Get Out of Jail Free” Card
Father, I would pray for a wave of cool refreshing water, direct from Your wellspring. May it revitalize me, giving me a renewed passion for using the gifts You have given me to reach the world. Amen.
Acts 16:23-34(<<click here to read the passage)
How many of us as children (or adults, for that matter) coming face to face with pending punishment, have pleaded for a way to get out of our predicament without actually having to go through the punishment itself?
Maybe we broke a cherished family heirloom in the house while playing where we weren’t supposed to play.
Maybe we took something that wasn’t ours.
Maybe we smacked a sibling hard enough to leave a welt on their back.
Maybe we got caught cheating on an exam.
Maybe we neglected an important responsibility at work and are now being called on the carpet.
In today’s passage, the jailer dutifully did what he was commanded to do. He had placed Paul and Silas in the most secure area in the prison – the inner dungeon – and for good measure clamped their feet in the stocks. v24
Through no negligence on the part of the jailer, but entirely through the intervention of Almighty God Himself, a massive earthquake shook the prison to its foundations. As a result, all the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! v26
We have to understand that in the culture of the day if any prisoners under the jailer’s care escaped, his life was forfeit! That’s why he was on the verge of taking his own life before Paul called out, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!” v28
The text then reads, The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” vs29-30
I read through a bit of commentary on this and one, in particular, shared that the idea of individuality wasn’t actually part of the mindsets of people in that day and age. Skip Moen, in a word study entitled The Text in Cultural Context, wrote:
Perhaps his question isn’t about his personal salvation at all… Perhaps he’s asking something else, like, “What’s going to happen to me and my family?” “How are we going to escape the consequences of this event?”
It wasn’t his fault, but he was caught on the wrong side of something he “somehow” should have been able to prevent. So, he pleaded for a way to get out of his predicament without actually having to go through the punishment itself.
In another word study of Moen’s (Paul’s Laws), he shares that when [Paul and Silas] replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” v31 NLT that it wasn’t necessarily a “Get Out of Jail Free” card for the jailer but instead set him on the right path that regardless of the outcome of events he and his entire family had a security that no one could take from them. For nothing would be able to separate them from the love of God. (Romans 8:35-39)
We simply cannot avoid the awful things in life, but we can have the security that is only found in a relationship with God!
May 29th, 2022, Sun, 7:43 pm
I Know Who Holds Tomorrow
It’s been a non-stop day since waking up, Father. May I finish strong, hearing Your words for this day. Amen.
********
Sometimes my brain just needs a rest. Tonight is one of those times. So instead of an exposition on a passage of Scripture or a lesson pulled from my life or the nature around me, I just want to share a song.
You know I love all kinds of music, so I did one of those “close your eyes, open the Bible, and drop your finger on a passage” kinds of things. I open YouTube, typed the word hymns in the search bar, and this is the first song that came up.
This is one of those songs that we sang at the church my dad pastored in Parsons, West Virginia when I was in high school. The choir was composed of humble, simple people but they loved the Lord with all their hearts and sang His praises with the best of them. I was blessed to be a part of them.
This is what was below the song
Upon losing his wife at a young age, Ira Stanphill wrote “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow” expressing a prayer of surrender to his Savior under circumstances he didn’t understand. God doesn’t promise that walking with him will be easy, but what he does promise is that every day of our lives is in his hands and we can rest in the hope of his Son, Jesus Christ, who paid the punishment for our sins so that we can have hope and eternity with him!
The below video features The Petersens. This is a snippet of what they have to say about themselves.
We celebrate American roots music with family values, and perform full time in Branson, Missouri in the USA. The band consists of four siblings, Katie, Ellen, Matt, and Julianne, our mom Karen, and good friend Emmett Franz.
Enjoy listening to The Petersens singing “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow” and have a great weekend!
May 26th, 2022, Thurs, 6:43 pm