“But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness”
(Psalm 86: 15)
When one of my daughters was a little girl, she was fascinated with water and I remember one incident when all my three daughters were playing in our garden, my eldest daughter ran inside to tell me that the youngest had managed to turn on the hose and was busy hosing herself with the water. When I came outside, she was laughing with delight as the water soaked her hair and of course all her clothes. She was drenched from head to foot!
God tells his people repeatedly of how much he loves them, a love so amazing it surpasses any human understanding and covers us completely.
David saw the Lord’s love as abounding. When I looked up the meaning of this word, I read
Abounding: Overflowing and plentiful
I thought immediately of my little girl as she laughed with delight as the water flowed all over her and thought that is how God would have us enjoy being drenched with his love.
Jesus talks about this amazing love in terms of water when he is talking to the Samaritan woman at the well when he asks her for a drink of water. She is surprised by this request, as he is a Jew and Jews did not associate with Samaritans. She is more surprised when he talks about living water and asks him to explain;
“Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4: 13 – 14)
Water is essential to sustain life, and God’s promises often mention water. He promises to send water even into the driest desert. A beautiful thought for us who sometimes think of ourselves trapped in the desert by the problems of life.
“Each man will be like a shelter in the wind and a refuge from the storm, and streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.” (Isaiah 32: 2)
Jesus himself chooses to be baptized in a river and when he emerged, he would have been drenched from head to foot and a mighty voice came from heaven declaring that this was God’s son.
“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son who I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3: 16 – 17)
God was sending a message that his Son would allow the Father’s love to surround us and we could take delight in that incredible knowledge.
We recently celebrated a wonderful family wedding. My granddaughter was getting married and it was to be held in a beautiful mountain side location. The site chosen was surrounded by huge mountains and as the ceremony was being held outside, the mountains provided a majestic type of cathedral created by God’s own hand It was impossible to sit there and not be awe inspired by God’s creation. Many members of the family were to be part of the ceremony and my little seven-year-old grandson and his little four-year-old sister were to be the ring bearer and flower girl. My grandson had confided in me the day before the wedding that he was frightened, about his role in the ceremony and was nervous about how he would perform, I told him I had asked God to bless the wedding. He was perfect! I was staying with them and that night after all the celebrations, I was saying a prayer for the little ones before they went to sleep, just as I finished my grandson began to pray by himself and his prayer brought tears to my eyes. This was his prayer;
Once we become adults, we tend to shake off the shackles of childhood and revel in making our own decisions and taking control of our own lives. This often becomes a barrier to trusting a loving Father to teach us his paths and walk with him allowing him to direct us. Once again Jesus speaks to the crowds and reminds them of the pitfalls of doing this and is very definite about us all returning to child like faith;
One of my darling granddaughters was married this weekend and as I looked at this beautiful woman, dressed in flowing white gown with such a sweet smile, her face covered with happiness, I started to remember this young woman as a little girl and memories flooded my mind. She had a child like faith in God and one of the stories her mother had relayed to us was about quite a serious snowstorm the family were trapped in, on their way to visit us at our cabin.
As she grew older her faith deepened and she had to remind me of the Father’s power. The family were again visiting us in our cabin and this time my daughter became ill. I was worried as we were in an isolated place and a long way from any help. My little granddaughter noticed how worried I was and said quite simply, “Nana just ask God to make her better” Simple child like faith and I prayed with her and the other children and once again God responded.
During the ceremony the pastor used these well-known words still so important today as they were when the apostle Paul wrote them;
When my youngest daughter was about 6 years old, I was giving her a big hug before she left for school and said jokingly, “Have I ever told you I love you?” She came back with a quick retort, “About a thousand times!” This story has become a favourite one in our family and told over and over with much laughter. Some of my granddaughters are now young ladies, and if they are visiting me, before they leave my home I always say, “Have I ever told you I love you?” And they always reply with much laughter. “About a thousand times!”
us. Praising him is one way to do that, while we are going through experiences where we have been so aware of feeling his love, such as
Just recently I was fitted with hearing aids as my family had insisted, I needed them, I agreed with them, but thought of them as another reminder of how old I was becoming and reluctantly, went ahead with the procedure. My daughter told her young son that I would now be able to hear all the stories he wanted to tell me about school and all the exciting things a six-year-old boy did every day. When he saw me for the first time, he ran towards me and said, “Where are they?” I think he was very disappointed that I was not wearing heavy black earphones like a helicopter pilot. I had to explain they were inside my ears so then he decided to put them to the test. His first test was a faint whisper which I had to bend down close to him to hear, next he shouted a question which made my head spin. Normal voice, his mother explained.
God decides to speak to him, himself and the story takes an unusual twist, suddenly there is a mighty wind. God does not speak. Next an earthquake. God does not speak, then a roaring fire. God does not speak. Then amazingly God speaks to Elijah in a whisper. (Wonderful story to read to get the whole picture)
I read a beautiful saying in a study I was reading
We sing a song in our church, that always lifts me up and makes me realise that I can make it through another week, with the help of the Holy Spirit holding me up. The refrain of each verse says;
Watching the television news lately can be very depressing with every story bringing ugly descriptions of “man’s inhumanity to man” (Alan Paton) from wars and abuse, to human trafficking to senseless shooting of school children. The internet is not much better with the hidden challenge of now for all of us, having to decide if this is fake news or real. It can be very disturbing to read of people who have ben fooled by what they think is real and only to find out they have been hoodwinked by evil people extracting money from them. We, the followers of Jesus must be constantly aware of the false news that begins to cause doubt about the truth of scripture and so easily fall onto the trap Eve fell into when Satan whispered these words, cleverly bringing doubt on the veracity of God’s words
The news about Jesus Christ is described over and over in scripture as, good news. The angels told those shepherds long ago and they believed and worshipped that new, born king;
Peace, the word itself, carries deep depth for every human being, but when it is joined with God’s name it transcends all human understanding. It outweighs every human concept of humans who struggle to find peace in their own lives, relying on their own capabilities. The world battles against all odds to bring about peace between nations, cultures, religions, mostly failing as history proves, only resulting in an on-going saga of wars.
Jesus himself knew the troubled world was going to be hard for those who chose to follow him and left this blessing behind him not only for the disciples, but for us as well.
grand-daughter, who spurns any help we offer her, but replies, I can do it! By acknowledging God’s beautiful gift, we can rest assured that rusting him will alleviate our fears and allow that incredible peace to encircle us as we walk the paths of life.
We often read in the media of random acts of kindness, but rarely know of what affect that has on the person who receives them.
immeasurably brighter.
We have been doing a fascinating study in our church on the book of Samuel and with the focus on the life of David. David began as a humble shepherd boy until his famous feat of killing the giant Goliath and eventually becoming the King of Israel. Last Sunday we observed David drifting away from the God he worshipped and committing the sin of adultery and ordering the murder of Uriah. Our pastor pointed out how power can corrupt. David had wealth and power, everything he needed, but still allowed envy for another man’s wife to lead him into sin. Our pastor had this quote about power, power is like drinking saltwater, the more you have the thirstier you become for more, your thirst is never satisfied.
