At The Center

Some discoveries just have to be shared right away. Today's meditation and scripture reading revealed some very interesting things to me. I have been reading Galatians about the Law and the Promise made to Abraham. I had previously studied the Abrahamic covenant in the Old Testament, so this was not new to me.

The promise given to Abraham through the covenant "...stood at the center of the relationship between God and His people"until the Law was given. When the Law came, over time, the relationship between God and man seemed to shift. The law was given because of sin. It shows us what sin is. It acts as a tutor leading us into a right relationship with God, growing us up. It is not the center of our relationship with God. It is only given to teach us how to be obedient.

As children of the promise, our obedience comes from believing God's promise. Somehow this line of thinking led me to the rich young ruler in Matthew's gospel. I was always a bit puzzled by the interchange between Jesus and this man. It was a little unsettling, because it asked the question I had asked myself, before I received Jesus as the LORD and Savior of my life. "What must I do; when will I know I have done enough, God?"

He asked Jesus, "What good thing must I do to obtain eternal life?" He was stuck in the rut of believing he could actually do something for himself to receive the promise of God. Jesus told him to obey the commandments, for Jesus knew the young man's heart. The reply of the rich man was a justification of how he was, indeed, obeying the Law. There was no declaration of faith, no acceptance of God's grace in the young man's reply. He went away sadly because he did not believe God's promise, he believed it was all up to him. He seems to be saying, "Well, I have done all I can, but I am not going to make a total commitment to believe that God's promise is enough, surely there is something else I can DO."

So, my point is this: The promise was at the center of God's relationship with us from Abraham until Moses. Then, Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Law and the (words of) prophets. He is the Promise and so He is the center of God's relationship with man once again. D. B.

Asking the Wrong Question

If you are like me, you have asked the question, "Why?" many times in your life.

Whenever I want to understand anything in order to learn about it, I ask, "Why?" When I come to an understanding of whatever it may be, I can then relax and continue to learn, knowing there is a reason for whatever I am doing or going through.

But, when I come to those situations when there is no answer or no pat answer to my "Why" question, I become uneasy and insecure. Don't you? It is then that I remind myself that I can trust in Christ to hold the future and to reveal as much or as little as He wants to me about it.

Imagine what would happen if I had the answers to all the "Why" questions in my life? For example, would my life be better if I knew why my parents both died at an early age, or why many troubles and illnesses plagued and took the life of other precious family members and friends. If I knew the precise purpose behind allowing accidents, natural disasters, man's cruelty to fellowman, etc. then I would be responsible for such knowledge, and I would assume an unbearably heavy burden with such knowledge. One would have to be God to bear the answers to the "Whys" of life.

I want to suggest that the real question is, "Where am I going from here?"I can decide how I will accept what happens and deal with it with the LORD's help. You see, this is a question for which we can come up with an answer, one day at a time, with His help. Doma

Prayer

Since prayer is conversation with our God, we can have an on going dialog, or a formal time of meditation and prayer or a combination. Just so we keep in touch! That is the whole point, to stay close to Our Father.

I have found that using the order from the book, What Happens When Women Pray, by Evelyn Christensen, is very helpful. She suggests we follow the A.C.T.S. format. First start with the A, for Adoration. Worship the Lord and fall on your face before Him. Use scripture, or just pour out your heart to Him in love and praise. When you do this, you get things right - you realize He is the mighty One and you are not.

You look at His holiness and see your sinfulness. This humbling realization of our need and our sinfulness just happens when we contemplate His perfection and our imperfections. These thoughts will naturally lead our thoughts to to C - Confession.

Coming before the Holy One, we can be confident He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9). When we realize the magnitude of His grace and love through the cross, and His precious gift of forgiveness that cost His Son everything, we become overwhelmingly thankful which leads us to T - Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving pours out of our hearts as we think about and understand how amazing it is that we have received so much from our Father. We thank God for all He has given to us, including the gift of faith and of His dear Presence. We are now convinced we can approach our loving God with our needs, worries and fears with confidence.

We have now come to S - Supplication, the time to come and ask for God's help. We know He wants what is for our good. We can come boldly to the throne, trusting God to deal with all we cannot handle and give us wisdom to find our way in this world.

Whether you choose to pray in an orderly fashion or randomly utter "popcorn" prayers all day long, you can be sure the Lord loves hearing from you. You will hear from Him as well. But, that is for another blog entry. You really can pray without ceasing, for every thought can be communication with the LORD! Doma

Psalm of Gratitude

O Lord, You are sovereign and holy,
You are mighty and powerful,
You reign over all creation.
For You are God.

Yet surely You know me,
You understand what I do,
You see past my actions,
Into my very heart.

Knowing me the way You do,
You still love and forgive me,
For that I am eternally grateful.
Your grace is so precious.

O Lord, You are the Creator,
The stars feel Your fingers still,
And babies fresh from the womb
Bear Your breath.
Bright poppies flame with color,
Skies write your love in the clouds.

I must join with Exodus 15:11
And ask “Who is like unto Thee?”
Glorious in holiness,
Mighty in power,
Doing wonders,
You alone are Our God. D M B