Sunday, March 21, 2021

Sunday, God Is a God of Great and Supernatural Reversals

FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT FROM TIM KELLER'S NEW BOOK,  HOPE IN TIMES OF FEAR, The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter:

THE STORYLINE NOBODY WANTS TO BE IN

We want the storyline of our lives to go from strength to strength, from success to success, and end happily ever after. But throughout the Bible we see something completely different---a persistent narrative pattern of life through death or of triumph through weakness that reveals how God works in history and in our lives.......

The account of David and Goliath may be the most well-known story from the Olid Testament that shows us how this narrative plays out. The Phillistines' army had a champion, Goliath, who challenged an Israelite warrior to one-on-one combat. The nation of the man who lost the contest would be considered conquered and under the power of the country of the man who won.  David was not a top soldier---he wasn't a soldier at all! He was a boy too young to fight in the army.  But he won, not in spite of his smallness and weakness but because of it.  His slight stature led the giant to lower his defenses and mad hime vulnerable to a small but lethal stone from David's sling. "God.....caused strength to come from his youthful weakness in order to conquer the strong giant." To drive the point home, God says in Samuel the prophet, who at the moment was judging 'king material'  by physical appearance, that ' the Lord sees not as a man sees: man looks at the outer appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7 ESV). 

This pattern is clear and pervasive.  The author of the letter to the Hebrews, looking back on all the figures in the history of Israel, sums all the stories up this way: And what more shall I say?  I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barack, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength.....Women received back their dead, raised to life again.  There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released, so that they might gain an even better resurrection. (Hebrews 11: 32-35)

 

Monday, March 15, 2021

A Very Few Words On the Meghan Markle Interview

FROM DAY ONE, I was not a Meghan fan. As time went on, I became even less so. When Harry married her, I gave their marriage five years, give or take a year. Today, I stick to that prediction and can say that I like Meghan even less (if that's possible) after the Oprah interview. Harry seems like the perfect match for her feminist, entitled victimhood playbook. 

 The two together have  enabled and added to their own and the other's immaturity quotient in heaping amounts.

 Bottom line is, Meghan Markle is a world of trouble and a high-profile drama queen for anyone who comes into  her orbit. Just ask her father, her first husband and the now burned-to-a-crisp royal family. I sorta feel sorry for Harry, but he's done it to himself. He wouldn't listen to reason and slow his love train down. But who can throw the first stone? We've all been there, hopefully only once and only a very long time ago. 

 Anyway, Meghan's insatiable ego lust for notoriety, power and fame, however thinly disguised, will bring a world of hurt on both sides of the Atlantic going forward.  But the British royals, especially the Queen, will keep calm and carry on no matter what their private hurt and shock may be. 

 As far as Meghan's claim of racism, I don't buy it for a minute. Simply a straw man to cause trouble and try to put the Windsors on the defensive, a common narcissist's ploy.  They should not take the bait for one minute. 

One more thing:  so what if someone in or out of the royal circle wondered privately  what the child's skin color might be?  It's an honest  question and one that doesn't make someone a racist in my unwoke book.

 Meanwhile, here's a recent segment from Tucker Carlson with J.D. Vance and Mark Steyn which I really like. Take a look, if you haven't seen it.  It could be censored for its truth-telling...

Sunday, The Meek Shall Inherit

PSALM 37: 7-11 (NIV)

Be still before the Lord
    and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
    when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
    do not fret—it leads only to evil.
For those who are evil will be destroyed,
    but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

10 A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
    though you look for them, they will not be found.
11 But the meek will inherit the land
    and enjoy peace and prosperity.

 

THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT

Who are the meek? The humble---who don't second guess God's timing.  And the dependent---who leave vindication and vengeance to God.   David says they will possess the land, but Jesus speaks of meekness that inherits the whole earth (Matthew 5:5) Christians confess they have no power at all to save themselves and depend and rely wholly on the sheer grace of God.  But how is that even possible? Because Jesus became and helpless (Matthew 11:29), like a lamb before his shearers.  And why can Christians literally inherit the whole earth?  Because he took our punishment, Jesus was striped of everything---they cast lots for his last possession, his garment.  His amazing, loving meekness creates meekness in us. 

PRAYER:  Lord, how I want the peace in my heart that comes from spiritual humility.  I want the humility that rests in your wise dealings, the humility that makes bitterness impossible.  You are 'gentle and humble in heart,'  so teach me this 'rest for the soul.'  Amen

From The Songs of Jesus, A Year of Daily Devotions in the Psalms, By Timothy Keller

Monday, March 8, 2021

Sunday----Lincoln's Providence

Solid Joys devotional by John Piper 

LISTEN

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! (Romans 11:33)

Abraham Lincoln, who was born on this day in 1809, remained skeptical, and at times even cynical, about religion into his forties. So, it is a most striking thing how personal and national suffering drew Lincoln into the reality of God, rather than pushing him away.

In 1862, when Lincoln was 53 years old, his 11-year-old son Willie died. Lincoln’s wife “tried to deal with her grief by searching out New Age mediums.” Lincoln turned to Phineas Gurley, pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington.

Several long talks led to what Gurley described as “a conversion to Christ.” Lincoln confided that he was “driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I have nowhere else to go.”

Similarly, the horrors of the dead and wounded soldiers assaulted him daily. There were fifty hospitals for the wounded in Washington. The rotunda of the Capitol held two thousand cots for wounded soldiers.

Typically, fifty soldiers a day died in these temporary hospitals. All of this drove Lincoln deeper into the providence of God. “We cannot but believe, that He who made the world still governs it.”

His most famous statement about the providence of God in relation to the Civil War was his Second Inaugural Address, given a month before he was assassinated. It is remarkable for not making God a simple supporter for the Union or Confederate cause. God has his own purposes and does not excuse sin on either side.

Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge of war might speedily pass away. . . .

Yet if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man’s two hundred years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid with another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said, “the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.”

I pray for all of you who suffer loss and injury and great sorrow that it will awaken for you, as it did for Lincoln, not an empty fatalism, but a deeper reliance on the infinite wisdom and love of God’s inscrutable providence.

Little League, Houston @ 75 Degrees During the National Anthem



No one kneeling here.  We're in Texas.  And the Little League Capital.  

Above top,  kid at third.

Saturday, March 6, 2021

Saturday

MY COMPUTER IS at the shop till Monday, so I'll do this quickly on my phone. Several days ago something happened with my blog and several posts went into draft form and it won't let me re-publish them. Is this censorship or a tech fluke? Nothing would surprise me today, but I'll keep trying to get them back. Meanwhile, I'll post for Sunday probably Monday. Are you watching the Meghan Markle train-wreck interview with Oprah on Sunday evening? All the promos call it a 'bombshell' but I say, it's just more of a whine-fest from the entitled and spoiled Meghan because she couldn't be queen on day 1. More later.

Now That Trump's Been Acquitted TWICE, Let's Take a Look At Some of His Real Shortcomings, If you Dare

  

FROM STEYNONLINE, by Tal Bachman                                                                       

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