Sunday Snippet - Good Affliction

It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes. Psalm 119:71

"To be larded by prosperity is not good for the proud; but for the truth to be learned by adversity is good for the humble. Very little is to be learned without affliction. If we would be scholars, we must be sufferers. God's commands are best read by eyes wet with tears."

Charles H. Spurgeon, from The Treasury of David

About Time

Sonnet 60
William Shakespeare

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;

Each changing place with that which goes before,

In sequent toil all forwards do contend.

Nativity, once in the main of light,

Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd,

Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight,

And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.

Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth

And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,

Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,

And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:

And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,

Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.

Some thoughts came to me during yesterday morning's prayer time: "Another week has already reached the halfway point; another month is now ending; another year is almost at its end. It seems to have just started." Time is passing, so quickly now. It's as if Time is on a journey, and it's swiftly traveling through my life. I thought about the days when I'd go horseback riding and how the horse always would speed up when he neared home. So it is with Time on its journey, it seems. And so it is with us all, to some measure. Hope that doesn't sound gloomy; I don't mean it to.

Then I needed to grade this sonnet that my daughter had to memorize as her latest poetry selection in her English class. And it seems to mirror so many of the thoughts which I had about Time. I knew little Shakespeare in my younger years, so I can't say I understand his writings very well. I remember doing a paper once on Othello and understanding that okay, but little else. At my high school, I got little encouragement to appreciate literature; it's only now in my later years that I'm enjoying it more.

At any rate, I wish you would read this beautiful little sonnet and tell me if you see it as a hopeful one. I do. It seems that Time is the cruel one. But it seems to me that "Praising thy worth" could refer to God, who reigns over Time. Any Shakespearian scholars out there that can tell me if that's a legitimate assessment? Do any of you see it as I'm seeing it, or have something different to offer?

All I know for sure is that whether Shakespeare was trying to say it or not, eventually Time will bring death, but death has been swallowed up in victory by and through our Lord Jesus.

Sunday Snippet - Old Age?

The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,

He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Those who are planted in the house of the LORD

Shall flourish in the courts of our God.

They shall still bear fruit in old age;

They shall be fresh and flourishing.

Psalm 92:12-14

After I reached a certain age, this passage of Scripture became an inspiration. And this weekend I met a couple of people who are living these verses in a way that made me all the more ready to press on for as long as the Lord allows. We had a short Bible Conference at our church this weekend and our special guests were a man and his wife who worked as missionaries in the middle east from the years 1955-2000. Before that he was an archaeologist. Through the years, he's done extensive work translating and teaching the arabic language. Dr. K. told us that he left his work in the middle east when he was seventy years old. The way I compute this, he's now seventy-seven, and his wife must be close behind since they met in college.

His wife was with him yesterday as he led the conference sessions; both of them were all about among the people getting to know young and old alike. Today he came alone while she "covered" for both of them at something that was happening at their church. Tomorrow, he's headed to New York to take care of some business for a Christian organization of which he's just been made chairman. Whew. You had to be there to see all of the energy and enthusiasm these two folks have for the work of the Lord.

Need I say more? I just wanted to tell you about them so you might be encouraged--especially you--my fellow nannas, poppops, grammies, grandmoms, grandpas, etc., etc., etc.

Prayer Request

Please pray for the people of Southern California. I'm sure most of you are praying already, but I'm making a special request for our bloggy friend Mishel and her family. Her husband is a firefighter and her daughter is about to give birth. You can go over to her blog for more details about what's happening with them. Please include them in your prayers.

Sunday Snippet - My Cup Runneth Over

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Psalm 23:5

He, my Lord, prepared a table before me this Lord's Day. The blessings that filled my cup were too bountiful for me to even begin to lay them out before you all. Suffice it to say that God has abundantly supplied: Two nourishing sermons were supplemented by the pouring out of generous portions of other various refreshments for my soul. Truly my cup overflows.

But God

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)...Ephesians 2:4-5

Most of my family and close friends know that I hate caterpillars. Actually, I'm afraid of them. They are, in my opinion, the most horrible creatures on the face of the earth. Yes, worse than snakes and spiders. Look, though, at what lovely and glorious creatures they become by and by. God does that.

The above short passage contains two of the most beautiful words in Scripture. I already talked about how much I love the word "but" in God's Word. Usually, it's a wonderful word only because of what follows. The word "God" follows it in this passage, and for those of us who are Christians, it reminds us that He is rich in mercy and that His love is great towards us. (It's all the better because of what immediately precedes these two words. ) And because of this great love and mercy, even though we were once dead in sins, we're now alive. God does that, and it's even more remarkable and wonderful than the butterfly.

I hope that you can identify with these precious two verses out of the Word of God. If not, know this: God makes dead sinners alive in Christ. That means if you repent and believe the gospel, you too can rejoice in these two words, "But God."

Sunday Snippet - Greatest Preacher

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall . . .talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. Deuteronomy 6:6-7

This week's Sunday Snippet is found in this book. I don't know how familiar you are with Elizabeth George, but she's a prolific writer. She's a modern day devotional writer whom I look up to. I found a little tidbit in her A Mom After God's Own Heart, which I've been reading lately. As she exhorts us as moms to talk about God to our children, Elizabeth tells about renowned and eloquent preacher Dr. G. Campbell Morgan who had four sons who followed in their father's footsteps and became ministers as well. At some point, someone asked one of the sons which Morgan was the greatest preacher. Guess what the son's answer was? "Mother," was his reply.

Wow. It seems that here was a mother who not only spoke to her children about the Lord, but they had recognized her important role in their lives. And it appears that God had blessed this woman's words to her sons' hearts. I hope this is an encouragement to you, because it sure is to me.

Thank You

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Philippians 1:3-5

I am very thankful. I have been given another opportunity to tell my friends who visit here how grateful I am to have met you all. Since my tentative steps in April when I began this blog, there have been more and more people who have come into my blogging life who have been encouragers in the faith and have given every indication of being true disciples of the same Savior who I am trying to serve here at this little corner of the internet.

Well, Kathy at Sumballo, one of those true disciples, has been a dear and passed on to me the Mathetes Award, which originated at Management by God. It is given to those acting in the role of a disciple of Christ. Kathy serves God by doing helpful and in depth Bible studies, as well as sweet and reflective devotionals which will touch your heart. I appreciate her so much and she's one of the reasons I enjoy blogging so much. Thanks so much, Kathy.

And I must say that those of you who have been so faithful to the little "ministry" going on here are also on my list of blessings. So, I am not going to NAME people to pass this award to as I am supposed to. You might be interested in reading my response to the award last week when it was given at my other blog. That helps to explain things. So, ALL of you sweet sisters who come by from time to time are hereby awarded this badge from me. EACH of you deserves it! In every visit I make to your respective corners, I see proof of your discipleship, which is evident in a way that is peculiar to YOU. I cannot bring it into my heart to just pick out just five of you. (Hopefully, someday I'll have a few brothers to add on too.) I love you all and appreciate each one of you and hope we can keep visiting each other this way!

Sunday Snippet - Up To Jerusalem

Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed. And as they followed they were afraid. Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him. Mark 10:32

Some of you may remember that I made a post with a similar title three weeks ago on September 16th. That time, I was thinking about the willingness of the Apostle Paul to go to Jerusalem even though he knew it was dangerous to do so. This time, you can see that the person who was heading to that city was Jesus.

"Up To Jerusalem" was our morning sermon and the above verse was a portion of the text. As this verse was being read today, it gripped my heart. In the two verses following that one, Jesus explained to His twelve disciples exactly what was going to happen when He got there. Oh-my-goodness. Just think about it, fellow saints. Our Savior knew what suffering He was going to endure when He got to that place, yet He steadily and unwaveringly continued on. Picture Him making His way towards Jerusalem, with others fearfully following behind Him. Knowing that He would be betrayed, and condemned, and delivered over to the Romans, and mocked, and scourged, and spit upon, and then killed, did not stop Him. Love propelled Him onward--He had to go.

So, when you consider His journey to Jerusalem, can't you understand better why Paul wouldn't hesitate to go there too? I wonder what He wants you and me to do.

Letter From a Martyr

How are you feeling right now? Discouraged with life? Anxious? Worried? Or is all well? No matter how you might answer these questions, I want you to go read a precious letter that was just posted on the Persecution Blog. Please take a few minutes to read it--I guarantee that it will strengthen you in the faith. On my other blog, I recently posted the hymn "Am I a Soldier of the Cross" in honor of a couple of people I know who were slain. These words "Soldier of the Cross" have been echoing in my mind ever since. So I thought of this as I read this letter from yet another fallen soldier. It's precious--it's all about what it means to forsake all and follow Him.

This is also a request for prayer for this man's family.