Time with Jesus - Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Hi all,
God will never leave you nor forsake you. How does that stand up to the
fact of the holocaust? There’s no clear answer. What I can say, is that He was
in the gas chambers with the people while they were being murdered. His heart
broke as He saw His people taken to Babylon. The ±400 years of His
people’s slavery in Egypt was agonising. No doubt He saw the POW camps in
Burma. In fact He has been present at every atrocity in history. How could He
stand by and watch it happen?
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| John Baptising Jesus |
Somehow all this is influenced by the fact, that man has been given the
right to obey, or disobey Him. You cannot be free to be good or evil if He
keeps getting in the way. In a way, He has given man temporary permission to do
whatever man wants to do. Until this time is over, He has bound His own hands,
so that He can only watch and wait. Sadly, Habakkuk was mistaken. God’s eyes
have no choice but to look at evil every day. 13 Your eyes are too pure to look at what is evil. You can't put up with the wrong things people do. So why
do you put up with those who can't be trusted? The evil Babylonians swallow up
those who are more godly than themselves. So why are you silent? Hab 1:13 NIrV The day will come when this will
end.
We ask ourselves, “Why?” Surely He can intervene? Surely Godly men or women
deserve better than that? John the Baptist was the prophet sent ahead of Jesus,
to proclaim the way of the Lord. Jesus Himself stated, 11 "I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the
Baptist. Yet even the least person in the
Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is! Mat
11:11 NLT
Surely he deserved better than to be decapitated and his head given
on a platter as a reward to a vulgar young woman for a lewd, erotic dance?
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| Salome Dances for John's Head |
No man can answer these questions. We do not have the mental capacity, to
even begin to comprehend the ways of God. Solomon, apart from Jesus Christ, is
said to be the wisest man who ever lived. As an old man he concluded the following:
12 That's the whole story. Here now is my
final conclusion: Fear God and obey His commands, for this is everyone's duty. 13 God will judge us for everything we do, including every
secret thing, whether good or bad. Eccl
12:13-14 NLT
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| King Solomon |
Would it be a good thing to understand God? I’m not too sure. Lucifer is
said to have been the greatest of God’s created angels; he got “carried away”
with pride and fell. There is a sense in which the wiser we are, the more we
are inclined to despise those, whom we think are beneath us. This is
particularly true of many white people in South Africa; a feeling that remains
a carry-over from the apartheid years. This is also true of most races, black,
yellow or white. Scratch deeply and under the skin, there is still a racist.
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| Jabez Prayer |
Knowing this about each and every one of us compels me to conclude, that
none of us deserve better. Not even John the Baptist. Like all of us, he was
conceived in sin. His very best didn’t live up to God’s righteous standards. He
too was flawed and, despite everything he did, it was not sufficient. If Jesus
could die the way He did, what makes us think we deserve better? We don’t. We
do know that His grace will see us through this life and into His arms in the
next. Even so, Come Lord Jesus.
Shalom,
Jim
& Phyllida Strickland
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Time with Jesus – Tuesday, 16 April 2013
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Introduction
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Daily Light Evening Scriptures
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I
Will Be With You
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Living in South Africa on and off since 1947, I’ve
seen many things. I remember being in the car with my parents on 4
June 1948. That’s when the National Party became the Governing
Political Party in South Africa. It remained in power until the first general
election on 27 April 1994.
Don’t ask me why I remember that particular event.
Presumably it had to do with going into something strange and new. I
distinctly remember wondering what effect, if any; the new government would
have on me. The fact that this type of change was taking place throughout the
British Empire, as it was still called back then, was something I neither
knew about nor cared. Six year olds don’t really take a great deal of
interest in politics.
Various places in RSA became my home for the
following ±12 years. Most of them were spent in Port Elizabeth, a political
and cultural backwater in the Eastern Cape. It was and still is a beautiful
town, with the dubious distinction of being a place noted for the lack of
employment. PE, as it is called, has grown considerably since then. It
remains a backwater in RSA.
Maritz Brothers in Bird Street was the school I
attended for most of those years. Then it moved to Walmer, into premises that
were subsequently been pulled down, to erect a shopping complex. The Brothers
ran out of money!
Although the Roman Catholic Brothers (teachers) made
no attempt to proselytise, their Christian influence was considerable. They
encouraged the protestant boys to go to church. This included time off for
confirmation lessons at the local Anglican Church. Later on, we were
permitted to go to the communion service on Sunday mornings. It was a long
walk, but that didn’t matter. It was early in the morning and, provided it
wasn’t raining, it was good to be able to think a little about the Lord.
One thing we were never taught was how to find out
from the Lord, what we were supposed to do after we grew up. There were many stories
about heroic men and women, who had been called by God to do things. The
stories were wonderful, but did not register with me. Such people were a
species apart. I was much too ordinary to be called by God to do anything!
That was for “super-Christians”. The thought that I could be one of them, was
as distant for me as the rings round Saturn! Not me! The fact that Moses had
the same problem didn’t feature. Oddly enough, children can spot it in
others. They can’t spot it in themselves.
What I neither knew, nor understood, was the Lord
was with me. It was His Spirit that drew me. It was His hand that took me to
England in April 1960, when I had spoiled my future in South Africa. He led
me to Newcastle and the Methodist Church. He was there when I took my first
faltering steps toward Him. He has never left me even when I thought I was
through with Him. I called on Him when I was in trouble. He rescued and
protected me. He gave me a Godly wife and provided for us financially. Not me
– He!
Jim & Phyllida
Strickland
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14 The LORD
says, "I will rescue those who love Me. I will protect those who trust
in My name. 15 When they call on Me, I
will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honour them.
Psalm 91:14-15 NLT
10 He (Jabez) was the one
who prayed to the God of Israel, "Oh, that You would bless me and expand
my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all
trouble and pain!" And God granted him his request.
1 Chron 4:10 NLT
7 That night God appeared to Solomon. He said to him,
"Ask for anything you want me to give
you." 8 Solomon answered
God, "You were very kind to my father David. Now you have made me
king in his place. 9 LORD God, let the promise you gave to my
father David come true. You have made me king. My people are like the dust of
the earth. They can't be counted. 10 Give
me wisdom and knowledge. Then I'll be able to lead these people. Without
your help, who would be able to rule this great nation of yours?"
2 Chron 1:7-10 NIrV
29 God gave Solomon wisdom
and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the
sand on the seashore.
1 Kings 4:29 TNIV
11 Then Asa cried out to
the LORD his God, "O LORD, no one but You can help the powerless against
the mighty! Help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You alone. It is
in Your name that we have come against this vast horde. O LORD, You are our God; do not let mere men prevail
against You!" 12 So the
LORD defeated the Ethiopians in the presence of Asa and the army of
Judah, and the enemy fled.
2 Chron 14:11-12 NLT
2 (O) You (who) answer
our prayers. All of us must come to You. 3 Though we are
overwhelmed by our sins, You forgive them all.
Psalm 65:2-3 NLT
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Nothing is more comforting, than knowing as a fact,
That Jesus Christ will be with me and I will not
get sacked.
It is His very nature. He’s always been this way.
Nothing will divert Him from being this today.
This doesn’t give me freedom to wallow in my sin.
If anything, it’s likely to stop me going in,
It would be such a statement. In fact I must obey,
Each of His instructions, if I want Him to stay.
And yet He knows I’ll fail Him. I cannot ever be
A picture of perfection, for all the world to
see.
This seems a contradiction, when actually it’s
not.
There is a certain principle that mustn’t be
forgot.
Temptation comes to all of us. It cannot be
evaded.
But every time it happens, we have to be
persuaded
That even in our weakness, the Lord is always
strong:
And if we trust ourselves to Him, He will not get
it wrong.
I cannot beat the devil, if I look unto me.
But when the Lord is in command, He has the
victory.
It’s something like a tightrope. Focus on the
Lord,
And we can walk upon it and not be overawed.
But if we look around us and see the roaring
crowd,
We’re sure to lose our footing. That way is not
allowed.
The tight rope just might slacken, if Satan
interferes,
Or if we get all silly and blind ourselves with
tears.
The balance pole may catch the breeze and seek to
make us fall.
But while
we are in Jesus, and listen for His call,
We know we’ll find our balance and reach out for
our goal,
Which He has set before us to save and make us
whole.
In the case of Jabez, all that he possessed,
Was free of pain and trouble. God granted his
request.
Insight and great wisdom, Solomon received,
Because of what he asked the Lord; that’s what he
believed.
Asa, in his helplessness cried out to God Most
High.
The Ethiopians ran away because the Lord was
nigh.
This truth throughout the ages, the Lord has put
on tap.
All God’s enemies will run and fall into His
trap.
All that’s ever needed, is to call upon His Name,
He said He will answer; the outcome just the
same.
Jim Strickland
Written
16th April
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