Pray Right Now

You know those times when you are having a semi-earnest chat with someone and  they express a concern,  like their brother is having surgery next week or they have suffered with a migraine for the last three days?  You want to tell them you will be praying for them but you don’t have a piece of paper or a writing tool, the notes on your phone are too hard to get to, and you are afraid you will forget and never pray for them when you said you would?

Or you run into someone at the mall and when you ask what they are up to they say they are on their way to a job interview and they hope they can think of the right things to say, and you realize it won’t do much good to say you will pray for them tomorrow.

Here’s the solution.  Just pray right now.  Short, specific, God-centered prayers are welcome almost all the time.  I say almost because probably someone somewhere has rebelled when someone asked if they could pray for them.

All you have to remember is who God is:  the Great Healer; the Comforter; the one who keeps all His promises (including wisdom whenever we ask); the forgiver of sins.  Jesus is our defender and the Holy Spirit prays our prayers before the throne with sighs deeper than words.  As an aside, this is another blessed reason to study scripture every day – not only are God’s mercies new every morning, but some mornings you find out something about God that you can pray for someone later in the day!

Calendars

FebruaryCalendarCheck out this month’s calendar (February 2015).  It has one of the rarest configurations you will see. There are exactly four weeks, no spilling over to a fifth week.  This only happens in non-leap years when February 1 is on a Sunday; most Februaries are like most other months; they take up five week lines.   The next occurrence of only-four-weeks will be in 2026.

The only rarer calendar look is a leap year February.  29 days; the 1st and the 29th are on the same day of the week.  The starting day of the week for leap year Februarys rotates once every 28 years.  February 1 2016 is on a Monday; it will also be on Monday in 2044.  Get ready!

AugustCalendarA more common but still unusual month look requires six lines for the weeks.  See August 2015.  Many calendars get all lazy and double up Sunday and maybe Monday and Tuesday when this occurs.  The good honest calendar in the picture gives the six lines we deserve!

Blind and Dead

The book of Isaiah vacillates between wearying lists of Israel’s problems and wonderful promises of upcoming glory.  Chapter 11, verses 11-16 presents one of the problem lists.

  • The people can’t understand Isaiah’s vision at all (11-12)
  • They draw near to God and honor him with their lips, but their hearts are far from him (13)
  • Their fear of God is based on commandments taught by men (13)
  • The wisdom of their wise men is perishing (14)
  • The discernment of their discerning men is hidden (14)
  • They try to hide their counsel from the LORD; their deeds are done in the dark (15)
  • They doubt that God knows what they are doing (15)
  • They turn things upside down; they think they understand better than their creator (16)

Unfortunately for the Israelites, God keeps ALL his promises (see Deuteronomy 28.  The exile is coming.

Natural Laws

Obey gravity.  It’s the law

If the speed of light is 983,571,088 ft /sec, what is the speed of dark?

V = IR.  It’s current law.

Resistance is Futile (if < 1 ohm)

May the F=MA be with you

Harrumph

We can see examples of God saying “Harrumph” to men when they get all full of themselves.  In Genesis 11 the world had decided not to follow God’s command to fill the earth but instead settled in the land of Shinar.  They had learned about bricks and mortar and were determined to build a tower “with its top in the heavens” so as to make a name for themselves.  They thought they could go up to heaven; instead God came down to them, confused their language and caused the people to disperse across the globe.

The book of Job has a back and forth discussion between Job, proclaiming his innocence despite his current sufferings, and his friends who argue he was correctly being punished for having done something wrong.  Job wants to talk to God, until God shows up! God’s harrumph includes a glorious description of his acts in creating and sustaining the whole universe.  Job was more correct than his friends, but they all needed to understand how much greater God is than themselves.

The believers gather together in Acts 4 after just witnessing the bold gospel defense to the Sanhedrin made by Peter and John.  They pray for their own boldness and that God would continue working his miracles.  They apply Psalm 2 to the leaders who crucified Jesus, persecuted the apostles, and failed to understand the salvation work God used them for: “Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed. ”

Current day scientists and others who pooh-pooh the idea of an Intelligent Designer are quick to point out things any “good” designer would have done differently than what we see now – the giraffes’ audio nerve runs from the brain down the neck , around the heart, and back up the neck to their ear; people get sunburn; human windpipes are right next to the esophagus so choking happens, etc.  Can you hear the harrumph?

The opposite side of such hubris is recorded in Jeremiah 9 where men are warned not to boast in their own wisdom, might, or riches, but “let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.  For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”

Sports Quiz

What can you serve but never eat?

A volleyball.

 

Why did the soccer player bring a string to the game?

So he could tie the score

 

Why is a baseball team similar to a muffin?

Because they both depend on the batter.

 

Good Things Happen

My friend Dave asked “Are people basically good or basically evil?” one evening while I was waiting for him to finish brushing his teeth.  I had not ever thought about it before; I guessed people are good.  He bolted out of the bathroom saying, ”Oh, no! That is wrong!”  His tone of voice and the foam around his mouth made quite an impression.

I offer two more substantial pieces of evidence that people are basically evil.  First, the Bible is clear about the subject.  “There is no one who does good, not even one” (Psalm 14.3, quoted in Romans 3.12).  Second, consider whether you would like to have the last hour of the images in your mind’s eye – your thoughts and imaginings – displayed on a screen for the entire world to see.  What greed, murder, lust, and corruption would be projected?

Consider what we deserve as basically evil people.  The question “why do bad things happen to good people?” does not address the situation correctly; it assumes our good actions merit positive interventions.  But turning it around, a question that better fits man’s nature would be “why do good things happen to bad people? “ The answer lies in God’s mercy and grace keeping us from being as bad as we could be.  The sovereign and providentially good creator of the universe protects us from being the Hitler or Stalin we all despise (most of us, anyway).

Knowing our nature is vital in order to understand our  need for a savior and our inability to save ourselves.  Jesus’ call to repent and believe starts with a realization and admittance of our wretched state.  Acknowledging the truth of the creator’s plan allows one to turn to the One who proclaims, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”  Basically evil men can be redeemed by Jesus’ redemptive act on the cross.