Tag: Faith

  • Patience

    Herons can teach us something about waiting for the Lord

    Blue heron

    Wow, it’s October already. Where did September go? I had just  managed to start writing dates as September rather than August, and it’s gone. The month felt about two weeks long.

    I’ve been down with a nasty cold for the past week or so and have been largely stuck in the house. Yesterday, we took some time to drive to a local area park, where we could sit in the quiet and sun, while remaining a safe distance from others.

    We enjoyed watching the ducks and seeing a great blue heron work its way along the opposite bank from us. In this area, we are blessed to have a plethora of herons, mostly great blues, but also some greens, and bitterns.

    Herons are masterful and patient hunters. They can remain motionless for an extended period of time and then extend their necks and beaks forward at explosive speed to nab unwary prey. Every move is calculated and often in seemingly slow motion.

    Yesterday’s heron managed to spear a few small fish and some other unidentified prey as it worked its way down the shore. Now and then it seemed to miss, but it was successful more often than not.

    I confess that I’m nowhere near as patient as a heron. I keep praying for patience, and God answers by giving me things to be patient about. Still, I’m glad He is patient with me because I seem at times to be a very slow learner and prone to wandering.

    Like children in the days before a birthday party or Christmas, we impatiently long for His return. Almost every day, someone seems to claim to know when that will be, usually based on a tabloid theological interpretation of some world event combined with a misinterpreted passage of Scripture.

    There is no doubt that His return is coming; Scripture speaks of it often. The long-awaited Day of the Lord will arrive. But, When?

    It will happen when God deems the time to be right.  Second Peter 3 is entirely about that day and speaks of God’s patience.

    But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:8-12 NIV

    It’s coming at the perfect moment, and Jesus has told us that no one will know the day or time. 

    How do we live in that tension? We stop worrying about when it will happen and live like it might be today. We love our neighbor, share the good news, and keep short accounts with God.

    That might not make us any less impatient, but it will sharpen our walk and enhance our witness as we wait.

    Trust His timing, live for Him, and He will be glorified.

    Kevin

    You might enjoy

    Right belief or right living?

    Read the Word – Read the Word

    When is He coming back?

    Running late?

  • Loving Touch

    God’s Hand in our lives

    A creek and walking trail run through the center of a local forested park. It’s a beautiful spot, with several small bridges that cross the creek, making great places for creek watching.

    Near one of the bridges is a small clearing and “beach” where local kids love to play, kindergartens do field trips, and one of the local forest schools meets. On the edge of the clearing stands an ancient hollow tree.

    This tree is the perfect size for kids to climb through, and for adults to fit in. At the entrance, you will find a spot where the old bark has been rubbed smooth and polished by thousands of loving touches from the kids. They touch it when climbing in or out, and often simply rub their hands along it because it’s smooth and polished. I had to give it a rub myself.

    I’ve seen something similar in old wooden banisters or the back of ancient church pews. The tiny amount of oil in each hand’s touch shapes, smooths, and polishes the wood.

    There is a sense in which, on every day of our lives, the Lord lovingly touches us. He molds us, shapes us, and directs us. If we were able to see, I suspect we might look lovingly shaped and polished as well.

    There is nothing about us that escapes His notice.

    For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:13-16

    But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace. Galatians 1:5

    For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Romans 8:29

    He knows us and shapes each of us individually.

    For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

    Each day, He continues to work in us and will not leave the job unfinished.

    And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6

    No matter what life throws our way, we remain secure. Our circumstances might change radically, and life is far from easy much of the time. Still, we can hold fast knowing the hands that hold us.

    I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me,is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. John 10:28-30

    There will come a day when we will see what His loving hands have shaped us to be. What rejoicing there will be on that day.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God)

    Be blessed, 

    Kevin

    Check these out

    The gospel – the best news

    Celebrate your identity in Christ