SCRIP-BITS

Deuteronomy 5:29.    O that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever.
 
Oh Friends, our God does move in mysterious ways yes! And I say that because I finally received a reply from a long lost friend who had e-mailed me some time ago to find out if I was the Randy O’Brien that he knew. Hn! Now how could there be more than one of me eh? The Lord broke the mould after He made me. (smile) Anyway I had replied in the affirmative and began sending him the Bit. At last, today he acknowledge receipt of my info, but complained that the Bit was too long, the print too small, no paragraphs, and he was so busy that he couldn’t read them every day. Note, he’s retired and also no spring chicken, but from his list of recent activities, he is pretty busy. But that’s no excuse not to read God’s Word! My reply was as follows: Re the small print; you can enlarge it on your computer. Re the lack of paragraphs; that would only make it seem longer and take up more computer space. Re being too busy; remember our recent quote, stating that the busier we are, the more time we need to spend with God. Re length; we’re always too busy to spend a few minutes reading anything about God, but always find time for the stupid, mindless e-mails. And he was lucky too, because last year they were longer. (smile) But with that kind of attitude towards God driven stuff, we still boldface enough to claim to be God’s people. That’s so hypocritical mih breddren! Oh Friends, please realize that God is not into little bits and pieces of our lives here and there, or when we find it convenient. He wants us to spend decent length and quality time with Him on a regular basis. And no, a minute or two, whenever, is not sufficient. On the other hand though, when we get in a jam, we quick to bawl out: ‘Oh God, help me nuh!’ And we expect Him to jump right away and help us. But it doh work so mih people. Remember whatever you sow, you’ll reap. And if you don’t sow enough quality time with God, then you won’t reap much good stuff from Him. No wonder He so sadly laments in our Bit; ‘O that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!’ Oh Friends that’s exactly what we’ve been talking about; not having the right attitude to our God and His statutes! And the implications in that passage are of such gravity, such enormous importance to our well-being and that of our children forever, that we ought to pay it much more attention. And sadly that lament of our God goes back thousands of years to the days of the rebellious Israelites on the journey to the Promised Land. And it’s not the only time He’s lamented through one of His spokespeople. Listen to some: ‘For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!’ (Deut.32:28-29) That’s part of Moses’ Song, wishing that his people would consider their end, would have enough sense to realize that it depended only and solely on their relationship to the God of their fathers. Meanwhile in Psalm 81, re God’s goodness and Israel’s waywardness, the writer, Asaph, laments on God’s behalf: ‘I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people would not hearken to (heed) my voice; and Israel would (have) none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts (stubbornness): and they walked in their own counsels. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should have soon subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.’ (Ps.81:10-14) Yes Friends, if we walk in the Lord’s ways, He makes our paths straight and subdues our enemies. And Isaiah, one of God’s foremost prophets bewailed: ‘Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to (heeded) my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels (body) like the gravel (grains of sand) thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.’  (Isa.48:17-19) And sadly Friends, our God is still lamenting our lack of wisdom; not paying Him proper reverence and obeying His Word. Then we wonder why our lives and our world are in such a mess? But there’s only one reason mih people; we’ve turned away, moved our allegiance from the Most High God Jehovah to that foolish fallen angel, Lucifer. And how much good has that done for us eh? Positively? Absolutely zilch! But lots of evil, violence and destruction! And until we, as individuals, nations and the world begin seriously reverencing Almighty God and living in greater obedience to His Word and Will, we’ll continue down this path of hopelessness. And I’ll end here. Got to keep it short. (smile) More on this tomorrow, our God in favour. Till then, please find, rather make time to spend with Him. It’s for our benefit, not His. Much LOVE!…remember…hard ears pickney…does always pay the price…