SCRIP-BITS

Oh Friends, it’s supposed to be another beautiful spring day! Wow! Let’s hope it stays like that now, notwithstanding the last time I said something like that, snow fell.  But I do believe the Lord has proven His point and gotten a good chuckle out of it, and will now allow us to have true spring weather. The birds are joyfully singing, so that’s a good sign. And all God’s people, tired of the long, drawn out winter weather, and acutely suffering the winter blahs, erupted in a loud and grateful: ‘Glory Hallelujah!’ Yes Friends, it’s easy to get tired and discouraged when negative stuff keeps coming at us in seemingly unending waves. But you know what? Our Bit today can act as a comprehensive blanket for anything that comes against us. It’s like Linus in the Peanuts comic strip; once he has his blanket with him, he can handle any situation, but without that protective blanket he feels very vulnerable. Our Bit is the Lord’s message through Isaiah to Ahaz, king of Judah, when Syria and Ephraim, the northern kingdom of Israel, were planning an alliance to invade Judah, the southern kingdom. ‘And say unto him, Take heed (be careful). And be quiet (be calm); fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails (stubs) of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and the son of Remaliah.’ Oh my people, those are words that our God has sent us in repeated messages down through the ages, though oftimes we refuse to heed them. One of the most popular messages in that vein is Moses’ instructions to the Israelites at the Red Sea with the Egyptian host hot on their heels, hungry for blood. ‘And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation (deliverance) of the Lord, which he will show you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace (be quiet).’ (Ex.14:13-14)  And we all know the great miracle the Lord performed there; parting the Red Sea so that Israel could walk across on dry land, then rejoining the waters which swallowed up the whole Egyptian army. It’s imperative my brethren that we place all our battles in God’s hands, for there are very few, if any, that we can win on our own strength. But unfortunately we are all so stubborn and hardhearted, always wanting to do things our way, that’s why we are stymied so often. Hear this passage, re the futility of relying on men, when Israel decided to rely on Egypt, instead of turning to the God of their fathers for help. ‘For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.’ (Is.30:15) Please note those last four words my Friends: ‘and ye would not,’ because it’s the same foolish, disobedient, egotistical attitude that we possess today. We obviously haven’t learned from the numerous examples of not waiting and trusting in the Lord down through time, starting with our forefathers, Adam and Eve. But as the Lord told Judah, after promising that Syria and Ephraim would eventually be destroyed: ‘If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.’ (Is.7:9) And that’s the gospel truth my brethren! If we don’t believe the Lord’s Word, then crapaud smoke we pipe! And I can guarantee that’s not a very nice or encouraging situation. Therefore, in closing, we’ll proffer some wise advice from Jeremiah, a man who saw and suffered it all, but at the end of the day unhesitatingly and overwhelmingly voted for the Lord God Jehovah. ‘The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.’ (Lam.3:24-26) Oh my people, I implore us to indelibly write those words of wisdom in our hearts, minds and souls, then seriously put them into practice in our everyday lives. Why? Because the only way to prosper in both this life and the next, is by hoping in and waiting on Infinitely Everything, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Much LOVE!…to hope…to pray…to wait…to see through the eyes of faith…even in bleak and desperate times…that’s the hallmark…of a TRUE CHRISTIAN…