Isaiah 55:1. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Oh Friends, through the great and tender mercy of our wonderful and omnipotent God, we’ve been blessed to see another beautiful day upon His exotic creation, Planet Earth!
And all God’s children declared a loud and grateful: ‘Thank You Lord for bringing us through another dark, dreary and scary night into the bright, awesome and most refreshing and secure light of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! We humbly praise You and bless Your Holy Name! Amen.’
Yes mih people, when you’re walking with God, or at least faithfully trying to do so, your life becomes a wonderful adventure, filled with ups and downs, goodness and mercy, LOVE and forgiveness, good and bad, tests and afflictions!
But please know that it all works out to our benefit in the end, according to God’s fruitful and faithful plans for our lives, as entrenched in the promises of Jeremiah 29:11, and Romans 8:28. Please read those scriptures and refresh your minds and souls, so that you can stand strong and steadfast on them.
And to further encourage us, here is some very wise advice from Gramps Schuller – Dr. Robert H. Schuller – from his Hour of Power Devotional. ‘Learn to live by this refreshing attitude: “It’s not what happens to me that matters most; it’s how I react to what happens to me.”
And that my Friends, is the gospel, gospel truth! What happens to us is indeed important, especially when it involves stuff like pain, anger, strife and other negative things. But even more important is how we react to those circumstances.
We can take them in our stride, obviously with God’s help, and maintain some semblance of peace and/or joy in our spirits. Or we can just give in to self-pity, apathy, dread, fear, and all the other negative emotions that tend to bombard us when unfortunate situations occur.
And today we have a rather appropriate Bit that addresses that problem. ‘Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.’
Oh mih breddren, what a magnanimous and universal offer from our most marvellous God! That’s a free offer of mercy to ALL and SUNDRY!
There’s NO other supposed deity who has ever, or can ever offer such a wonderful gift to their believers, because they are not true deities, but false, dead pretenders, while the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the ONE AND ONLY TRUE GOD, IS ALIVE AND KICKING! And kicking mightily too… right into forever!
Now here are some interesting comments from the scholars on our Bit and subsequent verses: ’55:1-7. God’s free gift of salvation is offered to all who will receive it. Those who are spiritually hungry and thirsty may come and eat and drink without money (or freely).
He promises an everlasting covenant to the Gentiles like the one He established with Israel. His invitation to all men is clearly stated by the appeal, Seek ye the Lord, and call ye upon him.’
Oh Friends, it’s so sad when people deliberately choose not to follow Jehovah God, for they know not what they are missing! Doing life with Jehovah God is a most exhilarating, refreshing and adventuresome experience… and this not hearsay, but personal experience!
That’s because you never know what He’ll be up to next, but you do know, you’re completely assured that whatever happens, He’s walking with you, leading and guiding you along paths of righteousness, working you into a reflection of Christ’s character, all for His Name’s Sake. Wow!
And though the road may be rocky and rough, there’s faith in your heart, based on His faithful promises, that eventually things will be fine.
And I like how Isaiah continues after our Bit: ‘Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness (abundance).’ (Is.55:2)
Ah mih people, what a wonderful invitation! And there’s a lot more to say, but since I’m endeavouring to keep the Bit short and sweet we’ll end shortly with some immortal words from Jesus.
And please don’t ever think that I don’t try to keep it short, but sometimes that’s how the Spirit leads me, or there just isn’t enough to spread over two days, plus the fact that I’m just naturally long-winded. (smile)
Anyway, here are Jesus’ immortal words on the subject, which come from the Sermon on the Mount, one of the Beatitudes. ‘Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.’ (Matt.5:6)
Oh my fellow believers, another faithful promise for us to stand on! So please let’s stand on it, today and everyday, and thus be filled with righteousness, every day of our lives!
That’s awesome wisdom – wisdom that can only come from heaven! Much LOVE!
…to seek…to seek… and yet to find God…in His everlasting mercy and forgiveness…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 30 October 2012 Deuteronomy 31:6
30 Oct 2012 Leave a comment
in Inspirational Living Tags: calamity, courage, dismay, disobedience, dread, evil, faith, fear, God's faithfulness, Hurricane Sandy, Most High God Jehovah, obedience, the Exodus, the Promised Land, wilderness wandering
Deuteronomy 31:6. Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee nor forsake thee.
Ah Friends, another chapter in our calamitous times is being written, thanks to ‘Frankenstorm’ Sandy. She’s had a hand in at least ten deaths in the U.S. and one so far in Canada, where in Toronto yesterday, a Staples sign blew down in the 60 kilometres per hour winds and struck her. What a sad way to go. Meanwhile Sandy came ashore in New Jersey yesterday, lashing the Eastern U.S. coast with merciless winds and rain. Millions of people are without power now, and flooding is escalating. And the sad part is that though Sandy has been downgraded to a Tropical Storm, she’s not done yet. To put it nicely, we still have a couple days of inclement weather left. Now can you imagine if Sandy had retained its hurricane status? The whole Eastern coast of North America is being lashed with powerful winds and much rain, snow is even predicted in some areas. That would just put the icing, both literally and figuratively on the cake. Thankfully, so far in my area it’s been mostly gusting wind since yesterday afternoon, though still at a level we can handle, and hopefully it won’t reach epic proportions. The wind seems to have been blowing away some of the rain. I went out on my porch around 4.30 a.m. and surprisingly found my Toronto Star newspaper out there as usual, though they had warned that it might be late because of the weather. But Friends, while we on the East Coast of the continent have been perplexed and perturbed by Sandy, the residents on the northern part of the West Coast have been worried about a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that took place some 40 kilometres off the coast of British Columbia on Saturday. A tsunami warning had been issued, but thankfully nothing came of it, except bickering and confusion in B.C. where it’s claimed the U.S. warning came a whole half an hour before the Canadian, although they knew about the earthquake and its possible repercussions at the same time as the U.S. Obviously the Provincial Government and its agencies claim that they acted responsibly, while the local governments and the people who would have been targeted by the tsunami, claim otherwise. Oh mih people, what’s happening to us eh? In these supposedly modern and revolutionary times, when we can do all sorts of technological wonders, we still can’t get together rationally and solve common problems. As someone told me last night, the Lord’s sending us a message, but we’re not listening. And that could certainly be gospel Friends! Times have become so fearful that many are afraid to walk the roads even in broad daylight, because evil is no longer hiding under the cover of darkness, but has become so emboldened that it’s operating openly in the light now. However my brethren, there’s ONE, and ONLY ONE antidote for Fear, that’s FAITH! FAITH IN ALMIGHTY GOD! As our Bit so encouragingly and appropriately declares: ‘Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee nor forsake thee.’ What part of that don’t we understand eh Friends? If we truly believe in the all-powerful, faithful God we profess to worship, then we should calmly accept such an awesome promise, and consequently there shouldn’t be any fear in our souls, for the Lord has proven His power and faithfulness time and time again. I guess the problem is that a majority of the population don’t believe in the Most High God Jehovah, and those who do, don’t have sufficient faith to stand the rigours of these troubled times. So without further ado, let’s check out some scriptures, re handling fear with faith building. And we’ll begin with Moses reminding the Israelites of their sad, fearful behaviour on their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. ‘Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare (carried) thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came unto this place. Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God.’ (Deut.1:29-32) Oh Friends, that’s certainly a telling reproach against the Israelites! The Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is possibly the greatest exhibition of our God’s great powers, His unending LOVE, and also His powerful anger at continual sin and disobedience. That’s shown in the wandering of Israel for forty years in the desert, culminating with the death of all but Caleb and Joshua of the old generation that came out of Egypt. If anybody in this entire world should have believed in Almighty God, it should have been them, having seen the mighty works He did on their behalf. But obviously they did not, and sadly today we are doing the same thing my people; living in fear, when we have God’s awesome promises to stand faithfully and secure on. We talk up a storm about God, but don’t reflect that talk in our actions, that’s why we’re still so fearful. Now listen to Bruh David’s advice to cousin Sol, when he handed over the throne of Israel to him. ‘Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the Lord thy God. Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfill the statutes and judgements which the Lord charged (commanded) Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed.’ (1 Chr.22:12-13) Oh Friends what absolutely wise words from a father to a son, especially from one who actually lived the words he spoke, under the calming umbrella of God’s faithfulness. And when Cousin Sol followed them, he became the greatest, wisest and richest king that ever lived! However, in his old age, when he strayed from his father’s words and rebelled against the Lord God of his fathers for the heathen gods of his wives, he lost God’s favour. It’s ever so simple and true Friends: stay faithful to God, and He will stay faithful to you, and under those circumstances, there’s no reason to be overwhelmed by fear. Please, let’s write that indelibly in our hearts, minds and spirits, so that we can continuously recall it, and thus not live in fear. Much LOVE!…we say again…the ONLY thing to conquer fear…is TRUE FAITH in Jehovah God…
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