Today’s Scrip-Bit 4 August 2015 Ecclesiastes 5:7‏

04 Aug 2015 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ecclesiastes 5:7.   For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities (futility abounds): but fear thou God.

Ah Friends, it was Caribana Monday, so the ole fella had to celebrate, which meant a late night – early morning scenario! Well it wasn’t any real celebration, just doing my family thing a little later than usual.

Anyway, Caribana Monday did turn out to be a beautiful summer’s day after all! Glory to God! That means most of the festivities planned for the day were able to go ahead and the day wasn’t spoiled for the many out of town visitors and our residents who look forward so much to the weekend, and the Monday holiday in particular.

However, as the song says, ‘The party’s over my friends, time to call it a day,’ time to get up and go out and labour on this fine Tuesday morning that has been specially prepared for us with many new blessings, and mercies. Give God a shout of praise and thanks for His wonderful goodness to us undeserving children of men!

And all God’s children loudly declared: ‘All praise and glory to our great and wonderful God who makes a way for us when there seems to be no way, and who provides for our every need, when we come before Him in humble obedience! Amen.’

Now here’s a li’l something from Gramps Schuller (Dr. Robert H. Schuller) from his Hour of Power Devotional. He calls it ‘POSSIBILITIES UNLIMITED.’

And it goes like this: ‘I can count the seeds in an apple. But, Lord – you alone can count the apples in one seed! Some things are impossible, Lord! It’s impossible for me to see immeasurable, unlimited possibilities in one fertile idea. Praise the Lord. Amen.’

And that’s solid truth my people. We can see the small, finite stuff, but only Almighty God who created the heavens and earth, in His great wisdom and foresight, can see the unlimited possibilities in any given idea. Glory to God!

Consequently, we need to come before Him in sincere prayer and humble obedience for Him to point out the numerous possibilities in each fertile idea with which He has blessed us.

Oh, we can possibly envision a few in our own strength, but to get the real gist and gumption, (smile) of what He desires of us, we have to have serious communication with our heavenly Father.

In all of that though Friends, we still need to consider the wise words of our Bit. ‘For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities (futility abounds): but fear thou God.’ Everlasting truth that my people!

And the scholars explain this section about hasty vows thus. ‘5:1-7. The emphasis on the passage is on the folly of an empty religious profession before a sovereign God: God is in heaven, and thou upon earth. God expects sincerity and meaningfulness in worship. He is not impressed with foolish vows…’

And believe me Friends, we do make a lot of foolish vows to God, especially when we are caught up in the heat of a moment’s anguish and concern. But long, long ago, Moses exhorted the children of Israel with the Lord’s desires.

‘And now Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to LOVE him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day, for thy good (benefit or welfare)?’ (Deut.10:12-13)

Yes my brethren, we need to ALWAYS remember that whatever our God commands, in the long run is for OUR benefit and welfare, not for His. I think we often lose sight of that most important fact, and thus murmur and complain unnecessarily when He asks us to do certain things.

Please remember that the Good Book is OUR lifeline to God, our guidebook, so that we can walk the straight and narrow path and eventually come to the throne of the Most High, reconciled and headed for salvation throughout eternity.

In His great and unconditional LOVE for us, He designed it so that we could find answers to whatever questions we might have down here on this frail and fallible earth. And many of us have problems we can’t solve because we don’t, we simply refuse to read that awesome Guidebook of Life!

But how can we know what God desires of us eh friends, if we don’t read His Word eh? We simply can’t. That’s why so much emphasis is placed on personal reading of the Bible. But as usual, too many of us are too proud, stubborn and arrogant to read it, preferring to decipher the whys and wherefores of life in our own strength.

However my people, that is undoubtedly a fool’s wisdom. What better way could there be to understand the ups and downs of life than through the words of the One who created life in the first place eh? None whatsoever!

And these words of Micah from times bygone, aptly paraphrase what the Lord expects of us. ‘He hath showed thee, O Man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to LOVE mercy (LOVING-kindness), and to walk humbly with thy God?’ (Mic.6:8)

Yes Friends, it’s that simple; not rocket science or any other great mind exercise; do good and righteous deeds and walk in humble obedience before Him.

What’s so difficult to understand about that eh? It might not be always easy to put into action, but we do need to understand what is required of us before we can consider doing it. And I believe that’s where many of us fall down; we simply don’t understand, or refuse to understand God’s requirements for this pilgrim’s journey called earthly life.

And we’ll give the last word to Cousin Sol in his capacity as the Preacher. ‘Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgement, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.’ (Eccl.12:13-14)

That says it all Friends! So please, let’s be wise nuh, and go out and do just that, so that we may glorify our Great God and lay up storehouses of treasures in heaven for us to enjoy at a later date. That is true and simple wisdom. Much LOVE!

……be not hasty…consider thy words and thy works…before a just, holy and righteous God…

P.S.  Would you believe that just when I was ready to send out the already late Bit, my trusty sidekick, my desktop computer froze on me, and I had to reboot it? Ah Lord eh! The trials and tribulations we have to endure in this life eh! (smile) Much LOVE!

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 3 August 2015 Ecclesiastes 5:7

03 Aug 2015 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ecclesiastes 5:7.   For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities (futility abounds): but fear thou God.

Well Friends, the Caribana weekend is wrapping up today. Sadly though, it seems to be on a wet and watery note. Yesterday evening around six o’clock a powerful thunder storm hit the area, unleashing a fair amount of rain. It caught me on the highway, and the rain fell so hard that it sounded like pellets hitting the car. Eventually I had to turn up the music to hear it over the sound of the pelting rain. (smile)

And it’s still wet out there, don’t know if it will last all day though. I’m sure a lot of Caribana festivities suffered because of it, and more will suffer today if the weather continues on the negative side.

But look at it this way, here in the Province of Ontario many of us don’t have to go to work today, because it’s a local, civic holiday. Interestingly enough, different regions around the province call it by different names. So we can just curl up in bed with a good book or just go back to sleep if the weather stays foul. (smile)

However, many of our fellow believers around the country and the world have to get up and face the Monday morning music; getting out on the traffic clogged roads, regardless of the weather, and fighting their way to work. Ah Lord eh! You’d think that by now with all our brilliance and technological advancement we’d have designed a better system for getting to and from work.

Unfortunately traffic jams are still a way of life in most countries, and the developing ones are getting just as bad, for as the standard of life goes up, so do the number of polluting vehicles on the sub-standard roads. Billions of dollars are lost in productivity every year because of this unsightly and very inefficient way of getting to and from work.

But until some bright light comes along and improves it, we just have to grin and bear it and leave home a couple hours earlier than necessary to get to work on time. Steups! Anyway, to help those folks who have to get out to labour today, let’s sing our Monday Morning Battle hymn with great gusto and plenty confidence nuh.

As one now: ‘Oh Lord God Almighty, Creator of the universe and all therein! We, your humble servants, praise your Holy Name and thank you that this Monday morning we have jobs to go to; jobs we don’t like, jobs that are unfair, difficult and even dangerous, but which serve a useful purpose here on earth; keeping lives and families together.

We also thank you Father for the renewed vitality and enthusiasm you’ve wrought in our weary souls over the last two days. It’s that rejuvenation of Spirit which allows us now to sally forth with confidence into the evil, ungodly world that surrounds us, to begin a new week of work, constantly buffeted and bombarded by the enemy’s wicked taunts, wiles and lies.

But heavenly Father, we’re not afraid, for we know we’re invincible, sure conquerors, once we’re wearing your powerful, protective spiritual armour. We surrender our all to you, and humbly ask that you let your incredible aura of LOVE, the Holy Spirit, lead and guide all your servants as we go out to meet the enemy in battle.

Fill us with steadfast faith, so that we can make worthwhile inroads into the enemy’s ranks, and thereby further your glorious kingdom. We pray this in the Holy Name of your Son, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN!’

That wasn’t bad at all Friends. Hn! But I notice that every time we have a Monday where one group has a holiday and the others don’t , it’s always those with the holiday that sing the loudest, with the most gusto and verve! Can it be they are more enthused because they don’t have to go out and labour? Now that’s a very observant observation! (smile)

That brings us to our Bit, an interesting statement from Cousin Sol as the Preacher. ‘For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities (futility abounds): but fear thou God.’  Ah mih people, both statements there are indisputably true! In this chapter of Ecclesiastes the Preacher is cautioning us against hasty vows.

Earlier on, he wisely advises: ‘Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon the earth: therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business (effort or activity); and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.’ (Eccl.5:2-3)

Gospel truth Friends, gospel truth! When we get so busy with life we dream up all sorts of stuff, and oftimes talk too much, especially in this modern-day talkative society, where talk shows abound and social media is running rampant 24/7.

And Cousin Sol further cautions us; this time re vows in particular with God. ‘When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer (delay) not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than thou shouldest vow and not pay.’ (Eccl.5:4-5)

Oh my brethren, I am sure that resounds with all of us, because at some time in our lives, in the heat of trials, tribulations or temptations, we have cried out to God: ‘O God, if you will only get me out of this situation, then I will do such and such!’ We make grand promises, many of which we are not able to keep in our own strength, and promptly forget about them anyway, when the Lord bails us out. But that is not the way to get into God’s good graces my people. As the Preacher advises, it would be better if we didn’t make any promises at all.

Now that whole thing about promises and vows is again a sad matter in our current society. Vows and promises no longer mean what they used to even thirty years ago. We make them now fully intending not to keep them. But you know what Friends? Broken promises usually turn right around and bite us when we least expect them.

Like a boomerang they come back to haunt us, and then we get all peeved, disappointed and angry at the perpetrators, conveniently forgetting the vows that we had insincerely made, and/or inconsiderately broken.

So Friends, it’s all up to us. We can bring less pain and disappointment on ourselves by thinking a little more before we talk, and not making promises that we can’t or don’t intend to pay, for our words are powerful and can create good or bad situations, which can greatly affect us. Much LOVE!

…for by thy words…thou shalt be justified…and by thy words…thou shalt be condemned…  (Matt.12:37)