"Much Rubbish"

Believers everywhere are fraught with problems.  It's overwhelming!  One day recently I carried this to God and it went something like this, "God how can we witness to a world in darkness when we are sick, tired and walking through dark clouds ourselves?"  A few days later, through providential love, I ran across this verse:  "Thus in Judah it was said, 'The strength of the bearers of burdens is failing, yet there is much rubbish; and we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall.'"

Nothing new under the sun, huh?  I looked at this as a testimony of God's personal love for His own, each one of His own!  And how did it go in Nehemiah, chapter four?  "Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses."  Bottom line:  Get back to work.  There is much to be done.  "Our God will fight for us." (Nehemiah 4:10-20)

To Grasp the Sun

Just a thought, but in my musing over the angst of the intellectual who rejects God with great irritation towards those who believe, I have a question.  Why do they enjoy the beauty, light and warmth of the sun without being able to figure it out?  They can't land on it, conquer it, move it, change it nor grasp it.  They let it be, knowing that it would be futile to try to do any more than just organize their whole day around it and let it be the sun.

But God, the Creator of the sun, they want to understand in His entirety?  "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."  Fear Him first, seek Him second, and bow down to Him as God, above all and above even the understanding of those who think themselves wise.

Pleasures of Sin

Have you ever considered the minuscule amount of time the emotion of exhilaration lasts?  If not, think about it now.  I think of it a lot in regard to sin of all kinds: short fulfillment and long consequences.  (You can make your own list here.)  Watching a documentary recently brought the thought to mind again.   A creative and gifted singer/songwriter who never completely made it nationwide because of his propensity to drugs.  It saddened and depressed me to think of all the gifted and talented who crashed and or burned because the drug became the dominant drive in their lives.

In this particular documentary, one young woman who had been married to this guy and bore his child, said this, "He gave up everything for a high."  Think about that!!  And the list goes on and on.  "The pleasures of sin for a season!"  So says the Bible, KJV, in regard to Moses choice.  The NIV says, "He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin."   Or going along with this post, I could say, "He gave up the high for everything."

How sad for this young lady as she recalled a past that still brought tears of regret to her eyes.  And how sad for this man who now is dependent on family because he is mentally incapable of caring for himself.  But sadder still is the one who dies for eternity because they would rather enjoy the pleasures of sin for this earthly season.