Big thanks to Stephan Pastis and Pearls Before Swine for today's lesson:
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Truth is...All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 [NLT])
You know how sometimes you read something or run across a video at just the right time?
That happened to me this morning when I read the following in James Watkins' updated version of Thomas à Kempis' The Imitation of Christ.
It is good for us that we sometimes have sorrows and adversities, for they often make us realize we are only strangers and sojourners on this earth and that we can't put our trust in worldly things. It is good that we sometimes endure opposition and are judged unfairly. When we experience this trouble, it is for our good. For these things help us to be humble and shield us from conceit. For when people speak evil against us falsely and give us no credit for good, then we seek more earnestly the approval of God.
So, we need to rest wholly upon God, rather than needing to seek comfort from the hands of people. When people who fear God are afflicted, tried, or oppressed with evil thoughts, they realize how much they need him, since without him they can do no good thing. Then those with heavy hearts groan and cry out from the troubled heart. There are even times when God's children grow weary of life and desire to depart and be with Christ. All this teaches them that on earth there is no perfect security or fullness of peace.
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Truth is...The more I entrust my sense of well-being and happiness to what happens to me or what people say about me or do to me, the more miserable I will be. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart..."
I was embarking on a short-term mission trip to do some work at a children's home in Central Mexico. Itinerary: flying from Minneapolis/Saint Paul to Dallas to San Luis Potosi.
Speeding down the runway of MSP, it seemed like we were having trouble reaching escape velocity. We were bumping around the cabin, the plane was rattling and shaking, and I couldn't help but imagine hearing Fred Flintstone yelling "Pedal faster, Barney!"
And then, in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye you might say, the wheels left the tarmac and all was smooth and quiet as the plane entered its natural habitat of the air.
Right then and there, I wondered, "Is that how it's going to be when you come back, Jesus? Will all the turmoil and trouble of this life-as-we-know-it just . . . just be done as we enter into the realm of existence we were created for?"
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Truth is...He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. (Revelation 21:4 NLT)
A Psalm of Dewey
When everything seemed to be imploding
Yahweh makes all things good!
And if I keep saying it
I may start to feel it
Yahweh makes all things good!
And if I keep saying it
I may start to see it
I am surrounded by naysayers
Monday morning quarterbacks
who don't even wait for Monday
And the worst thing is that they're probably right
I have been conciliatory
when I should have been challenging
Timid
when I should have been bold
And yet
I have been vocal
when I should have been silent
Reacting
when I should have been listening
You have been gracious to me in the past, Lord Yahweh
There have been times when I saw no way for good to rise from the ashes that covered me
and you were faithfully working all things together
for the good
Do it again, Father God!
Make it so!
Cause all your people to rise in awe and wonder
at how you bring beauty from ashes
Hope from despair
Life from death
Take my tears and cleanse me
Cleanse me and the naysayers
Cleanse me and the ill-timed quarterbacks
Yahweh makes all things good!
And if I keep saying it
I may start to feel it
Yahweh makes all things good!
And if I keep saying it
I may start to see it
