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Showing posts from April, 2018

Overwhelmed and Satisfied?

“Overwhelm”, to paraphrase a dictionary, has the connotation of being overcome completely in mind or feeling.   There is a sense of being covered or buried beneath a mass of something.   It encompasses to load or heap with an overpowering or excessive amount of anything. “Satisfy”, again to paraphrase, is to fulfill the desires, expectations, needs or demands of a person.   It is to give full contentment by sufficient or ample provision . In excerpts from the song “One Thing Remains” (Kristian Stanfill), we find: Your love never fails It never gives up It never runs out on me Because on and on and On and on it goes It overwhelms And satisfies my soul Is the song writer on track?    Can we be both overwhelmed and satisfied at the same time?   Or, are they mutually exclusive? Psalm 103 proclaims that: God is abounding in love (verse 8); As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love (verse 11);...

Corrosive to the Soul!

It’s such a little word, just four letters, almost innocuous at first.   But check out how the dictionary defines it:   annoyance, discontent, irritated, vexation, worry, to wear away, to gnaw into, to cause corrosion.   Wow, and all that in just four letters…             So what is this big four letter word?   Fret!   The King James Bible uses the word fret (and fretting) in Leviticus 13. When a certain type of plague spread, it became a “fretting leprosy” (v. 52).   It fact, it could even “fret inward” into garments and could only be eradicated by burning the garments completely. Fretting is also a central theme to Psalm 37: We are to not fret:             Because of evildoers (v. 1)             Over the one who prospers in his way (v. 7)     ...

The Resounding "re"

Just two letters (re) and words can be totally redecorated and reissued: Born with an “re” becomes reborn; Build with an “re” becomes rebuild. Fill with an “re” becomes refill; Pay with an “re: becomes repay; Union with an “re” becomes reunion. Be reassured with some “Re” words from the Old Testament as they are reproduced and relived in the New Testament: Old Testament Re ... Re fresh:   “but on the seventh day you shall rest, that you…may be refreshed (Ex 23:12) Re move:   “so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Ps 103:12) Re new:   “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength” (Isa 40:31) Re turn:   “and the ransomed of the Lord will return” (Isa 35:10) New Testament Re … Re fresh:   “that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19) Re move:   “But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed” (2 Cor 3:16) Re new:   “yet inwardly we are being renewed d...