Musings From A Rolling Eyed Turtle

Where do we go for help in these very difficult days? In dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, we tend to look to our leaders for solutions and we want to trust that they are receiving and paying attention to good advice from the medical and scientific communities. In dealing with the protests rocking our world, we tend to look to our leaders for solutions and we want to trust that they are sorting through all the issues and are working for the best interests of all who are involved. But are these trusts well placed?   Well… In the book of Isaiah, we find this description about leaders:   “your princes are rebels and companions of thieves.   Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts.   They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them.”   (Isa 1:23) And in the book of Ecclesiastes we find this:   “ If you see the extortion of the poor, or the perversion of justice and fairness in the government, d...

The prayer of Jabez is wonderful.   Not, I would argue, for the example of how God answered prayer.   Wait, you might say, who wouldn’t want their prayers to be answered in such an incredible way?   I think his prayer is wonderful because Jabez had the faith to pray for something that God had promised! After the exodus from Egypt , God promised His people:   “For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders…”   (Ex 34:24).   So, many years later, Jabez prayed:   “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked.   (1 Chr 4:10) So here I am in 2020, struggling with the prayer of Jabez as I consider the strange and the unique of today: quarantines, shelter in place, lockdowns, self-isolation, social distancing and facemasks - it feels like my borders are diminishing. Are they dim...

I’ve been considering a possible difference in meaning between “take pleasure in” and “take pleasure from”.   Life might not exactly hang in the balance but I think there could be some problems if we don’t live out the difference appropriately!   So, walk with me through some definitions to see if we can make some sense of this: Take - lay hold of, obtain, gain or acquire, remove; Pleasure - a state of gratification, a source of delight or joy; In - it is often used as a function word to indicate inclusion, incorporation or purpose; From - it is often used as a function word to indicate a source, a starting point, a focal point or an act of removal. From what I can gather, in many ways, “in” and “from” are often used interchangeably.   But, there can be some differences depending on use and context.   For example: "He took pleasure in dancing in the rain." - the pleasure is in the action/event. "He took pleasure from dancing in the ra...

“Speak up, shut up and look up”, those were the words of personal application that I wrote about last week as I considered my prayer life.   It was based on a verse from Psalm 5:   “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord ; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.”   (Ps 5:3) It appears, from the verse, that the psalmist spoke his heart to God and then looked up in expectation.   While it doesn’t say that he “shut up”, it could probably be inferred.   But since “shut up” sounds a bit harsh and not so very spiritual, I thought about another word to focus on that is much more gracious:   “silence”.   So, I looked up some verses that use the word and I broadened it a bit to include “silent”. But before I list the verses, perhaps it would be good to define the word:   silence is the “ forbearance from speech or noise”; and silent is “to compel or reduce to silence.” “For God alone my soul wait s in si...