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Showing posts from January, 2022

Where Are You?

“Where are you?” If you are the one asking and you already know the answer, why would you ask? More so, if you were God and you knew everything, why would you be asking? Some context might be helpful to shed some light on this:  there were these two people and they disobeyed God by doing exactly what they were told not to do.  Then, when they heard the sound of God walking in the garden to spend time with them, they hid. That’s when God asked:  “where are you” (Gen 3:9).  But wouldn’t God have known where they were hiding?  Of course He would have!  And the question probably was not just about location, it was likely also about why they were hiding.  From the account, we find the why aspect of the question was there because these two people were experiencing fear and shame.  Neither had experienced these before and their initial response to them was to hide from the One they had disobeyed. While God know all along what the answers were, perhaps He asked the question to give them an opp

Give Up These Raisin Cakes For Life!

They traded their souls for raisin cakes! It happened, sort of.  Take a look:  And the Lord said to me, “go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel , though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.”  (Hosea 3:1) Ok, it obviously wasn’t just an issue of loving cakes of raisins; Israel had turned to other gods.  And the analogy that God was presenting was just as a woman might turn to another man who is not her husband and commit adultery with him, so Israel had left their God and had gone after other gods. The Word of God has other descriptions of His people forsaking Him and going after other “gods”.  Take this one for example:  The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak an

Slippery When Envious

A New Year’s type message at church encouraged us to walk by faith in 2022.  Such a great thing to do in ’22! But out in the lobby, just before start of the service, we had heard the words “careful the floor is wet” loudly and frequently proclaimed.  We had all been tracking in snow and it was melting on the floor and the floor had become very slippery!  In fact, shortly as I heard those words of warning, I watched one of the younger kids slip and fall.  So, as I was listening to the message that was encouraging us to walk by faith, I couldn’t help but picture that slip and fall I had just witnessed earlier.  I began to wonder if we can slip and fall as we try to walk by faith. I think the Psalmist realized it is all too easy to slip when he wrote:  “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.  For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”  (Ps. 73:2-3) I don’t know about you, but it is so very easy for me to look aroun