Musings From A Rolling Eyed Turtle

It’s not too hard to imagine the disappointment! There had been the account of a powerful God who could totally burn up a sacrifice, even one that had been drenched in water. And the priest, this guy Elijah, had simply called on God and God did it, big time! But instead of another big and impressive illustration of the power of God, Naaman was told to just go and bathe in the river Jordan. Naaman was actually more than disappointed that the prophet in this situation didn’t dramatically wave his hands to heal him. Go and bathe in the muddy Jordan, yeah right! There were better rivers back home. Not only didn’t he go bathe in the river, he went home in a rage! In my last post, I wrote about that dramatic demonstration of God’s power as shown by burning up the sacrifice and the altar but I also cautioned us that such does not happen as regularly as people might want. In fact, I don’t think it has happened in the same way since! But what normally does happen is this: God speaks, God hears ...

Talk about feeling insignificant, unimportant and totally ignored! · There was no voice; · No one answered; · No one paid attention. If any should have received a voice response and an answer and been paid attention to, they were it! They were, all 450 of them, prophets of a “god” named Baal. In fact, they had been so intent on getting a response, that they called on their “god” all day and danced frantically around the altar. And when they received no response, they doubled down on their efforts by cutting themselves so that their blood flowed as a sign of their sincerity and devotion. Yet still, there was no voice, no one answered and no one paid attention. Enter Elijah, the prophet of God. He was just one against 450! He had given the prophets of Baal the first shot at having their “god” consume, by fire, a bull offering to demonstrate who the real God was. For the prophets of Baal, their efforts went nowhere! So it was Elijah’s turn to call on his God. But, to make it even more obv...

“Don’t wanna go!”  You hear that from kids.  If they don’t want to go somewhere, they can make that abundantly clear. Adults often share that feeling but they might couch their reluctance in a more diplomatic term such as:   “I would prefer not to”.   Sometimes they even choose to hide how they really feel by using phrases like:   “I’m too busy” or “I already have a commitment”. Moses was not a kid but an adult.   He didn’t wanna go and he didn’t even try to hide his reluctance!   In fact, he clearly expressed it in very direct terms:   Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here .   (Ex 33:15) Ok, to be fair, it wasn’t an issue of Moses not wanting to go; he just didn’t want to go if God’s presence wasn’t going with him.   Moses was astute enough to know that if the Lord’s presence was not with him (and with the people of Israel ), things could go sideways very quickly.   One c...

Conquer the water!  It was a campaign at the swimming pool.  I’m guessing that it was an attempt to get people, who are afraid of water, to learn to swim.  But the issue is really not about conquering the water; it’s about conquering our fear of the water. Yet the campaign has a certain appeal to it.  If you are afraid of water, it’s probably easier to focus on conquering something you can see and touch (the water) as opposed to conquering something you can’t see and touch (your fear). And conquering something does resonate with many.  The familiar usage of the word “conquer” is gain or acquire by force of arms.  Another aspect of conquering is to gain mastery over by overcoming obstacles or opposition.  It can also mean to overcome by mental or moral power.  Given that conquering something has an attractive element to it, there’s a verse in Romans that seems to be the key to conquering anything and everything: “ No, in all these things we...

In my last post, I wrote that that God keeps certain things hidden (Deut 29:29).  In some cases, these hidden things are beyond our understanding.  In response to that, one Psalmist wrote that he did not occupy himself with things too great and too wonderful for him (Ps 131:1).  That’s a healthy response as we, as humans, are finite and cannot completely know everything about an infinite God. A quote attributed to American novelists, Philip Roth, speaks volumes on this:  “All that we don’t know is astonishing.  Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing.” From a more spiritual perspective, one commentator put it this way:  "What God has thought proper to reveal, he has revealed what is essential to the well-being of man, and this revelation is intended not for the present time merely, nor for one people, but for all succeeding generations. The things which he has not revealed concern not man but God alone, and are therefore not to be inquired af...

We like things that we can study, know and understand.  Sometimes we find it difficult to accept that there are things that might be hidden from our knowledge and understanding. The Scriptures indicate that there are some things hidden by design:  “The Lord our God keeps certain things hidden. But he makes other things known to us and to our children forever. He does it so we can obey all the words of this law.”  (Deut 29:29) Some versions of the Bible translate the hidden things as “secret things”.  Regardless, there are things which have been revealed and things which are kept hidden from us and remain secret. We may chafe at having to deal with the fact that some things remain hidden, but that’s often when faith and trust come in.  The Psalmist wrote:   “O Lord , my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.”  (Ps 131:1) The Psalmist seem to realize that th...

When it works, it really works. It even sticks! When it doesn't work, it really doesn't work. It doesn’t stick, except maybe to itself. When it does stick, it seals and secures to keep things fresh.   It protects from the air which can expedite spoiling and oxidation.   It prevents unwanted drying and prevents undesirable moisture absorption.   It also keeps odors contained. When it sticks to itself, it’s normally almost impossible to separate.   It loses its usefulness and just gets mashed up into a ball and is relegated to the trash can. We're talking cling wrap here.   It’s also known as plastic wrap and the likely most identifiable brand name is Saran Wrap.  It’s an item that you probably love or hate depending on whether it works or not.   When it works, it clings to all the right surfaces and does all the right things for food.   When it doesn’t work and it clings to itself, well that’s where the ball shape comes in and the rele...