Just a few verses tonight. I will let you figure out why they are all in my head tonight and how they all fit together within my life and the context of Ecclesiastes.
"For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin." Romans 14:23
"Behold, all was vanity and a striving after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun." -Ecclesiastes 2:11
"So I hated life..." Ecclesiastes 2:17
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." Matthew 6:33
"Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." Ecclesiastes 12:13
"For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" -Mark 8:36
"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God." -1 Corinthians 10:31
Okay, I am going to explain each in a sentence or two, because I still feel like typing.
Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. Everything under the sun (which means apart from Heaven or God, which is to say anything solely of the world or for the world) is meaningless, vapor, a striving after the wind. So when we seek anything apart from God, then anything, and everything, we do is not only useless, but also sin. And what use is it for us to gain anything we think we want in life if to do so is sin? It is of no use. And so we may look at life and hate it for nothing has any meaning and so often we are led to sin.
But, whatever we do, we can also do to the glory of God. This includes eating or drinking or anything. Things are not intrinsically evil. But our motives for doing them make them so. So living for the glory of God is the cure. Fear God and keep His commandments. Then we will live for His glory. Then we can eat drink and be merry and do so to the glory of God, so that we will not be in sin. And of course the only way to do this is to seek first His kingdom and righteousness.
My mind is on overload. So many strings coming together. I love God. I hate sin. I hate the sin within me. But I love God. And that is enough. He is enough.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Vapor
In Ecclesiastes, the word meaningless, or vanity, or frustration, may also be translated to mean vapor. As in, all life under the sun (apart from God, the earthly realm alone) is vapor, like seeing your breath on a cold day, brief and then gone forever. I listened to a few Driscoll sermons on the first two chapters of Ecclesiastes, and I again realize the reason I love this book is that it is depressing, but brutally honest. Meaning, of course, that the brutal truth of life is somewhat depressing. It doesn't matter if you are wise or a fool, in the long run both die. Nothing here really matters. We work so hard to get the things we want, but then we are too busy to enjoy them, then we die and someone else takes them and gets to enjoy them.
Here lies the problem of my life: "I will be happy, just as soon as..." and fill in the blank with the things I think I need that will make me happy. I'd be happy if only I had money, so I didn't have to worry about things so much. I'd be happy if I had love, or at least a girlfriend because then I wouldn't be so alone. I'd be happier if I just had knowledge, what to do with my life, how to do things. I would be happy if I just had leisure, nothing to do, no worries. This mindset leads me to be depressed. Because I don't have these things. But I think that they will bring me happiness, if only I could get them. They are vapor. They will not bring me joy. They are not God.
Eat, drink, and be merry. This is something Solomon says we are to do. We need to find contentment in what God has given us and blessed us with. We must not strive for more things, never taking time to enjoy what we are given. Eat good food, enjoy it, but don't let it become and idol. Drink good beer, or wine if you prefer, enjoy it, don't sin in drinking too much and don't let it become an idol. If you find love, enjoy it, but it is not God, so don't let it try to be. Enjoy the blessings in life, but don't elevate them to something more than they are. They are, in the end, vapor.
God is lasting. God is good.
In the beginning God was Lord and steward over us. We were lords and stewards of the earth. Then we sinned and our relationship with God was ruined. And as we were now frustrating and a problem for God, he cursed the earth to be frustrating and problematic for us. This frustration we feel with life, this hatred of life we may come to feel if we continue to persist in foolishness, this is pointing to God with all its might. Because God alone will endure. The rest is vapor.
Here lies the problem of my life: "I will be happy, just as soon as..." and fill in the blank with the things I think I need that will make me happy. I'd be happy if only I had money, so I didn't have to worry about things so much. I'd be happy if I had love, or at least a girlfriend because then I wouldn't be so alone. I'd be happier if I just had knowledge, what to do with my life, how to do things. I would be happy if I just had leisure, nothing to do, no worries. This mindset leads me to be depressed. Because I don't have these things. But I think that they will bring me happiness, if only I could get them. They are vapor. They will not bring me joy. They are not God.
Eat, drink, and be merry. This is something Solomon says we are to do. We need to find contentment in what God has given us and blessed us with. We must not strive for more things, never taking time to enjoy what we are given. Eat good food, enjoy it, but don't let it become and idol. Drink good beer, or wine if you prefer, enjoy it, don't sin in drinking too much and don't let it become an idol. If you find love, enjoy it, but it is not God, so don't let it try to be. Enjoy the blessings in life, but don't elevate them to something more than they are. They are, in the end, vapor.
God is lasting. God is good.
In the beginning God was Lord and steward over us. We were lords and stewards of the earth. Then we sinned and our relationship with God was ruined. And as we were now frustrating and a problem for God, he cursed the earth to be frustrating and problematic for us. This frustration we feel with life, this hatred of life we may come to feel if we continue to persist in foolishness, this is pointing to God with all its might. Because God alone will endure. The rest is vapor.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
The Vanity of Pleasure
"I said to my heart 'Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.' But behold, this was also vanity." Ecclesiastes 2:1
In the first verse here we see what has become a traditional view of how to live life. Enjoy yourself, deny no pleasure, and surely this will satisfy you. Solomon, in his life, enjoyed pleasures that we may never dream of. But behold, it was also vanity. It was meaningless. A chasing after the wind. "I said of laughter 'It is mad,' and of pleasure 'What use is it?" Laughter brings joy and merriment for a moment, then it ends and silence pours back in. Pleasure may fill that gaping hole inside of us for a moment, but then it recedes and we are left alone with our emptiness that has now grown deeper. "I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine." This is a verse I can get behind. Of course this just brings up the same old problem of nothing good coming from it, and only a temporary feeling of satisfaction that is fleeting and turns into a feeling of foolish shame. He goes on to talk of great works he accomplished to bring him pleasure. Great gardens grown. Slaves owned. Herds and flocks, more so than any who had come before him. Silver and gold and the treasures of princes and provinces. Singers and concubines "the delight of the children of men."
"So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem." -2:9
"Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept from my heart no pleasure." -2:10
But for all of that he finds this in verse 11: "Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun."
I think of all the things I want to do that I do not do because they are sins. Now there is a part of me that still strongly desires to do them. Not the whole of me, for there is a part of me that wants to do only good and obey the Lord and keep His laws that I know are good (see Romans 7). But at the same time the temptations are still there. But look at Solomon. He lived it. He had the sex, the booze, the money, the power, the fame. He had it all. Everything there is in this world that men tend to put ahead of God. And what did he find in the end? He looked over it all and realized that none of it was worth anything. It was vanity. Useless. A chasing after the wind. It is sad sometimes that we don't take other peoples' word for things. like if we listened to this maybe we would recognize that no amount of perceived pleasure is ever going to mean a thing without God. God is the only thing in this life that satisfies.
So I need to look at my own life through that lens. There are lots of things I think I want. But having a new car, while it might make me worry less, it is not going to satisfy me. Having a job is not going to satisfy. Having more money isn't going to do anything. Finding a date or a girlfriend is not going to bring me any real joy. None of these things, in and of themselves, are going to make me happy. I feel like they might. I feel like I want them so badly that I hate it. It doesn't mean that they are bad things. It doesn't mean that my desire for them is necessarily bad. But if they are the things I am seeking first, then they are. Because all they will amount to is nothing. They are useless, like chasing the wind. Instead I must learn to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Not, of course, a promise that I will get everything I want. But a promise that God will provide me with exactly what I need, and also provide me with the heart to want those things, and so my desires will then be met, because they are His desires for me. Not sure if that made sense. But I like it.
Pleasure is vanity. Nothing matters if we do not first seek God. Fear God and keep His commands. This is the whole duty of man. Amen.
In the first verse here we see what has become a traditional view of how to live life. Enjoy yourself, deny no pleasure, and surely this will satisfy you. Solomon, in his life, enjoyed pleasures that we may never dream of. But behold, it was also vanity. It was meaningless. A chasing after the wind. "I said of laughter 'It is mad,' and of pleasure 'What use is it?" Laughter brings joy and merriment for a moment, then it ends and silence pours back in. Pleasure may fill that gaping hole inside of us for a moment, but then it recedes and we are left alone with our emptiness that has now grown deeper. "I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine." This is a verse I can get behind. Of course this just brings up the same old problem of nothing good coming from it, and only a temporary feeling of satisfaction that is fleeting and turns into a feeling of foolish shame. He goes on to talk of great works he accomplished to bring him pleasure. Great gardens grown. Slaves owned. Herds and flocks, more so than any who had come before him. Silver and gold and the treasures of princes and provinces. Singers and concubines "the delight of the children of men."
"So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem." -2:9
"Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept from my heart no pleasure." -2:10
But for all of that he finds this in verse 11: "Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun."
I think of all the things I want to do that I do not do because they are sins. Now there is a part of me that still strongly desires to do them. Not the whole of me, for there is a part of me that wants to do only good and obey the Lord and keep His laws that I know are good (see Romans 7). But at the same time the temptations are still there. But look at Solomon. He lived it. He had the sex, the booze, the money, the power, the fame. He had it all. Everything there is in this world that men tend to put ahead of God. And what did he find in the end? He looked over it all and realized that none of it was worth anything. It was vanity. Useless. A chasing after the wind. It is sad sometimes that we don't take other peoples' word for things. like if we listened to this maybe we would recognize that no amount of perceived pleasure is ever going to mean a thing without God. God is the only thing in this life that satisfies.
So I need to look at my own life through that lens. There are lots of things I think I want. But having a new car, while it might make me worry less, it is not going to satisfy me. Having a job is not going to satisfy. Having more money isn't going to do anything. Finding a date or a girlfriend is not going to bring me any real joy. None of these things, in and of themselves, are going to make me happy. I feel like they might. I feel like I want them so badly that I hate it. It doesn't mean that they are bad things. It doesn't mean that my desire for them is necessarily bad. But if they are the things I am seeking first, then they are. Because all they will amount to is nothing. They are useless, like chasing the wind. Instead I must learn to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Not, of course, a promise that I will get everything I want. But a promise that God will provide me with exactly what I need, and also provide me with the heart to want those things, and so my desires will then be met, because they are His desires for me. Not sure if that made sense. But I like it.
Pleasure is vanity. Nothing matters if we do not first seek God. Fear God and keep His commands. This is the whole duty of man. Amen.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Vanity
All is vanity. So begins one of my favorite books of the Old Testament. The reason I love this book, Ecclesiastes, is the it gets to the heart of existence. Everything is useless, it is all mere vanity, a chasing after the wind.
What does man get for all his toil? Nothing. In the end we will all die and all the work we have done will have been for nothing.
The sun rises and goes down and rises, the winds blow on and on. It is endless, but my days are numbered, they will end.
All streams run into the sea, but the sea is never full.
All things are full of weariness.
The eye is never satisfied with seeing, the ear never fulfilled in its hearing. We will never find anything here to satisfy us. There is always this hunger for more and more in the world.
There is nothing new under the sun. Everything has been done before and will be done again.
Everything will be forgotten. Things in the past already have been, and the future will look on these days now and remember nothing of them, they will have been as nothing, but it will not be new.
Wisdom and knowledge, they are mere vanity, they increase sorrows.
This book starts off outlining these things. This seems depressing. Perhaps it truly is, and now you know why I love it. But the thing is, this whole book outlines a life full of everything men seek after. Solomon, who is attributed the authorship of the book, lived a life most would envy. He had great wisdom, answers to all that people would ask. He did great wonders. He had power, wealth, women, and whatever else he desired. But in the end he looked back and saw the truth, that all he had done, all he had sought, it was all worthless, it was all vanity, a chasing after the wind.
Think of the wind, it would be foolish to chase it. Yet this is what we do every day. We chase after the wind. What would be gained even if we could follow the wind to where it ends? Nothing. It would be useless. The wind is useless to us and the chasing of said uselessness if more foolish. This is to say that we waste our days endeavoring for something we never needed in the first place. All we are is foolish people chasing vanity.
Now, Solomon spends a good portion of the book dealing with all of this. And I will admit it gets confusing at times, but I enjoy this book and so I am letting it direct my reading and writing for the next little while. I am not sure if anything remotely of value will come of it. But of course it ends with the command to fear God and keep His commands, this is the whole duty of man. And that is the only thing that has any meaning. That is why I like the book so much.
But in this first bit I se the futility of a life lived apart from Christ. And while I try to center my life on Christ in all that I do, I find too often the wind distracts me and I chase after it. In my mind I somehow imagine that I have found some magic secret, something new under the sun, if you will, and in the end it is meaningless vanity. The other verse that is dominating my life lately is Matthew 6:33: "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." That verse and this book go together perfect in my mind. Because whatever else we seek is meaningless. God is the whole meaning of my being here. And that comforts me so much.
What does man get for all his toil? Nothing. In the end we will all die and all the work we have done will have been for nothing.
The sun rises and goes down and rises, the winds blow on and on. It is endless, but my days are numbered, they will end.
All streams run into the sea, but the sea is never full.
All things are full of weariness.
The eye is never satisfied with seeing, the ear never fulfilled in its hearing. We will never find anything here to satisfy us. There is always this hunger for more and more in the world.
There is nothing new under the sun. Everything has been done before and will be done again.
Everything will be forgotten. Things in the past already have been, and the future will look on these days now and remember nothing of them, they will have been as nothing, but it will not be new.
Wisdom and knowledge, they are mere vanity, they increase sorrows.
This book starts off outlining these things. This seems depressing. Perhaps it truly is, and now you know why I love it. But the thing is, this whole book outlines a life full of everything men seek after. Solomon, who is attributed the authorship of the book, lived a life most would envy. He had great wisdom, answers to all that people would ask. He did great wonders. He had power, wealth, women, and whatever else he desired. But in the end he looked back and saw the truth, that all he had done, all he had sought, it was all worthless, it was all vanity, a chasing after the wind.
Think of the wind, it would be foolish to chase it. Yet this is what we do every day. We chase after the wind. What would be gained even if we could follow the wind to where it ends? Nothing. It would be useless. The wind is useless to us and the chasing of said uselessness if more foolish. This is to say that we waste our days endeavoring for something we never needed in the first place. All we are is foolish people chasing vanity.
Now, Solomon spends a good portion of the book dealing with all of this. And I will admit it gets confusing at times, but I enjoy this book and so I am letting it direct my reading and writing for the next little while. I am not sure if anything remotely of value will come of it. But of course it ends with the command to fear God and keep His commands, this is the whole duty of man. And that is the only thing that has any meaning. That is why I like the book so much.
But in this first bit I se the futility of a life lived apart from Christ. And while I try to center my life on Christ in all that I do, I find too often the wind distracts me and I chase after it. In my mind I somehow imagine that I have found some magic secret, something new under the sun, if you will, and in the end it is meaningless vanity. The other verse that is dominating my life lately is Matthew 6:33: "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." That verse and this book go together perfect in my mind. Because whatever else we seek is meaningless. God is the whole meaning of my being here. And that comforts me so much.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Past to the Present Future
"I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God, and he will hear me.
In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.
When I remember God, I moan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints.
You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
I consider the days of old,
the years long ago.
I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;
let me meditate in my heart.”
Then my spirit made a diligent search:
“Will the Lord spurn forever,
and never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?”
aloud to God, and he will hear me.
In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.
When I remember God, I moan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints.
You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
I consider the days of old,
the years long ago.
I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;
let me meditate in my heart.”
Then my spirit made a diligent search:
“Will the Lord spurn forever,
and never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?”
Then I said, “I will appeal to this,
to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
I will ponder all your work,
and meditate on your mighty deeds.
Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is great like our God?
You are the God who works wonders;
you have made known your might among the peoples.
You with your arm redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph.
When the waters saw you, O God,
when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
indeed, the deep trembled.
The clouds poured out water;
the skies gave forth thunder;
your arrows flashed on every side.
The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lighted up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
Your way was through the sea,
your path through the great waters;
yet your footprints were unseen.
You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron."
-Psalm 77
I read this this weekend and it has ascended to near the top of my list of favorite psalms. It is just full of amazing things. First, the psalmist is in the midst of a trial. He is melancholy, and yet he begins by saying he will call to the Lord and he knows the Lord hears. This is important because the second half of the first half of the psalm is about God seeming to not be there, so the fact that he says this and knows it even if he can't feel it is sweet. Next, he acknowledges that he is in the midst of a bad time, and his frist instinct and action is to seek the Lord. Not to mope around or go buy whiskey or do something stupid, but to recognnize the trouble that you are in and seek the Lord above all else as the cure. Then he goes to talk about how God seems to have left him. But what does he do then? He looks back at all the things God has done. He remembers how great God truly is.
Application time: there are times in my life where I go on living and cannot feel God's presence. I feel so far and solated from Him. Often times this leads to despair. To feel so disconnected from Him who gives life meaning leaves life feeling quite empty. And I am too quick to not look to the Lord immediately. But I need to remember that He hears our cries, even if we don't realize it, if we can't feel Him all the time. And more than that, I see the need to remember who God truly is. To look back at all He has done, to search His Word and recall all the wonders He has done. To reaffirm His love for me, that even if I can't feel it at the moment, I can see so clearly evidenced by the simple fact I am still alive right now.
This is just a sweet psalm and I wanted to put it out here. God is so amazing and I don't know what else to say unless I want to make up more words for how great He is. I did realize one thing. That if I focus my whole being on the Lord, on who He truly is and how He truly loves me, it makes me want to either jump up and down in joy and make up words for how great He truly is, since no word exists to do that justice, or it makes me want to cry. I don't cry, a defect I have left over from the old days, but if I were going to cry it would be because of the love of God, that He loved me so that I would love Him. That is amazing, since I know all the crap I've done.
Thank you God for loving me.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Let's Be Blunt
"How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, then follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." -1 Kings 18:21
If the Lord is God, then follow Him. If something else is god, then follow that. It truly is that simple. We cannot go limping between these two different opinions. Now, you might say or think, as I did at first "Well that's easy. God is God. I follow God." But then I stopped and looked at my actions and my life. Maybe I follow God most of the time, but I am still putting things above him, a different opinion as to what deserves to be central in my life. But let's be blunt here. You either follow God or you don't. Let's be logical. Has anything other than god EVER satisfied? No! Has anything other than God EVER led to anything truly profitable? No! Has anything other than God EVER given me anything but misery? No! THE LORD IS GOD! There is no other option. Baal, or any other false idols we want to throw in there, they are nothing. And if the Lord is God, FOLLOW HIM! With everything you are, follow Him. It is that simple. But of course, I am a human and a foolish one at that and I am an expert at making something complicated out of something simple. But we need to stop limping after two opinions and run full fledged after the Lord who is God. That is all there is to it.
If the Lord is God, then follow Him. If something else is god, then follow that. It truly is that simple. We cannot go limping between these two different opinions. Now, you might say or think, as I did at first "Well that's easy. God is God. I follow God." But then I stopped and looked at my actions and my life. Maybe I follow God most of the time, but I am still putting things above him, a different opinion as to what deserves to be central in my life. But let's be blunt here. You either follow God or you don't. Let's be logical. Has anything other than god EVER satisfied? No! Has anything other than God EVER led to anything truly profitable? No! Has anything other than God EVER given me anything but misery? No! THE LORD IS GOD! There is no other option. Baal, or any other false idols we want to throw in there, they are nothing. And if the Lord is God, FOLLOW HIM! With everything you are, follow Him. It is that simple. But of course, I am a human and a foolish one at that and I am an expert at making something complicated out of something simple. But we need to stop limping after two opinions and run full fledged after the Lord who is God. That is all there is to it.
Skrishelic (Agnew)
So I have to quickly write something that amazes me. I may come back to this in length later, but for now I just wanted to touch on it. In my journal I am looking at and writing about Matthew 10, because there is some sweet stuff there, some amazing and important things, and I love it. I also am hoping to write on Ecclesiastes on here, but I am having some difficulty right now. I am Xangaing through the 12 steps, which is going well, so ultimately I hope to be writing daily because that is always good for me. Anyways, here is something I love:
"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father....Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." Matthew 10: 31, 33
First time I read this I thought that many sparrows would still only cost a few cents, a dollar or two at most, and that thought amused me. But the heart of this these verses is amazing, especially for someone like me who wonders sometimes if God truly cares about the little things in my life. In the midst of great tragedies and wars and all the great evils of this world, I can't comprehend that God would deign to hear my tiny prayers about the crap in my life. As Kevin Devine said in song "I realize that my (crap)'s about as small as it could be, but that just makes me feel worse for even feeling that bad in the first place." So I know my problems may be small in the grand scheme of things. But Jesus tells us that no sparrow falls from the sky without God's hand in it. And what is a sparrow? It is nothing, they are sold two for a penny, which, adjusted for inflation, would basically be them paying us to take sparrows. They are meaningless. And yet their lives are held in the hands of the Lord. And here are we, here am I, a human made in God's own image. Humans, elevated over all creation. If God cares enough to watch the sparrows, then how much more will He watch over us and love us?! I know God loves me. And I will always say that on a macro scale that is evident. But on a micro scale it is not always evident, not always palpable. But there it is, Christ assures us that it is there, that love, in every detail of our lives. That the life of a lowly sparrow is held in God's hands, and so my life too will of course be there. God is a God who knows, who pas attention, and who cares. Because He loves us so much and He only wants us to be happy. And for us to be happy means that we see and know God and love and appreciate and glorify Him for it. That is when we are most satisfied, when He is most glorified. It doesn't mean that I am going to get the thing I want, because it is entirely possible that by not getting said thing I will need to rely on God, be satisfied by Him alone, and come to grow in my love and appreciation for Him. That is awesome. God withholds no good things from those who love Him. And I know I love Him, so I know that He is not withholding anything that is good for me. Heck, he cares about the sparrows, and I am worth at least six or seven sparrows, so then I know that God cares about me. In the big stuff, in the little stuff, in every aspect of my life. How amazing is our God? A God of infinite majesty and power and might who loves me, a lowly creature. It is truly amazing, I cannot even explain it with words. I feel there is no word capable of expressing how truly mystified I am. It is Skrishelic (A random word I am making up because a proper word does not exist). Thank you God!
"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father....Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." Matthew 10: 31, 33
First time I read this I thought that many sparrows would still only cost a few cents, a dollar or two at most, and that thought amused me. But the heart of this these verses is amazing, especially for someone like me who wonders sometimes if God truly cares about the little things in my life. In the midst of great tragedies and wars and all the great evils of this world, I can't comprehend that God would deign to hear my tiny prayers about the crap in my life. As Kevin Devine said in song "I realize that my (crap)'s about as small as it could be, but that just makes me feel worse for even feeling that bad in the first place." So I know my problems may be small in the grand scheme of things. But Jesus tells us that no sparrow falls from the sky without God's hand in it. And what is a sparrow? It is nothing, they are sold two for a penny, which, adjusted for inflation, would basically be them paying us to take sparrows. They are meaningless. And yet their lives are held in the hands of the Lord. And here are we, here am I, a human made in God's own image. Humans, elevated over all creation. If God cares enough to watch the sparrows, then how much more will He watch over us and love us?! I know God loves me. And I will always say that on a macro scale that is evident. But on a micro scale it is not always evident, not always palpable. But there it is, Christ assures us that it is there, that love, in every detail of our lives. That the life of a lowly sparrow is held in God's hands, and so my life too will of course be there. God is a God who knows, who pas attention, and who cares. Because He loves us so much and He only wants us to be happy. And for us to be happy means that we see and know God and love and appreciate and glorify Him for it. That is when we are most satisfied, when He is most glorified. It doesn't mean that I am going to get the thing I want, because it is entirely possible that by not getting said thing I will need to rely on God, be satisfied by Him alone, and come to grow in my love and appreciation for Him. That is awesome. God withholds no good things from those who love Him. And I know I love Him, so I know that He is not withholding anything that is good for me. Heck, he cares about the sparrows, and I am worth at least six or seven sparrows, so then I know that God cares about me. In the big stuff, in the little stuff, in every aspect of my life. How amazing is our God? A God of infinite majesty and power and might who loves me, a lowly creature. It is truly amazing, I cannot even explain it with words. I feel there is no word capable of expressing how truly mystified I am. It is Skrishelic (A random word I am making up because a proper word does not exist). Thank you God!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)