GOD'S COLORS

The heavens declare the glory
of God; and the firmament
sheweth is handywork.
Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night sheweth
knowledge.
There is no speech nor
language, where their voice
is not heard.
Psalm 19:1-3

One of my joys when in grade school was the initial purchase of school supplies. The list was very small. In the beginning, they consisted of a pair of blunt-nose scissors, jar of paste, a couple of fat pencils and a box of crayons...only the 8 count box. I dearly loved the aroma of those crayons. Still today at times when in a general store, you might find me carefully opening a box of 8 crayons just to take a whiff of them.

This time of year, living in a mountainous area, the colors are breathtaking. However, they are a little slower showing up this year because of the drought-like weather we have had for a couple of months. I felt bad for visitors to our national park who came just to see the full array of leaves in their colorful attire. There have been some, but we're getting a little more now, just later than usual.

We all remember from childhood Joseph and the coat of varied colors his father had made for him. Although a much appreciated gesture on the father's part, it resulted in a great deal of conflict with Joseph's brothers. Who can forget the variety of colors used in the building of the tabernacle in the wilderness. Blue, gold, red, and others were used for various curtains and furniture along with the attire with it's various colors worn by the high priest. We can't even imagine the beauty of the temple Solomon was to supervise in it's building and a reading of it's description reveals a generous use of colors.

Although in my KJV version, I don't see the word “color”, I'm very aware of colors that are mentioned individually in the Bible. Red in Hebrew is Oudem meaning “red clay.” Adam, Esau and Edom all three got their names from that Hebrew root word. The color that means most for we Christians is that color of red, representing the shed blood of our Savior. Without that color, that blood, there wouldn't much of anything that holds much meaning for us.

I looked up some information regarding the spiritual meaning of colors that remind me in so many ways of our Heavenly Father. If I can remember their meaning when viewing colors all around, it's such a blessing to be reminded of God's glory. As I look to the hills, there are certain colors that are predominant. I don't know who came up with the spiritual meanings for things, but the following is fine with me. So as I see certain colors, here's what I can be reminded of:

Red – blood of Jesus, love of God
Gold – heaven, glory of God
Orange – fire of God, deliverance, praise
Green – growth

Every season of the year, we can see God in all His glory and creativity. I see white snow in the winter that indicates purity, the purity of Jesus. Spring in our area brings a myriad of color as all the spring flowers spring up. Our visitors come almost as much for those months as in the Fall. To some extent, I even enjoy the winter months as our mountains take on more of a gray color. It reminds me that except for some evergreens, even the mountains need some time of rest before all the activity begins again. I'm amazed how we can find God in so many common, ordinary things in every day living.

No matter where you live, look around and take in God's beauty that is all around. There is a church sign in our area that says: “God is painting the mountains.” That He is, but He's also being creative wherever you live. It's just another reason we can give God glory.

Dear Father, You so wonderfully beautiful in Your own person and in everything you touch. Thank you for the many reminders you extend our way that can remind us of You in so many ways. Thank You again for Jesus who bled red for each of us. In His name....Amen

OVERWHELMED

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1

We live in a world where we can find ourselves greatly overwhelmed. Every generation has gone through it's times of being overwhelmed. The feeling of being overwhelmed comes where waves of negative circumstances and cares seem to overtake our thinking and thus, drains us of strength and emotional energy. Sad to say, such circumstances can also drain us in a spiritual sense. It isn't God's fault when this happens. God will always be be who He is. He doesn't change no matter what is going on in the world. I'm afraid it's those of us, the overwhelmed, who have taken our eyes off of our Father, losing our spiritual focus.

The Holy Spirit lately has been speaking to me through the above Psalm. A refuge is a place we can run to in time of great need. For we Christians, such isn't necessarily a physical place we can see and touch. God may provide refuges for us through our church, spiritual family members or even places of peace and quiet where we can fellowship with Him. However, even spiritual friends, family members or even church families can let us down. They may not intend to do that but in reality, no one other than God knows our deepest needs in times of being overcome with circumstances.

There may be times when I seek refuge in all the wrong places, having expectations of others they cannot meet. I would trust for us we would turn to fellow brothers and sisters in Christ for our some spiritual comfort and advice. In reality, there is just so much others can do on our behalf. We live in a time when we want help and attention immediately, and even then it would seem we've been disappointed. There are no emotional EMT's in our world to come to our rescue.

I love the fact that God makes Himself available to us not only as a refuge but as a strength, a strength we can't muster up for our own selves. He will not force Himself on us. He just stands ready for us to approach Him. We somehow don't feel He is real enough and again, the fault is with us in our lack of faith. He knows us well and in entirety while we know Him so little.

Chapters, especially in Psalms are so precious with regard to who God is and the encouragement He can be if we approach Him in faith. I see in Psalm 46, precious things about God that are faith builders in every way. However, at the very end of this chapter is the key and it's a key we find uncomfortable. In verse 10a of Psalm 46 is a simple statement:

Be still, and know that I am God...

Being still under any circumstances for just about all of us is a near impossibility. Many of us have known quieter days. I recall childhood summers with no TV, computers, bustle of lots of activity when in the summer, I could sit on the front porch swing and just read. It was quiet except for an occasional car that would pass by. With that quiet came a peace in one's spirit that could equip a person for any hard times that needed to be faced.

We're told to be still which is a problem in itself. It's hard to be still even in spirit with all the noise our culture provides. If we are to be still in any way, we will have to determine to a least find some places of quiet for ourselves.

Under the best of spiritual circumstances, we aren't assured of never feeling overwhelmed,
but we will have the key to our survival in them all. That survival will be in our refuge with our Heavenly Father where we will find strength. He never sleeps or goes away for a weekend. He is as near to us as the very breath we breathe.

The final verse of that chapter is the resounding Hallelujah chorus:

The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.

I praise you, Father, for all You are in my life. Thank You for Your love and constant attention on my every step of life. Thank You for Your Son and all that has been made possible through Him for me. It's in His precious name I pray....Amen

I HAVE A PLAN

For I know the plans I have for you,
declares the Lord, plans to prosper
and not to harm you; plans to give
you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11

The above title is a small phrase from the follow-up verse that in recent days, the Holy Spirit has brought to my mind off and on. I know it's meant to assure and comfort me and am so grateful for it. I've enjoyed verses in John 14,15 where Jesus introduced His disciples to the coming of the Holy Spirit after He would be leaving. He explained some of the things the Holy Spirit would do in ministering to them and to us as well, among which is His ability to remind of Scripture Jesus taught or from other places in the Bible. I'm being reminded of that phrase on a regular basis this week.

This reminder is to me of the different times in my life when situations looked not only unsolvable, but also impossible to discern. Now I find today as I am being reminded of this phrase, I have gone back in memory when I faced times of uncertainty. I wish I had been mature enough to know this verse and God's words of comfort in it.

At age of ten, this then skinny, blond headed girl went forward after a sermon by an evangelist. I didn't know much about anything spiritual in nature. I sure didn't know a lot about Scripture, but I knew that day that Jesus became my Savior. That was all I needed to get started on the right track...you see...God had a plan even back then.

In college, my senior year, I had no money to complete the year. I was advised to go to the local bank for a loan. I couldn't imagine they would loan me the money with my going to be living two states away from the location of that bank after graduation. I went to the bank and the president immediately granted the loan. I see now it was nothing I did, but it was God who had a plan for my life and He was kicking that plan into high gear.

After college, having worked in a very difficult inner city situation for a time, I came to the point where I knew I was supposed to leave that work. I had no car, no money, no anything. Going back to college hours, I realized I had a lot of library science hours. I went to a nearby city to apply for a job in their city library and was hired on the spot. I walked out of the library and across the street, a lady was putting a sign up in a window. It was advertising a furnished apartment for rent. I almost ran across the street to the somewhat broken down building and talked with her. Told her I didn't have any money for a deposit. She smiled and told me to not worry about money. I could just give her my first rent in a month. I knew God was working, but I also knew God had a plan. A lot of that plan was meeting Brian in my church just down the street. God had a plan beyond anything I could imagine.

In 1968, just about two months before my wedding, I came down with the Hong Kong flu. I recently checked the death rate in our country of that horrible flu that had come across the Pacific Ocean to our shores. I've never been so sick. However, many others in our country suffered terribly. Hospitals were full. I couldn't get into a hospital, but was living with dear friends who helped nurse me back to health. In those days, there were about 34,000 Americans who died from just that flu. I could have been one of them except for the fact that God still had a plan for my life just as even now He has for you as well.

Lately, my thoughts have been running to and fro through my mind regarding a situation I know is going to have to be faced. I've learned even though God is in charge, very often end results haven't been exactly what I have hoped they would be. So I look back at God's track record in my life when there have been major things needing a decision. No matter all the things God has worked in and through my life, He's always done a good job. Even if it meant a lot of adjustment, His Spirit has been present strengthening and educating me through any situation. I'm so grateful the Spirit has reminded me in recent days that God always has a plan for my life and always knows what He's doing.

I'm sure some reading this are going through difficulties where they can't see the end from the beginning. It can be such a comfort looking back at God's track record in our lives. We are a blessed people. God always does things well in the lives of His children. I encourage you to look back at some of your life impossibilities and recall how God worked on your behalf and you can see now that He has always had a plan for you...and still does.

Do remember though that if we don't store Scripture in our hearts and minds, the Holy Spirit may not have as much to work with in the area of reminding. When facing decisions or concerns in our lives, being in the Word is one of the best things we can take time, even extra time, doing. Just remember that God knows the plans He has for each of us. In fact, copy that verse from Jeremiah on something handy so you can read it often. We must remember that God has a plan for each of us that will always be in our best interest. The plans He's revealed to me have usually been in small steps, not large leaps. We have to keep trusting.

Thank you, Father, for being interested in every detail of my life, and for having everything worked out ahead of time so that I can rest in You completely with no struggle. You are precious to me as is Your Spirit and Jesus, Your Son in Whose name I pray...Amen

NOTHING'S NEW

Is there anything of which one
might say, “See this, it is new?”
Already it has existed for ages
which were before us.
Ecclesiastes 1:10

Lately I've been reading through the book of Ecclesiastes...yes, it's really a book in the Bible. It's one of those that is nestled between Proverbs and Song of Solomon. I remember where it is because both Proverbs and Song of Solomon were penned by Solomon with Holy Spirit leading. It's understandable that Ecclesiastes should be found in between those two books. So often we feel that much of the Bible is out of date. Even Christians who love God's Word can take on that attitude if they aren't careful. I look at this particular book and wonder if Solomon wasn't looking into the future of our living room windows, halls of Congress, Wall street investment desks and maybe even into our church buildings
.

Solomon was a blessed man. At the beginning of his reign, he gave the right answer when God told him he could have anything he wanted. He could have had military power, riches and whatever else many people would have asked for. Solomon simply asked for wisdom. As a result, God added those other things to the list Solomon might have desired because Solomon had given God the answer He wanted.

Unfortunately, the wisdom and riches God gave him didn't seem to be enough. Eventually, his pride and riches became compulsions in his life and in this book that is also considered a wisdom book, gives his frustration with all of his achievements.

First, in 1:13,17 of this book, Solomon said, “I set my mind.” In verse 13 he set his mind on wisdom.. In verse 17, Solomon's goal was similar in that he wanted his mind to know wisdom. For a time, all went well, but before he knew it, in both cases, he ended up in the middle of folly and things that didn't matter. We must be careful what we set our minds on because we will usually do all we can to achieve whatever it is. Solomon also decided in 1:18:

Because in much wisdom there is much grief,

and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.

In chapters 2 & 3, Solomon spoke of all the things he added to his coffers. He seems to speak of where we might be in our day in 2:10.

All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them.
I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure,
for my heart was pleased because of all my
labor and this was my reward for all my labor.

I can hear us now. I may have said something similar at times. “I've worked hard and there's nothing wrong with buying myself some things I want and deserve. I can buy anything I set my mind on and can have as much fun as I want.” Does any of that sound familiar. It's pretty much the mind set of our society today.

My prayer for us is we will live lives that will honor God in every way whether it be in our work, spending, possessions, or amusements. If the richest man who lived came to know the folly of riches and things of this world that were for nothing, can't we learn as well. Our responsibility is to set our minds on things that honor and please our Father. May our longing for more of God's wisdom in our lives be an ongoing desire of our hearts.

Dear Father, I'm so grateful that You never change. You decided how things should be long before time began and you have adhered to those things to the letter. Thank You for Your provisions in my life that are just what You want for me. I praise You today for who You are in my life. Thank You for Jesus and it's in His name I pray....Amen