Thoughts Upon the Close of the Fiscal Year

Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands, and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love;
Take my feet, and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee,
Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice and let me sing
Always only for my King;
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee,
Filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold:
Take my intellect, and use
Ev'ry pow'r as Thou shalt choose,
Ev'ry pow'r as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will, and make it Thine;
It shall be no longer mine:
Take my heart, it is Thine own;
It shall be Thy royal throne,
It shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love, my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store:
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee,
Ever, only, all for Thee.

-Frances R. Havergal

Thoughts = Math.Random()

As you may have noticed, my posting has become increasingly eclectic in content of late. It's not just my writing - it's my mind right now. Not sure why.

This was pointed out poignantly tonight. In the PHD Comic (phdcomics.com) for 9/27, which I saw this evening, there's an apparently random number on a computer screen. Except it's not random - it's actually pi/2. And, yes, I did notice this on my own. Not sure what to make of it, but I haven't figured out an explanation that bodes well for me yet.

God is still good. But I do wish I knew His goal in this time of listlessness is. All in good time.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says "He has made everything beautiful in its time." This is followed by verses 12 and 13: "I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil--this is God's gift to man." Perhaps this is the lesson - to discover joy, not in either the wonderful or the depressing things of life, but in the swirling mass that results when the two mix together. If so, I hope I learn quickly, but I have a sinking feeling that this is a lesson only learned with patience...

All the way my Saviour leads me;
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who thro' life has been my Guide?
Heav'nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whate'er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well;
For I know, whate'er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well.

All the way my Saviour leads me,
Cheers each winding path I tread,
Gives me grace for ev'ry trial,
Feeds me with the living bread.
Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! a spring of joy I see;
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! a spring of joy I see.
-Fanny Crosby

Terra Beata

The Latin phrase Terra Beata means, roughly, "blessed earth." It's the name of the the tune to "This is My Father's World." Looking through my photos, I realize I'm blessed to be living in a truly beautiful place, and thought I'd share some of it with you.

Some may say this isn't half as pretty as Troy. Those people have been breathing too much smog. Brunswick is nice, though, but it doesn't have the same variety - with the exception of the field, which is by my church, all the pictures are within walking distance of the house.

Anyway, enjoy!

Funniness

On a completely different note...

Reading an article tonight, saw another article referenced, a review of the second version of a middle-school textbook. The title of the article is, I think, great:

"The Puffins Don't Help; the Book Is Still Trash"

I get the feeling the author didn't like it.

Thoughts - September 7, 2006 - 1 Kings 19:9

"'What are you doing here, Elijah?'"
1 Kings 19:9 ESV


Crazy but true, I've decided that I need to keep going with Elijah's adventure here. Why? Because I find it fascinating. Mainly because there is so much depth here, yet it doesn't make sense at first blush.

If you remember, we left off as Elijah, powered by God, reached Mount Horeb, a.k.a. Mount Sinai. Having come to Sinai, he found a cave, and set up camp. Now, God knew he was coming. In fact, based on verse 7, I don't think it would be stretching things to suggest that God sent him there. So, with that being the case, one is forced to wonder: why are God's first words to the poor guy there "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

If God had called Elijah to Horeb, then the way many Americans would read this question, as an accusation - "Why aren't you where I told you to be?" - doesn't work. Instead, the point of the question seems to be to get Elijah to think, and beyond that to take possession of the experience. In other words, God wasn't satisfied with just taking Elijah and restoring him, as if he were a machine to be wound back up and sent out. He wanted to cooperate with Elijah, to participate with him is his restoration. What this meant, of course was that Elijah had to establish what he wanted.

Unfortunately, it's at this point that I think Elijah made a crucial mistake. Rather than consider God's question, he replied with the statement he'd been planning on making for the last 40 days. Not that what he said wasn't for the most part true (although there is some exaggeration), but he failed to actually answer the question. He was too busy making his complaint to consider why God had brought him so far to ask such a simple question, which was in fact profound. In other words, he got too caught up in himself to stop to consider God's plan.

What happened next is one of those scenes that can be read hundreds of times without ever losing its ability to instill awe. Quite simply, God showed up! It's interesting, though, how He did it, as even in His method He made a point. The things that came before Him, the wind, and earthquake, and fire, recall to the mind to events of chapter 18, with fire falling from heaven, and great drought-ending storms blowing in. Amazing displays of God's power, but not God Himself. Elijah had seen God act in these events, but seeing Him act wasn't (and isn't) the same as meeting Him. What he needed was a whisper.

Why a whisper? Because it demands stillness and intimacy to be heard. It doesn't allow one to move, for the very rustling of one's clothes can be enough to drown it out. And one must draw close to hear clearly what is being said. In other words, to put it theologically, God's whisper was a call to Elijah to commune with Him.

Unfortunately, it is apparent that Elijah's heart kept him from this communion. Because he refused to follow God's plan, he was left unchanged by the experience. When asked again in verse 13, by that whisper, why he was there, he gave the exact same answer. Nothing to him had changed.

Now God still took care of Elijah. He answered his complaint, and provided Elisha as a helper. And Elijah, by God's grace, continued his prophetic work. But I am forced to wonder what Elijah missed in this experience. Had he abandoned his own agenda, and sought only to follow God's will, what power, what grace, what promises might have been his? We will never know.

I believe that God often asks us that same question when we come to Him: "What are you doing here?" May we be willing, when He asks, to stop in our tracks and examine ourselves, and in so doing to place our hearts in a place where He can touch them! It's only then that we can hear and respond to the whisper, within which is God's method to restore and empower our souls.