The Constant God.

Over the years I have heard and studied many different and varied passages from the Bible. I’ve read books, listened to sermons and talks, had conversations, and then joined them all with my own thoughts and came up with the small amount of knowledge that I have gained. And I’m thankful to God for every single little morsel of knowledge that I have gleaned from my studies about Jesus and His word.

Then – The Internet happened. And over the years christian churches, schools, teachers and institutions opened up God’s Word in a whole new way that no-one ever knew before. Now, instead of sitting with my study bibles, Strong’s Concordance, and various encyclopaedias and commentaries, I just open my computer bible and access various websites.

From then things became a lot clearer. In the past my bible studies sometimes used to look one of those crime scene boards that you see in detective movies. All pictures, scraps of paper with seemingly random notes and red lines joining certain parts together. But now, everything is copied and pasted onto one file and I can connect to a lot more than I was able to see previously.

However. This opened up a dilemma to me. I was seeing things in a context that I had never saw before. For instance, we all know the story of when Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea. But my new study options have shown me that this wasn’t the only time that God parted the waters for His people. Infact, there are four accounts of different occasions when it happened in the Old Testament…

1.     Moses Parts the water at the Red Sea - Exodus 14:15-22, Hebrews 11:29.
2.     Joshua & Israel Cross the Jordan River - Joshua 3:5-17 through to 4:1-18
3.     Elijah Parts the Jordan River and Crosses Over - 2nd Kings 2:5-9
4.     Elisha Parts the Water at the Jordan River - 2nd Kings 2:12-15

Jesus fed the crowds on two different occasions…

The “Feeding of the 5000” is recorded in all four gospels,(Matthew 14:13–21, Mark 6:31–44, Luke 9:12–17, John 6:1–14). And on the second occasion, The “Feeding of the 4000” is recorded separately in Matthew 15:32–39 and Mark 8:1–9.

And so as I looked more and more the list of God’s constant goodness grew and grew. The calming of the storms, the healing of the sick, the raising of the dead. All contributing to the fact that Our God has had a far bigger involvement with us than we ever realised before. Even when we couldn’t see it.

And the one thing that has remained constant throughout all of our time in this world is the repetitiveness of God’s forgiveness, longsuffering and His love. God constantly loves and forgives His people.

God’s consistency towards us has been one of His binding traits to us. For let’s face it - Who else would ever want to have a friendship with anyone who treated us in the same way that we treat God?

And yet one of the areas of life that presents a lot of people with the most stress and anxiety is when we worry about “tomorrow”. We somehow seem to forget about God’s abiding presence and his continuing mercy for us. I had a conversation with a close friend a while back about how to stop worrying about tomorrow, and what did Jesus mean when He said…

Matthew Ch6 (34) Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

You see (And I’m advising myself here too), “tomorrow” will always be “tomorrow”. We should have our mind centered on Christ all of "today". And when we start to worry about tomorrow’s problems we are not really being fair to God. We are only looking at half of the situation. We only see tomorrow’s problems. We don't see tomorrow's blessings or mercies.

God’s mercies are given for us at the dawning of each new day. And they are only sufficient for that day. But we do not know what blessings and mercies that we will receive for tomorrow for they are only given to us each new morning. God’s mercies are only given on a daily basis.

Lamentations of Job Ch3 (22) Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. (23) They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Remember when God fed the Children of Israel in the Sinai Desert?  God made the food appear each morning afresh. But the food only lasted for one day…

Exodus Ch16 (4) Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day.

But our God is a constant God. His mercies endure forever. Psalm 136 is the Psalm we need to remind us of this. There are 26 verses in the Psalm and every single verse ends with the phrase “His love endures forever”..

Psalm Ch136 (1) Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever…..

Psalm Ch136 (26) Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.

God's blessings and gifts for tomorrow have been invessted in us over time. If you want the gift of patience then you'll have to wait for it. If you want God to make you strong then you'll have to fight for it. If you want God to increase your knowledge then you'll have to study for it.

And then, some day, we will encounter the reason why God would allow us to go through all our troubles. Some day we will meet an argument that we know how to answer it wisely. Some day we will meet a confrontation and we will know how to calm it. And some day we will find ourselves being the strong, calming influence in the centre of the storm.

And in these encounters we will come to realise that it was God who was with us all along and that we truly are His children.

Psalm Ch30 (5) For His anger is but for a moment, but His favour is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.

No matter what stage of life we are at, or what condition our mindset and situation is, God is still there with us. Jesus looks through our scenario and meets us at the point of our need.

I shall forever lift mine eyes to Calvary
To view that cross where Jesus died for me
How marvellous the grace that caught my falling soul
He looked beyond my faults and saw my needs

(Written by Dottie Rambo)
Email - TheseLivelyOracles@hotmail.com
Internet - www.theselivelyoracles.co.uk
Facebook - These Lively Oracles
Twitter(X) - @LivelyOracles58
Location: 1 A1, Belfast BT1 5YE, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Like

Popular posts from this blog

The Voyage To The Unknown

In fourteen hundred and ninety two. Columbus sailed the ocean blue. He had three ships and left from Spain; He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain. And so the poem by Jean Marzollo goes. It’s a glamourous and fantastical poem about what was a dangerous and hastily threw together journey. I was listening to a sermon by my favourite online preacher when he spoke of Christopher Columbus. He said…..               When he set out, he didn’t know where he was going.                When he got there, he didn’t know where he was.               When he got home, he didn’t know where he’d been. Our “faith journey” as a Christian is very much like that. Everything starts out at some point in our lives. And we do the things that we do to join in with other Christians and churches. But most of the time our journey leads us on twists, turns and detours that we coul...
Read more

Welcome to St. Goldilocks.

The vast majority of us have heard of the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. And we all know the story of how Goldilocks was walking through the forest when she spied a cabin and went inside. Then the main plot of the story begins. As Goldilocks tried out the porridge, the chair and the bed there was always one that was far too uncomfortable or too cold, one that was not too comfortable or too hot and one that was just right. This story has given rise to something referred to as the “Goldilocks Zone”. It refers to an optimum area where everything is in balance and not too extreme. A comfort zone, if you will. Astronomers refer to our planet’s orbit as being in the Goldilocks zone. Too close to the sun and we would burn up. Too far away from the sun and we would freeze. Some businesses use the Goldilocks theory as a model and balance for their workplaces. Their dilemma is either too many workers but not enough work, or too much work and not enough workers. So the management try to...
Read more

Built In A Hurry.

Many years ago I worked on building site which was building high-end houses. Very expensive, very large and fitted out with all the latest materials. A certain customer walked into the company’s offices one day and asked to see a plan of the new house being built. The builder showed him the plans which showed the various road layouts and where each house would be built on each road. The customer pointed to one of the buildings and said that he wanted to buy that particular house and that he wanted construction to start on it right away. The house couldn’t be built right away as the roadway hadn’t been constructed nor any of the other dwellings built yet. The customer said that he had the cash and that he could pay in full right away. And so the builder started work. The roadway was laid first and the various water, electrical and communication cables were all laid. Within a few days the roadway was built and the ground site cleared to start laying the foundations. After they were layed...
Read more