SNOW

by Hallie Gipson

(this article is a repost from several years ago, but being in the midst of a winter storm has caused me to meditate again on God's wonderful provision through Christ for our sins to become "white as snow".)

Has it ever happened while you are reading a passage from God’s word that it suddenly takes on a meaning or connection to another passage(s) that you haven’t seen or thought of before? That very thing occurred to me this morning as I watched the snow fall, covering everything in sight in a beautiful blanket of white.

As I began to think about the snow and God’s creation of it, I thought of the verses in the Bible that speak about the snow and realized I could not easily recall them to mind . . . and so the search began.

Psalm 147:16

“He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes. He casts forth His ice as fragments; who can stand before His cold?”

Matthew Henry’s commentary on this particular verse begins by saying:  “In general, whatever alterations there are in this lower world (and it is that world that is subject to continual changes) they are produced by the will, and power, and providence of God.” And he continues – “snow . . . is compared to wool for its whiteness, and its softness; it falls silently, and makes no more noise than the fall of a lock of wool; it covers the earth and keeps it warm like a fleece of wool, and so promotes its fruitfulness.”

What a beautiful reminder that God’s providence is in all things – even the snowfall! And in the continuing cycle of God’s purpose, the end result is the earth’s fruitfulness.

A portion of 2 Samuel 23 is devoted to “the names of the mighty men whom David had” (vs. 8).  We are told in verse 20 that “Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day.”

Snow was certainly not a deterrent or inconvenience for one of King David’s mighty men! As I apply that to myself, some honest soul-searching is required. Do I allow small inconveniences to keep me from a task God might have for me, or at the least, to dampen my resolve to finish well?

As I continued my search through Scripture for references to snow, I discovered Job 37:6, Job 38:22, and Proverbs 26:1.

But when I found the reference to snow in Isaiah 55:10-11, the larger picture of God’s plan of redemption began to jump from the verses right into my heart! The threads of the Old Testament are like gold in a tapestry that is woven right into the New Testament in a seamless design.

Isaiah 55:10-11

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in that thing for which I sent it.”

In the New Testament:

John 1:1, 4, 10

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . In Him was life . . . He was in the world . . .”  (Isaiah 55:11 – “so shall My word be”)

John 6:33, 35

“For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.”

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life’. (Isaiah 55:10 – “bread to the eater”)

John 3:24

“For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God . . .” (Isaiah 55:11 – “so shall My word be that goes out from My mouth . . .”)

John 4:24

“Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.’  (Isaiah 55:11 – “it shall not return to Me empty, but shall accomplish that which I purpose . . .”)

And finally:

Hebrews 1:1-4

“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”  (Isaiah 55:11 – “and shall succeed in that thing for which I sent it.”)

Thank you, Father, for Your Word, the insight given by the Holy Spirit that enables understanding, and for Jesus Christ! Without His finished work on the cross, our sins could never be “as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).

 

 

TURNING THE PAGES

By Shirley Wiggins

Life can be likened to a calendar.  It is lived day by day.   What we do each day is important, because at the end of the day many of us just turn the calendar page and move our unfinished to-do list to the next day:  tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will do those things we did not finish today.  But, sometimes my daily to-do list gets drowned in the trivia that eats up the days of my life.

The turning of the page represents for me the turning from today to tomorrow – the leaving behind of all the yesterdays.

When “today” turns in to tomorrow, the “new today,” what will happen to all the things not done yesterday, the “old today”?

I find it amazing how quickly the end of the year comes – from New Year’s Day to New Year’s Eve!   And, now I begin to wonder about those daily things I needed to do, and wanted to do, that somehow were never finished, nor perhaps ever even started. 

Sobering thought:  we cannot go back to this today once it comes to its end.  Just like turning the pages on this year’s calendar – once turned you can’t go back to that day:  there are no do-overs once the day has ended.

Tomorrow somehow becomes today – the “new”  today.  The “old”  today is now relegated to yesterday.

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow – the way we measure our time.

Reflectively, today  I turn around to see my yesterdays…pondering the possibilities that never became realities.

Oh, my!  There is that one thing:  that particular thing I always thought I would finish!   But, I haven’t.  It always seemed to get shuffled off to tomorrow, always tomorrow.

That thing that haunts my unfulfilled longings – that one thing that reminds me, “I am not ready for my last  today: the day when there are no more tomorrows for me.”

 Time is short and it will run out.  Eternity is forever.

No tomorrows are promised, only anticipated. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  Hebrews 13:8.

 Oh, how we take “tomorrow” for granted!

Yesterday, I was young.  Today, I am older.   Tomorrow, I will be …?

If I knew today was my Day with no tomorrow, what would I do today?

“How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow?  Your life is like the morning fog – it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.”  James 4:14 (NLT). 

Today is my gift from God – what will I do today?

Friend, have you done that One Most Important Thing?  Have you settled where you will spend Eternity?  Have you been born again?

“For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end.  Your  new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.  As the Scriptures say, ‘People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field.  The grass withers and the flower fades.  But the word of the Lord remains forever.’  And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.”  1 Peter 1:23-25.

Have you heard the Good News?

This is the Good News that Jesus came to tell:

“… Jesus went into Galilee, where He preached God’s Good News.  ‘The time promised by God has come at last!' He announced.  ‘The Kingdom of God is near!  Repent of your sins and believe the Good News.’”  Mark 1:14 -15.

Both the apostle Peter, and then the apostle Paul, preached the same message:

“Peter replied, ‘Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away – all who have been called by the Lord our God..”  Acts 2:38-40.

“…But now He (God) commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to Him.  For He has set a day for judging the world with justice by the Man He has appointed, and He proved to everyone who this is by raising Him (Jesus) from the dead.”  Acts 17:30b-31.

“I (Paul) have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike – the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.”  Acts. 20:21.

“Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”  John 3:3.

“For this is how God loved the world:  He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.  God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.  There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him.  But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.  And the judgment is based on this fact:  God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.”  John 3:16-19.

“But to all who believed Him and accepted Him (Jesus), He gave the right to become children of God.  They are reborn – not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.”  John 1:12-13.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.  It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.  God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work.”  2 Timothy 3:16-17.

If you aren’t a child of God, your salvation and security are not settled.  Seek the face of God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, and settle your eternal destination today.

No one is prepared to live until they are prepared to die.

What will you do today?

 

 

November 1, 2020 

By Shirley Wiggins

THE GOD I WANT TO KNOW

 

This is the God I want to know:  The God Jesus knew.

Jesus came to me in 1981 with an invitation:  You believe in God, believe in Me also.

The timing was unbelievable.  I was on my way to my mother’s funeral in the latter part of June 1981, traveling back to my “home” church.

The location was pretty incredible too:  I was sitting in the front seat of our family car, my husband was driving and my youngest brother and his young wife were sitting in the back seat.

The invitation came in an amazing way.  It was written with words clearly seen but no earthly hand delivered it.  It was visual and it is now imbedded forever in my memory because it appeared to me in my “mind’s eye.”

Some of the mystery has now been explained.  The message has been preserved for a long time in The Holy Bible.  The words of Scripture I “read” were found later in the New King James Version of the Bible at John 14:1-3 and this was its entirety that I read in my mind’s eye on that particular day:

            “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

My reaction on that day to this startling thing that had never happened to me before continues to astound me!  I said not a word to anyone, I was so deep in my own grief I could hardly function.  My only conscious thought that I can still remember today is that with every fresh wave of reality that swept over me was that my mother was gone forever from me and I could not survive without her.  I now know I was in shock, but I had no knowledge of that then.

At the time, I took comfort in several things:  God had prepared a place for my mother and she was now with Him.  Only in the years to come would I truly open up that invitation that was sent for comfort, but also for my personal good as well.  So much I needed to know!

As the familiar hymns were sung with their words meant to bring comfort, the pastor shared kind words about my mother’s obvious love of being in church and hearing the sermons about the God she depended upon. 

And then an astounding thing happened:   I had the undeniable ‘sense’ of being placed in the all-encompassing  embrace of warmth, light, and inexpressible love and security in the understanding that all is well:  Everything is going to be all right.  I actually smiled in the depth of that comfort.

I cannot explain what occurred any better than that – even after all these years.

Neither can I understand how I experienced these two amazing things and then reverted to life with its grief almost as though it had not  happened.  Not entirely as if it hadn’t happened because in the pastor’s remarks, he read the same words I had received in my mind.    I contacted him later to ask where those words could be found in the Bible.   I had never,  to my knowledge, heard them before, nor had I ever read them in the Bible.

Obviously, I was a very young and immature Christian still trying to find my way in the Christian life.   Also obvious to me now is that I thought I knew a lot more than I actually did.   At this point in time, I had spent years teaching Bible classes, mostly to young children, but also a young marrieds Sunday School class.

It has been a slow unfolding of the truth that Jesus came to give me that day.   A belief in God requires that we must also know His Son, Jesus Christ.   Spiritual maturity is required in the Christian life.

God requires that each person who comes to Him for salvation must come through His Son, Jesus Christ:  “This is real love--not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. ...All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. ...   We love each other because He loved us first. ... Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God.  And everyone who loves the Father loves His children, too.”  1 John 4:10, 15, 19; 5:1.

The Bible is our Teacher, the Holy Spirit is our Guide into all truth:  “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”  John 16:13.

The Christian life is a quest for learning all we can about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit:  the inseparable Triune God.  The Bible is the source of Truth, all truth.

The longer I live, the more I desire to know the God of truth and the Truth of God.

Frequently I get a “wake up call” to take life very seriously because life is short and eternity is long.  Since the COVID-19 virus has invaded the nations of the world with such force, along with the unrest throughout the world, and the escalating lawlessness in my own country of birth, I feel the great need to know God and Jesus better than I actually Do.

This morning I awakened with a sense that everything has changed, a shift in time has occurred.  I have considered that as a Christian for many years, I have placed my trust in the Lord.  However, almost daily,  opportunities for fear to dominate over trust present themselves to me.  

One of my favorite daily devotionals is one from Bible Gateway by Dallas Willard.  Today it is entitled, “The God Jesus Knew.”    I was taken with the fact that perhaps my knowledge about God needed to be examined to be sure that what I think I know is actually the truth!

Thus,  my remembrances this morning about that special day when Jesus kindly told me that while I believed in God, I needed to believe in Him as well.  That has been unfolding for 39 years now.

There is no substitute for Truth and getting it right about salvation is a must, but, pursuing the truth about God and Jesus is an absolute joy.  This is what life was meant for:  to know the God who gave life!  That is the purpose for every life.

To know the God Who is the Source of life.  Life is pointless and meaningless until we know the God of life.  Jesus came into the world to show us God.  Jesus came to die that we might be reunited to the God who gave us birth.  God resurrected Jesus from death to life that we might be able to call God, the Father of Jesus Christ, “Father.”  Our Father.  Abba! Father!

“The God that Jesus knew was perhaps very different from the God often described in our contemporary world.”  - Dallas Willard.

“The heart cannot love what the mind does not know.” – Jen Wilkin.

The Two Great Commandments have to do with love. When Jesus was asked which is the first commandment of all, He answered:  “ The first of all the commandments is:  ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. ‘ This is the first commandment, and the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no other commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:29-31.  See also Deuteronomy 6.

Since we are commanded to love, and since the heart cannot love what the mind does not know, isn’t it time to know the God that Jesus knew?

To know the God of love, the God who gave life, the God of Creation, the God of Covenant, the God who desires to be, not just mankind’s creator God, but to be our Father, is this not what our life is to be about ---- to Know Him?

Open The Holy Bible and discover this God who knows you and loves you, but cannot save you until you come to Him, through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Know Him today, I pray.

 

Names and Attributes of God --- 'M'

by Hallie Gipson

The days we are living in are strange indeed! Nothing comes close to resembling what we once called ‘normal’. Everything has been adapted to deal with the pandemic the entire world is experiencing, and everyone is affected. Each of us could list numerous ways our lives have changed.

But One constant has and will remain --- GOD!

“For I, the Lord, do not change;” (Malachi 3:6)

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

Who we know Him to be now, is who He has always been and will always be.

MAKER

“Come let us worship and bow down, Let us keel before the Lord our Maker.”  Psalm 95:6

“Thus says the Lord, your redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, “I, the Lord, am the maker of all things.”  Isaiah 44:24

MERCIFUL

“But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious . . .”   Psalm 86:15

“The Lord is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.”  Psalm 145:8

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). Ephesians 2:4-5

MESSIAH

“He (Andrew) found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” which translated means Christ).  John 1:41

“The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”  John 4:25-26

MEDIATOR

“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”  1 Timothy 2:5

“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem . . . and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood. . . ”   Hebrews 12:22, 24

So let us remember the words of Moses as he gave his last council to the children of Israel:

“Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”  Deuteronomy 31:6

Similar words are repeated in Hebrews:

“. . . for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”  Hebrews 13:5b-6

Sovereign Lord, I praise You that in the midst of uncertain times, You are as unchanging as ever!! Help us remember that “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear. . .”  Psalm 46:1, 2   Amen.

THE SUFFERING SERVANT

By Hallie Gipson

“Advent” as defined by Webster’s Dictionary: “the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas and observed by some Christians as a season of prayer and fasting.”

Has Advent made a difference for you this year, or has it been the same hectic pace of Advents past? You know, decorating the house ‘just so’; making sure each person on your gift list receives just the right gift; baking each child’s favorite cookie; attending all the important social events; sending Christmas cards to people you only hear from once a year; planning the perfect Christmas dinner. . . need I say more?!

I, too, am easily caught up with the trappings of Christmas without giving much thought to spiritual preparation. However, this year I wanted Advent to be special, a time to meditate on the Scriptures that foretell Christ’s arrival and also those that tell of His birth.

I’m not even sure now that Isaiah 53 was suggested reading for December 2, but nevertheless, I found myself reading about The Suffering Servant, The Tender Shoot, Jesus Christ. The message of that chapter spoke as it never had before, and I journaled my thoughts as I read.

Isaiah 53 (The Suffering Servant)

What a picture, Father, of the Tender Shoot – Jesus Christ! It’s difficult to believe that he was not stately in form and that we would not be attracted to His looks.

Would I despise and forsake Him if He were to walk among us today? He was a man of sorrows who bore the weight of sin’s grief so deeply that men could not bear to look on His face. No one honored such a man as this.

He bore our sins and carried the weight of our sorrows. All the while He suffered, those who crucified Him thought the punishment inflicted by God was for His own sin.

He was pierced and crushed for our transgressions and iniquities. He was disgraced for us, and because He took the lashes, we are healed!

But the Lord God had a greater plan by placing all the iniquity of sinful man on Him, just like a lamb led to slaughter or sheep before the shearers. He did not cry out. Oh, how could He keep so silent while enduring such unjust punishment?!

In all the world, in all of time, there has never been such an unjust judgment and punishment. He was cut down in the prime of life, and it was considered a tragedy that He had no heirs. And why? To pay the price for our sin and to take the punishment that should have been ours.

Those who punished Him wanted Him buried with the wicked. Instead, He was given a place with a rich man. That was only fitting because He had never committed violence or spoken an untrue word.

Oh, Sovereign Lord, what a plan and purpose You had when The Tender Shoot – The Lamb – offered Himself as an offering for sin. He was humbly obedient as You crushed Him and caused Him unspeakable grief.

But because of His obedience, He will have descendants and His days will go on forever. The Lord will cause Him to prosper. Because He has endured such anguish of soul, the Tender Shoot has satisfied and settled the issue of sin. With His one act, He has justified man because He bore their iniquities as His own. The Servant will be rewarded for His work because “He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet, He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”

Oh, Father, how can we not bow in worship during this Advent Season? We celebrate the coming of the Messiah, the Savior of the world, who takes away the sin of the world!

“For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did; sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin. . . ”    Romans 8:3

If you have never received Christ, the Tender Shoot, the Suffering Servant, as your Savior, I urge you to do so today! God sent Him to take our place on the cross and to satisfy God’s wrath against our sin. His birth is just the beginning!! When He rose and ascended back to the Father, He secured eternal life for all who believe.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”   John 3:16

A Time to Give Thanks

By Shirley Wiggins

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out!”  Romans 11:33 (NIV).

A national day of Thanksgiving approaches in our country on the fourth Thursday of every November.  

A day to plan for and make preparations for;  a day to open our homes and share with others our very hearts for this great and wonderful God whom we are privileged to know and to serve.

A time to gather together, clasp hands in an unbroken circle as we give thanks to God above, the great God; our great and awesome God. 

 A special day set aside to acknowledge His daily presence, provision, and protection to all who call upon His name; a time to honor Him with our praise and thanksgiving.

A time to call upon this God of mercy, compassion, and love;  a time to pray in unity for His continued blessings upon our children and our families, and all the families of the earth.

Many of us can testify to the fact that life today is not easy.  So many people around the world are suffering physically, financially, emotionally, and spiritually.

Still, some  know and acknowledge and proclaim praise to the God of the universe, the Lord of creation.  When we speak, we may  be assured of His listening ear turned to us in our times of need.

A beautiful reminder is  given in the Old Testament Book of Malachi, whose very name means “messenger.”   Although Malachi gives a very solemn message to the world from the world’s Creator, we see in chapter 3:16-18,  a precious promise from this glorious God.

 “Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard.  A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored His name.  ‘They will be Mine,’  says the LORD Almighty, ‘ in the day when I make up My treasured possession.  I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.  And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.’”  Malachi 3:16-18 (NIV) .

Set aside time to read Malachi, to reflect, and to allow the Sender of the message to commune with you.