Marching Forth!

When I was in year 2 at a private school we learned to write in cursive and the multiplication table up to 12.  The following year I began attending a local public school where students in year 3 were taught these for the first time!  I remember the teacher being skeptical when I told her I already learned to write in cursive and she had me come up to the board to demonstrate my skill or experience public humiliation.  I ended up being her "assistant" for that portion of the class in the following months. The style of schooling I was exposed to in both a private and public setting was to learn the basics and then move onto something new.  Students are taught to add and subtract, then multiply and divide, and then incorporate what they have already learned into problems with fractions and decimals.  There comes a time when you have taken your last formal maths course and graduate from school, likely pleased that season of life is now complete.  This concept ...

I've been reading a compilation of A.W. Tozer's sermons titled Going Higher With God in Prayer.   One thing I appreciate about Tozer is he places the stronger emphasis on Jesus Christ and what is true rather than a critique of what the church can get wrong.  He observed on page 78, “ We have gotten into this soft humanism in our time when we weep over rebels and imagine this is the divine order .”  Humanism is indeed a snare, for this godless worldview places undue focus on man and what he can do to benefit himself and others rather than God who rules over all. The God of the Bible is revealed to be infinitely good, merciful, just, sovereign and eternal.  When we place our faith in this God who is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance--and sent His only begotten Son to redeem lost sinners--we gladly submit to His rule.  There are many who proudly act as judge over the almighty God and find fault with Him, making excuses for th...

King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that troubled him and wanted to know the interpretation of it.  He called the wise men and astrologers of Babylon to him and demanded they tell him his dream and interpretation.  They confidently said they would tell him the interpretation once he had told them the dream.  Nebuchadnezzar would not budge:  if they were able to understand the meaning of the dream by divination, they would as easily be able to reveal what Nebuchadnezzar dreamed in his own bed.  They balked at this command, claiming the king's command was most unorthodox and unreasonable.  The king accused his wise men as wasting his time and then commanded they all be slain--Daniel and his fellow captives from Israel included. Daniel and his friends who feared the living God of Israel prayed, and that night God revealed the king's dream and interpretation to Daniel.  After Daniel praised the LORD for this revelation he notified Arioch, the captain of the ki...

Luke chapter 18 begins with Jesus telling a parable to illustrate how people ought to always pray and not faint.  There was an unjust judge who was approached by a persistent widow who asked him to avenge her of her adversary.  The man had no interest in justice or love of this woman, but he ended up making a judgment on her case in her favour because he wanted to be rid of her.  Jesus said in  Luke 18:7 , " And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them ?"  Just because our prayers are not answered immediately should not deter us for praying for God's glory according to His will.  He IS the just Judge who has chosen us, loves us and has promised to take vengeance upon our enemies in His own good time. In A.W. Tozer's book Going Higher With God in Prayer he made great points about how we ought to be persistent and patient in prayer without losing heart: "I believe that real faith can afford to wai...

It is lovely how God's word speaks to our hearts in different reasons and ways.  We can be ministered to by our reading of narratives that demonstrate God's faithfulness to guide and strengthen His people on an epic adventure, the lyrics of a Psalm or even a repeated phrase.  As I read Ezekiel 47 this morning, a phrase resonated in my heart of God's goodness.  It was like walking a familiar path, seeing something shiny sticking out of the dirt that prompts you to stop and dig around it to see what it is.  When I examined and turned the phrase over in my mind, I realised it was of incredible value. Ezekiel 47:1-6 describes a vision of Ezekiel the prophet:  " Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar.  2  He brought me out by way of the n...

As human beings, we can be full of inconsistencies.  We can look to God when situations are overwhelming and out of control, yet we can be undone by an accumulation of minor inconveniences.  We trust God to forgive our sins and provide eternal life for us in heaven, but we can worry over finding a parking spot.  Why not trust God with the little things we are involved with as much as the things which obviously are beyond us? God can use fear, cares and worries to instruct us concerning our persistent lack of faith in God and chronic unbelief.  One example in my own life was during my union apprenticeship.  As I embarked in what I saw as my career path after working other part-time jobs, I prayed God would help me to excel as Daniel did in Babylon University.  My schooling began well but in my second year an experienced foreman made it his aim to stir up trouble for me with the apprenticeship coordinator.  The accusations were so severe the coordinator ...

" The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law ." Deuteronomy 29:29 There are things about God and His ways we cannot know and will remain secret to us no matter how diligent our search, for He is God and we are not.  It is possible to be so curious and desirous to receive new revelations we are distracted from remembering what has already been revealed.  I have found there is infinitely greater wisdom and complexity in the most basic elements of faith and scripture than I initially realised, and thus in the foundations there is precious truth we have yet to unearth. God gave the children of Israel His laws, not to know them but so they would walk accordingly.  The righteous judgments of God, revealed in the Law of Moses, the people were called to learn, obey and teach their children to do the same.  James wrote in James 1:19-22 :  " So then...