Marching Forth!

" Many are the afflictions of the righteous, b ut the LORD delivers him out of them all.  20  He guards all his bones; n ot one of them is broken ." Psalm 34:19-20 It occurred to me recently that I have not given the miraculous preservation of the bones of Jesus on the cross just due:  how many times have bones been broken in innocuous or routine ways?  People have broken bones playing games like hide-and-seek and dodgeball!  Others have broken bones while working, accidentally kicking a table or falling down.  God allowed His only begotten Son Jesus to be cruelly tortured and crucified, yet all His bones were preserved.  He was beaten and battered beyond recognition, yet Jesus did not suffer a broken jaw, tooth, orbital bone or rib--because God's word cannot be broken. John cited this Psalm after witnessing the death of Jesus on the cross and observed the breaking of the legs of the criminals crucified beside Him.   John 19:33-36 reads,...

I was reminded of a situation that occurred when I was running work as a foreman on board the U.S.S. Nimitz.  I gave an experienced apprentice a list of spaces with the required materials needed to finish covering hot copper-nickel pipes.  Several hours later, I was surprised to see them wandering around without tools or material.  It turned out they were going to all the spaces and determining what materials were needed!  They spent hours "formanizing" when they were supposed to be installing insulation.  Needless to say I learned by 10 wasted man-hours one does not give a list on a clipboard to an apprentice because he misinterprets it as a promotion from working on the tools--and nothing of value is accomplished. There were people in the dockyards who were skilled at making work last, if you understand my meaning, and I would number those fellows among them.  I imagine those two imagined it might take them all day to find 10 spaces and determine what mat...

The Jews were chosen by God and given His Law that was to govern their lives.  It contained the proper order of the worship of God, the designs for the tabernacle, priestly vestments and furnishings, outlined blessings for those who kept the Law and the curses for breaking the Law.  The authoritative word of God given to Moses and the people gave them the ability to know and assert objective difference between what was right and wrong.  The 10 Commandments were important commands and prohibitions in the Law of Moses that numbered more than 600. Paul wrote in  1 Corinthians 8:1 , " Now concerning things offered to idols: we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies ."  The Law identified the fashioning, worship and possession of idols to be a sin punishable by death.  It was very easy for Jews to look upon Gentiles with contempt for being given over to idolatry in their ignorance of God and His law.  What the Law did not exp...

What we believe has a major impact on what we do and how we live.  If I truly believed valuable gold coins were being sold in a shop for a fraction of their value, I would purchase all the stock I could.  But if believed them to be lead adorned with gold spray paint, I would not consider buying a single one.  While the cruel dictator rules with oppression the people feign reverence in the presence of his person and images.  Yet when they believe the cruel dictator is dead and beyond power to torture and murder them, they celebrate without fear when statues are torn down and images desecrated.  As beliefs in our minds are lived out, so spiritual realities have a practical impact on our decisions daily. Paul wrote in  Romans 6:8-11 :  " Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,  9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.  10  For the death t...