Marching Forth!

Yesterday our family read the passage which spoke of Cain and Abel and their offerings to God.  Cain was a tiller of the ground, and Abel was a keeper of sheep.  These are both useful and worthy occupations, providing great benefits for man and beast.  Out of the bounty God provided them these men chose to present an offering before the LORD.  Until this point in the Bible there had been no mention of offerings and no clear command from God what would be acceptable. Genesis 4:3-5 reads, " And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD . 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell ."  When I heard this passage discussed in my youth there was great emphasis placed on the different offerings themselves.  I have come to beli...

I have been reading through books by A.W. Tozer recently and one thing he strongly recommended was the benefit of old hymnals.  He asserted hymns of old were packed with solid theology and were indispensable in private worship.  I thought about what he said and realised among my books I didn't have a hymnal.  So I checked out a website based in Australia which sells rare or out of print books and came across The Book of Praise, selections of English hymn writers by Roundell Palmer in 1867.  When I opened it I discovered the very first hymn is notable among my all-time favourites:  "How Great Thou Art" by Bishop Reginald Heber penned in 1827. One of the first things I do when I buy a used book is as I flip through to fix all dog-eared pages.  The book is not in the best condition, but it undoubtedly will be a great tool and blessing in drawing near to God.  In the heart of every child of God there is a longing to draw near to the LORD in prayer and p...

While I was doing yardwork today I saw an older man wearing an Akubra approaching.  I had seen this man walking around on the streets near our home other times before.  I would see him lingering around plants, and once he was crawling around looking for something on the ground.  As I swept, he walked up and introduced himself. He was a soft-spoken man with a friendly, toothy smile.  He wanted to see if I would grant him permission to pluck five small flowers from the bush near the street on my property as had been his custom for many years (unknown to me!).  Apparently the neighbour had told him to move on.  "But she does not own the plant because it is on your property," he said.  "I've no problem with you taking flowers from the bush."  I wasn't planning on using them, and if he had already been doing it what harm would it do?  "I use them for prayers."  Now I wasn't expecting this, a foreign idea to my western mind. After a pause...

God is patient and longsuffering.  As God who is omnipotent and almighty He does not need to endure pains or the folly of men, but He chooses to do so because of His loving character.  Kings of earth can easily pass unpleasant tasks to their many servants.  It seems the more power or authority one possesses the less patient he or she needs to be, but God expresses the exact opposite. Consider the gracious love which prompted God not only to bring the nation of Israel out of Egypt but to endure them in the wilderness after they rebelled against Him.  Paul said in  Acts 13:17-18 , " The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it. 18  Now for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness ."  And what were the ways of the sons of Israel?  Let's see:  murmuring, complaining, disobedience, i...

Reverse engineering is the process of deconstructing a man-made object to observe how it has been designed and operates.  When sophisticated military equipment is stranded in a hostile region it is a standard practice to destroy it so enemies cannot analyse, copy, or obtain good data from it.  Technological secrets are highly guarded, and there are safeguards in the industry to prevent copyright infringement.  Studying a complete and functional product can offer tips and clues to how it was made and possibly improve upon the design whilst reducing cost. When people respond in faith to the Gospel, it is likely they already have established views concerning how the earth or people came to be.  Their worldview has already been established and primarily what has influenced it is secular.  The Bible presents a totally different view concerning our origins and the significance of life.  As children we tended to agree with our parent's views, and as we grew old...

During a prayer meeting at church last night I was reminded of the lame man by the pool of Bethesda.  John 5 relates how a great number of sickly, blind, lame, and withered who waited for the moving of the water.  These were desperate people who hoped for a miracle, and patience alone was not enough to bring healing.  The great irony of the situation is healing came not only to the alert but the fittest among them.  The first one to enter the pool after being stirred by an angel would be the only one healed of any infirmity.  The blind couldn't see the water move and the lame couldn't move to respond fast enough.  For nearly all who languished hope had been swallowed by despair. John 5:5-7 says, " Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" 7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have ...

Sin by nature is insidious, and it always leads to death.  The way which feels so right leads to destruction.  The soul that sins will surely die, and like the presence of fatal disease often produces severe symptoms in the living, sin brings suffering and misery.  God is gracious and merciful to warn of the dangers of sins and instructs us to walk uprightly. Solomon taught his son to fear the LORD and keep the commands near to his heart because seducers and flatterers who induce us to sin are everywhere.  Read for yourself the consequences one faces when they yield to sin in  Proverbs 7:21-23 :  " With her enticing speech she caused him to yield, w ith her flattering lips she seduced him. 22  Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, o r as a fool to the correction of the stocks, 23  till an arrow struck his liver. a s a bird hastens to the snare,  h e did not know it would cost his life ."  All these exampl...