pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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The Father’s Love

Reading: Exodus 32: 7-10

Verse Nine: “I have seen these people”, said the Lord to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people”.

The people have allowed fear and doubt to win the day and they cast a golden calf to be their god.  Being fully made by human hands, the calf has no power.  But it is visible and present and the people want to believe it can save them.  So they offer sacrifices and worship it.

God looks down on His chosen people and suddenly the Israelites are “your” people whom “you” led out of Egypt.  God uses the third person to talk about His children – “they” are corrupt, stiff-necked.  He is like a parent, angry over what a child has done.  On occasion I have said, “Honey, your son has…” or “That daughter of yours…”

Reading this passage makes me wonder how close I have come to drawing God to the place of wanting to disown me.  One can easily look back over one’s life to identify points where or words or actions or choices maybe upset God, maybe made God feel like giving up on us.  I wonder if God ever thinks, “Not again…” because I too at times am “corrupt” and “stiff-necked”.

Even though we may get upset with our earthly children and “feel like” disowning them, we never do.  They will always be our son or daughter and we will always love them.  Our love for our children pales in comparison to God’s love for us.  God’s love for His children is so much more than we can even understand.  In the 103rd Psalm we are reminded that God removes our sin as far as the east is from the west – they are no more.  In Titus 3 we are told that our sins are washed away, giving us new birth, a fresh beginning.  This is how great the Father’s love is for us, His children.  It is a love that never fails, a love that never ends.  Thanks be to God for this love.


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Hope in God

Reading: Psalm 42: 9-11

Doubt is a part of faith.  For some believers, faith is usually able to conquer doubt.  For all, however, at times doubt rises up and pushed our faith down.  We have all experienced times when doubt has gotten the best of us and we find it hard to call on our faith.  Part of us knows that God is always present and near us, yet we, like the psalmist, will have times when the bigger part of us feels as if God has forgotten about us.  This often occurs in times of personal struggle.

Doubt can also be cast upon us from the outside world.  When we hear of tragedies such as the recent mass shooting or the actions of ISIS or 9/11 type events, we naturally ask the “Why” question and wonder where God is in the midst of it all.  God is found nowhere in the evil of such horrific events, but He is near to some of the victims and then God is definitely near in the soon-to-follow outpouring of prayers and other forms of love and support.

Life will bring times or even seasons where we doubt.  Close relatives fear and anxiety also visit us from time to time.  Yet the presence of God can be a constant to us, even in times when doubt, fear, and anxiety are present.  Like the psalmist, may we too put our hope in God, knowing that we too shall soon praise God again.