Years ago, I read a supposed comment by a tradesman, “Yesterday I could not spell ‘electricain.’ Today I are one.” Yesterday I did not know how to update a blog. (I initially started a blog to answer a question posted by a friend about how one might spend some time (spare time or otherwise) and/or whether or not to devote some of his family’s resources to that activity.) Today, I am learning to be a blogger. My son was right in his surprise at my starting a blog. It surprised me, too.
My purpose for this blog is to record some of my thoughts in my own passage through this life. I do not have all the answers, but I am learning more to trust the One who does. This blog is being written as a personal journal. It is being shared to hopefully be an encouragement to others in their passage through this life. One of the most important ways in which I am encouraged is by reading and thinking about what I read in an ancient book, the all-time best seller, the most controversial and challenging book in the world, the Bible. I will endeavor to share things that encourage me, especially when I am discouraged. I want others to experience at least some, if not more, of what helps me in my own life.
Please realize that I am far from being good, never mind perfect, and never will reach those goals in this life. Follow me only as I follow Jesus Christ. If I am not following Jesus, then do not follow me. Perhaps my thoughts and experience will shed some light on your passage, but remember that Jesus is the light of this world, not me. As the chorus to an old hymn says, “Look and live..Look to Jesus Christ and live.”
Yesterday I read a passage which had words that have been set to a short melody. That melody with the words went through my mind all day. I wanted to at least enter the verses on this blog, but I did not know how to even open up the blog or to update that which I had started the
night before. I credit my “computer-savvy” son, Jonathan, with the clue as to how to do it. It was an answer to my prayers. Perhaps some will learn to pray more effectively, too, even as I am learning to do so.
That passage which especially encouraged me yesterday was even more encouraging today when I substituted my name for Jacob and for Israel in the first ten words. A portion of what I read yesterday follows:
Why do you say, O Jacob (Fred), and complain, O Israel (Fred), “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:27-31, NIV)
The part of that passage which I learned with the melody is worded a little differently, as I remember it: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They will mount up on wings as eagles. They will run and not be weary. They will walk and not be faint.” (verse 31,) followed by the plea of the musician/arranger/author, “Teach me, Lord. Teach me, Lord, to wait.”
I was thinking of that melody and the words this morning and was encouraged by a sermon from First Baptist Church, Dallas, TX, on radio station KCBI. Part of the sermon text was from Joshua 1:1-9. The part that especially encourages me today is verses 8 and 9. The text follows:
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them–to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates–all the Hittite country–to the Great Sea on the west. 5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:1-9, NIV)
Therefore, I pray,
Father, you created all that is in the world and me, too. Nothing takes you by surprise. You know everything about me. You know that you created me and own me and all that is mine because you bought me with the sacrifice by Jesus Christ, your only born Son. I acknowledge your ownership. Teach me to give everything that I have to you, my rightful owner.
As my wife and I face the greatest challenges in our avocational careers, cleanse me from my selfishness that I can live for You first, my wife second, and then my family–leaving my career to fourth place in my life. Teach me to trust You, not things or people. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, teach me to read, learn, and meditate on your Word and talk to you about it, that I may love, know, and serve You better to Your credit and glory, not mine.
–in the name and character of Jesus Christ, Amen.