STAR LIGHT, STAR BRIGHT

When we moved to the higher elevations of NW AR and outside the city limits of Fayetteville...the stars seem to shine brighter.

How kind and Tom Bodettish of the Lord to leave the lights on after dark.  The cover of night seems to attract mischief.

This week the stars have been on my mind as I remember how God has used them as faithful messengers throughout time.

IN THE BEGINNING
Listen in as the Lord explains to Job the way things are.  God says that when He completed creation, the morning stars sang in chorus and the angels shouted praise (Job 38.7).

Think of God's claims about these innumerable stars.  He says He knows each one by name (Isaiah 40.26 and Psalm 147.4) and gives each one a distinct glory (1 Corinthians 15.41).   If He cares that much about the stars, doesn't it follow that He would care for people made in His own image?  Man is more like God than any other creature.  He has been assigned FAR more worth than the sparrow or the stars or even the angels.

Our minds marvel at creation's intricate design and whimsy.  Ever examined the human eye or thought of putting cheeks on a fish?

Who would have thought to make the moon reflect the sun...or doubt the sun's placement?  It's not chance that if the sun were just a bit closer to earth, we'd be crispy.

The Lord hung the great lights (the sun and moon and stars) in the sky for practical reasons AND to help us realize there is a Creator.  It's hard to look around and ignore God.

A clock has a clockmaker, doesn't it?

IN THE MIDDLE
Midway the timeline...God gave us pure light in the arrival of His Son.  And Bethlehem's star handled the birth announcement for Bethlehem's Son.

It is fitting, then, that two of the Lord's names are The Bright and Morning Star...and Light of the World.

Jesus is the most holy and powerful light in the universe.  He is our Rescuer, come to declare that God would move heaven and earth to be near what He created and holds dear.

FINALLY
At the end of time when man has said for the final time he wants none of God's light, the Lord will put the lights out.  Jesus says that after the Tribulation, there will be such cataclysmic activity that even the stars will fall from the sky (Matthew 24.29).

There is a song making its way up to #1 on the Contemporary Christian song chart about this period of time.  It is written by Jennie Lee Riddle (who wrote "Revelation Song") and is sung by Phillips, Craig and Dean.  The song is "When the Stars Burn Down".   click here

So without these rulers of the sky, will there be darkness?

Our Rescuer made a perfect place that was spoiled.  But one day He will again create a perfect earth because His good plan will not be thwarted.   And in that day, the whole earth will dazzle with the brightness of God's glory.

"No longer will you need the sun or moon to give you light, for the LORD your God will be your everlasting light, and he will be your glory."  Isaiah 60.19 NLT  


"Night will be no more, and they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun because the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever."  Revelation 22.5 NET

CELEBRATE!

Southern women are said to really only need two things...a deviled egg plate and a nice iced-tea pitcher.  Sunday, both were pulled out for a celebratory lunch.

Our family had MUCH to give thanks for on this Mothers Day!

The holiday brings sentimental thoughts.  My mother would have loved to have been at this table to enjoy Matt and Beth's moment.

Our new baby Will was dedicated at church on Mother's Day.  He had never been around that many people and lights.  He just blinked in wonder.

Would you like to check out the 46-second video below?

Sixteen people came to Will's party and his big brother had the most fun.  Nate always loves playing with his cousins...but Sunday he was sparkling like it was Christmas Eve.  His excitement was because he had kept several secrets and EVERYONE knows keeping secrets is hard work!  Nate had made his Mama gifts that he was antsy to give her.  What would Mother's Day be without the handmade prizes?

This morning I am smiling as I think back on Sunday.  It reminds me of when the Lord's mother was startled by those shepherds @the nativity.  Mary and Joseph listened as the sheep-keepers excitedly told of a sky full of angels proclaiming her son's birth.  Scripture says Mary treasured all those words and pondered them in her heart.

I'm pondering/treasuring, too.  Don't you think all mothers hold high the privilege to cooperate with the Almighty in "making" a life?  And of course they ponder, too, the future potential for their children.

Papa and I are blessed and we know it.  We pray daily for our Fayetteville grandboys and the Little Rock grandgirls and ask the Lord to help them come to Him at an early age.  I know Nate and Hanna are thinking big thoughts already.  Last week Nate and his Daddy were going to a Naturals (baseball) game.  In the parking lot, Nate asked..."So why would the Lord put us here just to go to ballgames?"  Good thinking, Buddy!

All the grands will have to make their own decisions, but they're each getting homeschooled in the love of God.

That makes us say with 3John 1:4 "I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children live in the truth."

TRUST HIM

From the beginning of time and until yesterday...the baseline of civilization was marriage.  Now we are being told the institution needs to bend to accommodate an evolving "new" thought so that everyone will be equal.

If equality were the goal, consider that we are made by a Father with no cookie cutter.  Each of His creations is unique with differing gifting, roles, intelligence, and opportunity to advantage.  So how are we equal?

We are equally loved by Him.  We equally have been given potential access to Him and His plan for our lives.  We equally can please Him.  Equality is in Him.

Yet we're pretty bodacious.  Rather than tweak civil unions, we purport to redefine God's blueprint.  Do we imagine marriage and civil unions to be the same?  They are not the same just as a horse is not a zebra.  Still, people cheer such "progressive" insight.

Are we truly that removed from reason to claim ground higher than Divine authority?  Where would a feller go to find such high ground?

Where is the evidence that we are evolving "upward"?  Our discourse is smutty; the sum of the words that we DO know are woefully short of Shakespeare's vocabulary.  Certainly our propensity for self-indulgence shouldn't be taken as an upward sign.  Nor should the culture's uptick in aggressive, in-your-face strife...or the increasingly vulgar things that our eyegate allows.  Do we dwell on thinking high thoughts?  Moving upward is heavy lifting apart from the Spirit of God.

The next time you hear a horrific report of a beheading or a mother killing her children or a mob assault because someone was "in their neighborhood"...remember our culture's purported progressivism.

On the other hand, there is One who conceived of a plan, created the world to implement the plan, and is bringing the plan to fruition.  Such a Creator would know the plans He has for us and how to sync the plan for our good.

Then we get an awesome choice.  Will we bow up or cooperate?  Why would anyone want to spit in a good God's face?  Is there no longer the concept of consequence?

Marriage has been part of God's plan from the beginning.  It is more than companionship or procreation or equal hospital visitation rights.  LIFT YOUR EYES!  It is a picture of God.*

Sarcastic mockers take potshots at the Old Testament as though the text proves it to be waaaay past its expiration date.  Then how about if we just set the Old Testament aside temporarily and try the New.  Just read one chapter...the first chapter of Romans.  Read the chapter in some new translations.  The One who made us KNOWS how we tick.  He is the epitome of kindness and would not have us hurt ourselves.  The God-Who-Does-Not-Change did not stutter in either testament.

So is it broad-minded and loving to allow these same-sex "rights"?  That's pretty shaky ground when God's counsel is to the contrary.  Being righteous is more important than appearing righteous.

It seems reasonable to consider what the Almighty has to say.  Christians know that when this blip of time is over (in a blink of an eye)...marriage will not be part of that coming kingdom.  click  This world and all that is in it is passing away, while we wait for a city with foundations whose builder and architect is God.  He desires our companionship in that city for eternity and He left a ticket at the "will call" window.

It's decision day.  Will I trust His plan...or my own reasoning?


* "MARRY ME", an earlier blog from April 15, 2012