Longing ....

My husband took the above photo of our hummingbird sitting on our patio table, but he has been spending most of the day sitting on the branch of a patio plant under his feeder.  That is so unusual because it usually in for a drink and then off to his next destination.

His habits changed with the winter freezing temperatures we have been having. 

He is obviously cold. Fluffing up his feathers to stay warm enough to survive.

As I watch him through the patio door -  my side so warm and comfy,, his so cold -  I feel so sorry for him. How I long to just open the patio door, cup him into my hand and bring him inside where it is warm.  Inside where he could be safe and warm and fed. 

But I know if I did, it would probably cause his death and at best he would panic in an unfamiliar environment.

My emotions are a deep longing to help him ... but I am helpless to do so. I do what I can, make sure his hummingbird feeder is well-supplied and it has a heat lamp to keep his drink from freezing. But I would do so much more! 

Jesus' words came to mind.  He  expressed His longing to gather HIs people under His wing...and could not.

I thought about God longing for something He could not have or do and I could not imagine how much greater His longing would be than mine. His emotions being God-sized.

When I was a child I did not have the concept of my parents having  an emotional feeling of hurt or disappointment when I did something wrong, or a longing for me to do something I wasn't. .  Children  see parents as totally self-sufficient and we have a  tendency to see God in the same way. 

But we have scripture where God does express His longing.

What does God long for that He cannot have or do?

In Ezekiel 37:27 we read God's desire to be in the midst of His people - to be their God and for them to be His people.   We know how quickly His people turned to other gods and  walked in rebellion to God.  How that must have pained Him. 

In a familiar passage in Jeremiah 29:11 we read, ... "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil , to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me and I will listen to you."   

Just as I knew what my little humming needed , but I couldn't give it to him because he is afraid of me,  so also God knows exactly what we need but if we don't come to Him and ask ... He will not force us.  He has given us free will,  and He will not violate that. 

There is a beautiful passage in Isaiah 30:18,19 that says, "There the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you, and therefore He will be exalted that He may have mercy on you for the Lord is a god of justice blessed are all those who wait for him". 

Now that my granddaughters are grown and have their own 'life', the oldest married expecting a baby, the younger in college with a steady boyfriend, they no longer have the time to spend with me like they used to.  I knew it would be like this, it is what we wish for our grandchildren - to be happy in a fulfilled life, but that means that we 'wait' for them to have some time here and there to visit.  
It's hard to imagine the Creator of the Universe - the Almighty God, longing , waiting to spend time with us, isn't it?   Yet, He says it is true !  

Then there is the passage I referred to above - Jesus' words in Luke 13:34. Listen to the aching longing of His heart. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!"   
"Not willing!" when the God of Love desires to gather us close.  

How often we have sat beside our children, grandchildren's beds and watched them sleep, for no other reason than because we loved them so much.  Did you think about God sitting beside your bed as you sleep, thinking about you?  Look at Psalm 139:17,18

"How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand, When I awake, I am still with you!"

This week when the world remembers 'love' , let us remember the Love that is greater than any earthly love - the Love that loves the unlovable because He has plans to create for them a life that brings  'peace' and 'joy' and 'glory to His name'! 

 HAPPY NEW YEAR, to you and yours!! 

New calendars are hanging on our walls... 12 pages that have not yet been turned. What will unfold with each turned page we do not know,  and the unknown can fill us  with anticipation or fear and anxiety.

It is our choice which mind-set we put on, isn't it? But it can be a mindful choice rather than a blind one.

Blooming Deserts! 

If you have your Bible, open it to Isaiah 35. I think this passage is a beautiful promise and encouragement for our new year.

This chapter of Isaiah is first of all a prophetic chapter describing eternity on the new earth when everything will be perfect. We only have to look around to know that where we are living now is a long way from perfect.

While this chapter is speaking prophetically it is also speaking to where we live today spiritually. It is the NOW  but NOT YET.

We have as it were duel citizenship. Our real citizenship is in the heavenly Jerusalem,  but we still have feet of clay walking on this physical earth.

So how real is our heavenly abode to us now? Is it where we 'live' in our innermost being ? Is it the place from which we relate to life - circumstance, events, relationships?

I know how easy it is to let the darkness and dryness and disfunction of this life  to discourage us but I want to challenge us to begin , and to build , our 2025 on this Isaiah chapter.

 Look how the chapter begins.with a word  picture of .a beautiful  blooming desert. 

The photo above is of a desert in Chili, that is said to be the driest place on earth..Do you feel you can relate it to the 'driest desert' of your life? There is hope!!

It is amazing , isn't it? The unexpected beauty of a desert in bloom, and often this happens overnight!. A seeming miracle! Remember, no matter how hopeless you feel life has become, there is beauty waiting to burst forth!! Our God is a God of miracles - His beauty manifested best in dry places.

. But look again at the scripture passage. There is an important detail easy to overlook if we don't look closely. The blooming of the desert is not a miracle meant to astound us. It is a purposeful RESPONSE to something that happened. What happened?

Chapter 24 describes the Lord's coming judgement,  restoring and renewing , resulting in the new earth where all God's creatures will all be safe and with their mates forever! And then  chapter 25 describes the  rejoicing response  of the  deserts, declaring praise and glory to the excellency of God.

  There is more that causes the deserts to rejoice. Our God, who cares about every little creature also cares about every human being   including you and me. 

What is the message of the blooming desert? It declares God's promise (vs 3) that His strength is perfect in weakness - let the weak hands be lifted up and the feeble knees made strong!!  Let those who are fearful fear no more for our God is our Protector. He is our High Tower, be strong and fear not!!

He is our Healer -  physical and spiritual needs are met from His giving hand. 

The 'Not-Yet' is not yet come …but spiritually we are encompassed by it and already live in the promises. Our life highway (vs8) is a safe and beautiful one, Jesus, is our Guide as we follow Him. Nothing can take us from His love and as we live and walk and breathe in Him, we too will burst forth with rejoicing  along with the desert.

Let us begin 2025 with a heart of Thanksgiving for all we have been given, for all we have been promised and for all that is yet to come!!

A thankful heart will, like the desert, burst forth with praise and song to the excellency of our Almighty God!

 I want to wish you and yours the most blessed Christmas!  and a New Year filled with the goodness of Jesus !!  

A Hidden Rose 

The Ladies who were part of my Bible Study group gifted me with a gorgeous, huge bouquet of fall coloured flowers and  foliage.  After some time it was looking a little tired and needed to be sorted out, saving the parts that were still lovely.  
 I was separating the foliage, when I  saw a large,  wine coloured lump.  As I lifted it out I realized it was a beautiful rose!   I was surprised, as it did not at all fit the colours and style of the bouquet. .  And I don't know how it happened - maybe its stem was shorter than the rest of the flowers/foliage stems but the rose was perfectly dried - its beauty preserved. 

As I held the rose, I knew it was the key to a devotional !  Immediately I thought of the Rose of Sharon from Song of Solomon 2:1 where it reads, "I am the Rose of Sharon...." The Song of Solomon has historically been interpreted as an allegory of Jesus and His love for the church.  So the words , "I am the Rose of Sharon" are attributed to Him. 

The first thought that came to me was that to many, Jesus is 'hidden'.  He is there, but they don't see Him.  Then one day, their eyes are opened and they find Him.  It does not matter if they find Him sooner or later - He is waiting with all His love and beauty. 

 The beautiful Rose of Sharon grows in dry and hostile environments.  I thought about how Jesus came into a sinful, dark world that contrasted in every way from the glory from which He  stepped down.

I did a bit of digging to find the Hebrew meaning behind 'rose' and 'Sharon'.  The word for 'rose' comes from an unused root meaning 'brightness or light'.  and Sharon means 'beauty'.  That is a fitting description of Jesus, isn't it?  is He not the Light of Beauty ?  
Without 'light' everything is in shades of grey because colour is not in an object - it is in the light.   Without Jesus in our life, everything is dull and grey but with Jesus we live in His Light and we see beauty all around.  

Just like the dried rose is preserved - it does not wilt, so Jesus is the same - yesterday, today and forever !  What hope, what great promise we have when we put our faith and trust in Him!  

I love Christmas because it is a time we remember when 'love' and 'light' came into the world to save us from the kingdom of darkness and bring us into the Kingdom that shines with the glorious light of God's love !  (Colossians 1:13) 

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

God in the DEtails

 It is November, how quickly this year has gone!  I invite you to take a good 'dose' of the medicine depicted in the image below.  Do you know that a dose of 'gratitude' will prevent grumbling, anxiety, stress, fear, discouragement?   Are you feeling the symptoms of any of those conditions?   Gratitude, take a spoonful ... its a natural supplement! 

 

A Man we have not Met

The thoughts I want to share with you today concern a Bible character you have probably never heard of. His name is Elishama. Am I right you would not have recognized his name as a Bible character if you heard it?

I am always curious about the characters we don't know much about and yet they were important enough to have their names recorded in our scriptures.

There is a special reason  Elishama's name is mentioned in God's word which I will share at the end.

Okay, who is Elishama?

Elishama was a scribe , a prince , a secretary in the palace of the King in Jerusalem.

He served the ruling king as the head of the council that governed the affairs of the King.

At the point Elishama steps into our scripture timeline there was a new King. A king who concerned Elishama because King Jehoiakim was not proving to be as godly a king as his father Josiah. King Josiah is an interesting character whose story I may explore another time but Josiah was a king who sought God and brought healing and restoration to the people who had suffered under a wicked king, Josiah's father...

And now, I'm sure, Elishama was concerned that everything Josiah had done would be for naught.

The little we know about Elishama is because of the part he played in Jeremiah's life.

The story is found in Jeremiah 36.  

God had told Jeremiah to write down God's words of judgement against Israel and Judah.

A proclaimed fast brought all the people to Jerusalem and at this gathering Baruch, Jeremiah's personal scribe read all the word's he had recorded by Jeremiah's dictation.

A man standing in the crowd,  by the name of Michaiah, listened and heard every word Baruch read.

He realized this was a very important message, one that required a serious response.

He knew who needed to know what was going on, namely Elishama.

 Michaiah knew where to find him - In the King's house, in the scribes chamber or office. He did find him there and found with him his  fellow-scribes, Delaiah,  Elnathan,  Gamariah and Zedikiah.

Michaiahl informed them regarding why he had sought them and they agreed to hear what Jeremiah's message was. We note that  Michaiah had a good memory because he was able to repeat all the words he had heard Baruch read..

When Elishama heard the message he knew the King had to hear it, but first he had to be sure the message was indeed given through Jeremiah.  A servant was sent to bring Baruch and the scroll to the scribes' chamber. 

Baruch came and they asked him to sit down and read it again, which he did.

Now thoroughly  alarmed the scribes looked at one another in fear. What were they  going to do?

First they questioned Baruch if he had truly written down the words Jeremiah had spoken.  Barack was convincing in his answer, yes the words were the words the Spirit gave Jeremiah.

Elishama understood the danger Jeremiah was in. The message would more likely anger the King than make him receptive  to respond in repentance.

Elishama's mind searched for what he could do.   One thing he could do, warn Baruch and Jeremiah. ""Go .." he said to Baruch ,"go and hide   you and Jeremiah, and don't let anyone know where you are."

Elishama then took the scroll and hid it in his chamber. He did not trust what the king would do, when he learned of the message and Elishama wanted to protect the scroll.  He and his three friends went to the King and told him all the words that were on the scroll.

The King demanded  to see the scroll for himself. He sent  Jehudi tp get the  scroll. hidden in Elishama's chamber. 

When Jehudi returned, he ordered him to read it.

The King was sitting in his winter house in front of the hearth where a fire was burning.

Jehudi had read only three columns and the King's anger burned hot! He grabbed the scroll and  a scribe"s knife.

Elishama and his friends begged the king not to destroy the scroll.

But the King and his servant had no fear of God, and had no stirring of repentance in their hearts. 

The King continued cutting up the scroll and threw the pieces into the hearth-fire until it was completely consumed.

The King then ordered the arrest of Baruch and Jeremiah, but thanks to the Elishama's warning they were hidden and the Lord covered their hiding place so they could not be found.

Name meanings are important in the Bible and I found the meanings of the names of Elishama and his friends interesting.

Elishama - God hears

Elnathan - God has given

Delaiah -  the Lord delivers 

Gamariah - God has completed

We could put the name meanings together and they tell the story..."God hears, and has given deliverance and has completed His work!"

Why is it important that Elishama's name was included in Jeremiah's story?

Because it is included we know that we can trust that even the details in the Bible are true. .

How?

In 1986 archeologists working just outside of Jerusalem, found a seal that had on it the words "Elishama, servant of the King"

I love that the Lord took the care to provide proof that His word is true in the smallest detail. If God is so careful to confirm the truth of His word, can we not also trust Him with the details of our lives?  A God who cares enough to count the hair on our head (which means a new count every morning) can we not trust that He is also faithful to keep all His promises to us ? What an awesome God we serve!!!