One of God's Creatures

We had friends over for dinner last night and since it was a beautiful evening we ate outside on the patio.
We had just finished eating and were lingering over our coffee when we had a visitor in our back yard !
A very big brown Black Bear! Vic ran after him and got some shots for the record!!

Bear are the biggest wild animals we have here where I live, and they have no predators.

There have been no reported incidents of a bear harming anyone here but I wouldn't want to corner one or get between a mother and her cubs !! We let bears have the right of way!

Bears are one of God's creatures and there are several bible references to them - in all of them the bear brings home a message from God!

*

God warns us of the predictable destruction of a fool in your life.... it is better to meet a mother bear robbed of her cubs !!

Pro 17:12 "Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, Rather than a fool in his folly."

*

God says a wicked ruler does not have the good of the poor in mind any more than a charging bear!
Pro 28:15 "Like a roaring lion and a charging bear Is a wicked ruler over poor people."

*

God describes to us the peace and safety we will enjoy in the new earth ... Isaiah speaks of it as a time when the bear will harmlessly graze and its young will play and rest with calves!
Isa 11:7 "The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox."

*

When we saw the bear in our back yard he walked down the back country road that I had walked earlier by myself. I wondered if he had been watching me.

Jeremiah describes the afflictions of the Lord that come to all of us to test us, as a bear watching, waiting for opportunity to attack.

Lam 3:10 "He has been to me a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in ambush."

*

When God's mercy is exhausted because His people, instead of being grateful for His blessings to them lifted up their hearts with pride and forgot the Giver of the gifts! He then describes His judgment against them as a furious bear !

*
Hos 13:8 "I will meet them like a bear deprived of her cubs; I will tear open their rib cage, And there I will devour them like a lion. The wild beast shall tear them."

*

God's judgment cannot be escaped.... it is as if a man escapes from a lion and then meets a bear!

Amos 5:19 "It will be as though a man fled from a lion, And a bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, Leaned his hand on the wall, And a serpent bit him!"

*

And we all know the old testament story of Elisha, who was mocked by a group of youths. It was not Elisha personally they mocked but the very God whose prophet Elisha was. Such blatant rebelliousness could be not left unpunished! and two mother bears came and attacked 42 youths. 2Ki 2:24 "And he turned around and looked at them and pronounced a curse on them n the name of the Lord. And two female bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the youths."

*

All of God's creation is meant to teach us and the bear was created to teach us the fear of God.

We all respect the brute strength and wrath of an angered bear --- yet that same bear feeds on berries and insects !

Just like the bear - our God can be to us the most gentle of Fathers.... caring over His children with the tender love we see in a mother ... yet He is also to be feared if we think we can live in disobedience and rebellion to Him!

Even in creating the animals we fear ... God's mercy is revealed. He put a fear of man in the heart of the beasts - to make them flee from us ! After Noah's flood, the earth was a different place and God spoke to Noah telling him .. "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth... " Gen. 9:2

Have you ever recognized that the reason wild animals are afraid of you is because of God ordered them to be afraid to protect you from harm ?

*

Let us learn the lessons the bear was sent to teach us ... Let us fear God and we need fear nothing else !!

****

Two Mountains - Plan A, Plan B

He "exceedingly quaked and feared!"
I love the descriptive KJV words.... do they not stir your emotions ?
And just who is this talking about ?
None other than Moses - the man who spoke with God face to face , the man who was closer to God than any one else, the man whose face shone when he came from God's presence.
And why was he so afraid ?

Let's go back. God had declared that He was going to show Himself to His people - that He was going to physically come down on Mt. Zion and speak with them.
I can only imagine the excitement in the camp as the people followed the directions they were given to ready themselves for this incredible event!
They were to wash their bodies and their clothes. A fence was erected at the foot of the mountain to protect the people. If anyone so much as touched the mountain when God was on it they were under penalty of death !
Only Moses would be allowed to climb the mountain .
When God came down .. His voice roared like a trumpet blast that just got louder and louder ! His Presence was veiled with smoke and covered the mountain. The glory of God appeared as a blazing fire ! The ground shook ! Thunder rolled and lightening flashed.
The people were terrified and instead of crowding closer to God they all fled backwards, away from the mountain and watched from afar!
They begged for mercy....and for God not to speak to them anymore - they feared for their lives!

God knew that if He revealed Himself, the people would pull back in terror. Showing Himself physically on Mt. Zion was His plan B. He knew all along that plan A was the perfect one!
He did not enact plan B to prove anything He did not already know... He enacted it to show US why He chose plan A.

PLAN B

In Hebrews 12 verses 18-21 is the description of the plan B Mt Zion!

"For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest,
and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.
(For they could not endure what was commanded: "AND IF SO MUCH AS A BEAST TOUCHES THE MOUNTAIN, IT SHALL BE STONED OR SHOT WITH AN ARROW."
And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I AM EXCEEDINGLY AFRAID AND TREMBLING.") "

The description starts out with the words... "For you have NOT come to the mountain that can be touched!"
We, of the New Covenant are not part of plan B !

What then was plan A ??

PLAN A

The writer of Hebrews tells us about plan A.

"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,
to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,
to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. "

In plan A God does not come to us wrapped in smoke....He does not physically appear before us.
He has made Himself totally invisible and comes to us 'spiritually'. That way our physical bodies will be not terrified of Him!

We have come not to the physical Mt. Zion that is on an earthly map of Israel but the spiritual Mt. Zion that is the Lord's dwelling place among us. The Mt. Zion of God's Presence in His city... the heavenly Jerusalem and His angels.
If we don't understand the symbolism, it is spelled out for us ... We are part of the church, our names are registered in Heaven , we dwell in God and He in us, and we are joined with the saints of all ages. And best of all... we have a Mediator, a King who understands our flesh, He took it upon Himself to bring us into the spiritual New Jerusalem!

In plan A there is no 'fence' to keep us from drawing too near to God. The separation veil was rent in two when Jesus' dealt with the sin issue that kept us from God's Presence.

Spiritually we are not afraid of God ... not afraid to enter His Presence and not afraid to have His Holy Spirit live within us.

I often hear people say that it would be easier to walk with God in the OT where He revealed Himself physically. No, it wouldn't... we too would be terrified!
God in His gentle mercy has covered Himself, not to hide Himself, but so that His children will come to Him without fear.
One day when we escape these fearful physical bodies we WILL see Him face to face and be filled with awe at His Holy Majesty and Power. But then we will recognize the One whom, though we have not seen , yet we have known. He will not make us afraid - we will know Him as our Father!
Because of Plan A !!!
******

How Big is your Faith?

There is a tree that is only mentioned once in the bible, the Mulberry Tree.
(If you would like to see a picture of a Mulberry tree you can see one here)


Luke 17:6 records the words of Jesus... "If you have faith as a mustard seed you can say to this mulberry tree,'Be pulled out by the roots and be planted in the sea' .. and it would obey you."

Jesus spoke those words in answer to his disciples request... "Increase our faith."

A friend of mine called yesterday with happy news. She had just become a new grandmother!
Almost nine months ago she called me telling me her daughter was pregnant -- and my faith immediately responded - I BELIEVED in nine months a baby would appear!

I thought about how often as I walk through a day do I exercise faith --- I plant a tiny seed and have faith that it will grow into whatever the picture is on the package it came in.
I need faith every time I sit down on my computer -- the whole thing seems like magic to me -- but I have faith that when I push on the little letter buttons my thoughts will be sent out into space and YOU will be sitting there reading what I wrote!

So the question is not whether or not I have the capacity to 'believe' what I do not yet see.. but where do I direct my faith.

Every time Jesus spoke He always used words that were most descriptive of the truth He was presenting.

I love the contrast in the word picture He used to respond to His disciples qustion about faith.

The mustard seed -- the smallest seed of the herbs
and
The mulberry tree - a huge tree growing up to 130'


I did a little research on the mulberry tree and found more interesting details pertaining to this tree. It is very fast growing, it is very hardy - growing in most any soil caring little if the soil is poor or dry. Its root system spreads out ...and it is almost impossible to kill. You can cut it down, drill holes in its stump, fill the holes with Roundup concentrate and it will come back without missing a beat, bigger and better than before!


Two words intrigue me in this verse recording Jesus' answer regarding 'faith'.... "OBEY YOU" . That is something we don't often consider , do we? We bring our requests before God ...and hope that God will hear and give us -- the thing we have asked. And we are told in scripture to pray in this way ....
But this verse , it says that we can speak and the 'mulberry tree' will obey US !!

So what is Jesus saying? If we have a tweeny bit of faith, we can uproot the biggest problem and transplant it in the midst of the sea where it is - not just cut down threatening to grow again - but removed to where it is gone forever!

I will not be going around speaking TO my 'Mulberry Tree' problems or concerns, but I am reminded that when I pray, things happen !!!
God said so!!!!
********

The Wise Plan for the Future

The following story appeared in the London Times.
A Well-Planned Retirement
Outside the Bristol Zoo, in England, there is a parking lot for 150 cars and eight coaches, or buses.
It was manned by a very pleasant attendant with a ticket machine charging cars £1 (about $1.40Cdn) and coaches £5 (about $7).
This parking attendant worked there uninterrupted for all of 25 years. Then, one day, he didn't turn up for work.
"Oh well,", said Bristol Zoo management, "we'd better phone up the city council and get them to send a new parking attendant."
"Err, no", said the council, "that parking lot is your responsibility."
"Err, no", said Bristol Zoo management, "the attendant was employed by the City Council, wasn't he?"
"Err, NO!" insisted the Council.

Sitting in a villa somewhere on the coast of Spain, is a bloke who had been taking the parking lot fees, estimated at £400 (about $560) per day at Bristol Zoo for the last 25 years. Assuming seven days a week, this amounts to just over £3.6 million ($7 million)!
And no one even knows his name.
*****
(as pointed out by Elsie in the comment section ..this is an Urban Myth but is a good parable none the less)
*****
There is something in that story that brings out in us a grudging admiration for the self-employed parking attendant, isn't there ? Even though what he did was ethically wrong, we have to smile at his resourcefulness!

It reminds me of the parable Jesus told of the unjust steward. The story is found in Luke 16:1-13.
Jesus tells the parable of an unjust steward who was accused of wasting the master's goods. The steward upon being told by his employer that he was fired, immediately had a plan. He quickly went to each of his master's debtors and slashed the amount owing on each of their bills. Knowing, he would soon be without any income, he reasoned that to have people gratefully indebted to him would ensure him of having a roof over his head and food to eat!
The master, when he heard of what his steward had done, commended him for his shrewdness, saying "the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generations than the sons of light".

The point Jesus was making in this parable was that the people of this world are shrewd and single minded in in preparing for their future, while the sons of light are often so concerned with the things of this world that they neglect preparing for the next!

"No man can serve two masters." We cannot have one foot in this world and one in the next... because if we do we will soon find that we cannot serve both and will make our choice as to which we will hate and which we will love! The default is that we will love the world.

Here is a good lesson to be learned from a negative example ..... "Be wise and have a lay-away plan for your eternal future and the things of this world will be taken care of !"
*****