The Value of A Book

I have loved books for as long as I can remember .
Last Sunday afternoon we wandered through a  local crafts, antique Christmas fair and I stopped at a vendor's booth displaying a bookshelf of old books.
I picked up several -- just to look -- but I ended up buying this one because it had something that made it more valuable than just the merit of the book itself.
Yes, it was old and well worn by years of use.
As I held it I imagined how many children had listened wide-eyed as the stories were read to them, their favourite stories heard so many times they almost knew them by heart!
The book is big, with easy to read large print for the benefit of grandparents who were the ones with the  most time to read to their children.
It contains not only many sketches and black and white drawings but also a goodly number of colour plates.

But it wasn't for the above reasons that I wanted the book.
When I asked my husband for the cash to pay for it, his face reflected his question.."why do you want that old book?"   But being the dear he is, he paid and later when I explained to him the reason I wanted it, he understood.

On the fly page were these words ...   Douglas Hayens,  with love from his Grandmamma who wrote these stories for little people ...   Xmas 1910 

A personal note by the  author ?  THAT makes it valuable.  Knowing that 103 years ago the author personally held my copy  in her hands and gifted it to her grandson is very special to me and well worth the money I paid for the book.
Actually,  I didn't pay very much.  When I pointed out to the vendor  the fact that the book was signed by the author, he was surprised and commented that perhaps I had found the treasure of the day!

I thought of another book that I value more than any other book I have read or own.
It too is old... copies of it often sit on bookshelves and the owners do not recognize its worth, do not realize that it is a treasure!
The book , of course is the Bible . Every copy contains the living words of the author, written for His children. It has survived not only years or decades or even centuries but  thousands of years.
It is the best seller of all time!
How many people have read it or listened to it being read, their favourite passages learned by heart!

I found these words somewhere long ago  and wrote them on the fly page of my bible.

God's Word 

Century follows century, 

There it stands! 

Empires rise and fall and are forgotten . 

There it stands!

Dynasty succeeds dynasty. 

There it stands! 

It outlives, out lifts, out loves,

out reaches, out ranks, out runs 

ALL other books. 

Trust it, love it, obey it, 

and Eternal Life is yours! 

Dr. A.Z.Conrad

In Unexpected Places

God hides things in unexpected places ...
a baby duck in an egg,

or a moth or butterfly in a cocoon.....

Often He hides the new in the old... like blossoms in an old dead twig....

but I love best how God hides pictures of the New Covenant in the stories of the Old Testament ... treasures hidden in His Word to confirm that truly God planned the end from the beginning.

I happened upon one of these New Covenant pictures the other night in my bible reading. (I was reading II Chron. 28-31)

Let me share with you what I found .....

**

Ahaz’s unenviable epitaph reads thus…. “This is THAT Ahaz!”

Which Ahaz ? The one that “in the time of his distress became increasingly unfaithful to the Lord!”

Ahaz was a king who trusted in man rather than in God and it was his undoing.
When the Philistines and the Edomites came against Judah and carried away captives, instead of crying out to God , he went to the King of Assyria to ask for help - even taking treasures from the house of the Lord as a bribe!

When the King of Assyria was not impressed enough to offer his help, Ahaz appealed to the gods of Damascus, of course to no avail.

Not only did his unfaithfulness to God lead to his own ruin but he took all of Israel with him!
When Ahaz died in his ungodly state, he was not buried in the tombs of the Kings because of his evil deeds.

Ahaz so feared man that he could see, that he lost sight of the God he could not see!

How often are we tempted to trust in man's strength or wisdom instead of immediately turning to God ?
And grieve God's heart that we would trust in the frail when we have His powerful arm extended to us !!!
Do we really believe God's promise in Hebrews 13:5,6 that He will help us and keep us from harm ?
“For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you ! So we may boldly say: "THE LORD IS MY HELPER; I WILL NOT FEAR. WHAT CAN MAN DO TO ME?"

Ahaz’s epitaph is a sorry one! How sad when men refuse to turn from their own futile, prideful ways , digging their own graves. And sadder still when we consider that no one sins alone … our sin, our unfaithfulness, always affects those around us .. often the ones we love best!!

Ahaz was dead – 'the old man' - and in his place the ‘new man’ reigned!
Always, God’s heart is toward the one who repents… who turns away from unrighteousness and toward Him!
God is the God who forgives, who has compassion, who allows us to start over.

The 'new man', Hezekiah took the throne. He turned away from the unfaithfulness of his father and turned his heart toward God !
He opened the doors of the house of the Lord … and called the priests to repent and return to serve the Lord! He declared that “it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel”

I was delighted to find the first priest that responded to Hezeliah’s call was a priest named Mahath, who was the son of Amasai.
Amasai means ‘burdensome’ and Mahath means “a place where something has been erased”

Do you see the beauty here?
Is our own way not ‘burdensome’ ?
And then , finally, we turn to the Lord … and what is His response?
Does He not take all our sin away ? paid for by His own blood … and He leaves our heart “a place where something has been erased” ? the very sin that so burdened us ??
1Jn 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.

Hezekiah, when the temple was cleansed and ready for ‘service’ , sent a call out to all of Israel ! He called for them to “yield themselves to the Lord, and serve Him” promising that “the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn His face from you , if you will return to Him! “

Is this not the Father God that we know ? The father standing waiting for the prodigal son to return, watching with a yearning heart so ready to forgive?

But how sad to see the reaction of Israel…. “but they laughed at them and mocked them” .

Have you noticed that once people are offended by ‘Christians’…it is so hard to convince them to turn back to God? How careful we need to be that we do not allow the Ahaz’es to rule among us - not in our own hearts nor can we be silent when we encounter them around us !
And yet God’s compassionate heart calls out .. again and again .. “Return to the Lord God !”

Although the people mocked, there was a remnant that responded… and then there is a verse that so shows us the Father heart ….”Also the hand of God was on ….. them… to give them singleness of heart to obey ….”

Does God not help us to live godly before Him ? He has given us a new heart and He has given us His Holy Spirit to guide us, to comfort us, to strengthen us , to teach us !
1Pe 5:10 “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. “

I found too a beautiful picture of the New Covenant in God’s mercy !
A great multitude of people responded to Hezekiah’s call to return to the Lord God with all their heart!
They were so eager to celebrate the Passover ( which they had not done for a long time) that they did not take the time to sanctify themselves as was the law ! It was a serious omission – yet here what do we read ? Hezekiah prayed “May the Lord provide atonement for everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers thought he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary!”

We are told that the Lord heard Hezekiah's prayer "and the Lord healed them!"

Do you see it ?
Here we see God’s heart laid bare! He was not interested in the rituals of the law… even though they were necessary in the Old Covenant. He was ever looking forward to the New Covenant when the law and requirements of the Passover would be taken care of by the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.
The New Covenant saints can take part of the Passover --- not by first cleansing themselves, purifying and sancitifying their homes, and ritualistically performing all the tedious lawful requirements… NO – we can come with only our heart prepared and right before the LORD !

There was an immediate change in the kingdom when the people set their hearts to seek God. We read “there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem” ever before , not since the time of Solomon!

What are we told happened in the kingdom ?

***There was great joy among the people… such that when the celebration of the Passover feast was over .. the cry went up “Let’s do it again !” and so they did !!
A prophetic picture of how we celebrate it today , isn’t it ? over and over again ?

*** Their prayers were heard ! “and their voice was heard and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place to heaven” !

That reminds me of the verse, “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. “ (Rev. 8:3)

***There was an abundance of provision … the more the people gave the more there was ! Everyone prospered and God’s blessings were upon them!

Provisions were made for everyone who whose name was ‘written’ in the geneology. It is mentioned several times !
How that made me think of us as believers .. our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life, (Rev.21:27) in the memory book of God, (Malachi 3:16) registered in heaven (Heb.12:23)!

And for every one of us God provides - all that we need for life and godliness ! “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (2Pe 1:3)

*** there was a pulling down of things that hindered - idols, places of false worship.
Are we not to live in such a way that everything we do is centered on glorifying God? Do we SAY that we worship God but then speak and do that which indicates otherwise ?
Rom 15:6 "that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
1Jn 5:21 "Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen."

*** There was a 'heart focus' “to serve, give thanks, and to praise” the Lord!!
Is this not our duty as New Covenant believers ?

“To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear” Luk 1:74
“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.“ 1Th 5:18
“And again: "PRAISE THE LORD, ALL YOU GENTILES! LAUD HIM, ALL YOU PEOPLES!" Rom 15:11
*****
God's character, His heart and His purposes never change. Our God is a God we can steadfastly trust in . We know that His word is sure.... it will never fail !!!

***

Which God do you Love?

Last night at our church bible study, it came up again. The God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New.

Over the years, I could not count how many times I have heard people express this view of God - He is fearful in the Old Testament , but loving in the New.


I remember years ago as I began to seek to know God, I too, avoided the Old Testament because I was uncomfortable with the God I had been given to understand was portrayed there.


I stayed in the safe pages of the New Testament where I could read of God's love and mercy and forgiveness and see His compassion played out in the life of Jesus.

But one day I was convicted by the Holy Spirit that I was avoiding the Old Testament which was a big part of my bible.

I recognized that the early church had nothing but the OT scriptures and I could see that they were full of joy in the Lord. How did they reconcile the two?


So I took a deep breath and braced myself to study the OT... fearful that I would encounter a God that ruled from afar as a Judge full of wrath against sin, demanding an impossible standard.


To my great delight and awe... the more I studied , the more I found instead a God of Love and Mercy .... acting always as One intimately concerned for His people.

I found that knowing the God of the Old Testament filled me with such confidence and trust and admiration that my faith in Him was greatly strengthened. It truly changed how I understood His thoughts, His ways, and consequently how I prayed and related to Him!


One of my favorite subject titles when I was teaching woman's bible study groups in our church was ... 'You cannot Know or Understand the Love of God until you Know the God of the Old Testament.'


The NT 'tells' us that God is love, but it doesn't show us HOW ! It doesn't show us a picture of what that looks like played out in daily lives. Yes, we have the beautiful picture of Jesus willing to give His life for us.... we see Jesus being willing to bear the wrath of the God of the Old Testament on our behalf. Even though we recite John 3:16 for memory, we hide in a corner of our heart a fearful drawing back from the God who would demand such a price.

Many of us are not convinced until we see a picture... we learn best when we can 'see' what something looks like. God knows that ... He knows that we love pictures and stories. So He has given us that in the Old Testament.

Satan has tried to keep Christians from spending too much time there because he wants to keep them ignorant of what they will find hidden in the rich pages of God's His-story.


I started studying the OT by looking at the OT stories... the old familiar bible stories I had grown up with as a child. But I read them from a new perspective. I read them looking for how God related to His people ... as a nation but especially individually. I looked to see what the circumstances were and I looked to see how God thought and acted to and interacted with His people.


Again, and again I saw His tenderness, His love, His compassion, His open ears to their cries. I saw 'pictures' in the photo album of the OT of a God who was not afar off but was near to His people - understanding their needs, their pain and always with a ready answer for their questions. He met them in wonderful ways.

But I also saw how easily the human heart defaults back to its evil tendencies, choosing to follow its own inclinations and desires and turn away from a God who loved them.

And then I began to see the difficult parts of the OT - the violence , the killing - from His perspective and saw His love and patience even there.

I think the one thing people most often bring up is that the God of the OT was a God of violence and bloodshed.
Have you ever considered that the fault of the violence in the OT lies not with God but with man? If God had not been actively involved in the wars and violence of the OT, perhaps man would never have survived long enough to enjoy the blessings of the new covenant. All through the OT it is easy to see that God wanted His people to live in peace and under His provision ... but He was very much a parent with rebellious children. When God saw that they were bent on going in a certain direction He manipulated the outcome through His discipline - the sword, famine, pestilences- in such a way that His purposes in the end were realized. And His end purpose was that He would have a remnant of people that would be ready to receive His Son. If there had not been - you and I would not today be enjoying the blessings of being His child.

People look for a strong person to be their leader, to be a boss or CEO of a big corporation, a political head of their country but they seem to prefer a weak, permissive God. A permissive God does not inspire me to feel protected or safe. I want a 'hands-on' God , One who is powerful and unchanging - a God whose Word I can count on , whose Love is strong , who is infinitely wise, and yes, a God who hates evil !


That is the God I saw in the Old Testament - and that is the very God who was willing to take on human flesh and become the God/man to show us by the ultimate selfless act of giving His own life and death and resurrection the depth and breadth and height of His divine Love and through His compassionate mercy provide a way for you and me to come into fellowship with that Love!

By Chance or by Design?

“An Amazing Book”

Reading the story of Joseph one day, a couple of details caught my attention -- the fact that no sin is recorded for Joseph and he was sold for pieces of silver. It struck me that both details were also true of Jesus. So I put on my thinking cap and looked closer to see how many other details Joseph and Jesus shared.
I found 51....
What do you think? Is this by chance or design????


1. both were descendants of Abraham
Matt. 1:2 -------------------- Matt. 1:17

2. both names start with the same letter
J- oseph -------------------- J- esus

3. both were ‘first born’ of their mothers
Gen. 30:22-24 ------------------Matt.1:23

4. 12 brothers/tribes - Joseph -------12 disciples – Jesus
see Numbers 1:20-42 – there are 12 names designating the 12
tribes, counting Joseph would make 13,
Jesus had 12 disciples , counting Jesus would make 13

5. both were beloved of their fathers
Gen. 37:3 ---------------------- Matt. 3:17

6. both had divine callings on their life
Gen. 37:9,10 --------------------Matt. 2:5,6

7. both belittled/doubted by their brothers
Gen. 3:7,19 ---------------------- John 7:3,5

8. both wore a ‘special’ coat
Gen.37:3 ------------------------ John 19:23,24

9. their ‘own’ sought to kill them
Gen.37:20 -----------------------Matt.12:14, John 7:19

10. both were taken into Egypt
Gen. 37:28 ---------------------- Matt.2:13,14

11. both were sold for pieces of silver
Gen. 37:28 ---------------------- Matt.26:15

12. both were betrayed by one of the twelve closest to them
Gen. 37:22,27 --------------------Matt. 26:14

13. both were separated by ‘death’ from their father because
of the sin of others
Gen. 37:35 --------------------Matt. 27:46 , Is. 53:6

14. both were ‘restored’ to their father
Gen. 46:29 -------------------- John 20:17(16:28) John17:11

15. both left ‘glory’ to be humbled as a servant
Gen. 39:1,4,13 --------------------Matt.20;28 , Matt.12:18

16. the blood of a kid covered the sins of their ‘brothers’ before the father
Gen.37:31,32 --------------------Lev.4:22-24

17. both were falsely accused and brought before the courts
Gen. 39:18,19 --------------------John 18:12,13

18. Joseph has no sin ascribed to him, Jesus had no sin
------------------------------ I John 3:5

19. both were despised for giving a negative report
Gen. 37:2 --------------------Matt.21:13,14, Matt.23:27

20. both left their homeland
Gen. 37:28 --------------------I John 17:5

21. both were destined to ‘rule’ over their family
Gen. 37:10 --------------------Matt.2:6

22. both saved both Jews and Gentiles
Gen. 41:57 --------------------Romans 9:24

23. both rode through the streets lined by people who worshipped them
Gen. 41:43 --------------------Matt.21:9-11

24. both were tempted
Gen. 39:7 --------------------Matt.4:1

25. both were given Gentile brides
Gen. 41:45 --------------------Rev. 21:2,9

26. both recognized that what was intended for evil God turned for good
Gen. 50:20 --------------------Heb. 12:2

27. Joseph had two sons, Jesus had two flocks -- the younger one given the inheritance
(Gen. 48:19 --------------------Gal. 4:21-31, John 10:16
( the New Covenant inherits what the Old Covenant could not receive)

28. both ‘tested’ their brothers / disciples
Gen. 42 --------------------Mark 8:27-30

29. both had strong trust in God
Gen, 41:51,39:2,41:16, 40:8 ------------ Luke 9:35

30. both wept
Gen. 42:24,43:30,45:2------------------ John 11:35

31. both forgave their brothers
Gen. 45:15, 50:17,21 --------------------Luke 6:37

32. both spoke the word of God to the people
Gen. 40:8 -------------------- John 12:49,50

33. both hid their identity
Gen. 4:23 --------------------Luke 24:16, John 8:59

34. both began their ‘ministry’ at age 30
Gen. 41:46 -------------------- Luke 3:23

35. both submitted to being mistreated – example of meekness
Gen. 39:20,21,Gen.39:4-----------Is. 42:2,Is. 53, I Peter 2:22,23

36. neither were accepted in his ‘own’ country
Gen. 37:19,20 --------------------John 1:11

37. both died in a foreign land
Gen. 50:26 --------------------John 19:30.17:12
Joseph died in Egypt ( a type of the world)
Jesus died in the world having left His home in glory)

38. both went to a far away place to prepare a place for their people
Gen. 45:9-11 --------------------John 14:2,3

39. both multiplied bread
Gen. 41:49 -------------------- Matt. 15:37

40. Joseph gave bread for life – Jesus IS the bread of life
Gen. 41:57 --------------------John 6:35

41. both provided salvation
Gen. 42:2 --------------------John 3:16

42. both were rulers
Gen. 45:8 --------------------Matt.2:6

43. both suffered unjustly
Gen.42:21,Ps.105:18 --------------------Is. 53:5

44. both were buried with the rich
Gen. 50:26 --------------------Is.53:9, John 19:38-42

45. neither remained in their grave
Ex. 13:19 - John 21:14

46. both prophesied of things to come
Gen. 40:12,13 --------------------Matt. 24:24,25

47. both in recognizing their ‘mission’ were reprimanded by their parents
Gen. 37:10 --------------------Luke 2:48

48. both were shepherds - feeding their 'flocks'
Gen. 37:2 --------------------John 10:14

49. both were stripped of their tunics
Gen. 37:23 --------------------Matt. 27:28

50. Joseph was in prison with two criminals , one was set free
Jesus was crucified with two criminals , one was set free
Gen. 40:2,3 --------------------Matt.27:38, Luke 23:42,43

51. both prophesied concerning themselves – their future
Gen. 37:9 --------------------John 2:9

52. both were tested by God
Psalm 105:19----------------- Luke 4:1

53. both had a 'special' cup to drink from
Gen. 42:2...............................Matt. 20:22