Faith

Step Away From the Puzzle

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments 
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 
Hebrews 11:13 ESV

Years ago, book lovers often subscribed to book-of-the-month clubs and one of the most popular was the Reader’s Digest. Their angle was to condense books down from their original length, and then bundle 4-5 novels into a single volume. (Think War and Peace down to 120 pages!). Though this was usually a big hit, one of their flops was an ill-conceived attempt to condense the Bible. Turns out folks didn’t want the Good Book being slimmed down! Yet, in Hebrews chapter eleven, God does, what those editors couldn’t, and gives in just forty verses a condensed version of all the heroes of the Old Testament. Today’s passage tells us that these people hadn’t received all of God’s promises, but they got a glimpse of them from far away.

That long distance perspective reminded me of putting together a jig-saw puzzle. God’s promise is the beautiful picture on the front of the box, but what I see is more like a heap of pieces dumped on a table. Some of them I put aside for edges, while others I group by color, but few fit easily together. But just as the Bible heroes stepped back and greeted their promises from afar, sometimes the best puzzle strategy is to step away. After too much time up close, we need to rest our eyes. Then, almost miraculously, on when we return, we see patterns that just leap out at us, and we make progress. The worst thing is to keep trying to force pieces together without perspective. In the Bible, that approach has led to some terrible decisions. Abraham took a second wife when Sarah didn’t get pregnant, Moses killed an Egyptian, and David got tangled up with Bathsheba, just to name a few. If our own lives were condensed into forty verses, I am sure there would be enough to scandalize all our friends and family! But if we just step back, God will help us see His promises from afar. That viewpoint is a reminder that we aren’t on a predetermined schedule and only God can see the whole picture on the front of the box. So, take a breath, step away from the puzzle for a moment and God will give you the wisdom to fit together that puzzle, one piece at a time!

Standing Out In the Storm

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments 
 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. 
Psalm 18:3 KJV

Here in Florida, we have more than our fair share of hurricanes, at least passing by if not hitting us. This leads to many of us staying glued to latest the weather reports, wondering whether this is the time we will need to evacuate. Being now a veteran of worrying and watching these storms, my wife and I have often asked ourselves, “Why in the world are they sticking that poor weatherman (or weather lady), out in the middle of the mess?” As we were watching the luckless weather-beaten reporter on day, a sizeable branch blew down the street, sideswiping them and sending them scurrying for cover. Thankfully they were okay, but it got us to thinking and we decided that they were showing us those people out in the storm, so we would take their forecast seriously enough to prepare for it.

In today’s verse, King David is standing out in the storm. He is surrounded by enemies who have less than happy plans for the end of his life. The men who are out there are five times as many as he has on his side. Adding to the imbalance of numbers, the army looking to kill him is better armed, better trained and better fed. It would appear they are all about to be slaughtered, but in his quiet times while watching his father’s sheep, David has prepared for this storm. He knows what to do: Call out to the Lord! I share this morning’s meditation with you because these last several weeks I have been going through a few health-related storms of my own. Besides a bad bout of strep, I also have some long-term issues with my vocal cords that has me seeing a specialist. But this morning I remembered this verse and the song we used to sing with these words, when I was a twenty-something. In those days, nothing hurt for long, my energy seemed limitless, and I could blithely sing that verse, because I was not standing out in the storm. But I am glad that while things were easy-peasey in my life, I learned this promise, because today I was able to pull it out of my storm preparedness kit and use it to good advantage. God knows the forecast for each of our lives. He is not taken by surprise, nor swept off His feet by the branches blowing down the streets of Heaven. Whatever kind of storm you might be standing out in today, be sure to call with all your heart to the Lord. He is listening for our cry and is as ready to deliver us right now, no matter where the hurricane makes landfall!

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Built for the Storm

/ pastorpete51 / 7 Comments 
And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Mark 4:39 ESV

Because its founding dates back to 1650, my home state of Connecticut, has many interesting historical sites, and one of my favorites is Mystic Seaport, because it shows how the old whaling ships were built. For me, the most astonishing things of the construction of those boats was the prow. Any good prow began its journey as the lower trunk of a large white oak tree, and rather than the usual practice of cutting the tree at its base, it was cut as far above the ground as possible. Then, the men would dig out the entire stump, and from that mass of roots and tree trunk an almost unbreakable piece was sawn for the prow.

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In today’s verse we see Jesus confronting a storm that had His disciples frightened to death. The waves had begun swamping their small fishing boat, and the wind was so wild that they had to shout to be heard. Terrified that they were all about to drown, they woke Jesus, who was somehow calmly taking a nap in the midst of the chaos. Maybe they hoped that Jesus would help bail or at least pray that they could survive. But what He did next, no one even imagined. Jesus calmed the storm with three words. “Peace be still!” His faith was like the prow of those ancient whaling ships. He had come from heaven’s throne to be born a stable and with all the universe under his rule he chose to grow up in a small village. Though Jesus could have made stones into bread, He fasted forty days in the wilderness and overcame every temptation of the devil. But more than even these things, Jesus was, just like that oak tree that was cut down, dug from the ground and fashioned into the forerunner of our salvation. He is the anchor of our soul, the Captain of our ship, the prow of the ark, which is His church, and our shelter in every storm!