Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Isaiah 55

I know there is a way to link you to the news report of the missing man from Austin MN who apparently fell into a swiftly flowing river in Idaho and has not been found. 

This is one of the things I still don't know how to do.   please don't laugh

Our thoughts and prayers go out to this family
and all of the friends and neighbors in our area.
The verse that keeps going through my mind is this: 
And Enoch walked with God: and he was not;
for God took him.  Genesis 5:24

And these verses:  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.   Isaiah 55: 8-9

This chapter in Isaiah is beautiful and one of my favorites.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Our God Is Sovereign

Today I heard of a village that was covered up by a landslide. 
Hundreds are dead.


In our hometown newspaper the front page reports
a 16 year old boy was killed in a car crash.


The same newspaper tells me a school friend from many years ago
is welcoming a grandchild into the family.


We have dear friends facing health problems. 
There is a new picture on their shelf of the
smallest great-grand-child.


On the news today in a town relatively close to us a young man was found to have everything he needed to set off mass destruction in his house, town and school.  Someone reported suspicious behavior and called in authorities.  Everything was discovered in time.


Tornadoes swept across the Midwest earlier this week . . .


A friend of our friends may have been swept away by a rushing river -- they have rescue workers searching on the ground and a helicopter flying overhead.


We are helpless.  He is the God of all comfort, the one who is with each of us at this very moment.


This is the Psalm I read this morning.

Psalm 103

King James Version (KJV)

103 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.
He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;
18 To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
19 The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.
20 Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
21 Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.
22 Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul.


All of this is too overwhelming . . .
-- too mind boggling
There is only one person to turn to.
That person is God, our Heavenly Father
and His Son, Jesus Christ
and the Holy Spirit, our Comforter.