Starting Points

#14 – Previews

Satan doesn’t want to wait for people to die before they experience hell. Some aspects of hell—despair, hopelessness, separation from God—may be experienced or sampled by people before they die. The Master of Misery likes to give foretastes, and get people “locked in” to an eternity with him.

Jesus doesn’t want to wait for us to die before we experience heaven. Some enjoyment of heaven—God’s love and a sense of His pleasure, the fellowship of the Body of Christ, joining with the angels’ worship—may be ours now. Just a little, mind you, like detecting the smell of water before you come around the bend and see Niagara.

#17 – Choose One

When religious belief and kindness are at odds, it is the religious belief which is to be examined. When doctrine and charity disagree, go with charity.

Let the clerics and the scholars debate while you pack a lunch for the poor man at the door. You may find he is Jesus in disguise.

He smiles, hears the voices arguing, and winks at you. So much love in a wink!

#43 – Quietly He Works

Can God hear a fish growing? Can God hear a tree growing?

God hears all things, from that cosmic hum (“music of the spheres”) to the dry leaf blown across the grass. Possibly, a growing fish or tree makes no sound we can hear, but God hears the very cells.

The grace of God works silently, maybe for years, preparing for some event. God “had prepared a great fish” to swallow Jonah (1:17). No one was allowed to catch or harm that fish. It was reserved for God’s purposes. And don’t go arguing how Jonah could be in a fish three days and three nights. People try to figure out “reasonable explanations,” but we might find out angels provided a cocoon of air for him. The Bible says it happened—how it happened was God’s business.

The cross of Jesus had been a tree, growing for years, sturdy and straight. It was watered by the rains, maybe extra-tenderly by the Father, knowing it would be an “altar” for the sacrificed Lamb. As it grew, maybe some workman leaned against it for rest, or enjoyed his lunch in its shade. The wind rustled the leaves, but the actual growing of the tree was silent.

Sit quietly and listen. Listen—and believe God is working out something for you. God is preparing things, as He prepared a fish to carry Jonah, and prepared a tree to hold His Son. If you don’t hear anything, that’s okay. No one heard the growing fish or tree, either.

God works quietly, and He’ll do right by you.

#91 - “Don’t Panic”

I attended a Bible study discussing Mark 13, which has Jesus exhorting us with “be not alarmed” (verse 7).

The lesson started with mention of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy which has the words DON’T PANIC on the cover. Earth is to be destroyed to make room for a hyperspace bypass, but . . DON’T PANIC.

Those two words were on screen throughout the Bible study, and it struck me as appropriate, because some translation of Mark 13.7 might have Jesus saying “Don’t panic.”

Whatever the trouble, whatever the emergency, God saw it coming. You might be blindsided, but nothing catches God by surprise. What He wants from you is, first, turn your heart sincerely toward Him for help, and, second, trust Him. And there’s a third thing: be ready to give testimony of how God comes through for us in all our distresses. Tell someone who needs to hear it.