Orange Moon Thursday, November 30, 2023 "For Us"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"For Us"

  "The prevailing attitude of God's heart abides as "for us" through His redeeming grace in the Lord Jesus Christ even when He must, in love, be against wayward response."

    

   "For us."  Two words and five letters roll course through the mind and roll off the tongue or course nearly instantaneously.  They speak, however, to a glory of eternally enduring love, grace, and mercy more wondrous than we can ever fully know.

     "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31; emphasis added).

   Earthly parents know the sensibility of support for children that runs deeply in heart and mind.  We are ever for our children, in times of being pleased with their attitudes, words, and actions, and in times when we are not.  In the latter case, the parent's "For us" often shines most brightly when sons or daughters stray from the course we have charted for them.   The father of the prodigal ran to greet the son broken by his own sin and failure, hoping he would find the repentance that made the bestowal of mercy and restoration possible.  He did, resulting in the fatted calf, the ring on a finger, and the bringing forth of the best robe that bore witness to a returning son, but far more, to a forgiving father (Luke 15:22-24).

    Find the most failing believer on the planet in this or in any moment.  Our Heavenly Father's "for us" abides for that son or daughter no less than in times when they walked faithfully with Him.  Of course, God is not pleased with where that Christian is in response to Him, and we do well to remember that the writer of Hebrews spoke of believers when declaring, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31).  "Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth" (Hebrews 12:6).  The prevailing attitude of God's heart abides as "for us" through His redeeming grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, even when He must, in love, be against wayward response.  We do not have the power or influence to change God's fundamental and fatherly disposition toward His redeemed sons and daughters in Christ.  "Accepted in the Beloved" abides, even when He cannot accept attitudes, words, and actions that do not align with the glory of the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6).

    This truth should certainly encourage us.  Knowing that our Father abides faithfully leads us to the throne of grace in times of both faithfulness and unfaithfulness (Hebrews 4:16).  However, a measure of fear should accompany our assurance.  God's "for us" in heart includes always doing that which is best for us by hand.  He will not be swayed by sentimentality if we require chastening and scourging.  Love, as defined by the being and word of God, cannot do that.  Nor would we want it to.  "If God be for us, who can be against us?"  No one is the answer, that is, no one can thwart His loving devotion to our well being, and to His working to conform us to the spiritual and moral image of the Lord Jesus.  The better we know such faithfulness in our Father's heart, the more we will grow in Christ's faithfulness, as revealed in our hearts.

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God."

(I John 3:1)

"Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father."

(Galatians 4:6)    

Weekly Memory Verse

   "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." 

(I John 5:4)

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Orange Moon Wednesday, November 29, 2023 "Motives and Motions"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"Motives and Motions"

  "We do well to gratefully realize He will ever and forever act in our lives by the grace He defines, a grace that moves according to the purest of motives, and the most meticulous of movements."

    

   "He fed them according to the integrity of His heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of His hands" (Psalm 78:72).

   "And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed" (Matthew 8:2-3).

   We must establish deeply within our hearts, in both principled and personal terms, the integrity of God's heart and the capability of His hand.  He will and He can be all we need Him to be, and do all we require of His working in our lives.  However, God defines our needs "according to the integrity of His heart."  Moreover, He executes "the skillfulness of His hands" according to perfect knowledge and wisdom He possesses, but we do not.  This often conflicts with our perceptions and sensibilities, tempting us to wonder as to the doings of God on our behalf.  "Hath God forgotten to be gracious?" asked the Psalmist in a time when the tempter injected doubt into his mind, despite the awareness in his heart of the Lord's willingness and ability (Psalm 77:9).  

 

    Certainly, God does not and cannot forget to bestow the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ upon His people.  Neither, however, can He administer such freely given favor according to mere sentimentality.  He must act in faithfulness to His own nature and purpose, which means He must act according to that which is best for us, as opposed to that which we may desire.  Indeed, consider how little we know in real terms of ourselves and our lives.  That atom - one of billions that in this moment courses through our heart, and which must act in a manner to preserve our lives - do we have the slightest bit of control and influence upon it?  Do we know how it needs to move and position itself to maintain the beating of our heart and the flow of our blood?   Do we even think of it?  Hardly.  God does, however, "according to the integrity of His heart… and the skillfulness of His hands."  Thus, we do well to gratefully realize He will ever and forever act in our lives by the grace He defines, a grace that moves according to the purest of motives, and the most meticulous of motions.  "His work is perfect" (Deuteronomy 32:4).

    No more essential conviction must be established in our hearts than the affirmation of God's essential nature and way of perfection regarding His motives and motions.  He literally cannot act in any manner that contradicts His integrity of heart and skill of hand.  King David discovered this and blessedly provided us with one of the great affirmations of Scripture that must become one of the great assertions of our hearts…

"As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried.  He is a buckler to all them that trust in Him."

(II Samuel 22:31)

Weekly Memory Verse

   "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." 

(I John 5:4)

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Orange Moon Tuesday, November 28, 2023 "Swiftly"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"Swiftly"

  "The God we trust as believers transcends our highest thought, our deepest contemplation, and our keenest awareness.  We know some, and we can know more.  But in both time and eternity, we can never know all."

    

   Physical light, created and sustained by the God of Scripture, moves at the unfathomable speed of 186,282 miles per second.  Spiritual light, the very Person and being of the God of Scripture, moves in terms even more wondrously rapid.

    "God is light" (I John 1:5).

    "He sendeth forth His commandment upon earth.  His Word runneth very swiftly" (Psalm 147:15).

    We live our lives in physical light, but rarely think in direct terms about its necessity for our existence.  Far more, we live our lives in the spiritual light of God's self revelation in all things.  However, even the most godly and spiritually astute among us see little compared to what actually shines forth.

    "The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and godhead" (Romans 1:20).

    "If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know" (I Corinthians 8:2).

    What are we to do amid the reality of a Light that runs more swiftly unto us and around us that we can imagine, but which we just barely recognize and to which we presently respond in such limited terms?  The first answer is that we simply acknowledge the truth that the God we trust as believers transcends our highest thought, our deepest contemplation, and our keenest awareness.  We know some, and we can know more.  But in both time and eternity, we can never know all.  Certainly, every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ acknowledges this truth of transcendence in terms of principle.  However, it must become intensely personal in us all.  A prevailing repentance must also course through our spirits, acknowledging, "Heavenly Father, I cannot begin to know all of You, or the full measure of Your truth.  But I could know so much more than I do of the Light in which I live, and the Word that runs so very swiftly unto me in the grace and truth of the Lord Jesus.  Forgive my lack of response, and move within me to draw my heart unto the Light."

   God desires to be known.  By you, and by me.  Long into eternity, we will still feel ourselves to have just begun the journey into His immeasurable glory in Christ.  We feel this way now, and also with the present awareness that we have not availed ourselves of much that ought be known.  Both sensibilities must guide our quest to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ" (II Peter 3:18).  Yes, the Word of God runs swiftly to us at a pace far beyond the speed of physical light.  Let us therefore expect to see, and look forward to the illumination that will beckon us to come further, ascend higher, and dive deeper to behold that which fills our hearts with wonder, and promises far more "wonders without number" in this day, and forevermore (Job 9:10).

"His greatness is unsearchable."

(Psalm 145:3)

"Thou wilt show me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."

(Psalm 16:11)

Weekly Memory Verse

   "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." 

(I John 5:4)

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Orange Moon Monday, November 27, 2023 "A Greater Danger"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"A Greater Danger"

  "Complaining not only does not do any good.  It also does great harm to our walk with God."

    The Psalmist Asaph, greatly challenged by difficulty and confusion, confessed to an overwhelmed spirit that resulted from complaint.  This led to a diatribe of unbelief against his Lord.

    "I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed" (Psalm 77:11).

    "Will the Lord cast off forever?  And will He be favorable no more?  Is His mercy clean gone for ever?  Doth His promise fail forevermore?  Hath God forgotten to be gracious?  Hath He in anger shut up His tender mercies?" (Psalm 77:7-9).

    Many of us have thought or said when faced with troubles, "I would complain.  But it wouldn't do any good!"  Certainly, this is true.  However, a greater danger lies in succumbing to the temptation to murmur against God rather than confessing His faithfulness.  A tongue allowed to complain leads to a spirit overwhelmed rather than a spirit overcoming through the Lord Jesus Christ.  "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (I John 5:4).  Thus, complaining not only does not do any good.  It also does great harm to our walk with God.

   Thankfully, Asaph came to his senses.  "This is my infirmity (weakness)" (Psalm 77:10).  The problem was not with God and His working, but rather with Asaph and his failure to trust the Lord.  In repentance, the Psalmist proceeded to confess God's faithfulness, doubtless resulting in a restored spirit able to overcome the challenges of life through God's grace received by faith.

    "Surely I will remember Thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all Thy work, and talk of Thy doings. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Who is so great a God as our God?" (Psalm 77:11-13).

    Complaint makes necessary confession, confession of sin and a restored confession of the Lord's righteous faithfulness.  It not only "doesn't do any good."  It also does much harm, overwhelming our spirits and resulting in further expressions of unbelief.  Little wonder another Psalmist, David, prayed, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips" (Psalm 141:3).  Left to itself, our tongue possesses no control of itself.  "The tongue can no man tame" (James 3:8).  We all require the Holy Spirit's guidance and enabling to refrain from complaint, and to empower the affirmation of faith and praise.  Thus, we do well to join David in seeking the power to overcome complaint by confession of our Lord's promises, and confession to Him if we murmur. Solomon stated the truth in the most stark terms:  "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Proverbs 18:21). Yes, we know the living Christ as we affirm His involved presence and working in all things.  Or we know death by the complaining that not only does no good, but also much harm.

"My tongue shall speak of Thy righteousness and of Thy praise all the day long."

(Psalm 35:28)

Weekly Memory Verse

   "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." 

(I John 5:4)

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