Orange Moon Saturday, January 17, 2026 "An Opportunity"

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

 

"An Opportunity"  

  

      

     Presently, it seems that physically seeing, hearing, and touching the Lord Jesus Christ would be a great advantage in walking with God.  Actually, it would not.

    "We walk by faith, not by sight" (II Corinthians 5:7).

    God, in the perfection of His ways, has willed this life to be lived by trusting His heart rather than seeing His hand.  The day of sight, sound, and the sensory will blessedly come as eternity will be lived in the obviously known presence of God.  This is not that day.  No, this is the day wherein glories of grace only presently possible occur in His sons and daughters who know Him by faith, and who seek to trust Him no less than if He were vividly at hand as well as in heart.  

    "We look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are unseen.  For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are unseen are eternal" (II Corinthians 4:18).

    Much can be said of navigating by a North Star seen, as it were, by spirit rather than eye.  In personal terms, let us consider how our Father must be blessed when we "behold" Him by trust rather than sight.  Scripture clearly declares that we please God by faith (Hebrews 11:5-6).  We bring Him joy and literal delight as we respond to His Spirit and His Word in a manner that will not be possible in our Lord's direct presence.  Indeed, you and I can please God right now in ways available and only possible right now.  

   "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1; emphasis added).

   Somewhere just now, a hurting, battered, and shattered believer raises his heart toward Heaven to express faith in God.  "I trust You, Father, I praise You, and I thank You."  Much happens as our brother uses what may seem to be his last breath in trusting the Father he knows cannot and will not fail him.  The Father responds, likely in ways no eyes can see, but which his trusting son knows.  Our brother glorifies God thereby, perhaps in view of Heaven and angels only.  Most of all, he blesses his Lord's heart.  Our hurting, battered, and shattered believer pleases God in a manner that will not be possible in Heaven as the Holy Spirit leads him in a devotion solely based on heart, rather than sight, sound, and the senses.  "Glorify ye the Lord in the fires" (Isaiah 24:15).

   We shall not pass this way again, this way of "we walk by faith and not by sight."  Let us rejoice with all our hearts!  However, let us also realize and embrace an opportunity that will not be available when we shall forever behold our Lord "face to face" (I Corinthians 13:12).  To trust God's heart when we cannot see His hand affords us a privileged responsibility we will look back on from our eternal abode with much gratitude.  And, perhaps with the desire that we had better availed ourselves of an opportunity "to walk and to please God" on pathways that were dark to our eyes, but glimmered to our hearts with the light of the One we pleased in a manner  only possible in this present way, this way of faith (I Thessalonians 4:1).

"The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy."

(Psalm 147:11)

Weekly Memory Verse

      My brethren, count it all joy when fall into diverse temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

(James 1:2-3)

   

   

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Orange Moon Friday, January 16, 2026. “Highly Esteemed?”

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

 

"Highly Esteemed?"  

  

      

     God's evaluations greatly differ from our own.

     "That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of  God" (Luke 16:15).

      As with all things, it is easy to look outward toward the errors of others when considering the native human tendency to value that which bears no worth and much harm.  We do well to overcome this temptation, asking our Heavenly Father to focus on ourselves regarding the possibility that we may highly esteem that which He deems worthy of judgment and destruction.  Who or what may I be unwisely viewing in positive terms, based on appearance, appeal, and faulty awareness?  Who or what might I be erroneously perceiving as unworthy of esteem, but which actually finds favor with God?  If I do not focus first on my own need for examination in this vital matter, I have no basis upon which to wonder about others.  "Search me, o God" (Psalm 139:23; emphasis added).

    The Lord's answers are not always easy in a world wherein ideas and images constantly present themselves to our hearts and minds.  Moreover, our spiritual enemies constantly work to, as a young man once wisely said to me, "Make good things seem bad, and bad things seem good."  The "seem" is the issue, isn't?  Appearances often belie reality.  The Apostle Paul starkly warned of such danger:

  
   "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" (II Corinthians 11:14).

    The most mature believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is, in and of himself, weak as water when confronted by the devil and his entities.  Like the rest of us, he must constantly seek his Lord's confirmation of truth and correction of error in order to avoid deception.  Our flesh easily flies toward abominations that appear as holy things, healthy things, happy things.  "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 16:25).  This being the sad and treacherous case, we must seek our Lord and His truth as the preventative and corrective means whereby we ensure the esteeming of that which bears true virtue, while eschewing that which God indicts as abomination.  "See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:24).

   Finally, note that the Lord Jesus refers to the human tendency to "highly esteem" that which deserves no such evaluation.  Cherished thoughts, attitudes, practices, beliefs, and ways may well be of God and in accordance with with His glory and will.  But they may not.  We require an ongoing discourse with our Heavenly Father to confirm the former and correct the latter.  He will gladly do the work of evaluation, leading us by His Word, His Spirit, His people, and His providence as He enables us to highly esteem that which is worthy of our respect and devotion, while decisively turning away from which He identifies as "the ways of death."

"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye."

(Psalm 32:8)

Weekly Memory Verse

      My brethren, count it all joy when fall into diverse temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

(James 1:2-3)

   

   

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Orange Moon Thursday, January 15, 2026 “Life With the Shepherd”

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

 

"Life With the Shepherd"  

  

      

    The 100th Psalm has held a special place in my heart for more than sixty years.

    "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations" (Psalm 100:5).

    The elementary school I attended as a child broadcast David's beautiful call to God at the beginning of each school day.  Such a thing could not happen in public schools today.  Long ago, however, the students of Woodcock daily heard the beckoning of the One declared by Scripture as the Great Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, and as David personally testified, my Shepherd.  I did not always listen with rapt attention.  I have no doubt, however, that the recitation indelibly imprinted realities on my heart that would one day lead me to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Indeed, the 100th Psalm communicates God's loving determination to care for His children in every way.  To hear such an ongoing declaration of grace had an effect in my heart long ago, as it does today.  I recite David's words as each day begins in tribute to the care of the Shepherd who long ago came looking for this lost sheep, and who so faithfully - and necessarily - works to keep me in His care.  "Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth… The Lord is my Shepherd" (Isaiah 25:1; Psalm 23:1).

   Woodcock Elementary School no longer exists.  It was demolished several years ago and replaced by houses of a new subdivision.   This saddens me every time we pass by the property, leading to thanksgiving for my time at the school.  Teachers and friends of old come to mind, along with prayers for those who blessed my life so long ago.  A Psalm also comes to remembrance, the 100th Psalm that continues to bless my present experience with its beautiful declaration that "The Lord is good."  What a wonder of glory and truth to have heard then, and no less, to hear now as God's words of old abide as His words of the present.  "Thy Word is true from the beginning: and every one of Thy righteous judgments endureth forever" (Psalm 119:160).

   Long ago, children just beginning the school day heard the Word of God and the Spirit of God offer the way to experience life - life with the Shepherd - as God intends it to be.  What a gift, to have been among that blessed company.  Doubtless, others also continue to benefit from the echoes of long ago that promised God's goodness, mercy, and truth to "His people, and the sheep of His pasture."  The promise proved to more true than children could have imagined, or that any of us will ever fully discover in the faithfulness of our great Shepherd, our chief Shepherd, our good Shepherd, and let us personally rejoice, my Shepherd.

"I am the good Shepherd."

(John 10:11)

  Weekly Memory Verse

       My brethren, count it all joy when fall into diverse temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

(James 1:2-3)

   

   

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