Orange Moon Monday, August 10, 2026 “Four Words. Seven Time

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

    

“Four Words.  Seven Times.”

    

      “The Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8; 100:5; 135:3; 145:9; Jeremiah 33:11; Lamentations 3:26; Nehemiah 1:7).  The simple four word phrase appears seven times in Scripture.  Eternity, however, will not suffice in the discovery of what it means in terms of God’s existence and our own.

   Goodness speaks to God’s character, the spiritual and moral disposition of His heart and nature.  Who is He?  We will ask this question forever, and far more importantly, the Holy Spirit will eternally answer as we seek the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, humility, and sincerity.  Every new realization, or every already known truth enhanced, will coincide and reflect with God’s essential goodness and perhaps the even more descriptive Scriptural declaration, “God is love” (I John 4:8; 16).  What does this mean?  Again, a long eternity will only begin to reveal the ineffable glory of the character that “seeketh not its own” and that led to the Lord Jesus’ declaration of His disposition of devotion to others…

    “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give His life a ransom for many” (I Corinthians 13:5; Matthew 20:28).

   An eternity awaits us of discovering the goodness of a Being who has never had an egotistical moment in which selfishly pleasing Himself directed even one thought, attitude, word, or deed.  Nor will such a moment ever occur.  This includes His bestowal of grace in the Lord Jesus, and in His administration of wrath against anything or anyone that jeopardizes the well being of His creation.  Be it in the “from everlasting to everlasting” fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or in God’s relationship to creation, all flows with the current of an altruistic goodness for which we find no simple Biblical explanation.  Because none exists.  “The Lord is good,” as existing in His eternal devotion and focus directed outward and away, will ever abide as an ocean without shore that beckons us to journey further and sail forever.

   “Call unto Me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3).  The greatest and mightiest of all things are the character traits that exist in God Himself.  He will tell us who He is as we ask in humility and faith, and as we avail ourselves to the Scriptures that glimmer with the revelation of a goodness that will often stop us in our tracks as it shines upon us.  Indeed, attempt to find adequate words of praise and thanksgiving upon initial consideration God’s character, as defined by Scripture or as experienced in “the grace of life” (I Peter 3:7). They will not immediately come to heart and mind, nor will any we offer ever seem adequate.  Four words.  Seven times.  “The Lord is good.”  Eternity awaits and beckons, “Come further, soar higher, dive deeper.”  And it always will.

“And he (Moses) said, I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory.   And He said, I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee.”

(Exodus 33:18-19; emphasis added)

“The love of Christ… passeth knowledge.”

(Ephesians 3:19)

Weekly Memory Verse

   For the Lord is good, and His truth endureth to all generations.

(Psalm 100:5

  

    

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Orange Moon Saturday, August 8, 2026 "Somebody Made That!"

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

    

“Somebody Made That!”

    

      I was grateful to remember.  That is, I was grateful to remember to be grateful.

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

    A bank of stunningly hued and shaped clouds greeted me yesterday morning as I gazed into the eastern sky.  Mostly white in varying shades of that which exists by combining all wavelengths of the visible light spectrum, I beheld in awe the vision in the sky.  “That is so beautiful” came to heart and mind, and I think I even uttered the words audibly.

   However, another response ensued, too often neglected when beholding the wonders of creation, but by far the most appropriate expression.  I remembered, “Somebody made that.”  And I remembered Who.   My perfectly appropriate “That is so beautiful" led to the far more perfectly appropriate expression of praise and thanksgiving in heart and mind, and with voice.

   “I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth all Thy marvelous works” (Psalm 9:1).

    Our youngest daughter Emmie is a gifted artist in many different mediums.  I have often illustrated the truth above by suggesting that if the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York held an exhibition of her work, I would enjoy being there, walking around, and seeing how people responded to her gift and gifts.  However, if viewers' responses seemed to ignore the fact that “Somebody made that,” or if some even seemed to suggest that the art had merely happened as the result of natural processes, I would be deeply offended.  “Hold on just a minute, folks, my daughter crafted the beauty you see!”

    That is indeed how I feel when our Father’s wondrous gift and its glorious artistry and craftsmanship fail to result in grateful and wondering acknowledgement and appreciation.  Especially when the offender is me.  I have known and believed “the invisible things of Him” shine forth in “the things that are made” for more than a half century.  Certainly, the belief and awareness are always there in heart and conviction.  Too often, however, the beholding of the Artist’s beauty in His creation results in the stunted “That is so beautiful” that fails to proceed to awed adoration... “Somebody made that!”  Thankfully, yesterday found my heart and mind attuned to truth and reality, and thus, praise and thanksgiving.  The bank of sublimely beautiful clouds did not find my spirit and soul cloudy as God’s Spirit reminded me, and on this occasion, I responded.  May it lead to far more such opportunities, and far more similar responses.  

"Oh that men (Glen!) would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!”

(Psalm 107:8)

Weekly Memory Verse

   But will God indeed dwell on the earth?  Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee, how much less this house that I have builded?

(I Kings 8:27)

    

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