Orange Moon Friday, March 27, 2026 “Awed and Amazed”

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"Awed and Amazed" 

    

     Awed and amazed.  One cannot know God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ without realizing we can know and understand some about Him.  We can also know more as we seek to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Corinthians 3:18).  However, we can never begin to know all.  "His greatness is unsearchable" (Psalm 145:3).  Thus, "awed and amazed" serves as a primary response and sense regarding the Lord we know, but whom we can never fully know.

    This will forever be true.  Eternity will not allow full discovery of the glory and wonder.  This especially applies to God's character.  "The love of Christ passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19).  Regardless of how far we venture into the shoreless ocean of our Lord's fundamental nature of devotion to others, the blessedness we discover will promise far - infinitely far - more to come.  Seven times, the simple phrase, "the Lord is good," appears in Scripture.  A most simple declaration, portending of eternally growing awe and amazement.

    And in this day.  Even in our present lifetime lived in a fallen world, the Psalmist declares, "the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord" (Psalm 33:5).  For born again believers in Christ, such glory can be known on bright, shining mountaintops, in dark valleys, and in the mundane experiences of everyday life.  God is indeed that awe inspiring and amazing.  He is that good and great.  He is that present and involved.  He is that able and willing.  He is indeed that Himself.  "The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works" (Psalm 145:9).  This we must believe, first because it is true, and then, because our experience of God's lovingkindness and grace must be realized and affirmed by faith.  This will often greatly bless us in pleasant experience, and it will often greatly challenge us in painful times.  

    If we could speak to the martyrs, those who gave the last full measure of devotion to the glory and will of God, what might they tell us about His goodness known in their sacrifice?  Surely they would testify they knew such glory in their departure from this world more than at any other time in their lives.  They would tell us the Lord met them on their cross, or as the blade and the pyre delivered them from the present world.  They would also tell us something we must know about whatever sacrifices for Christ to which God calls us.  Namely, we must expect the goodness of God in all things, in every blessing, contingency, and exigency.  We must anticipate awe and amazement.  "My expectation is from Him" (Psalm 62:5).  The goodness will be there, as it was with the martyrs.  Whether we know it or not hinges much on whether we  believe our Lord to be, again, that awe inspiring and amazing, that good and great, that present and involved, that able and willing, and that Himself.  He is, and will find Him so as we remember and affirm the wonder of His infinite goodness and greatness.  

"I will speak of the glorious honor of Thy majesty, and of Thy wondrous works."

 (Psalm 145:5)

Weekly Memory Verse 

   He that is entered into His rest, he hath ceased from His own works, as God did from His.

 (Hebrews 4:10)

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Orange Moon Thursday, March 26, 2026 "Truth"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"Truth" 

    

     All truth begins and forever continues with He who declared Himself to be the truth, the Lord Jesus Christ.  "I am… the truth" (John 14:6).

      Be it creation, history, prophecy, salvation, grace, faith, righteousness, peace, joy, prayer, obedience, forgiveness, judgment, or any subject, the Lord Jesus forms both the beginning and end of all Scriptural revelation and understanding.  We either begin with Him, or we do not begin at all.  "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27).

    Consider creation.  The first and most important truth we must know involves the Who who "made all things" (Proverbs 16:4).  Certainly, all three Persons of the triune godhead acted in unison - as They always do - in the origination of creation.  However, the New Testament identifies a particularly significant role for the Son of God, who would ultimately become a part of creation.  The Gospel of John opens with this unequivocal affirmation regarding the role of "the Word… made flesh" declared to be one and the same with the One who made all things:

   "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:1-3)

    I recently watched a brief documentary that included a photo of the Earth taken by the Voyager I probe, from 4 billion miles away.  Of all that could be said about the so-called "Pale Blue Dot," we must begin at the beginning, and proceed to a particular epoch in history.  Namely, the Lord Jesus made the "Dot.  Moreover, in the Incarnation, He became a part of it.  Whatever one believes about creation, we begin here, with the earth's Creator and ultimate Redeemer.  Or we do not begin at all.  He is the truth about creation.  All other truths about the things that are made must flow from this Christological headwater of the river of reality.

    The same origin applies to all Biblical truth and doctrine.  We embark on our journey of knowledge and understanding by realizing the Person and work of the Lord Jesus forever serves as our point of departure.  "The truth is in Jesus" (Ephesians 4:21).  Every letter, word, sentence, verse, chapter, and book of Scripture glimmers with "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (II Corinthians 4:6).  Thus, we open the written Word, the Bible, to seek the living Word, the Lord Jesus.  He dwells among the holy pages in the words inspired by the Holy Spirit, who ever seeks to glorify and reveal the Son of God (John 15:26; 16:14).  Our best response?  Remembering the Bible's plain declaration that Christ is the truth,  and His declaration, "I am the truth."  We then personally affirm, "Lord, You are the truth" as we approach the blessed gift of Scripture that shines on every page with the blessed gift of the Savior.

"Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."

 (John 1:17)

"Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life.  And they are they which testify of Me."

(John 5:39)

Weekly Memory Verse 

   He that is entered into His rest, he hath ceased from His own works, as God did from His.

 (Hebrews 4:10)

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Orange Moon Wednesday, March 25, 2026 "The Drops and the Rain"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"The Drops and the Rain" 

    

     Relatively few big things happen to any human being.  This includes kings as well as hermits.  Life rather involves countless small matters of the day wherein the battles of life are most often won and lost.

   "He maketh small the drops of water.  They pour down rain" (Job 36:27).

      Seemingly inconsequential moments, events, and experiences govern the course of our lives.  This is especially true regarding our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ and with people.   Loving Him and others involves apparently insignificant thoughts, attitudes, actions, and words that may seem tiny in the moment, but which often loom large in hindsight.  "Small drops of water" indeed make for "pouring rain."  Faithfulness to God and people regarding the tiniest matters and moments may greatly honor Him and change the course of lives.  Conversely, Solomon reminds us that "little foxes" often "spoil the vines" (Song of Solomon 2:15).  We can hinder and damage in a moment, with a word, an action, an inaction, an attitude, or a look on the face.  

    Small drops and pouring rain remind us of life's eternal significance, and of how vital it is that we walk prayerfully and carefully with our Lord.  This day will involve countless small matters that unite to chart the course of life's journey.  Our Heavenly Father will be there for them all.  Remembering His presence and involvement transforms our hearts and minds regarding how we perceive the moments that may feel and appear to be insignificant.  They are not.  The drops and the rain tell us that.

"Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

(I Corinthians 10:31)  

"There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?"

(John 6:9)

Weekly Memory Verse 

   He that is entered into His rest, he hath ceased from His own works, as God did from His.

 (Hebrews 4:10)

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