Orange Moon Wednesday, March 18, 2026 “Scripture and Hope”

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"Scripture and Hope" 

  

     "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope" (Romans 15:4).

    We open our Bibles for many reasons, not the least of which is to "have hope."  Our proper expectation of the future ever lies in "the patience and comfort of the Scriptures" as they reveal the assurance found in who God is, what He has done, is doing, and promises to do forevermore.

     "For this God is our God forever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death" (Psalm 48:14).  

    The Psalmist declares the Lord to be "our God" in terms of both eternity and every moment of this life.  This believers know and affirm as a matter of doctrine and principle.  However, we all require ongoing reminders and encouragement regarding our Lord's faithfulness that must be found along the challenging pathways of our personal experience.  "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17).  Life comes at us fast and hard, with troubles that tempt us to forget or neglect the truth we know to be true.  Namely, God is who He is.  He does what He does.  He cannot lie, He will not disappoint anyone who trusts Him, and "all the promises of God in Him (Christ) are yea" (II Corinthians 1:20).  We find such hope "in the patience and comfort of the Scriptures" as the Holy Spirit applies their grace to our hearts in time of need.

    What Biblical promises apply to the present challenges of our lives?  All of them, actually.  Some, however, pointedly address truth we must know in this day so that we might view its moments to come with hope.  "My expectation is from Him" declared the Psalmist who did not have the Bible as do we ourselves (Psalm 62:5).  How much clearer then should we view the future with confidence and hope?   Vividly clearer.   An open Bible, read in humility and faith, shines with bright and unmistakable light regarding the perfectly faithful God who has filled the pages of His Word with "exceeding great and precious promises" (II Peter 1:4).   Let us then open the Cover, turn the Pages, and be strengthened with promises made by the God who "cannot lie" (Titus 1:2).   Yes, hope ever awaits us in the Lord Jesus, as found in "the patience and comfort of the Scriptures."  

"Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in Thy Word."

(Psalm 119:114

Weekly Memory Verse 

    O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles.  Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy.

(Psalm 43:3-4)

7742

 

 

Orange Moon Tuesday, March 17, 2026 “The Primary Questions”

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"The Primary Questions" 

  

     The Lord Jesus Christ is the God who became man, and the man remains God.  Forever.

    "God was manifest in the flesh" (I Timothy 3:16).    

    "There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (I Timothy 2:5).

   What sacrifice was involved in the infinite, eternal God taking upon Himself the limitations of humanity?  What sacrifice continues eternally?  We do not know.  We can imagine, but even our highest attempts to consider the reality fall so short that we can hardly say we have begun.  "Great is the mystery" declared the Apostle Paul of this wonder beyond all wonders (I Timothy 3:16).  The union of divinity and humanity seems beyond the possible, and it would be except for the fact that "with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26).  In Christ, God and man, the eternal and the temporal, the infinite and the finite, glory and humility, all unite in one sublime Being never to be fully understood, but forever to be pondered and and considered as the greatest of all mysteries.

    "Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ" (II Peter 3:18).

    The Apostle Peter declares that grace leads to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus.  "Who is He?  What has He done?  What is He doing?  What will He do forevermore in devotion to His Father and to us?  We can give our hearts and minds to no greater inquiry.  We must do so.  God made us for His Son, that is, to love Him, trust Him, obey Him, and shine with His glory in our countenance, demeanor, attitudes, words, and deeds.  We can only do so as we "learn Christ" (Ephesians 4:20).  Our great Teacher, the Holy Spirit, devotes every lesson to the subject.  "He shall testify of Me" declared the Savior of the Spirit (John 15:26).  Indeed, be it love, grace, faith, prayer, righteousness, holiness, salvation, peace, joy, prophecy, judgment, or any and all truth, the Lord Jesus shines as the Light of every light.  To know about all, we recognize and affirm Him as the theme of every subject.  "I am the truth" (John 14:6).

    We do well to often ask the primary questions of our existence.  Again, "Who is Christ?  What has He done?  What is He doing?  What will He do forevermore in devotion to His Father and to us?  Answers will be forthcoming in this life and forevermore as we seek to know and understand the glory beyond all knowledge and understanding.  God's "eternal purpose" forever flows with the current of "Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ephesians 3:11).  May we join Him in our own eternal purpose of response as we ponder the mystery of "God… manifest in the flesh," and as we more and more realize that…

"To live is Christ."

(Philippians 1:21)

"The truth is in Jesus."

(Ephesians 4:21)

Weekly Memory Verse 

    O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles.  Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy.

(Psalm 43:3-4)

7741

 

 

Orange Moon Monday, March 16, 2026 "Dependently Free"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"Dependently Free" 

  

     God made human beings as responders.  

    "We love Him because He first loved us" (I John 4:19).  

     We would never have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ had God not worked in our hearts to convince, convict, and convert us by revealing His grace, as received through faith.  "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him" (John 6:44).  Nor would we walk with Him after the new birth if He did not continue His initiating power that makes possible our response.

    "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13).

    Presently, our Father works in believers "to will and to do" by His Spirit, His Word, His church, and His providential presence and power supplied along the pathways of our lives.  Thereby, He makes possible our potential to respond in faith and submission, promising the power for response, but leaving us with the freedom to either avail ourselves of His grace or not.  "I will love Thee, o Lord my strength" declared the Psalmist of this real relationship between God's heart and our own (Psalm 18:1).  David, in response to the Lord's working, genuinely desired to love Him, recognizing the need for his chosen "I will love Thee."  However, he also knew God must enable such devotion... "O Lord my strength."

    Much mystery lies in this beautiful union of God and humanity.  We are dependently free, as it were, a wonder of relationship and fellowship long pondered by prophets and sages, none of which have come close to full discovery or explanation of how the Lord works and how we respond.  As the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus regarding the new birth…

     "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8).  

    How does grace and faith work in our Father's heart and our own?  He knows perfectly and completely.  We do not, nor do we need full explanation.  We rather require realization of our need for God's working in our hearts, His promise of grace, and our privileged responsibility to respond or not.  Rather than how it all works, we focus on the truth that it works by our Father's perfectly faithful administration, and our determination to grow in holy and trusting response.  Dependently free.  Even this simple idiom offers only a glimmer of light regarding the marvel of the divine heart and human hearts united in the love of Christ.

"O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles.  Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy."

(Psalm 43:3-4)

Weekly Memory Verse 

    O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles.  Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy.

(Psalm 43:3-4)

7740