Orange Moon Tuesday, October 5, 2021 "Daily"

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

"Daily"   

     

     "Give us this day our daily bread" (Matthew 6:).

    Why did the Lord Jesus Christ command that we daily ask for our bread?

   While there may be many answers we could consider, the truth of relationship and fellowship seems to me the most definitive reason we must day by day approach God's throne of grace.  Our Heavenly Father loves our communion with Himself to the degree "the prayer of the upright is His delight" (Proverbs 15:8).  Moreover, He knows how desperately we require such conscious fellowship with Him as the spiritual lifeline wherein "we walk by faith, not by sight" (II Corinthians 5:7).  We do not see, hear, or touch God when we pray, at least in physical terms.  Humble, sincere, and trusting prayer does, however, involve spiritual reality.  Things happen when we pray, things in God, things in ourselves, and things in our sphere of influence.  Thus, our Heavenly Father calls us to "daily" seek His provision so that we may daily "walk in the light as He is in the light" and "have fellowship one with another" (I John 1:7).

   When God fed Israel with manna in the wilderness, they could not partake of the previous day's provision (with the exception of the Sabbath day).  The manna "bred worms and stank," making the partaking of the previous day's provision impossible (Exodus 16).  This foreshadowed the Lord's mandate that believers seek His supply on a daily basis.  More than physical bread, He desires fresh communication with us.  The prayers of yesterday cannot suffice for those the Holy Spirit would lead us to offer today.  Moreover, God's present provision meets the needs of this day's callings and challenges.  Thus, "give us this day our daily bread" involves much significance in our personal walk with the Lord, and in His personal presence and working in our hearts and lives.

   As we frequently suggest in these messages, the truth that God delights in our fellowship, while wondrously mind-boggling, may be the most motivating aspect of prayer whereby we become increasingly consistent in availing ourselves of so great a gift.  Our own sense of desire regarding fellowship with the Lord may ebb and flow.  His desire for our fellowship never does.   Again, this surely provides much insight into why He calls us to daily seek His loving involvement and provision.  He wants to hear our voice and commune with our heart.  Mind-boggling indeed, and heart filling and thrilling as each and every day beckons us to the Throne, and to the One who gladly welcomes our approach.

"Let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice."

(Song of Solomon 2:14)

"When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek."

(Psalm 27:8)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise, which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

(Proverbs 6:6-8).

6326

Orange Moon Monday, October 4, 2021 "Bugs? Bugs!"

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

"Bugs?  Bugs!"   

     

    When pondering insects of any and every variety, we do well to place an exclamation mark after the word, "Bug."  Yes, Bug!  Consider…

   Gears are amazing energy transmission devices, believed to have first been designed by the Chinese more than two millennia ago.  Or were they?    Allow me to introduce you to the planthopper, a tiny insect able to leap a distance one hundred times its own size.  A system of gears on two legs function to make planthopper transmission of energy incredibly efficient.  Indeed, if human beings possessed the same capability, we could traverse the length of two football fields by a single bound (the landing could be problematic!).

   "The Lord hath made all things" (Proverbs 16:4).

   Clearly, the Great Engineer designed and created gears long before human beings somehow came upon the Divinely-originated principle of energy transmission that so benefits our existence.  Insects, despite their diminutive size, all serve as engineering marvels.  Many innovations in modern technology have proceeded from structures and characteristics scientists have discovered in bugs. Oh yes,  Bugs!  Of course, we often swat them, spray them, squash them, and secure our homes against them.  Let us not, however, fail to marvel when pondering these trillions of creatures that all bear witness to the truth that somewhere, Somebody exists whose architectural, engineering, and artistic capabilities boggle by an infinite measure the cumulative imagination of every human being who has ever lived.  "Too wonderful for me!" declared the Psalmist when pondering his Lord's infinitely profound way (Psalm 139:6).

   It is too wonderful, isn't it?  We have lost a lot of wonder in our generation, for many reasons.  The world races by us, we race by it, and glories are often lost in the blur.  Our Heavenly Father well knows this trait of our flesh, and our tendency to minimize the maximum, and maximize the minimum.   He thus proclaimed long ago, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).  We need to much better know our tendency to miss His "wonders without number"  (Job 9:10).   Certainly, we must move, we must work, we must do.  But we also must wonder.  This requires a stillness of heart best enabled by an open Bible and prayerful response.  However, God's wonder so fills His creation that the next time a bug - Bug! - comes into view, even if he must be swatted, sprayed, squashed, or evicted from our home, a wonder presents itself to us.  Perhaps we might think to ourselves, "The Great Engineer made that.  And His design far transcends the most complex technology of any device or machine human beings have ever devised."  Yes, indeed, wonder.  Like the Psalmist, Solomon well knew this "Bug!" glory.  We close with his sense of amazement when pondering small things that bear witness to a Mind and a Heart we will never begin to fully fathom…

"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise, which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest."

(Proverbs 6:6-8)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise, which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

(Proverbs 6:6-8).

6325

Orange Moon Friday, October 1, 2021 "The Theme"

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

"The Theme"   

     

     Every letter, word, sentence, verse, chapter, and book of the Bible all flow with one streaming current of theme and devotion.

    "His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.  For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for Him.  And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.   And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence" (Colossians 1:14-18).

    "The Scriptures… testify of Me" declared the Lord Jesus (John 5:39).  By this, He meant all the Old Testament Scriptures that existed in His day, and all the Scriptures that would end day exist in the pages of the New Testament.  The Christ purposed by His Father to have preeminence "in all things" most surely occupies this exalted place in the Book inspired by the Holy Spirit who ever seeks to "glorify" and "testify" of the Lord Jesus (John 16:14; 15:26).

    When we open the Bible, we must do so with this primary thematic purpose for its existence in mind.  Whether we ponder the doctrine, history, poetry, or prophecy of Scripture, its shining light illuminates the Person and work of the Lord Jesus.  We may not, and in fact, will not completely see how He occupies such a place in all that we read.  It is enough, however, to know that He does.  Such awareness will open our eyes and hearts to glories we will miss if we read the Book apart from knowing why God the Father gave such a gift to us.  As He said in the mount of transfiguration when the disciples were tempted to deflect sole attention away the Lord Jesus unto others, "This is My beloved Son.  Hear Him" (Mark 9:1-7).  Yes, only one primary intention must pervade our hearts when we "search the Scriptures."  We must look for the Lord Jesus.  Who is He?  What has He done?  What is He doing?  What will He be doing forevermore to fulfill His Father's purposes, and to be the supply for all our needs?  All other matters of Scripture will be better known and interpreted when this, The Theme, guides us in our reading, study, faith, application, and communication of God's Christ-preeminent Word.

"In Thy light shall we see light… Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path… For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (Psalm 36:9; 119:105; II Corinthians 4:4)

Weekly Memory Verse

    We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." 

(II Corinthians 4:5)

6324