Orange Moon Friday, October 8, 2021 "Weak?"

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

"Weak?"   

"When I am weak, then am I strong" (II Corinthians 12:10).

     

     For all the world, the Apostle Paul's confession of strength in weakness does not seem true, feel true, or appear to be true. 

     Consider, however the chronicles of the only perfectly true Book ever written.

    Abel died at the hands of his brother Cain, seeming to perish in futility.  The New Testament nevertheless speaks of Abel's "better sacrifice," that is, of an offering that early in human history bore witness to the greatest sacrifice of all, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.  Abel weak?  No, he was strong in being the first to vividly portray and presage the Savior.

    Moses felt so weak in his ability to communicate that God gave him a mouthpiece, Aaron.  Moses, however, would proceed to communicate thousands of God's words to Israel, and through the ages, to the world in the pages of the first five books of the Old Testament.  He would also foretell of a Prophet greater than himself who would one day redeem Israel.  Moses weak as God's voice?  No, he was strong as the human conveyor of Scripture, and the law that would serve as a "schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ."

    Consider Rahab the harlot.  How can she appear in the pages of Scripture in any positive sense?  Because she discovered that the God of Israel is the living and true God, and the Redeemer of those like herself.  She protected Jewish spies in the light of such knowledge, saved her family from death, and found her way into the chronicle of the faithful found in Hebrews 11.  "By faith" she did what she did.  Rahab weak because of her history?  Rahab redeemed!  That is the real story.

   Consider David, led to confront a mighty giant with a sling and a stone.  We all know the outcome.  Often overlooked is that throughout his lifetime, through successes and failures, righteous and sinful actions, David was a man said to be after God's own heart because he well knew how totally dependent he was on the Lord.  David weak?  Yes, but in the best sense of his weakness so often serving as the vessel for God's strength.

   Then there is Mephibosheth, made lame by an accident early in life, and considered by others and himself to be a "dead dog" according to the understanding of his day.  Because of his relationship to his father Jonathan, however, Mephibosheth found a place at King David's table to feast for a lifetime.  A lame man thus shines in the Biblical narrative as a light whereby we realize that we find our place at God's table only because of relationship to our Jonathan, the Lord Jesus Christ - "accepted in the Beloved."  Mephibosheth weak?  No, Mephibosheth called and filled by grace, as are all rightly related to the Lord Jesus by faith.

    Ponder Paul, imprisoned and ultimately executed by Nero.  Who won their battle?  Certainly, it seems that Nero prevailed.  However, 2,000 years later, who reads the dead emperors's words every day throughout the world?    Conversely, whose God-inspired testimony and teaching have led millions to faith in the Lord Jesus, and then helped to establish their walk with God in a bright light that shines unto the present moment?  Paul died by the keen edge of Nero's blade.  But the thought of God's chief apostle as weak dissolves in the knowledge of how much his Lord's power flowed - and continues to flow - through Paul's human frailty.  Paul won the battle with Nero thereby, a victory that sounds and resounds through the ages.

   The list could go on and on of the Bible's declaration of God's saints who availed themselves of His enabling because they so realized their need.  We cannot mention all.  But we must include one more in the narrative of God's strength made perfect in weakness.  Consider a baby born not in a palace, but laid in a feeding trough of animals.  Angels attended his birth, along with shepherds (wise men bearing gifts later came).  But few knew who He was.  The baby grew into a boy spiritually and intellectually precocious at twelve, but hidden away for eighteen years thereafter.  He began a ministry that brought Him renown among many, but rejection by most.  Ridicule often greeted Him when He spoke His Father's truth, and a cross whereupon He was "crucified through weakness" awaited Him at the end of His earthly life.  The Lord Jesus, weak?  No one who knows the truth about Him would ever consider Him so.  Indeed, more than any other, our Savior confirmed the truth of "When I am weak, then am I strong."  

    Our lives continue the narrative.  We all have challenges of condition, situation, and circumstance that confirm our human frailty, and open a door into God's divine enabling.  Thus, we do well to join Paul and so many others in the remembrance and affirmation that our weakness serves as the vessel and venue of the power of God…

"We also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God."

(II Corinthians 13:4)

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).

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Orange Moon Thursday, October 7, 2021 "The River of Forever"

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

"The River of Forever"   

     

     God operates by a different clock than we do.  Or perhaps we might say, He operates by no clock at all.

   "The eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ephesians 3:11).

    The Psalmist asked the Lord "How long?" on fifteen different occasions.  No record of an answer exists in the Psalms.  Indeed, while God necessarily works in time, He redemptively acts and coordinates all things according to eternity.  This means His ways will puzzle, perplex, and even bewilder us at times regarding our lives, the lives of others, and His working in the world.  Indeed, the question "How long?" directed toward our Heavenly Father will always be answered, "Just long enough."  We will be nevertheless be challenged to wonder, and tempted to perceive that somehow, some way, God's timepiece has malfunctioned.

   "My times are in Thy hand" (Psalm 31:15).

   The issue involves context.  Our's involves time.  God's involves forever.  Fixing some problems in the context of time might throw a monkey wrench into His coordinating all things according to the perfection of forever to come. This our Lord will not do.  This He cannot do.  "As for God, His way is perfect" (II Samuel 22:31).  Our Father must act in accordance with His character, His eternal purpose, and our best interests (as defined by His infinite wisdom).  "Thou art good, and doest good" (Psalm 119:68).  This means that God hand will sometimes seem inexorably slow, disconcertingly late, and perhaps even bewilderingly inactive.  Such perceptions are never actually the case.  Rather than slow, God's work is perfectly timed.  Rather than late, God's work is perfectly on time.  And rather than inactive, God's works always move in time with His perfect purpose.  Our clock may contradict, which raises the question: time or eternity?  Which will capture our primary focus?

    "Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times" (Isaiah 33:6).

   We cannot and should not seek to escape the earthly clock wherein we must presently function and organize our lives.  For the believer, however, it cannot be first and foremost.  We are Heavenly people who already "have eternal life" (I John 5:13).  Eternity must transcend earthly time by a vast measure in our emphasis and understanding.  As the prophet declared, such "wisdom and knowledge" stabilize our hearts at all times, and particularly, when God's eternity-guided hand challenges our understanding of how He works.  His way is indeed perfect.  Such purity of purpose and action can only be understood, however, when we realize our Lord's current ever flows according to the glorious river of forever rather than the murky stream of time.

"Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him: God is a refuge for us."

(Psalm 62:8)

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

(II Corinthians 4:17-18)

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).

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Orange Moon Wednesday, October 6, 2021 "Thorns Plucked, Thorns Unplucked"

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

"Thorns Plucked, Thorns Unplucked"   

     

     Sometimes God delivers by the power of His hand.

    "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and delivered him out of all his troubles" (Psalm 34:6).

    Sometimes God delivers by the enhanced presence of His heart.

    "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1).

    We rightly rejoice when the Lord delivers us from the challenges and difficulties of life.  His purposes often involve our extrication from pains, problems, sorrows, and dangers.  However, our Heavenly Father's purposes sometimes involve the bestowal of grace rather than deliverance from trouble.

   "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.  For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (II Corinthians 12:7-9).

    We all need some unplucked thorns.  This presents a challenging, but plainly declared Biblical truth to the heart of every born again believer in the Lord Jesus.  Our Heavenly Father loves us far too much for this not to be the case.  No Christian has ever lived who would walk faithfully with God apart from trials and trouble.  "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22).  Tribulation gets our attention, and helps to maintain it.  "In my distress, I cried unto the Lord" (Psalm 120:1).  Continual pleasure, conversely, would cloud our view of God, ourselves, others, and life in a fallen world that leads all its adherents to destruction.  Thus, the Lord determines and allows us to venture where the thickets are, and where the thorns are.  When He sees us pierced, He removes some, but leaves others to abide, all according to His perfect purpose in our lives.

   Doubtless, our loving Father finds no pleasure in leaving thorns that hurt us.  Far more importantly, however, He will not deviate in His purpose to always do that which is best for us.  "As for God, His way is perfect" (II Samuel 22:31).  So, we happily rejoice in thorns plucked, rejoicing in the power of His hand.  We holily rejoice in thorns unplucked, rejoicing in the "very" presence of His heart.  We will find Him perfectly faithful in both necessary administrations of His purpose to glorify the Lord Jesus in our lives, and to make us like Him in character, nature, and way.

"He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."

(II Corinthians 12:9-12)

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).

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