Category Archives: Thoughts From Scripture

Mary’s Dream

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(Author unknown)

I had a dream, Joseph.

I don’t understand it, not really, but I think it was about a birthday celebration for our Son. I think that was what it was all about. The people had been preparing for it for about six weeks. They had decorated the house and bought new clothes. They’d gone shopping many times and bought elaborate gifts. It was peculiar, though, because the presents weren’t for our Son. They wrapped them in beautiful paper and tied them with lovely bows and stacked them under a tree. Yes, a tree, Joseph, right in their house. They’d decorated the tree also. The branches were full of glowing balls and sparkling ornaments. There was a figure on the top of the tree. It looked like an angel might look. Oh, it was beautiful. Everyone was laughing and happy. They were all excited about the gifts. They gave the gifts to each other, Joseph, not our Son. I don’t think they even knew Him. They never mentioned His name. Doesn’t it seem odd for people to go through all that trouble to celebrate someone’s birthday if they don’t know Him? I had the strangest feeling that if our Son had gone to this celebration he would have been intruding. Everything was so beautiful, Joseph, and everyone so full of cheer, but it made me want to cry. How sad for Jesus – not to be wanted at His own birthday celebration. I’m glad it was only a dream.

How terrible, Joseph, if it had been real.

See also:

Christmas Devotional Reading

Mary’s Virginity

For God so loved that He gave…

Ten free gifts for Christmas

Christmas quotes.

Christmas funnies or jokes #1 and #2.

The Primary Purpose of a Home.

If I were a goose

The Perfect Christmas

Christmas Grief

“If I were a goose”

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(Author Unknown)

There was once a man who didn’t believe in God, and he didn’t hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays, like Christmas. His wife, however, did believe, and she raised their children to also have faith in God and Jesus, despite his disparaging comments.

One snowy Christmas Eve, his wife was taking their children to a Christmas Eve service in the farm community in which they lived. She asked him to come, but he refused. “That story is nonsense!” he said. “Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man? That’s ridiculous!” So she and the children left, and he stayed home. A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening.

Then he heard a loud thump. Something had hit the window. Then another thump. He looked out, but couldn’t see more than a few feet. When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window. In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese. Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and couldn’t go on. They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew aroundthe field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed.

The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought. It’s warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm. So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside. But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and didn’t seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them. The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them and they moved further away. He went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and made a bread crumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn’t catch on. Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn.

Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe. “Why don’t they follow me?!” he exclaimed. “Can’t they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?” He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn’t follow a human. “If only I were a goose, then I could save them,” he said out loud. Then he had an idea. He went into barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese. He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn–and one by one the other geese followed it to safety.

He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: “If only I were a goose, then I could save them!” Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier. “Why would God want to be like us? That’s ridiculous!” Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese–blind, lost, perishing. God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us. That was the meaning of Christmas, he realized.

As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood what Christmas was all about, why Christ had come. Years of doubt and disbelief vanished like the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer: “Thank You, God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!”

Let the spirit of Christmas begin in your heart.

See also:

Christmas Devotional Reading

Ten free gifts for Christmas

Mary’s Virginity

For God so loved that He gave…

Mary’s Dream

Christmas quotes.

Christmas funnies or jokes #1 and #2.

The Primary Purpose of a Home.

The Perfect Christmas

Christmas Grief

“A child learns self-denial”

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That is the title of today’s devotional from Back to the Bible’s series made up of Elisabeth Elliot’s writings. I highly recommend this one. I highly recommend most of her writings. 🙂 But this especially speaks to some issues involved in raising children.

I was especially struck by the thought that in Bible times, women did a lot of hard and time-consuming tasks and probably didn’t have a lot of time for sitting in the floor and playing with their children. I am sure they did to some extent, and, as a young mother, I enjoyed those playing times, but there was a constant struggle and fighting off guilt for not doing that more. But, truly, as we go about our daily tasks and include our children and interact with them all through the day, we’re having an influence on them, teaching them, building our relationship with them, and using opportunities in everyday to teach them about the Lord.

It was also a rebuke and a reminder to include them. When they were little and “Mommy’s shadow,” that just happened by necessity. As they got older I’m afraid I would often shoo them off to play so that I could work more efficiently. But even still I enjoy the fellowship of working together as well as playing together.

Christmas Devotional Reading

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As I did for Thanksgiving, I want to take the next few weeks leading up to Christmas and post several things — anecdotes, quotes, jokes, poems, prose, etc. — related to the holidays. I have been writing and compiling what started out as a newsletter but ended up as a 12-16 page booklet for our ladies’ group at church for six years now. I love it: I think it is my favorite ministry. Usually some part of it touches on the holiday or season at hand, so I have collected a lot of things in my files over the years that I would like to share with you.

Should Christians Abandon Christmas? Sinclair Ferguson makes some great points.

The highest priority in Christmas reading, of course, is the Bible itself. Here are a few Advent Reading Plans.

I’ve already posted one of my favorites, a Christmas-based I Cor. 13. I think I need to read that at least once a week in December. Today I want to list some excellent Christmas devotional reading.

I loved this Story Behind Longfelllow’s “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”

Elisabeth Elliot is one of my favorite people for many reasons. I received her newsletters for many years and hated to see them discontinued. Some of the Christmas-related thoughts from those newsletters stood out to me (Update 11/5/2020: The Elisabeth Elliot.org site has undergone a complete overhaul. These no longer link directly to the newsletter, but the newsletter can be downloaded from the site):

Christmas Is a Thing Too Wonderful
The Mother of the Lord
Christmas on a Bed of Pain
Crowned Because He Suffered
The Lord: Hidden, Weak, and Helpless
Do You Believe in Santa Claus? (second page)
The Nativity (second page)
Joy to the World
An Unusual Christmas Celebration
A Quieter Christmas (second page)
How Much Is Enough?
A Silver Star in a Cave (second page)
Little Mary (Scroll down)
Are Christmas Trees Okay? (Scroll down)

The holidays can compound grief for those who have lost loved ones during the year. The Most Difficult Time of the Year: How to Love Grieving Parents at Christmas had much good to say. I wrote about my own Christmas Grief due to the loss of both parents, my grandmother, and a friend during different Decembers.

This post is about not forgetting older loved ones, but it has some gift ideas for the elderly: Remembering the loved one who has forgotten you.

Finally, the morning and evening readings from C. H. Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening have stayed with me for years.

Here are some devotional thoughts from others that I have posted:

Ten free gifts for Christmas

For God so loved that He gave…

Mary’s Dream

If I were a bird

Christmas quotes.

Here are a few of my own Christmas posts:

God With Us

Not the Messiah They Were Looking For

Not the Savior They Were Looking For

Mary’s Virginity

The Perfect Christmas

There is no one right way to celebrate Christmas

Celebrating His Coming by Neglecting His Presence

Tips for “Managing” Christmas

Christmas Lights

Packing Up Christmas

And just for fun:

Christmas funnies or jokes #1 and #2.

Christmas Traditions Meme

A New Christmas Meme

If you’re looking for book-length Christmas devotional reading, some that I have enjoyed are (linked to my reviews):

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus:Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas, compiled by Nancy Guthrie

From Heaven: A 28-Day Advent Devotional by A. W. Tozer

Gospel Meditations for Christmas by Chris Anderson and Joe Tyrpak, and Michael Barrett

Joy to the World by C. H. Spurgeon

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room: Daily Family Devotions for Advent by Nancy Guthrie

Why Christ Came: 31 Meditations on the Incarnation by Joel R. Beeke

A Christmas Longing by Joni Eareckson Tada

The Women of Christmas: Experience the Season Afresh with Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna by Liz Curtis Higgs

Happy reading and meditating!

(Updated 11/17/21)

Between a rock and a hard place…

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…or between the devil and the deep blue sea, as the sayings go. My morning Bible reading today covered Exodus 13-14, wherein Moses leads the children of Israel out of Egypt only to get caught between the Egyptians, who decided not to let them go after all, and the Red Sea.

One part of the passage that has always intrigued me is Ex. 13:17-18a: “And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea.” God knew that going that particular way would be too much for the Israelites, even though it was the nearer way. I wonder, when we get to heaven, if there will be opportunity to look back over time from a glorified perspective and see what God spared us from that would have been too hard for us to deal with which we had no idea of at the time. This is a perfect illustration of I Corinthians 10:13: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

Look where the “way of escape” led them, though: right into the encampment by the Red Sea where Pharoah and his armies could hedge them in. Yet, since God led them away from a situation that would have proved too much for them, it stands to reason that this would be a trial of faith they could face and not fail.

I’m not a fan of the saying “God won’t give me more than I can handle.” I guess there is a sense in which it is true, based on I Cor. 10:13. But I would modify it to say that God won’t give me anything I can’t handle without His grace. Very often I find that He does put me in situations too big for me so that I have to lean on Him for help, because there is no other way to handle it.

In Exodus 14:4, God reveals one of His reasons for sending Israel for that particular spot and for sending Pharoah after them: “I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD.” That phraseology comes up often in Scripture: that he may know, that they may know, etc. I’ve thought it would make an interesting study some time to look up those phrases or make note of them as I’m reading through the Bible. All throughout the plagues of Egypt God was making known to them that their gods were no gods, that He was the only One — several of the plagues involved something that the Egyptians worshipped (one was the sun, and God showed His power over the sun by making it dark for a few days, etc.). It was not cruel for Him to do so: it was a mercy, so that they would see that they were trusting in something untrustworthy and would see that He is the all-powerful trustworthy One.

One of the many reasons God allows trials in our lives is so that others might see His power and grace. The blind man mentioned in John 9 was born that way so that “the works of God should be made manifest in him.” Elisabeth Elliot touches on this principle in a devotional titled “The World Must Be Shown.”

Sometimes when we find ourselves in those tight places, our first thought is to wonder, “Did I do something wrong?” If not, then we often wail, “Why is God doing this to me?” There may be many reasons: He may be pruning us to bring forth more fruit (John 15:2); to humble us and show us His sufficiency (Deuteronomy 8:2-3); to teach us patience, endurance, hope (Romans 5:3-5); to show us the insufficiency of whatever we are trusting in instead of him….or it just may be that someone within our sphere of influence needs to be shown something about God through our experience.

In Israel’s case, there are many indications throughout the preceding chapters and this one that some of the Egyptians were beginning to understand who the one true real God was. But the Egyptians weren’t the only ones. “And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant” (Exodus 14:31). It happened in Job’s life as well: Satan was shown something about God and about genuine faith, and so were all of the people through the ages who have read Job’s story. But Job himself learned more about his God through the process as well. That happens with us, too — many people testify that through some fiery trial they got to know their God better and drew closer to Him.

Whatever trial we are going through, we can trust that God has allowed it for a purpose, and that if He allowed it, He will give us the grace to get through it, He will provide, He will lead, he will manifest Himself to us and to others who may be part of the process.

A book review and a bit of a rant

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Lynn Austin’s A Woman’s Place was not on my fall reading list — I don’t think I have read anything of hers before and was unaware of this book until a few weeks ago when I saw it on the shelf of our local Christian bookstore. It caught my eye, but I bypassed it a couple of times before finally deciding to give it a try. It’s the story of four women who, for various reasons, find themselves working at a shipyard during World War II. I don’t want to give away many of the details and spoil it for those who might want to read it, but it covers a lot of ground for one book: the individual stories of each of the women and how they came together, the negative attitudes toward women in the work place, the fate of the husbands, brothers, family members, and friends fighting overseas, the resistance to African-American workers, and journeys of faith. Overall the story was good and I learned a few things I had not known about that era in time.

There were two elements of the book, though, that disturbed, saddened, and frustrated me — it especially disturbed me to find them in Christian fiction from a Christian author.

The first was the demeaning attitude towards housewives. To be fair, I do understand that in a work of fiction the characters are going to hold to and espouse views that are not the author’s and that that provides some of the conflict and plot development in the book. I’m sure that the issues raised were ones that were discussed many times over by people in those situations at that time (and they still are being discussed today). Yet this attitude was presented over and over by most of the characters in many situations, with the phrase “just a housewife” being used over and over, the attitude that one could not be fulfilled or find herself by being “just a housewife,” the attitude that there were many occupations worthier and more important than being “just a housewife.” There was only one female character who had anything positive to say about being “just a housewife” and who viewed it as a ministry of loving God and others.

In all honesty, I hate the term “housewife,” because I am not married to my house. I prefer the word “homemaker” because that is what I see as my first ministry: making a home for my loved ones, a home not just in the physical sense of cleaning and cooking (though that does make up the bulk of the work), but a home where my loved ones can find respite, where they can be nurtured and can grow. Realistically, no, it’s not always romantically idyllic, and, yes, there are moments of drudgery. I think many homemakers do have times of feeling unnoticed and unappreciated as Ginny did in the book. But I think that occurs in any occupation. I don’t think the only solution to that is to go find something more “important” and “fulfilling.” I think the solution is to do everything, even the most humbling tasks, as unto the Lord, to find ways to incorporate beauty and creativity and mental stimulation into everyday life, to reach out to others and find ways of ministering. I wouldn’t say that no Christian wife and mother should ever work outside the home. But I do find my God-given role as a wife and mother both important and fulfilling.

The second recurring theme that bothered me was the defiant, argumentative “standing up to” people, especially people in authority. Now, again, I want to be balanced: I do believe in standing up for what one believes, standing up against injustice, etc. Near the end of the book one of the characters, the wife of a rather domineering and authoritarian husband, says, “The Bible says I must honor you, and I always have. But that doesn’t mean that I must always agree with you. And it doesn’t mean that I can’t tell you what I think.” I do agree with that. But I don’t agree with the spirit that manifested itself in many characters and situations in the book. I think it was wrong for Ginny to defy her husband’s wishes by continuing to work. It’s not that I objected to the plot line, but it bothered me that everyone, even the professing Christians, encouraged her to do so. I’ve been taught that wifely submission is not just the idea that “If push comes to shove…,” “If he insists…,” “If he makes me…, ” then I have to do what he says, but rather it is a voluntary arranging oneself under the husband’s leadership. The only time I could see Biblical justification for a wife to outright defy a husband’s wishes would be if a Scriptural principle were involved (Acts 4:18-20). Again, if this just came up in this one plot line, it would be one thing, but this “standing up to” people with a defiant attitude came up so often it seemed to me to be a theme rather than just an individual plot line.

Those are my impressions, having just finished the book this morning.

I Corinthians 13 applied to Christmas

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Someone sent this to me a few years ago right when I was in the midst of a pressure-filled week, and I am ashamed to say I did not receive it well. I want to start out this Christmas season with these thoughts at the forefront:

1 CORINTHIANS 13 – – A CHRISTMAS VERSION –

By an unknown author

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love, I’m just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love, I’m just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir’s cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn’t envy another’s home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.

Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can’t.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure.

See also:

Christmas Devotional Reading

Mary’s Virginity

Ten free gifts for Christmas

For God so loved that He gave…

Mary’s Dream

If I were a goose

The Perfect Christmas

Christmas Grief

Missions poems and quotes

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A few weeks ago our church had its missions conference, and I had planned some time since then to post some favorite missions quotes and poems. For various reasons I hadn’t done it yet — and decided to do so today:

Away in foreign lands they wondered how
Their simple words had power.
At home the Christians, two or three,
Had met to pray an hour.
Yes, we are always wondering, wondering how–
Because we do not see
Someone — perhaps unknown and faraway —
On bended knee.

–Author unknown

The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, and the nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.
—Henry Martyn – Missionary to the Muslims of Persia and India

I have seen, at different times, the smoke of a thousand villages — villages whose people are without Christ, without God, and without hope in the world. — Robert Moffat

I am ready to burn out for God. I am ready to endure any hardship, if by any means I might save some. The longing of my heart is to make known my glorious Redeemer to those who have never heard. — William Burns

Scores of casks! And only one missionary!;
Mary Slessor, (1848-1915)Pioneer Scottish missionary to Calabar, part of what is now Nigeria. She made this observation in August, 1876 while boarding a ship at Liverpool that was busy loading casks of spirits for West Africa.

When you think of the woman’s power, you forget the power of the woman’s God. I shall go on.
Mary Slessor, upon being told by a local African chief that it was foolish and dangerous for her, a woman, to travel inland to intervene between warring tribes.

We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God — John Stott

It is the whole business of the whole church to preach the whole gospel to the whole world.– Charles H. Spurgeon

God’s part is to put forth power; our part is to put forth faith. — Andrew A. Bonar

The church that does not evangelize will fossilize.– Oswald J. Smith

God is not looking for a certain IQ.
He is looking for a certain “I Will”.
– Sid Messer

When I came to see that Jesus Christ had died for me, it didn’t seem hard to give up all for Him. It seemed just common, ordinary honesty.
—C. T. Studd (1860-1931)

Send us people with initiative, who can carry themselves and others too; such as need to be carried hamper the work and weaken those who should be spending their strength on the heathen. Weaklings should be nursed at home! If any have jealousy, prides, or talebearing traits lurking about them, do not send them, nor any who are prone to criticize. Send only Pauls and Timothys; men who are full of zeal, holiness and power. All others are hindrances. If you send us ten such men the work will be done. Quantity is nothing; quality is what matters.
FORWARD EVER; BACKWARD,NEVER!
—C.T. Studd – Missionary to China, India, and Africa

Don’t send a lamp to the mission field that will not burn at home.—Unknown

Not one person in the world needs Jesus Christ less than you do.– Unknown

Sympathy is no substitute for service.—Unknown

If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for. — Charles Spurgeon

Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you are alive, it isn’t.— Richard Bach

How often do we attempt to work for God to the level of our incompetency rather than to the limit of God’s omnipotency.—Hudson Taylor

We have a base man-pleasing disposition, which will make us let men perish lest we lose their love, and let them go quietly to hell, lest we should make them angry with us for seeking their salvation: and we are ready to venture on the displeasure of God, and risk the everlasting misery of our people, rather than draw on ourselves their ill-will.—Richard Baxter

I marvel…how I can let men alone in their sins, and that I do not go to them, and beseech them, for the Lord’s sake, to repent, however they may take it, and whatever pains or trouble it may cost me!— Richard Baxter

A Missionary Appeal

There are times when the enemy seems to prevail
And faintness creeps over the heart,

When courage and confidence quiver and quail
At the glance if his fiery dart.

There are times when, exhausted, we can but stand still,
The sword-arm hangs nerveless and numb;

Oh, then to the soul comes a whisper so chill;
“Are they weary of praying back home?”

In the Presence of My Enemies

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One of the books on my fall reading list was Gracia Burnham’s In the Presence of My Enemies. I had heard of it and seen it a few years ago and somewhere read an excerpt from it, but I avoided reading it. I couldn’t face it. I’m not sure why: maybe because it was too fresh, maybe because the people responsible for the Burnham’s captivity were still alive (maybe not the specific people, but the extremist Islamic groups are still active), maybe because in the portion that I read, Gracia was having to deal with something that I struggle with. But our youth pastor saw a DVD presentation of Gracia sharing her testimony at another church where he was ministering and recommended it to me. I ordered it, watched it, and was so touched on so many levels. I then felt that I had to read the book.

For those who might not be aware, Martin and Gracia Burnham were missionaries in the Philippines: he was a missionary pilot who reminded me a lot of one of my church’s missionaries who also pilots a small plane. They had gone for a quick weekend get-away to celebrate their anniversary at a resort. They didn’t usually go to the “touristy” areas, but decided to go this once. During their stay, an Islamic extremist group stormed the resort and took guests and a few staff members hostage. Several of the hostages were able to arrange for ransom and were released after a few months. Some were killed along the way. The Burnhams were held for over a year. Martin was killed in a rescue attempt by the Philippine military and Gracia was wounded.

I don’t want to take away from what she shares on the DVD or in the book, so I won’t go into the details of the story here. I do want to mention just a couple of impressions, though.

As the Burnhams struggled with negative thoughts and attitudes toward their captors, I kept finding myself thinking at first, “But they had a right to feel that way!” I knew better, but that was the thought that kept coming. They had to put into practice the Bible’s teaching about loving their enemies, praying for those who were despitefully using them, in a very real way and only by God’s grace.

I also was grieved that I did not pray for them more. I don’t recall if I prayed for them at all. Often when I hear reports of stories like theirs on the news, I try at least to pray right then in the midst of loading the dishwasher or driving or whatever I am doing. I may have prayed for them in that way, but I don’t remember. The scripture came to mind to remember those in bonds as if bound with them, and I failed to do that for the Burnhams, but this caused me to determine not to neglect that ministry again.

I was also struck by the Muslim group’s twisted sense of logic. They wanted Islam to rule the world so it would be ruled by “righteousness.” They advocated the cutting off of someone’s hand for stealing — but excused their own stealing because they “needed” the stolen items for their cause. When people died in the course of what they did, it was “their destiny.” They had a strong sense of “justice” but saw mercy as a weakness. When discussing that last point with one of their captors, Martin said, “You know, I hope my children don’t take up the attitude you have. I hope they don’t ever shoot some Muslims because of what you have done to us.” The man to whom they were speaking looked shocked. “Done to you? What is my sin against you? I have never done anything to you.” Martin and Gracia could only look at each other incredulously.

Gracia tells of her very human struggles, like depression, anger, and resentment over their situation and the realization that not only was her attitude not helping, but it was hurting. She writes, “I knew that I had a choice. I could give in to my resentment and allow it to dig me into a deeper and deeper hole both psychologically and emotionally, or I could choose to believe what God’s Word says to be true whether I felt it was or not.” That was a turning point for her as she chose to believe God and handed over her pain and anger to Him. I thought how often we get tripped up over pain, resentment, and anger over much lesser things.

She shares also how the Lord provided for them in unexpected ways, how she and Martin encouraged each other, how they had to battle a captive’s mindset, how they were able to talk about the Lord with their captors and other hostages, as well as the details of how she and Martin originally came together as a couple and what happened in the aftermath of her captivity.

One final impression: God’s Word is true no matter what, and thankfully He doesn’t see fit to put all of us through that kind of experience., but when someone who has been through what she has speaks of God’s goodness and faithfulness, the truth of God’s Word and the reality of His Presence….it rings true. There is an authenticity about that person’s testimony. Their faith, their beliefs have been tried in the fires of testing.

I Peter 1:6-8:

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory…

Hungering and thirsting

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My Daily Light reading for this morning included these verses:

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).

He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness (Psalm 107:9).

I got to wondering why we don’t hunger and thirst for Him and His righteousness more. The answer that came to mind: we’re full of other things. In physical life we can “spoil our dinner” (as my grandma used to say) by filling up with the wrong things; we can develop a taste for junk food and lose our appetite for nourishing meals. We can do that spiritually, too.

This brought to mind a song that some dear friends from PA taught us when they came to live in TX. I’ve never heard it anywhere else. I found the words attributed to Martha Snell Nicholson . It uses a different metaphor but makes the same observation:

 

One by one He took them from me,
All the things I valued most,
Until I was empty-handed:
Every glittering toy was lost.
And I walked earth’s highways grieving
In my rags and poverty
Til I heard His voice inviting,
“Lift your empty hands to Me!”

So I held my hands toward Heaven
And He filled them with a store
Of His own transcendent riches
Til they could contain no more.
And at last I comprehended
With my stupid mind and dull
That God could not pour His riches
Into hands already full.

The rest of the Daily Light reading lists His promises to fill us with His goodness when we do hunger and thirst for Him:

We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house (Psalm 65:4).

I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst (John 6:35).

He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away (Luke 1:53).

How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light (Psalm 36:7-9).

One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple (Psalm 27:4).

May we set aside the things that don’t satisfy and seek the One who does.