Category Archives: Morning Musings

Morning Musings

Global Warming.

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                                                    Global Warming.    (30th  June 2022)

        We hear a lot about global warming and climate change these days, and while we cannot deny that things HAVE changed somewhat, we don’t need to worry or to think that things are out of control altogether due to what man does or doesn’t do. True, the weather does change, but it always has and it always will. That is the way it has been decreed, by the Maker of all things. When the tides were put in place due to the pull of the sun and moon, God said, “Thus far you shall come, and no further” and He reminded  the man called Job of this, saying “The proud waves shall come no further!” (Job 38:11)

   Then again, we hear that the ice cap is melting and this will make the sea rise to swamp all the lowland areas. Have you ever looked at a bottle of water that is frozen? It expands in the middle when it is frozen and when it thaws out, the water level is still exactly the same as  before it was frozen!! This can give us confidence that even if the sea DOES melt around the icecaps, the sea level can’t rise any more than before it was frozen. In many areas of the earth  where the sea freezes over, we don’t hear of the water level rising when the thaw comes. Yes, there may be floods at that time, but everything levels out again once it is all over. There is truly a wonderful Creator who has put everything in place and decreed that this is how it will stay until the end of time.

     People say, “Well, look at the Pacific Islands that are being covered by the sea now, and how much worse it will be in the years to come!”  We can’t deny that in some places, the sea is covering what used to be dry land in the past. But stop and think a moment, these islands are formed from many deposits of coral that over the years is slowly breaking down, so in actual fact, the islands are slowly sinking rather than the tide over-all getting higher!

    So take heart, there is no need to be afraid of what is being said by those who think they know. Instead, look into these things from the point of view of the Creator of all things, who looked at His Creation in the beginning when it was completed, and said, “These things are VERY good!”

Morning Musings

A New Life!

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      A new life is such a precious thing! For both parents and baby, there is a whole new way of life opening up. For the parents, there is consideration to be learned for each other and also for the new life that has been given to them. Especially if the newborn has some disability which comes to light a bit further down the track….there will be broken nights  and maybe medical bills which haven’t been reckoned on. For the little one, there is so much to be learned….everything in fact! How to focus on things, people and objects. How to hold one’s head up, and then how to reach and take hold of something. So many fascinating sights, sounds and smells to learn, to say nothing of new routines to be formed.

    Wise parents will learn to train this little one in ways to save the least disturbance in the household’s routines. So many babies seem to learn to cry for the slightest bit of attention, and they find very quickly if this works!       Once it has been established that baby is not uncomfortable in any way, and is full and dry, then it doesn’t hurt to give them a little space for crying until the child realises that it isn’t going to bring the immediate attention that it is looking for. It is sad indeed to hear of parents who have not been able to have an unbroken night’s sleep for nine months or more.

    A child who knows that it is loved and cared for, will become a joy to its parents, and a satisfied little being, happy in itself. There is much instruction given in God’s Word about how to bring up a child in God’s way….after all, God is our Maker and it behoves us to read the Maker’s instructions on how to train a child in His ways!

Morning Musings

In God’s Image!

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There’s a statement in Genesis chapter one, verses twenty-six to thirty-one that tells us how and where man came to be and why. There is no need to go any further, not to scientists or explorers, philanthropists or other wise men of the world. God has told us all we need to know, and as one old friend of ours once said, “God says it, I believe it, and that settles it!” Here is the Biblical account…..

Genesis 1:26 ….Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have  dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over  every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29       And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth,  and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food .30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

    I pondered this passage and thought about it a lot….in what way was I created to be like God?  In the first place we are all three part beings with a body, soul and spirit. God Himself is a three part Being, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 Then God desires fellowship with man….a freely given, reciprocal friendship. We too, want fellowship with other people in general, and  another person in particular. We have the capacity to fellowship with God, our Creator, and always feel that something is missing until we have it. Without this connection we only have a two dimensional outlook on life, like a flat picture….with it,  we see things in a 3D effect, being a part of what is around. We can appreciate the creation of God and look at things with different eyes, marvelling at His creativity and giving Him thanks for what He has made.

    There is another way we are made in His image….we can think and reason, we can create things. Think of the craftsman who makes a beautiful piece of furniture, the artist who can paint a lovely picture, the inventor who thinks up these amazing things that we take for granted every day!

    We are told that at the end of the creation period, God looked at all He had made and saw that it was “very good”. As each thing was created, He could see that it was good, but when He created man to top it all off, He felt that it was VERY good! Think of the satisfaction we have of doing a good job well! The satisfaction of seeing a perfect cake come out of the oven, a garment that has been lovingly made fitting to perfection, the shining car performing as it should….another proof that we are made in God’s image!

  We can see too, that man has the capacity to utilise all that God has created….all these things were created for man’s use and enjoyment. Let us acknowledge this and give Him the thanks and praise for it all, and be careful to not abuse the trust that He has given us!

Morning Musings

Stand Fast!

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               Standing  Fast!

    In the sermon we were listening to this week, we were exhorted to Stand fast! It is so much easier to go with the flow, to float downstream than to paddle against the current, to stick to your convictions than to give in to popular opinion.

We have seen this in the last few weeks in our community, our church and in our family. How much do our convictions mean to us?  We have seen more than one who will not give in, lose their jobs. All they have striven for through the years, and almost their freedoms of movement have gone.

    If we had been told that this would happen in this free country of New Zealand three years ago, we would not have thought it possible. Now we find ourselves barred from certain areas, as we are  told to move on by authoritarian voices, and who knows how much worse it will get! But if we can do this in the secular world, does it follow on in our spiritual life which is far more important? We are told by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 16 :13 to “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be  strong”. And  again  in  Ephesians  6:11-13  we  are  given  the  reason  why  this  is  so necessary.

    We aren’t in this fight alone, God has provided His armour for us to use, but our part is to take it up and use it. Stand up for what is right and don’t give in!

Morning Musings

Reflected Light…

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 The other morning while taking my early walk just as the sun was peeping over the hill, I could see a distant house that we never normally noticed. But just at that time of the day, the rising sun caught the windows facing it, and the reflected light was almost blinding. A bit further on, a closer house also caught the sun’s rays on its front windows. The thing that impressed me was the fact that there was no light in these windows of themselves at all, they were merely reflecting the sun at that time.

   It brought to mind the story of Moses in the Bible how that after he had been in the mountain top with God receiving the ten commandments for the people, his face was lit up with the light of heaven  on it. It was too bright for the people to look at it and he had to wear a veil over it until the brightness had faded somewhat. Then there is the account of how a man called Stephen was arrested for preaching about Jesus. As he spoke in his defence, members of the council saw that his face was shining like that of an angel.

   You might think that this was just in Bible times, but we heard of an elderly Christian gentleman who we knew, who was in hospital recovering from some heart trouble. One day, one of his friends went to visit him and asked the nurse where they could find him. She said, “Oh in the room just along there….look for the man with the face like an angel”.

  I wonder if people could say that about us? Or do we have a hard expression on our face when in repose? I often find myself so busy thinking about my own affairs that I hardly see other people and just march past them! It takes effort to think of others and give a smile to lighten their day. If we practiced that more often then perhaps people would see Jesus in us too. This is how we should be….little reflectors of His great light.

                                               

  

Morning Musings

Thinking Ahead

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    We have been reminded several times lately how it’s been pretty pointless in thinking ahead and making plans…even from one week to the next. One weekend, we had got as far as packing our motorhome for a  Christian Rally we were going to, only to hear about four hours before we were due to leave that the whole thing had been cancelled. Someone in our district had been diagnosed as having tested Covid positive, and as a result everything was closed down within a few hours! And it stayed that way for the next two weeks!

    We’ve heard it said that things will never get back to what we considered to be normal….maybe we older ones have had the best years of life! But then, the younger ones will grow up in a world that knows nothing else and will become more adjusted to it all!

     None of us likes change, but it  seems that this will; become the new normal….changes all around us. When we look at the seasons, we are always glad when spring time comes and everything is fresh and green. The trees are covered in new leaves, and fruit for the coming season is setting on them. This is change with a capital C! The old is left behind with the winter chills, and the new gleams ahead of us full of promise.

       Let us look at life like this….what lies ahead will be infinitely better than what we now know, and we can say, “The old has gone and the new has come!” So no matter how uncertain things are here for making plans ahead, we can say with confidence that “we know in Whom we have believed, and are persuaded to that He is able to keep that which we have committed to Him until that day!”   (2 Timothy 1:12)

We know that we can have this confidence if we know God personally, and if we don’t have this assurance, let’s begin to read the Bible and find out how we can know these things!

Morning Musings

He Will Never Leave Us!

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      We have  here the account of a godly family living near Jerusalem …Martha (who seemed to run the house), Lazarus her brother, and her sister Mary. We don’t read of the parents so presumably they had died with the family continuing to live in their home.

    We first see them as opening their home to the Lord Jesus and presumably His disciples as well, and it was a convenient place for them to call in and rest. This particular day, Martha was bustling around getting a meal ready, but all Mary could do was to sit on a stool at Jesus’ feet listening to His every word. This bothered Martha and she went to Jesus saying, “Lord, tell Mary to come and help get the food ready! “

   But Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are fussing about too much….Mary has chosen the best thing by sitting down and listening to what I have to say!”  In other words, what you are doing will soon all be gone, but what Mary is doing will last as long as she lives! How often we fuss about things that don’t really matter, and forget the things that do! Let us take stock and make sure we do the things that matter first, and the other things afterwards!

    The next time we see the family, food was the last thing on their minds. Lazarus was very ill, and Martha sent a message to Jesus asking Him to come and see if He could do anything for her brother. She was sure that if anyone could he[p, He could. But to her utter dismay, He didn’t come straight away, and Lazarus died. How often our prayers don’t get answered the way we want straight away! But it was through this tardiness of His, that His power could be ultimately shown, and so it is with us too. We often learn more through our prayers being unanswered (as we think), than having our every whim granted. God is not a big Santa Claus in the sky….He always does what is best for us, even though we may not like it at the time. How else can we learn His grace and sufficiency in time of need? “ My grace is sufficient for you”, He says. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

   It was through this time of sorrow for the sisters, that they saw His power shown in bringing Lazarus back to life….the greatest miracle of their lives! This proved to both Martha and Mary that He really was, Who He said He was! So it is for us too! Hard times that happen to us during our life time, teach us that God is still there, and that He cares for us, and even though we may not able to make sense of what is happening around us, we can know that He is still with us as He said He would be.

  Finally we see the family gathered together with others, and once more it is centred around food, and again Martha is serving and seeing to the meal. But this time Mary is the one who is concerned with giving back to the Lord something of what she has been learning at His feet. She brings out this jar of sweet smelling ointment and rubs it into His feet, weeping while she does it. The disciples watched this with mixed emotions….they had no idea why Mary was doing this, and Judas in particular scornfully said, “What a waste!!”. But the Lord knew Mary’s heart. and He knew that she understood far more than the others, and He knew the real reason for her action. She was sorrowing for the things that were going to happen to Him, and for the pain that lay ahead for all of them.

    We can be thankful that He DOES know our motives when others don’t, and He can see the reason we do things for Him when others don’t understand.

Morning Musings

What Do You See?

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       As we were driving along a beach frontage one beautiful sunny day I noticed three teenage girls sitting on the edge of the beach beside the road. The blue sea and white sand made a lovely picture.  But their backs were to the superb view and their eyes were glued to the smart phones they were each holding.

    I thought of the story in Pilgrim’s Progress about the man confined in a room playing around in the rubbish at his feet while an angel was hovering above him holding a crown. Alas, he never looked up to see the glories above, but just kept on with the worthless stuff around his feet.  

   What a pity that these three girls were missing the beauties of the great creation that God has given us to enjoy!  It costs us nothing to enjoy a good day at the beach….these other things will still be there later on to use. Let’s make sure that we focus on the worthwhile things of life while we can!

    When those times have gone and it is too late to recover them, we will regret all the missed opportunities that we once had. Let’s do what we can, while we can because as time moves on these times will pass away for ever! Where we once had unlimited time to look ahead, the time may come when our future is down to a few years at the best. This is all the more reason to make the most of the here and now, remembering that only what is done for the Lord is all that we can take with us when we leave this world.