Tag Archives: death

Morning Musings

Sin Brings Fear…..

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Genesis Three…..

Verses 11-14….

   Sin brought fear, being afraid, of God. It also brought self centredness….”I was afraid”; “I heard”; “I” hid from You. God made man to be God centred, and now sin had blotted God out of man’s heart. God says, “Your sins have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2) There is only one prayer that God will hear from a person in this condition and that is, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner!”

   God confronted man about his disobedience…He didn’t sweep it under the mat as it were, or make excuses for his weakness….man had a chance to repent there and then, but what did he do? He made excuse after excuse and admitted nothing.

    How often we do the same thing! “Not my fault, I didn’t do it!” or else we lay the blame on someone (or something) else. Adam immediately said, “It wasn’t my fault, it was the woman that YOU gave me who gave me the fruit!” How weak can a man be! But Eve was no better. She said, “Wasn’t MY fault, it was the serpent that made me do it!” Satan made no excuses….he had achieved his purpose, but the vehicle of his voice (the serpent) was immediately cursed. It was no longer a creature of beauty, but was now a creeping, slithering thing of horror that was hated by all other creatures.

   Satan had already fallen in God’s sight, with his place already waiting for him, so he had no reason to make any excuse. He had ruined God’s highest creation and he was satisfied with that for the time being.

Now man had sinned, he was afraid, And hid in trees that God had made,

Covered up in leaves that fade, And then faced God in sin unpaid.

                                       ***   ***   ***

Morning Musings

Be Sure Your Sin Will You Out!

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Genesis Three….         

Verses 7-10….

   Adam and Eve had both disobeyed God’s instructions and eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and immediately they knew they had sinned. Their conscience came surging to life and the seeds of death in their body began to grow. From that moment on they began to age.

  Before this, they hadn’t known or experienced evil or sin, but now they were caught in its web….there was no going back or undoing it.. God had seen it all, in fact He knew it was going to happen, and that these creatures He had made with a free will had chosen to rebel against Him!

   They knew now that they were naked and made coverings for their nakedness out of fig leaves, not realising that these too were now decaying. How futile are man’s efforts to cover his sin!

   So too, it is today….man is incapable of covering his sin from God’s sight. The seeds of Adam’s sin are passed on from generation to generation and everyone is born with that ”I want to” do their own thing and have their own way which God calls sin! (Romans 5:12)

  By covering their nakedness, they gave themselves away before God and hid among the trees not wanting to face Him for the first time since their creation. No longer could they face God in their sin.

Eve disobeyed and ate the fruit, which God had told her didn’t suit,

Now she and Adam both could know, What shame was like as time did show.

                                       ***   ***   ***

Life Lessons

Another Family Broken.

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  We attended the funeral of a very much loved wife, mother, grandmother and friend the other day  who  seemed to have been taken far too soon. It was an extremely large funeral service, one that paid many tributes to our friend and to her faith in her God. Once again, it impressed itself on me the brevity and uncertainty of life, and I wondered how many of those who were present were ready to take this, their last trip from this earth.

The overall message from the Lord to several members of that family was that verse that says…”You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You”, and that is what makes all the difference. If our mind is stayed (or steadfast) on the God of our salvation, we have nothing to fear, but if we don’t know Him, the best that we can face is an uncertain hope.

When an untimely death like this occurs, we can know with certainty that it is God’s doing, not man’s. It is a clean break that can heal in time, giving the opportunity for a fresh new start in another direction. What a difference to a messy break in a family that is caused by man’s interference!

Yes, the sorrow is still there, and the gap is still as great, but it is like a pot of  boiling water that has a potato and an egg in the shell put into it. The boiling water makes the egg go hard, while the same boiling water makes the potato go soft! When the boiling water of serious trouble strikes us, which are we going to be…the egg or the potato? Let’s remember that picture and turn to the God of all comfort, softening to His will and moving on.

Morning Musings

Shadows Can’t hurt You !

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P1020749It was one of those days when the clouds race across the sky, giving patches of shade and sunshine. As a big shadow covered the sun and the warmth faded, it made me realise that shadows cannot hurt us. They may take the warmth and joy out of the day while they linger, but they will always pass and the sun will shine again. We go through bad times, and then find that time does heal the losses we have experienced, and the hurts we have suffered.

There is a well known verse in the Bible that sums it all up….Yes, even though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You (God) are with me, and Your rod and staff comfort me. (Psalm 23:4) We can know God’s comfort if we look to Him for it, but unless we roll all our cares on Him and leave them there, we cannot know His peace that passes all our understanding.