Trusting God is sometimes hard. In one sense He gave us intelligence to be able to think ahead. Sometimes this ability can cause great stress in our lives. We worry when we think about what tomorrow might possibly bring. But Jesus counsels:
"See how the lilies of the fields grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you?" Matthew 6:28-30
Springtime is a time for a beautiful splendor of colors, blossoming all over the earth. There are greens and yellows, blues and reds, oranges and browns; manifesting the majesty of God's glory around the globe.
Many people in North America spend a lot of effort to make their lawns a rich green after their long winter's browning. And then, little yellow blossoms of dandelions begin to randomly sprout everywhere. This causes many to become angry, and purchases are made of weed controls and plucking tools to get rid of the nasty weed.
My theory is that God gives us the dandelion, like He gives the Coastal regions of Israel the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valleys, to remind us of this very important lesson about "worry", in Matthew. I think the dandelion must be among God's most favorite flowers, because He bountifully blesses our lawns and fields with them.
The color green is a soothing color; and yellow is the color of joy. What a great blessing God gives to our lawns and fields every year, at springtime. We can sit on a grassy hillside, in the green grass and among the yellow dandelions, and be both soothed in our souls and filled with joy, as we meditate on the Lord. I can almost feel the early summer breezes caressing my face as I think upon these things.
Song of Songs 2:1 says,
"I am a rose of Sharon (crocus), a lily of the valleys."
These were very common flowers, probably consider by many to be weeds, which grew bountifully along the Coastal regions of Israel during Solomon's time. When he wrote the Song of Songs, He used these flowers in particular to illustrate the commonness of humanity. The commonality in all of us is that we are all sinners in need of God's grace and mercy. However, God sees nothing common in any of us. We are each uniquely made by the hands of God in His image and likeness.
If you were to closely examine one dandelion from another, you would quickly identify many differences. Even though we look upon all of them as the same, each one was uniquely designed by God and placed on our lawns and in in our fields to bring honor and glory to Him.
Just as God painstakingly created every lily of the field, and every dandelion of our lawns, and every rose of Sharon of the Coastal regions of Israel, how much more has He cared for you. We simply need to trust Him for what he does best - He cares for us in the exact moment of time.
Blessings,
-Leo
Friday, May 20, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
God is not the God of Predictions
How silly faith would be if it was reduced to nothing more than trusting in predictions. As you may have heard, Evangelist Harold Camping from the United States has used the number seven in a number of calculations to predict when the church is to be raptured (taken up: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). According to Camping that will happen 7,000 years after the great flood of Noah's day (Genesis 6 & 7); which again according to Camping is May 21, 2011.
This is purely a manmade prediction, and should not be taken seriously. If God wanted us to know the time of Jesus' eminent return He would have made it clear to us in the Bible. Instead, He makes it clear that only He knows the time and hour when that will happen. As a matter of fact, I think God goes out of His way to imply that He doesn't want us to know. He simply wants us to be obedient to be His church to a lost and dying world.
In my seminary years we studied eschatology (the theories of future events and things). I remember the professor stating quite clearly that up until around 150 year ago the theory of the rapture of the church taking place before the 7 years of tribulations (pre-trib mill), and then the end of the world would come, is about a 150 year old theory. But for most of the 2,000 years of the history of the church, it believed that the rapture would happen after the 7 year tribulation period (post-trib mill).
Of course this is still a hotly debated argument. However the point is really not about when the rapture will happen. Each is to be respected for their own beliefs. The real point of the matter has to do with predictions based on theories; because most of eschatology in terms of when the rapture will happen is based on theory; exact times for the events are not clearly laid out in the Bible. I truely believe that God does not want us to know, He simply wants us to trust in Him.
What benefit would it be for us to know. Some of the New Testament Epistles address this very problem. Early Church Christians believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime so they stopped working for a living and simply sat back and waited. Nothing mattered anymore to them; except the rapture and the coming of Jesus.
The rapture of the Church will happen at the exact moment the voice of God commands it, and not a moment before. He simply wants us to know that it will happen, as a promise for His eminent return. In the meantime, get to work! God's work is never finished until "He" calls it a day; not Harold Camping.
Blessings,
-Leo
This is purely a manmade prediction, and should not be taken seriously. If God wanted us to know the time of Jesus' eminent return He would have made it clear to us in the Bible. Instead, He makes it clear that only He knows the time and hour when that will happen. As a matter of fact, I think God goes out of His way to imply that He doesn't want us to know. He simply wants us to be obedient to be His church to a lost and dying world.
In my seminary years we studied eschatology (the theories of future events and things). I remember the professor stating quite clearly that up until around 150 year ago the theory of the rapture of the church taking place before the 7 years of tribulations (pre-trib mill), and then the end of the world would come, is about a 150 year old theory. But for most of the 2,000 years of the history of the church, it believed that the rapture would happen after the 7 year tribulation period (post-trib mill).
Of course this is still a hotly debated argument. However the point is really not about when the rapture will happen. Each is to be respected for their own beliefs. The real point of the matter has to do with predictions based on theories; because most of eschatology in terms of when the rapture will happen is based on theory; exact times for the events are not clearly laid out in the Bible. I truely believe that God does not want us to know, He simply wants us to trust in Him.
What benefit would it be for us to know. Some of the New Testament Epistles address this very problem. Early Church Christians believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime so they stopped working for a living and simply sat back and waited. Nothing mattered anymore to them; except the rapture and the coming of Jesus.
The rapture of the Church will happen at the exact moment the voice of God commands it, and not a moment before. He simply wants us to know that it will happen, as a promise for His eminent return. In the meantime, get to work! God's work is never finished until "He" calls it a day; not Harold Camping.
Blessings,
-Leo
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