God and orphans

But God has a very soft spot for the unprotected and vulnerable. He is the Father of the fatherless. Be careful what you do to those who have no guardian. He will step in. If not now, then later. And it won’t be pretty. PS. 68.5

“The Least Bad of All Sins” by Lewis

“If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasures of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronising [sic] and spoiling sport, and back-biting, the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither.”

On being Fashionable (1 Peter 1.14)

Being fashionable offers acceptance in certain crowds. But ultimately, only holiness can affect the kind of change we will find satisfactory.

What is God’s Manifest Presence?

Ask Adam and Eve! They walked with God in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden.

Ask Enoch! He walked with God and was no more for God took him.

Ask Noah! God spoke directly with him, making a covenant with mankind through him and blessing him and his family forever.

Ask Abraham! Whom God called out of Ur to go to a land he did not know and become a father of a multitude.

Ask Jacob! Because he wrestled with God until He broke his hip and limped the rest of his life.

Ask Joseph! To whom God manifest Himself in dreams.

Ask Moses! Who was so close to God that when he walked away, his face would glow.

Ask Isaiah! Who saw the Lord, high and lifted up, seated on His throne and the train of robe filled His temple.

Ask Peter, James, John, who saw Jesus, not only live his life before them for 3 years, but manifest his glory before them.

Ask Paul (Saul, at the time) who saw so much of the presence of God, that he was blinded.

Ask John! Who looked and behold,….His head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow,  and his eyes were like a fiery  flame. 1:15 His feet were like polished bronze  refinedin a furnace, and his voice was like the roar  of many waters. 1:16 He held  seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His  face shone like the sun shining at full strength. 1:17 When  I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead.

Our wills are ours, we know not how; Our wills are ours, to make them thine.(want more?)

http://www.online-literature.com/tennyson/718/

True satisfaction

But in both Testaments, God’s people were never satisfied with His Omnipresence. Those who seek God, always seek his Manifest presence.

Behold the Lamb!

In Rev. 5.6-8 we read that the “four living creatures” (whatever they are!) and the 24 elders fall down before the Lamb. In sharp contrast to the sacrifice of worship this Lamb was, He becomes the Object of worship by the leaders of God’s assembly in heaven: and by extension, all of humanity and the heavenly beings.

The servant has become the ruler.

The slaughtered has become the beloved.

The hated has become the adored.

The sacrificed has become the worshipped!

On the scorn of Jesus…

“Was it not evil confessing, in the very moment of its greatest apparent triumph, that after all it could do no more than mock at that victorious goodness which was then reigning on the cross?” Spurgeon

Healing for the Wounded Soul

All of us have wounded bodies and souls, we only differ in degree.   Some people have severely wounded bodies from things like cancer or paralysis.  Others have comparatively mild problems like a broken arm or high blood pressure.  The wounds of the soul are less visible but no less real and in many ways more painful than the wounds of the body.

Suffering

All it took for the Innocent to suffer was for the Father to turn His face away…how much more when the Father turns His face from the guilty.