Month: May 2024

The Secret Of The Lord

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By Oswald Chambers

The Lord confides in those who fear him. — Psalm 25:14

What is the sign of true friends? That they tell you secret sorrows? No, that they tell you secret joys. Many people will confide to you their secret sorrows, but the ultimate sign of intimacy is confiding secret joys. Have we ever let God tell us his joys? Or are we so busy telling God our secrets that we leave no room for him to talk to us?

At the beginning of our Christian life, our prayers are full of requests. Then we discover that what God wants is to bring us, through prayer, into a personal relationship with him so that he can reveal his will. Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer is, “Your will be done” (Matthew 26:42). Are we so committed to this way of praying that we catch the intimate secrets of God? God may bring us great big blessings, but it is the small, secret things that make us love him, because they show his amazing intimacy with us. They show that he knows every detail of our lives.

“He will instruct them in the ways they should choose” (Psalm 25:12). At the start of our life of faith, we want to be conscious of God guiding us. But as we go on, we no longer need to ask what his will is; the thought of choosing anything else no longer occurs to us. If we are saved and sanctified, God instructs us in every choice we make, guiding our common sense and alerting us when we are in danger of choosing something he doesn’t want. When God checks us in this way, we must obey. Never reason it out and say, “I wonder why I shouldn’t.” Whenever there is doubt, don’t.

2 Chronicles 19-20; John 13:21-38

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Defenders of the faith are inclined to be bitter until they learn to walk in the light of the Lord. When you have learned to walk in the light of the Lord, bitterness and contention are impossible.

Oswald Chambers was an early-twentieth-century Scottish Baptist evangelist and teacher who was aligned with the Holiness Movement. He is best known for the daily devotional My Utmost for His Highest

What Is Truth

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This essay was written for a friend of mine who asked me about the nature of Truth. He was  not alone; Pontius Pilate asked “what is truth?”. My one-word answer? Jesus. Every truthful thing in the universe can be found in Jesus the Logos. Wisdom, Truth, and Knowledge originate in Jesus (implied in John 14:6). Truth is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The Logos is absolute, rock solid, eternal truth. “I am the Lord thy God – I change not” (Malachi 3:6).

2 Corinthians 10:5 (paraphrased) tells us – We use scripture and wisdom to demolish arguments and every pretense the foolish use against the knowledge of God within us, and the Spirit takes captive of every thought we have, gradually bringing our inner self into obedience with Christ. Continue reading “What Is Truth” →

Eternal God

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It has been my observation while reading portions of Deuteronomy, the one true living God defined in scripture is eternal, He has no origin. Origin is a word that we apply to things created. When I think of anything that has an origin I’m not thinking about God. He always has been, is, always will be. The “eternal God is my refuge, and underneath are His everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27 paraphrased).

The idea of no beginning and no ending leads me to the concept of eternal. When I wrap my mind around the notion of an eternal God, I immediately place God in an entirely different class of being (not human, not handmade, no authority above God, not a figment of my imagination). Continue reading “Eternal God” →

After Prayer, Lie Cold

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Arise my body, my small body, we have striven
Enough, and He is merciful; we are forgiven.
Arise small body, puppet-like and pale, and go,
White as the bed-clothes into bed, and cold as snow,
Undress with small, cold fingers and put out the light,
And be alone, hush’d mortal, in the sacred night,
-A meadow whipt flat with the rain, a cup
Emptied and clean, a garment washed and folded up,
Faded in colour, thinned almost to raggedness
By dirt and by the washing of that dirtiness.
Be not too quickly warm again. Lie cold; consent
To weariness’ and pardon’s watery element.
Drink up the bitter water, breathe the chilly death;
Soon enough comes the riot of our blood and breath.

C.S. Lewis (born November 29, 1898, Belfast, Ireland [now in Northern Ireland]—died November 22, 1963, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England) was an Irish-born scholar, novelist, and author of about 40 books, many of them on Christian apologetics, including The Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity.

Hank The Tank And The Cloud Chase

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O’Toole and Hank the Tank the wonder dog are really good friends. One thing they really really like is to chase cats.  Now, a few days ago O’Toole and Hank the Tank were walking down the sidewalk.  O’Toole was whistling things like boys often do and Hank the Tank was sniffing things like dogs often do.  Then Hank the Tank looked up and told O’Toole he could smell their friend Miss Kitty the cat. 

O’Toole was very happy and asked Hank the Tank – what direction is Miss Kitty the Cat? 

Hank the Tank replied – I think Miss Kitty is just around the corner.  Come on, follow me.  

They both scampered around the corner just in time to see Miss Kitty the cat.   Hank the Tank called out and startled Miss Kitty.  She jumped on the nearest tree and started climbing.

Now the chase was on.  What fun.  What now.  How can they catch that cat when she’s up in the tree and they’re standing on the ground?  O’Toole jumped up on the tree and started climbing.  Then Hank the Tank jumped on the tree and started climbing also.  Goodness they were having fun.  They could see all over the neighborhood.  Miss Kitty just got higher and higher in the tree.  She was laughing really loud. The cool breeze was very nice.  The sun spilled all over their faces.  It was so much fun.

When Miss Kitty got to the top of the tree there was no place left for her to go.  Hank the Tank and O’Toole were catching up.  Miss Kitty would have nothing to do with them catching up with her.  Today was her day to be the best climber.  So, what do you suppose that cat did? 

Well, that cat looked around and there was this beautiful big cloud really close to her.  This big cloud was sailing by as carefree as you can imagine. So, Miss Kitty looks back at Hank the Tank, winks her one blue eye, and that cat jumped off the tree and landed right in the middle of that cloud. Miss Kitty sailed away right through the air, sitting on that cloud.  Oh my!

Now O’Toole and Hank the Tank were watching this. They were wondering what they were going to do. How are they going to catch that Miss Kitty now?

Just then, another cloud came by and O’Toole said to Hank the Tank — come on, we’re going to get on that cloud. 

So, the two of them jumped onto that cloud and they started sailing away after Miss Kitty. But they quickly figured out that their cloud was not moving any faster than Miss Kitty’s cloud. 

Well, O’Toole says to Hank the Tank — we are never going to catch the cat this way.   O’Toole thinks about it for a bit and makes up a plan. O’Toole says to Hank the Tank — hang your tail over the side of this cloud and wag it like a propeller.

So, Hank the Tank tries it and sure enough, their clouds started moving a little faster and they are getting closer and closer to Miss Kitty. Well, Miss Kitty was worried. What do you think Miss Kitty did? So, Miss Kitty watched them, noticed what they were doing, and decided to do the same thing.  Oh my.  So, Miss Kitty hung her tail over the side of the cloud and started wagging it like a propeller. Sure enough, she started moving at the same pace that Hank the Tank and O’Toole were moving. Problem solved.

O’Toole said to Hank the Tank — I don’t think we’re ever going to catch Miss Kitty today.  She wins. Besides, I’m getting hungry.

Hank the Tank said – me too!  And my tail is getting tired, this is hard work.

O’Toole replied to Hank the Tank — well, we’re going to have to get down from this cloud.  Do you have any ideas on how to get off this cloud?

So, the two of them are looking around and Hank the Tank sees a kite.

Hank the Tank said — I know, we’re going to use that kite string to get down. When they saw the Kite, the 5:00 factory whistle blew and all the kids in the neighborhood headed home for supper.

Oh gosh! O’Toole steered that cloud towards the kite and latched onto that string. They both just slid right down that string all the way to the ground. Boom!

Then they bumped into the man who is flying the kite. Well guess who it was.  Why the Kite flyer was Mister Red-Sea.  He lives right next door to O’Toole. So, Hank the Tank and O’Toole talked to Mister Red-Sea about their adventure.  Mister Red-Sea thought it was fun to help them find their way from the cloud to their back yard – the promised land of milk and cookies.  Then O’Toole and Hank the Tank walked through the door in the fence between Mister Red-Sea’s house and O’Toole’s house.  They got home just in time for milk and cookies followed by dinner.

But what are you supposed to happen to Miss Kitty? Well, the cloud that Miss Kitty was riding bumped into a tree and that cat jumped right onto that tree and headed right down to the ground. Wow.  Miss Kitty looked over to the left and Miss Kitty looked to the right, she couldn’t see no Hank the Tank and she couldn’t see O’Toole.   Just Mister Redsea, her owner.  When she got home, she was very happy, there was supper in the kitchen waiting for her.   

So, everybody had a real good afternoon, they got home for supper just in time, and they got to see a part of their neighborhood they had never seen before. All was well in the world of Hank the Tank. It was a very good day. The end.

Written by G.Russell Oaks, Published in the Humpty Dumpty Childrens Magazine, April 1953 Adapted for ShalomTalk by Dan, 2024