2 Corinthians 4:16-18 – So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.
Month: October 2025
There is a Time for Everything
It was my observation while reading Ecclesiastes chapter 3, that Pete Seeger created the song ‘Turn Turn Turn’ from the first 8 verses. Solomon said (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”[NIV]
It is clear there is a plan for us, a plan that has been in place for eons, a plan that includes ebbs and flow of life events, a plan that carries us from birth to death. This plan was built from God’s foreknowledge, (God’s awareness of our choices and decision nuances), he integrates our free will decisions with His goals and forms the plan. Solomon pens the ebbs and flow of life in the context of God’s plan for us. We read about the rhythms of joy and sorrow, tearing down and building, scattering things and gathering things all playing out in our life and the life of our community.
Everyone reading this essay knows that life is full of turns. Not all the turns lead us to smooth waters. Some lead right through the valley of death, complete with tragedy and deep troubles. We know that God provides comfort and protection, but the bumpy road remains. Not all death means the termination of human Life. The death may be of things that matter, or relationships, or feelings, or other things. He uses these troubles to draw us over, around, or through walls that keep us from a deeper trust of his love for us. He uses events (good and bad) to strengthen our character.
There is more — Solomon says (Ecclesiastes 3:11) “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” I think that we know about some things, but there is much knowledge that God keeps tucked away, out of our reach. Human wisdom is real, is true, and extremely useful, but it is built on a limited knowledge structure – the things and ways he chooses to reveal to us. But, for sure, there is not one thing that we can know or ever know apart from God. Everything we experience, encounter, embrace – the good and the bad – is allowed from God. We discover things, we experience all that life brings us and we find trust. His timing is his business; in the end his timing reflects His glory.
Solomon says (Ecclesiastes 3:12-14) “I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to His plan, and nothing taken from His plan.” I think — if we knew everything that God knew it would create a burden that could not be carried. Consider the initial shock that Adam felt after they realized they were being evicted from Eden – I bet it took a while to adapt to their new surroundings. They had two sons, one of the sons killed the other son. This early example of evil is difficult to assimilate. How did things get so far out of control so quickly? I suspect this is why so much is hidden from us.
Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are amazing blessings that are gifted from God to us. With Jesus, hope abounds. We can face a myriad of experiences (good and bad) with hope, knowing we are secure in his grace. I really like the song ‘Turn Turn Turn’. Solomon wrote the lyrics long ago; the 1965 ‘Byrds’ recording holds the distinction of being the oldest known lyric for a #1 U.S. hit on the pop chart. But I think God’s Grace is infinitely better. I choose Jesus.
Jesus Answered, “I Am…
The appearance of Justice
It has been my observation while reading scripture on God’s mercy that Justice also appears. We know that Mercy and Justice are attributes of God. We know they both existed before creation; we know they are part of who God is, was, and always shall be. The one true living God has always engaged in mercy when handling our problems and he has always employed justice (fair jurisprudence) when managing cases where his mercy has been rejected, trampled upon, and despised. This was the plan when Jesus walked on earth and he is doing it today, it shall be forever. for as long as we can visualize the future, Elohim will continue – He is God. God’s mercy is not a temporary thing but a strong dominate attribute of the one true living God.
Consider what Micah 6:8 says — He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God [ESV]. When deciding what to do, I think we should start by saying — but for the grace of God, I could be the one to be judged. When we are wronged – we usually have a choice: (1) seek justice or (2) forgive and strengthen the person involved. In general, with mercy, we restore a relationship and move forward towards a positive outcome. The proper outcome of justice should be the same. The notion of walking with God involves finding a proper balance between justice and mercy in a way that advances the cause of Jesus.
I spent many years running a company and was compelled in several cases to explore the relationship between justice and mercy. Justice is rendered when people receive their due. Within the operations of my company, an act of justice typically was causing people to keep their word in agreements. Mercy, on the other hand, was an exercise in forbearance, grace, and compassion (let them off the hook).
I recall a case where I had a client that needed some graphics support for several images in a federal proposal. I reached out to a friend of mine and gave him the subcontract. I defined the requirements and provided a few samples. He did his best, they were not acceptable, I requested and obtained edits to the images, still not good enough. I was starting to push against a due date with no product to deliver. I reached out to another friend, provided the requirements and original samples, he made good stuff, and I delivered the products. Now, what to do with failed graphics. I could not in good faith charge my client for the failures only for the success. I wrestled with paying my failed sub (subcontractor). I knew the failed sub needed the work and I had overestimated his skills. I talked with him, showed him the final results, talked about his mistakes and how to do it better next time, and then paid him. I made the contract with my sub, I concluded I was not clear enough on the acceptance criteria, I took the blame and moved on. I helped him find a job with a local company to get the skills he needed. Justice? Yes. Right decision? Absolutely.
Paul says (Ephesians 2:4-6) — because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, … made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by [God’s] grace you have been saved. [For] God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms [NIV].
The deeper truth – it is hard to embrace God’s justice, generally we are not able to fully trust he will deal with the sins committed against us – we want to become part of the vengeance. It is hard to embrace God’s mercy because we are not sure he will accept our meager request for forgiveness, we are not sure he will put away our grievous sin’s. For both viewpoints, there is only one answer. A cross with streaming red blood dripping onto the ground. A tomb with nothing remaining but the empty clothing of a risen Jesus. His mercy and justice will be perfectly applied to close the issues. He will do the right thing. He will never break a bruised reed. He is far more merciful than we can ever imagine.
I choose Jesus.
At The Cross
All Glory, Laud and Honor
1 All glory, laud, and honor
to you, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring.
You are the King of Israel
and David’s royal Son,
now in the Lord’s name coming,
the King and Blessed One.
2 The company of angels
is praising you on high;
and we with all creation
in chorus make reply.
The people of the Hebrews
with palms before you went;
our praise and prayer and anthems
before you we present.
3 To you before your passion
they sang their hymns of praise;
to you, now high exalted,
our melody we raise.
As you received their praises,
accept the prayers we bring,
for you delight in goodness,
O good and gracious King!
Theodulf of Orléans (born 750, probably Spain—died 821, Angers, Anjou [France]) was a prelate, poet, and one of the leading theologians of the Frankish empire.
Elijah’s Prayer
This story is about a prophet named Elijah. Elijah was a regular man who made mistakes, who was afraid sometimes, yet when it really mattered he trusted God. Elijah did amazing things with God’s help and God did amazing things for Elijah.
A few things you should know before we start the story is that the land of Israel where Elijah was going was very evil. There was a king named Ahab who believed in a god named Baal (the weather god). He and most of the people worshipped this god and did many things that the Bible says we shouldn’t do.
King Ahab also had a wife named Jezebel. The king and his wife both came from very evil families. Together they helped make Israel a place that God did not like. That’s why God sent Elijah, he would show the people that God was more powerful and the one they should be worshipping instead.
It all started when Elijah was told by God to deliver a message to King Ahab. Elijah went to Ahab and told him, “My God has told me that there will be no rain or even dew in the next three years until I tell it to.” I’m going to guess that Ahab didn’t believe this would happen because he worshipped Baal who was the lord of the weather and he should’ve been able to give rain whenever the people prayed for it.
Now just think for a second if you had no rain, snow, or even dew for three years. Rivers and lakes would get very small or dry up completely. Since that’s where we get our water from we probably wouldn’t be able to have baths or flush toilets anymore. Getting a drink of water wouldn’t be as easy anymore, we might only be allowed to have one cup of water a day.
After Elijah told King Ahab what would happen the Lord told Elijah to go and hide. And while there would be no rain and not much food in the land, God made sure Elijah had what he needed. He stayed by a brook where there was water for him to drink and a type of bird called the raven, brought him bread and meat for breakfast and supper everyday. Neat, huh?!
After some time passed, the brook that Elijah was drinking from dried up and there was no more water to drink. So God told Elijah to go to a place called Zarephath, there he would find a lady who would give him food and water to drink.
So Elijah trusted God and did just what he said. When Elijah got to the entrance of the town he saw a woman there gathering wood. He asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup so I can drink and a small piece of bread?”
She replied, “I believe in God as you do, but I don’t have any bread to eat, just a small amount of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I was just going to go home and make the rest of the food for me and my son and then we will probably die because we will have no food left.”
Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go home and make the food for you and your son, but first make a small loaf of bread for me, and bring it to me. The Lord has told me that if you do this your jar of flour will never go empty and the jug of oil will not go dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.”
So, she went home and did as Elijah had told her and everyday there was food for Elijah, the woman and her son. Imagine trying to empty a glass of water and it never goes empty. This was another of God’s amazing miracles.
Everything was going fine until the woman’s son got sick and died. She went to Elijah for help, she thought God was punishing her for all the mistakes she had made. So Elijah rushed over to her house and said, “Give me your son.” He took the boy in his arms to the room upstairs where he was staying. Then he cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, please let this boy live again!”
Elijah spread his hands over the boy and cried out to God like this three times. The Lord heard his cry and the boy began to breath. Elijah picked up the boy and took him back downstairs to his mother and said, “Look, God answered my prayer, your son is alive!”
As the woman hugged and kissed her son she said to Elijah, “Thank-you! I know that the Lord is with you and whatever you say is true.”
Now, if you think that is a cool story, that’s only the first half! God has much more in store for Elijah. Elijah still has to show the people of Israel, King Ahab and Jezebel that Baal isn’t God. Elijah doesn’t know how he’s going to do this, but God has it all planned out.
Over three years had gone by without a drop of water from the sky. Animals were starting to die because they had no water or food.
Also during this time the evil Jezebel was trying to get rid of all the prophets of God like Elijah (a prophet is like a mailman, they send messages from God so we can know what he wants us to do). What Jezebel didn’t know was that one of the king’s servants named Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace, was hiding the Lord’s prophets in caves to keep them safe.
God spoke to Elijah and told him, “Go to Ahab and I will send rain.” So Elijah went to find Ahab. When Ahab was told that Elijah wanted to see him he said in an an angry voice, “Is that you Elijah, the troublemaker of Israel?”
Elijah quickly replied, “I am not the troublemaker. First your father and now you have disobeyed God over and over again. You stopped following his commandments and have followed Baal. Now send for all the people of Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. Bring all the prophets of Baal and the false prophets of Jezebel.”
None of us should disobey God, but God was especially mad because Ahab and his father were both kings. Kings had a lot of responsibility like presidents and prime ministers. They made laws and people listened to them, and when the King and Jezebel ruled Israel they didn’t worship God they worshipped Baal, and unfortunately a lot of the people turned to Baal like they did.
All the people gathered on Mount Carmel. Elijah stood before the people and said, “How long will you keep changing your mind? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” The people just stood there and said nothing.
Then Elijah said to them, “This is what we’re going to do. I am the only prophet of the Lord left and Baal has over four hundred. Get two bulls, let them choose the one they want and I will take the other one. Cut it up and place it on wood, but do not start the wood on fire. I will do the same. Then you call out to Baal and I will call out to the Lord. The god who listens and starts the fire is the real God.”
All the people nodded and agreed. So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Get a head start and get your bull ready first. Call on Baal, but do not start the fire yourself.”
So they picked the best bull and set it on the wood. Then they began calling on Baal to start the fire. They shouted and danced around the altar yelling to Baal to start the fire. They shouted and shouted from morning till noon with no answer.
Around noon Elijah was getting bored but he said to the prophets of Baal, “Maybe you’re not shouting loud enough. Maybe your god is busy or sleeping and he can’t hear you, you better shout louder.”
So some of the people ran around screaming to Baal, others were bowing and crying to Baal. They just couldn’t seem to do enough, but nothing happened.
The people who believed in Baal had done this all day long and they were very tired. Finally, Elijah called the people over to his altar. He began to make his altar. He took some stones and put them around his altar. Then he built a trench around his altar to hold about a bath tub full of water. Then Elijah did something very strange. He asked the people to pour water over his bull, the wood and enough water to fill the trenches below the altar.
How was God going to start a fire when the whole altar was soaking wet? The people started to giggle and thought for sure that Elijah’s God would never be able to start a fire now.
After the entire altar was completely soaked Elijah stepped forward and simply prayed: “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, show us today that you are the real God of Israel and that all I have done is obeyed you. Answer me Lord, so that these people can believe in you once again.”
Just as Elijah finished his prayer and everyone stood silently watching, fire burst out of the altar and everything was covered in flames. Every single thing was burnt down to nothing, and all the water was gone.
As the people watched completely amazed they began to fall on their knees and cry out, “The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is the real God!”
Then all the prophets of Baal were taken away and Elijah told Ahab to watch because now that the people didn’t worship Baal anymore, the Lord would let it rain.
Then Elijah went back to Mount Carmel and prayed to God that the curse would be over and that rain would come. While he was praying he asked his servant to go look towards the sea for a rain cloud. The servant came back and said, “There is nothing in the sky Elijah.”
Elijah asked him seven times to keep looking, and the seventh time the servant came back and said, “This time when I went to look there was a very small cloud, as small as a man’s fist coming this way.”
Elijah said to the servant, “Run to Ahab and tell him if he wants to get to his palace in Jezreel he’ll have to leave now, the rain is coming.”
Meanwhile, the little cloud grew bigger and bigger and the sky got darker and darker. The wind started to blow and it began to pour and pour and pour… and the drought was over.
Shalom Talk 