Ensign: A Recap Of 2014
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3
AN ENSIGN ON THE
MOUNTAINS 31 December 2014
The past we can view from the high hill of the present. We can see "the whole picture." But as for current history -- and by current I mean the history of the past twenty or thirty years -- there we are still very much "at sea." While trying to steer a safe course our "Ship of State" is being buffeted by wind and waves from every side. We don't know how big a storm it is or when it will be over. We can simply try to take our bearings and hope for the best.
Fortunately, those of us who are believers in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord can do more than hope -- we can KNOW, even if we disagree with each other on the mechanics (like when Jesus is coming back, who is the antichrist, what the mark to buy and sell that you're not supposed to take IS, etc.) that our salvation is locked in! We can know this, even if we have a hard time with the words. "Jesus, please save me from sin and death, and forgive me for being a sinner." Something like that.
People used to speak of "lulls" in history, periods when "nothing happened." Today we know better. These lulls were, like the weather, purely local. Prior to the development of the telegraph, the telephone and the radio, such major historical events as wars, revolutions and changes of government could take place in one country without even its neighbors knowing much about them. This is no longer the case. Thanks to modern communications and our free press, every turn in events in Lhasa, Rome, or Cape Town can be known the very next day by every citizen of Kansas City, New Orleans, or Vancouver. I say can be. There are, of course, those who do not wish to be informed.
AND those who do not wish such information to get out! (We all know people and beings like this, admit it.) I quote this passage from Hendrik Willem Van Loon's son's additions to "The Story of Mankind" (the bold print in the last two sentences is my idea, by the way) to make my point that while we don't know specifics, we can know the certainties of what God promises in His Word. And what place, you may ask, does that have in a note about what's happened with me and mine this year?
The greatest place of all, I think. Sure, I could tell you Martha and I celebrated our eleventh wedding anniversary this year and Sarah started third grade and Jeffrey second grade and various details about where we've gone and what we've done, the jobs we've added and left (Martha changed departments in her fourth year at Trinity from being a courier to being a printing services assistant and left McDonald's, while I'm on my eleventh year with Fast Cash and started Marketplace on weekends and I'm alternating a Minot Daily News route with my wife in our part of town) ... but sometimes letters like this miss the point. Which is another way of saying I have not bothered to work on it!
A lot is mattering less. Does that make sense?
Not that my family and my relationships with them has lost priority in my life (far from it) but I know that if God and my relationship with Him does not have FIRST priority, then I'm lost. Literally. And as I look forward to tomorrow -- it is a new calendar year, after all -- I don't pray "Lord, give me the strength to deal with tomorrow." For me it hasn't happened yet. It may not. The model Jesus gives us for prayer (the "Lord's prayer") even says "Give us this day our daily bread." And quite honestly, dealing with one day at a time is enough for me. And I expect for you too.
See you, God willing, next year.
The Alvin Family
(David, Martha, Sarah, and Jeffrey)
People used to speak of "lulls" in history, periods when "nothing happened." Today we know better. These lulls were, like the weather, purely local. Prior to the development of the telegraph, the telephone and the radio, such major historical events as wars, revolutions and changes of government could take place in one country without even its neighbors knowing much about them. This is no longer the case. Thanks to modern communications and our free press, every turn in events in Lhasa, Rome, or Cape Town can be known the very next day by every citizen of Kansas City, New Orleans, or Vancouver. I say can be. There are, of course, those who do not wish to be informed.
AND those who do not wish such information to get out! (We all know people and beings like this, admit it.) I quote this passage from Hendrik Willem Van Loon's son's additions to "The Story of Mankind" (the bold print in the last two sentences is my idea, by the way) to make my point that while we don't know specifics, we can know the certainties of what God promises in His Word. And what place, you may ask, does that have in a note about what's happened with me and mine this year?
The greatest place of all, I think. Sure, I could tell you Martha and I celebrated our eleventh wedding anniversary this year and Sarah started third grade and Jeffrey second grade and various details about where we've gone and what we've done, the jobs we've added and left (Martha changed departments in her fourth year at Trinity from being a courier to being a printing services assistant and left McDonald's, while I'm on my eleventh year with Fast Cash and started Marketplace on weekends and I'm alternating a Minot Daily News route with my wife in our part of town) ... but sometimes letters like this miss the point. Which is another way of saying I have not bothered to work on it!
A lot is mattering less. Does that make sense?
Not that my family and my relationships with them has lost priority in my life (far from it) but I know that if God and my relationship with Him does not have FIRST priority, then I'm lost. Literally. And as I look forward to tomorrow -- it is a new calendar year, after all -- I don't pray "Lord, give me the strength to deal with tomorrow." For me it hasn't happened yet. It may not. The model Jesus gives us for prayer (the "Lord's prayer") even says "Give us this day our daily bread." And quite honestly, dealing with one day at a time is enough for me. And I expect for you too.
See you, God willing, next year.
The Alvin Family
(David, Martha, Sarah, and Jeffrey)
P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be encouraging you (and myself, when I'm honest) to action too! If I'm not or you just want me to get lost, please just let me know -- thank you!
Thank You, Lord, and praise You, Jesus, that we CAN come to You in prayer with all our needs, knowing You will provide for them, even when we don't know what they are. Please also pray for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence in that land and around the world.
Thank You, Lord, and praise You, Jesus, for all who are in leadership and service both here and abroad, for the opportunities You have given us and always the promise of new life! I pray that we all seek and have a blessed week too. Thank You, Lord ... thank You, Jesus ... thank You, Spirit.
Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment