Secret Things

“ought we to be surprised when we find ourselves for the moment baffled by what God is doing? Surely not. We must not forget what we are. We are not gods; we are creatures, and no more than creatures; and, as creatures, we have no right or reason to expect that at every point we shall be able to comprehend the wisdom of our Creator. He Himself has reminded us, “My thoughts are not your thoughts . . . as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are . . . my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:9). Furthermore, the King has made it clear to us that it is not His pleasure to disclose all the details of His policy to His human subjects. As Moses declared, when he had finished expounding to Israel what God had revealed of His will for them — “the secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us . . . that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut. 29:29).

The principle illustrated here is that God has disclosed His mind and will so far as we need to know it for practical purposes, and we are to take what He has disclosed as a complete and adequate rule for our faith and life. But there still remain “secret things” which He has not made known and which, in this life at least, He does not intend us to discover. And the reasons behind God’s providential dealings sometimes fall into this category. ”

- J.I. Packer, The Plan of God

How to not enable entitlement

Found today's FLT program to be extremely helpful -->
Advice From a Former Enabler

A Nice Looking, Dead Branch

“Nothing will break your relationship with Jesus for eternity. But, in time we are kind of interesting branches. We can go off and decide we want to draw life somewhere else. We want to rely on ourselves. We want to turn to success. We want to see that money is everything. We want to get power… We wander around like branches with a plug hanging out. Plugging into this; plugging in that, … And wonder why instead of life we only have death. It’s very interesting; you can look really good and not be connected to the Vine. ”

- Dr. Bill Lawrence, How to get your prayers answered, August 2009

A quote worth memorizing...

“There is no member of a household whose individual piety is of such importance to all the rest as the father or head. And there is no one whose soul is so directly influenced by the exercise of domestic worship. Where the head of the family is lukewarm or worldly, he will send the chill through the whole house. And if any happy exception occur and one and another surpass him in faithfulness, it will be in spite of his evil example.”

- James Alexander, Thoughts on Family Worship

Wisdom from a Rough Rider

This is not particular a Christian quote, but it is one that has spared me many an argument when taking on a battery of heavy handed criticism. It has also given me pause when I feel the urge to lobby criticism another's direction. And, yes, there is wisdom in this. I memorized this in high school, and I have quoted it to myself many a time...

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat"

- Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic

Disappointment, Failure, Tears, Gain

“…therefore it is strangely possible for us to be apparently influential and successful and yet on that day of reckoning to discover that all of our proud boasts and all of our affirmations and all of our numbers and all of our significance and apparent success amounted to just trash from the economy of heaven…That’s why more success is made – more gain is made in our lives through disappointment, through failure, through difficulty, and through tears than is made through success and through laughter. And, that in seeking to shun trials, we miss blessings. And in seeking to gather around us the rudiments that would regard us as aptly ready to face the challenges, we miss the ability to be useful in the challenge.”

- Allistair Begg, "Gideon, God's Choice"

"Curiosity" Marsscapes...

...or just photos of Joshua Tree National Park? Hmmm... "Hey, kids, want to go to Mars this weekend?"

Featherweight

“Whatever troubles are weighing you down are not chains. They are featherweight when compared to the glory yet to come. With a sweep of a prayer and the praise of a child's heart, God can strip away any cobweb"

- Joni Eareckson Tada

A tell-tale sign of bad counsel...

...is when the solution to a problem as communicated by the counselor is 2x+ the verbiage as compared the volume of words used by the one seeking counsel in describing the original problem. I often find it amusing (if not sad) listening to the counseling programs on Christian radio. It's amazing that someone in 5 minutes time can ascertain a situation, read into it (yes eisegesis) and provide a nicely wrapped bow on a hastily crafted - though nice sounding - solution. Really? This is analogous to the surgeon who decides one requires knee surgery before ever touching or seeing the knee of the patient. When is it no longer about counseling and more about selling books?

“He who answers a matter before he hears it, It is folly and shame to him.” [Proverbs 18:13]