Saturday Soliloquy: September Ends

Did this month fly as fast for you as it has for me? I can hardly believe that tomorrow is October, my favorite month of the year here in southeastern PA. Mosquitos–gone! Humidity–gone! Brilliant fall flowers, grass still lush and green. The beginning of glorious fall colors. Cool nights that invite the warmth of a down comforter. Brilliant days because the air is clear as crystal. Allergies, for most of us, begin to ease up. It is still possible to be outdoors without a coat or, sometimes even without a sweater.

If you’re a visitor, there are lots of old wooden bridges set in lovely countryside areas–a tour you can take in your car. And of course, Lancaster County is wonderful at this time of year.

I’m deeply interested in American history–the way it was presented back in the good old days before the revisionists started tearing away all the good to expose the bad that exists in every civilization from the beginning of the world. Why they are so intent on presenting America as a blot on world history–well, I was going to say I don’t understand, but I do. I have to remember that Satan is behind all of it.

Anyway, I’ve read tons about the history and settlement of Pennsylvania since we first moved out here in 1974. I still enjoy studying about it. Lancaster County is best known for its lush Amish community, with rolling farmlands and buggies pulled by, usually, dark brown horses. In the back roads, you can sometimes see someone moving along rapidly on a foot–powered scooter.

You’ll also see them working in the yard, taking care of the most beautiful flowers ever!

And what are the men doing?

Building a house, raising a barn–or plowing:

There’s so much to see, and October is a wonderful time to go sightseeing in Pennsylvania!

What a Month!

Good morning! Long time since I wrote anything here, and I won’t write much today. Hoping to get back on track over the weekend.

It’s been a difficult month on several fronts. I won’t bore you with the details. Just saying there have been several difficulties that are still unresolved, and I’m seriously considering throwing all my electronics out the second-story window. I won’t. But the itch is there.

Just wanted to let my readers know I’m alive and kicking, and that I plan to be back on my old routines ASAP, starting with the weekend when I mostly write just for fun.

My stats are showing a surprising consistency in numbers of hits on this blog, for which I’m very thankful.

Check back tomorrow for my regular “Saturday Soliloquy” post!

Refuge and Habitation

Psalm 91:7-10.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

Thre is no author named for this psalm. Some think Moses wrote it; others believe it is more Davidic in nature. Regardless, it reflects the life experience of both men in their personal and national battles against their enemies. It also reflects their ultimate and complete trust in God.

“It is impossible that any ill should happen to the man who is beloved of the Lord; the most crushing calamities can only shorten his journey and hasten him to his reward. Ill to him is no ill, but only good in a mysterious form. Losses enrich him, sickness is his medicine, reproach is his honour, death is his gain. No evil in the strict sense of the word can happen to him, for everything is overruled for good.” 

Spurgeon

I found Spurgeon’s quote to be quite helpful in decipering this passage. In v. 7, the word it seems ambiguous. There is no clear antecedent, but Spurgeon takes it in the general sense that even if 10,000 others may be affected adversely, God’s protection is such that one person can be sheltered from whatever it is–battle, plague, perhaps starvation. God’s protection is specific as well as general. He provided miracles to save the nation; He provided miracles to save individuals.

Not only did He provide protection, but He also provided consequences for wickedness. The Flood is probably the first most sweeping example of such provision. Noah and his family escaped the flood that wiped out all the rest of humanity. The psalmist is telling his people to pay attention!

When God’s people make Him their refuge and habitation, they will be protected from evil.

I believe it is important here that we understand that sometimes what we see as wrong–such as a fatal disease–ends in glory for those whose trust is in God. Physical death pales in comparison to eternal life with Him in heaven.

Sunday Morning Coffee: Cookies

I love cookies. Almost any kind. Always have found them irresistible. So I don’t bake any more, because if I bake them, I will eat them. I don’t even bake Christmas cookies, except maybe a batch of spritz.

If I COULD eat just one, there would not be a problem. But I can’t.

I’m diabetic, with my A1C under good control. I do NOT want to have to start checking my daily sugar, poking my fingers, and all that, so I don’t eat cookies.

And then this store comes to Quakertown, called Crumbl Cookies. Really. Go here to see pictures of their tempting treats: https://crumblcookies.com/

Sigh. There oughta be a law.

Cookies are not sinful. They are amoral–neither moral nor immoral. They are inanimate objects, right? Then why is that I hear them call my name?

Really, this isn’t even something I need to pray about. I know they’re bad for me. I know if I buy one, I’ll buy two. I know they will put me completely off track with my eating.

Someone has said that if you avoid sugar long enough, you lose your taste for it. How long is long enough? I haven’t quite figured that one out yet.

When I get to heaven, I want a size 2 robe! And all the cookies I want, with no ill effects. My mansion over the hilltop could be gingerbread!

And that’s all I have to offer you this morning.

Saturday Soliloquy: Broken Things

Nearly two weeks ago, my laptop decided to go into a continuous loop when I tried to log in. I haven’t been able to use it. I’ve tried everything I could find online–apparently this is not an unusual glitch for a MacBookAir. A guy is supposed to be coming today to fix it.

A week or more ago, my wonderful recliner quite working. It operates with an electronic control, and it will no longer raise the footrest, among a couple of other functions. Terry has been reading and searching, trying to figure out a way to fix it. As with most things these days, if you take it apart to fix it yourself, you nullify whatever guarantee or warrantee you may have. My chair helps keep me mobile, and it has been a wonderful piece of equipment–until it wasn’t.

When things quit working, the frustration level is amazingly high. One easily begins to rely on such equipment, and when it’s broken, it’s just so frustrating. Trying to find someone who knows how to repair it is equally frustrating.

The level of pain in my back has increased, of course. I’m thankful my adjustable bed is still in good working order. When that goes bad, I’m really going to be in trouble!

All this has, of course, set me to pondering on the brokenness of mankind. We are born with a fatal flaw–the nature that leads us into sin and disobedience against God. The good news is that the “fix” is available to every single soul. Jesus paid the ultimate penalty for our sin when He voluntarily went to the Cross and died in our place, carrying the weight of the sin of the world in His own body. The really exciting part of the story is that He rose from death and the grave, getting the triumph over sin and death. If it were not for His resurrection, he would have been just another dead Jew crucified by the Romans. But he is GOD! And we can share His victory when we believe in Him and accept Him as our own personal Savior from sin and death.

Secular humanism is just another form of religion that tries to elevate man above God, and bring God down to the level of all humanity. This religion has gone by many names. In the 17th and 18th century, it was Transcendentalism. In the Garden of Eden, it was just Satan telling Eve she could be as wise as God. There is nothing new under the sun.

I’m hoping for some answers for my laptop and my chair. I’m grateful for the answer to my own brokenness. In Christ, I have abundant life! And in heaven, I won’t need the chair, the bed, or the laptop 🙂

Under His Wings

Psalm 91:4-6.

He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

I love this story and was planning to use it, but when I found this video, I decided these girls could do it for me 🙂

His truth–the only truth!– is our shield and buckler. We hear a lot today about “your truth” and “my truth,” which is all a part of Satan’s effort to convince us that God’s truth is not sovereign, and that we can each establish our own truth as being above all other truth. Such nonsense. The ONLY truth we can rely upon is God’s truth, written in His Word, the Bible.

We know what a shield is, but what is a buckler? Well, it’s really just a small round shield, used in hand to hand combat. A shield is longer and wider, giving whole-body protection. It can be used in a shield wall, for both offense and defense.

We do not need to be afraid of anything–not a pestilence, like Covid; not a destruction from any other source. Only if it is His time and place to take us to heaven, and that, my friends, will be glory!

Refuge and Fortress

Psalm 91:1-3.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust.

Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

Yesterday, we had an appointment at the hospital for Terry to have an echocardiogram (good results–his heart is healing!) While he found a parking place, I waited on the sidewalk near the entrance to the building. It wasn’t terribly, hot, but the sun was high and it hurt my eyes. I backed up to a huge pillar, into the shade of the overhang, and was instantly relieved of both too much sun and a little more heat than I enjoy. And I thought of this verse, knowing I would be writing about it today.

I believe that learning to “dwell in His secret place” is a lifelong journey. I think of His secret place as shelter, protection, rest, relief, comfort and safety. To abide under His shadow is to find all those things, and to be able to relax the tension in one’s shoulders, knowing that He is THE ALMIGHTY.

A refuge, a fortress. My son and his wife recently returned from a vacation in Greece. They took wonderful pictures, making me wish I were there with them. One of them was a very old Venetian fortress, a place of protection from one’s enemies. I have seen other castles, in Germany and England, that are massive. Perched on the highest land available, often with one side balanced on the edge of a cliff so that no one could attack from the rear, these old buildings are impressive. However, they could be breached. With patience and planning, a determined invader could take a castle.

God, our Fortress, cannot be taken down. He can’t be canceled (a term I’m beginning to despise!) and He can’t be destroyed. They tried that at Calvary! I can trust in Him completely. Someone has said that if it’s not God’s time for you to die, no one can kill you; if it IS God’s time for you to die, no one can -prevent it. I like that.

“The snare of the fowler”: Game birds were hunted by using traps to tempt the bird into a place from which it could not escape.

“The noisome pestilence”: Noisome means foul-smelling, like the stench of a dead body. Pestilence means a dreadful and contagious disease, like the Black Plague. I’ve read about the efforts to dispose of the dead plague victims as quickly as possible, partly to avoid spreading contagion, and partly to avoid the dreadful odor. During the plague, a wagon would be driven down the streets in the morning to collect the bodies of those who died overnight; again, later in the day the wagon would appear again. Most of the dead were summarily “buried” in plague pits. If the families could afford it, the victims were given traditional burial in individual graves. The Plague was a horror, both for the victims and for those who survived.

God can, if He chooses, deliver us from all such misery. He is our Refuge and our Fortress.

The Beauty of the LORD our God

Psalm 90: 16-17.

Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, and Thy glory unto their children.

And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it.

In his closing prayer, Moses asks God to show His works to His people, and to their children. One of the most beautiful things in the Jewish traditions is the constant reminder and reciting of the miraculous ways in which God brought them out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and into their homeland. It is good to remember what He has done, and to impress on our children the stories of how God worked in the lives of our own families.

I love that final verse! There is no beauty that we can appreciate here on earth that can compare to His beauty! We cannot find words to express His incredible beauty, and heaven will eclipse the beauties we enoy in this world.

Moses asks God to bless the works of our hands.

 “Good men are anxious not to work in vain. They know that without the Lord they can do nothing, and therefore they cry to Him for help in the work, for acceptance of their efforts, and for the establishment of their designs.”

Spurgeon

Satisfied with His Mercy

Psalm 90:13-15.

Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent Thee concerning Thy servants.

O satisfy us early with Thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Make us glad according to the days whereinThou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

In v. 3, God made it clear that unless the people returned to Him, they would disappear like dust. In v. 13, Moses begs God to return to His people, asking “how long will You remove Yourself from us?”

 “When men are under chastisement they are allowed to…ask ‘how long?’ Our fault in these times is not too great boldness with God, but too much backwardness in pleading with Him.” 

Spurgeon

We cannot, however, ask God to return to us if we have not forsaken the sin that caused Him to remove Himself from us.

Over the years, I have tried all different times of the day to have my time alone with God. Early in the morning is bestm because nothing else has yet intruded into my time. It hasn’t always been so. When the house was full of family to care for, work to prepare for, and household chores to be done, I found it nearly impossibe to focus on the Word early in the morning. It was just “get up, wake up, clean up, get moving!” But after supper, things would quiet down and I could find alone time, usually in my bedroom. There, I could dump the burdens of the day at Jesus’ feet; I could read and pray in solitude, because Terry fell asleep before his head hit the pillow. I never could figure that one out 🙂

The point here is to seek God. Have an appointment. Early in the day works best for me now, and writing this blog is a part of my time with Him. Why should I seek Him? So that I can rejoice in His mercy toward me, with all my failings, and know His gladness all my days.

In verse 15, Moses asks God to give His people gladness to the same level of their affliction. I love this comment from BlueLetterBible:

 “The New Testament, incidentally, will outrun verse 15’s modest prayer for joys to balance sorrows, by its promise of ‘an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison’ (2 Cor. 4:17).”

Kidner

In His Presence, we will experience “Joy unpeakable and full of glory!”

Life is a Vapor

Psalm 90:11-12.

Who knoweth the power of Thine anger? even according to Thy fear, so isThy wrath.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Moses saw and experienced the wrath of God when the Israelites rebelled against Him over and over again. He saw people grow from infancy to old age during the desert wanderings. There were times when they died by the thousands because of their disobedient, rebellious hearts.

 “Moses saw men dying all around him; he lived among funerals, and was overwhelmed at the terrible results of the Divine displeasure. He felt that none could measure the might of the Lord’s wrath.” 

Spurgeon

So he prayed, “Lord, teach us to be aware of how few our days are; help us to consider the power of Your displeasure, and how easily we can fall into the error of thinking we are bullet-proof. Help us to gain wisdom while we are young, so that we may avoid the pitfalls of sin.”

Of course you realize that the above words are my own loose summary of Moses’ prayer. There were no bullets back then 🙂 The principle applies for us today, though. Especially when we are young, the years tend to roll out before us endlessly. It is only when we reach those fourscore years that we realize that life is, indeed, a vapor (James 4:14). We don’t know if we will have tomorrow. Let’s learn to be wise today!