Connecting Points

Friday, January 13, 2012

Today’s Topic: The Choice

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 57:12  I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not benefit you.

A summary of Isaiah 57:3-13.

I sit and ponder, at the break of day,

How much of life is lived my way.

Choices are made that bring me rewards;

People are hurt by my sneers and my words.

The lust of the flesh and a life of pride,

Are waging a war with the Spirit inside.

It’s easy to worship the world and its things,

Seeking contentment in sin’s offerings.

Hiding in secret the things that bring shame,

Rejecting the honor that’s due to Your Name.

My sin saps my strength and makes me so weary,

But still I am not repentantly teary.

I find worldly ways to get my strength back,

Without bended knee I’m back on my track.

In fear of rejection I’ve chosen this course,

Seeking man’s approval to cover my remorse.

It doesn’t make sense, but it seems to be true,

That I fear man’s responses more than You.

Expose all the ways that I seek good to do,

While knowing full well it’s for me and not You.

Teach me that my ways will bring no return,

See that for You does my heart truly yearn.

After all has been said, I choose this today,

To make You my refuge, to live in Your way.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Today’s Topic: What’s ahead?

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 57:1-2  The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.

We are all very inquisitive about what lies beyond death. It is our nature. God says in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that “He has also set eternity in the hearts of men.” People have written numerous books about their near-death experiences, and they quickly become best sellers because we want to know what’s out there. Stories are told about people who have made statements on their deathbeds that seem to indicate that they see a vision of what’s ahead. Currently there is such a story floating around the internet about a famous technology developer. Some well intentioned people are claiming that he had a revelation from God before he died.

Whether or not that is true is not my reason for writing today, nor is it up for debate about what lies ahead. The Scriptures are clear on what happens after death. There are two possibilities – an eternal separation from the God who created us, or an eternal fellowship with that same God. Every person who has ever lived knows this deep in their heart. They may be covering the truth up with false teaching and self-centered pursuits, but given the right moment of meditation and honesty they will discover that God has placed the truth of eternity in their heart.

The Bible also make it clear that it all of us were destined for eternal separation from God from the moment of our conception in our mother’s womb. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We are by nature the enemies of God (see Romans 5:6-21). But in His eternal and inconceivable love He sought us. He sent His Son Jesus to be our sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). God has granted us sufficient faith to believe that Jesus is Lord, that He died on the cross to save us from our sins, and that He rose from the dead to conquer eternal death (see Romans 10:9-10). It is only through faith in Jesus that we are saved, and can enter into eternal fellowship with the Father (Ephesians 2:8-9). There is NO OTHER WAY! (John 14:6)

When that eternal transaction takes place, and by the grace of God we are translated from the realm of sin and death into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, our eternal fellowship with God begins (Colossians 1:12-14). That fellowship produces incredible peace and joy. Indescribable peace and joy. No longer do we fear death and judgment like those who continue to live in their sin. The author of Hebrews describes the emotional state of those who reject the truth of Scripture. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. (Hebrews 10:26-27) How sad, but how correctable!

But we who are in Christ are not like them. When we experience the death of someone we love who was in fellowship with God, we do not grieve like the rest of the general population (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). We know that based on their faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin that they are moving into the presence of the Lord. Scripture clearly says that to be absent from this body means that we are present with Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:6-8). In this we express joy rather than sorrow, peace rather than pain, and rest rather than resistance.

It will be the same for us personally when we reach that moment of death. The words of the Lord through Isaiah will be the description of our last days on earth. We who have walked uprightly will enter into peace. We will find rest as we lie in death. There is nothing to fear. Our eternal spiritual fellowship that began on earth is about to culminate in eternal physical fellowship in person. We are about to see Jesus face to face (see Titus 2:11-14). Let us live like it might be today!

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Today’s Topic: Illuminate Me!

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 56:10a Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge;

The last few nights have been beautiful. By the time I have returned each night from doing the work God has called me to do, the moon has been well above the eastern horizon. What a moon. Three nights ago it was almost full. Two nights ago it was completely full. Last night it had lost a little off the southwestern edge. Oh how it shone. It was literally possible to drive the car without headlights on. I was amazed again at how God created a lifeless orb of rock that could reflect light so brilliantly. It has no light within itself. It only reflects the light it receives from the sun. God placed it in the perfect position to reflect just the right amount of light.

Night has fallen upon our world. It is morally dark. Isaiah describes the condition in verses ten through twelve of chapter fifty-six.

• Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge;
• they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark;
• they lie around and dream, they love to sleep.
• They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough.
• They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain.
• “Come,” each one cries, “let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better.”

Maybe before we go on we should take a moment and review that list, and prayerfully consider under the influence of the Holy Spirit which of those things might be true of our hearts. Please do that. You see, we are God’s watchmen of our day. We do not want the darkness to invade us. I will be here when you get done……………………………….

Now, having dealt with the darkness in our own hearts, we are prepared to penetrate the darkness around us. I’m sure the Holy Spirit has already shown you the application. God created us in Christ Jesus to be the reflection of His Light to the world around us. We have been placed in the perfect position in relationship to the world so that we bring the light of the Son to those in darkness.

But unlike the moon, we are not mere reflectors of the Light – we are the Light. We have the Son that the world needs to see. Jesus, the Light of the world, lives in us. The issue we must deal with is why the Light doesn’t shine better. We seem to be stuck in the new moon phase of life, when the world needs us to be in full moon phase. We are participating in the darkness rather than illuminating it.

The solution is simple – “Lord Jesus, illuminate me!  I turn my face towards you so that I am no longer in the shadow of the world. Then will you be able to use me to illuminate the darkness around me.”

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Monday, January 09, 2012

Today’s Topic: Inoculate Me!

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 56:6-7 And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—⁷ these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.

Prior to my trip to the Philippines in October I met twice with the travel nurse at my medical clinic. It was necessary to review my inoculation records so that I would be sufficiently protected from any potential tropical disease to which I might be exposed. We looked at maps that displayed the regional diseases and discussed the exact itinerary of my trip. After careful consideration of the risks, two vaccines were chosen of the possible four, and I was inoculated. One of them required a second dose, and I’m still waiting for the third dose in a few weeks. Not to worry, I was protected after two doses but the third dose makes it permanent.

There is much debate in our day about the value of vaccines, especially for children. Are the risks of inoculation worth the benefits? If I stretch my mind way out I can see where that same debate takes place in my spiritual life. Let me explain in just one area of our lives that is addressed in Isaiah 56:6-7.

In this encouraging chapter of hope, God is informing those who are on the outside that they will be fully accepted into the Kingdom of the Messiah with full benefits. Those who had been excluded will now be included. In the past they had felt like sub-standard people who weren’t good enough to be invited to an exclusive club. They saw the power and provision of the One True God, but had no access to Him. They had been left without hope and without joy.

Suddenly word comes down from the CEO that the membership policy has been revised so that now anyone was welcome. My mind is visualizing a scenario like this in America at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. If you know anything about that place and its history, you know that if word got out that they were making the course public, there would be lines starting at every airport in America as men and women raced to get there to play just one round of golf. I would be in one of those lines.

I imagine that when God invited all the excluded to be included in His Kingdom with full benefits that there was an equal amount of enthusiasm. The house of God was being opened to everyone, regardless of race, creed, nationality, political preference, financial status, or physical disability. The weak, the hurting, the guilty, and the untouchable would have equal access to the altar of God. Their hopelessness would be replaced with joy.

Joy. In case you were wondering about the tangents I was taking, that’s where I was going. JOY! That inner peace and contentment of knowing that regardless of our circumstances or feelings, our Sovereign God is working out His eternal purpose independent of us, yet beneficial to us. JOY! That inexpressible quality that supersedes the feeling of happiness because it is not based on what is happening but rather on what has happened when we were welcomed into the House of God. JOY! It is “peace dancing in our lives.” (F.B. Meyer)

But here’s the hard part – at least it’s hard from the standpoint of maintaining the dedication needed to experiencing joy. God connects joy with prayer. Outsiders will be granted joy not just by having access to the House of God, but to the house of prayer. God declares that His house will be a house of prayer. That’s the vaccine. If we want to be inoculated against hopelessness and despair, we must be determined to pray. If we will avoid the downfalls of discouragement, we must pray. If we are to overcome the deepening feelings of fear based on the political and social condition of the world, we must pray. Prayer is the vaccine against all the diseases of the heart and mind that destroy joy.

But in our minds we debate the need for prayer. We turn to our own remedies first. We consider the risks of prayer and let them influence us: risks like time commitment that will affect our schedule of events, or the hurtful words of others who will accuse us of being overly spiritual when they see the power of God being lived out in our lives. So powerful are those arguments in the hands of our enemy that we dare to even consider not being inoculated. We even ask why joy is really all that big of a deal. Really?

Today, I cry out to my Lord – “Inoculate Me!” In response, God says “Come into my clinic. You will recognize it by the sign out front. It says, House of Prayer.”

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Thursday, January 05, 2012

Today’s Topic: Identify Me!

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 56:4-5 For this is what the LORD says: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant—⁵to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.

Who am I?

That question plagues people. We have tried to answer it in a variety of humanistic ways, none of which has succeeded nor satisfies. We may think that educational success will identify us as a genius. We may believe that advancement in the work sector will identify us as professionals. We have been led to believe that financial security identifies us as successful. We try to be humorous believing that will identify us as popular. We labor intensely to become accepted by others so that we might identify ourselves as worthy. We spend hours developing our skill at a sport so that we might be identified as a hero. We have granted permission to people and to our performance to identify us as valuable.

That, my friend, is why our lives are broken. But God has a wonderful plan for the restoration of broken lives. It is pictured in Isaiah 56 as God proclaims His promises to the broken down nation of Israel.

• First we are changed in verses 1-2 (https://lifelinkdevo.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/humanistic-faith/).
• Then we are included in verse 3 (https://lifelinkdevo.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/include-me/).
• Then we are given an identity in verses 4-5

Here’s some background information. God is speaking directly to eunuchs. A eunuch was a slave or captive that had been castrated for two primary reasons. First, it would make them less manly, thereby making them more manageable servants. Second, it would keep them from ever procreating and becoming a threat.

The practice was so detestable to God that there were laws implements in the Jewish nation concerning it. The law excluded eunuchs from public worship, partly because mutilation was often performed in honor of a heathen god, and partly because a maimed creature of any sort was deemed unfit for the service of Yahweh. Yet during the reign of the kings of Israel there were eunuchs in the nation that served in the palace. However, no eunuch was ever able to worship in the temple, nor were they allowed to own land or inherit property. They had no identity with the nation in which they served.

It is to these men of no importance or identity that God comes in Isaiah 56 and says, “I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.” WOW! That overwhelms me. Not only does God give these broken down men a name, but He elevates them to a position that is better than a son or a daughter. He gives them an eternal identity that will never be cut off (Note the play on words).

Doesn’t that restore your hope? Can you now see what grace does? No matter how broken your life; no matter how mutilated your name is; no matter how cut off you seem to be from the rest of humanity; God will give you an eternal identity.

No longer will you have to depend on people or performance to identify you. No longer will you need to ask the question, “Who am I?” Let God tell you who you are. And if you want to know who God says you are if you are in Christ, check out these links –

• http://www.sw-mins.org/identity.html
• http://www.persevering.org/perceiv.html
• http://www.ficm.org/index.php?command=textwhoamiinchrist

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Thursday, January 05, 2012

Today’s Topic: Include Me!

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 56:3 Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.” And let not any eunuch complain, “I am only a dry tree.”

My story is not unique. It’s painful for me, just as yours is for you, and it is a pain that must be resolved because ultimately it’s a lie. The pain comes from the belief that we never fit in. That pain is magnified by combining it with circumstances that we choose to validate the feeling. My circumstances easily validated my pain. I never had a town that I called home. I never had a friendship that lasted more than 5 years because we moved that often. Every time we moved I had to try to fit into a new culture and social context. I chose to believe that I was unaccepted and worthy of it. I chose strange behaviors to compensate, which only made it worse. My wife can verify the reality of my self-destructive behavior. I really believed I didn’t fit in.

We long for someone to accept us. We crave being included. We fear being told we are not welcome. It is so powerful in us that we begin to perceive every word and action of others as a statement of their unwillingness to make us their equal. It becomes a destructive thought pattern.

God knows that about us. When He created Adam and Eve He perfectly accepted them. But then the Enemy of God and of all God created entered the scene and convinced those first two humans that God didn’t really accept them because He was holding out on them. There was something He didn’t want them to know, and if that was true then they weren’t fully accepted. They believed the lie, and we do too. We believe it about our friends. We believe it about our family. We believe it about our boss or our co-workers. We even believe it about our church family and our pastor. Pastors even believe it about their congregations. We believe that we don’t fit in and will never really be accepted.

In the days of Isaiah, God was declaring that when the salvation of God appears and His righteousness is revealed, all the people of the world could find a place of acceptance. It would not matter if someone was a foreigner or a slave, they would be given an equal place in the Kingdom. Acceptance in God’s Kingdom would not be based on one’s nationality, one’s gender, one’s abilities, or one’s heritage, but rather on one’s acceptance of God’s covenant.

If you are feeling like you don’t fit in anywhere, then the truth of Isaiah 56 is for you. It is time to stop living your life as a response to a lie, and time to start living in response to God’s love. If you read the following Scripture carefully and honestly, you just may discover, as I have, the great truth of God’s grace – we are accepted. When we cry out to God and say, “Include me!”, He does. Hallelujah.

Isaiah 56:3-8 (NLT)

“And my blessings are for Gentiles, too, when they commit themselves to the LORD. Do not let them think that I consider them second-class citizens. And my blessings are also for the eunuchs. They are as much mine as anyone else. ⁴For I say this to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath days holy, who choose to do what pleases me and commit their lives to me: ⁵I will give them—in my house, within my walls—a memorial and a name far greater than the honor they would have received by having sons and daughters. For the name I give them is an everlasting one. It will never disappear! ⁶“I will also bless the Gentiles who commit themselves to the LORD and serve him and love his name, who worship him and do not desecrate the Sabbath day of rest, and who have accepted his covenant. ⁷I will bring them also to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations. ⁸For the Sovereign LORD, who brings back the outcasts of Israel, says: I will bring others, too, besides my people Israel.”

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Today’s Topic: Change Me!

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 56:1 “This is what the LORD says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.”

I saw it again. I saw a lot of it. I didn’t like seeing it. Seeing it in others made me realize how much of it is in me as well, and that scares me. It will change me. I pray that it will change in others also, but that is not really up to me. I must participate with God to change me. I desire to be less humanistic about my faith.

Vacations are good for a lot of reasons, but for me the greatest benefit to a trip away from normal life is that the Lord gets more of my attention. It shouldn’t be that way, but it is. Busyness with all our stuff and our agendas is one of the symptoms of the disease that has invaded our spiritual lives. We know the symptoms exist, and we can even identify them, but we are in denial about the disease that causes them. The disease is humanism.

That’s right, we Christians, who are to be followers of Christ, are much of the time followers of self. We have chosen a humanistic approach to life, to goals, to success, to decision-making, to everything, and then to attempt to satisfy the longing of our soul we have wrongly added what we call faith in God to it all. We have made a religious choice that we think complements our humanistic choices, when we should be destroying all dependence upon the flesh and living continually in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

What do we think Jesus meant when He said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life  will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?

Deny yourself. Lose your life. Those are the things that mark a follower. But for some reason we have assumed a right of leadership not granted by God. We have arrogantly and probably ignorantly decided to ask God to fulfill our wishes and desires. We have become the leader of God rather than the follower of Christ.

What we don’t understand is that God will not be led. Instead, He lets us go ahead, but all on our own. Oh, He never forsakes us, and never really leaves us, but He stops listening to our demands for what we want. He stops providing fixes for our failures. In His jealous love for us He allows us to fall on our humanistic faces so we are in the proper position to pick up a cross.

But even when we are on our faces, we tend to justify how we got there, and we develop plans for how we are going to get up. We make resolutions to save more, spend less, eat less, and exercise more. We make commitments to watch television less, study more, pray more, and sin less. But far too often those resolutions are prescriptions we choose to take to relieve the symptoms when we have done nothing to cure the disease.

The only cure for the disease of humanism is death. Now before you get carried away and jump to a conclusion not intended, I am speaking in spiritual terms. The right to self-government of our lives must die. The right to fleshly fulfillment must die. The right to social success must die. The right to financial security must die. In other words, the right to our own rights must die.

Only in death can there be life. We have done our best to try to prove that wrong. We have tried to add life to death. We have attempted to bring eternal life into the context of our humanism and call it salvation, which denies the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. How can we know His resurrection power if we do not die? But we have tried, and we are in denial of how badly it is turning out. To admit it doesn’t work is to admit human failure and to de-value our lives, neither of which is acceptable to modern man’s philosophy of self-worth.

But it is only at the point of death to self that the life of Jesus can be experienced. Many of you know that, and have lived that way. But maybe we have lost or minimized our first love for God’s incredible grace. We have, whether in a few or in many areas, replaced it with love for humanistic pursuits. I know I have. It must change.

Today begins a new adventure of denial of self. I will need help from God. I want help from you. When I am guilty of exalting self rather than denying self, tell me. Do it with love and a humble heart that recognizes that you may be doing the same thing in some area of your life. Together we will die to self and be transformed by the renewing of our minds so we can prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Friday, December 23, 2011

Today’s Topic: He’s Here!

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 56:1 “This is what the LORD says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.”

God established a connecting point. Since the Garden of Eden there had not been one. Oh, there were numerous events where God allowed sinful mankind to approach Him, hear Him, and obey Him, but He had not yet established a point in time where people could be reconciled to Him permanently. Man was separated from God by his sin, and could do nothing about it. All of human history prior to this one event was preparation time for that problem to be fixed. It had been proclaimed prophetically for thousands of years. Now it was here.

Seven hundred years before it happened, the Prophet Isaiah declared that it was close at hand and ready to be revealed. Salvation was near. God would soon be with us, making it possible for Him to be in us. God established a connecting point.

It was a two-part plan. First, God would connect with us. God would become one of us. The angel announced it to shepherds on the hillsides of Bethlehem. “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” God connected with us.

The second part of the plan was to establish a place where we could connect with God. That place is called Calvary. It is where Jesus died on the cross as one of us, yet undeserving of death because He was also sinless God. He became our sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus paid the price of death so that we, through repentance from our sin and belief in Jesus as our Savior, could be saved from our sin and given the gift of eternal life. To confirm the gift and its payment, God resurrected Jesus from the dead. God established a place where you and I can make a permanent connection to Him.

That’s what Christmas is all about. ALL about! Everything we do at this season – the gifts, the family, the friends, the food, the football – is ALL about God establishing a connecting point with us. Take all the fluff away, and I will still joyously proclaim “He’s Here!” I need nothing else to be able to say it is the best Christmas ever!

Thanks for the Connecting Point God!

Pastor John

P.S.  Sit down with your kids and watch this sometime this weekend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v__QaCsdvQk

Connecting Points

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Today’s Topic: Which Team Are You On?

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 56:1 “This is what the LORD says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.”

I know – you are probably very tired of sports analogies, but I must do this because it is a good illustration of the truth God has placed in my heart this morning.

In my closet are five articles of clothing that represent the football team I support. Now for those of you with humorous minds, I know what you are thinking. “And that’s where they should stay.” But I don’t have them to hide them. I wear them. In fact, it is so well known that I am a fan of this team that even when I wear that color of clothing without any reference to the team on it, people make comments about my team. It happened last Sunday at church when I wore a purple sweater.

In the past few years, when another team that is popular in this area has played for the championship, I have supported my friends by wearing the colors of their team. One year I even wore an official team jersey of that color to a church event. The people who saw me when I came in with that jersey on were shocked. They were confused. They knew that I was taking a stand for something that I had never supported before. I felt out of place. It was awkward. They had no reason to believe that I was being sincere, for there had been no past experience upon which they could base their trust.

Soon and very soon the Salvation of the Lord will be upon the earth. Soon God’s righteousness will be revealed by the Righteous One appearing on the earth to establish His kingdom. It will be a kingdom ruled with justice and perfect righteousness. The weak will be made strong. The poor will have all their needs met. Victims will cease to be victimized and every act of sin will be exposed. Hate will disappear in the presence of perfect Love.

When all this happens, what will the people of the world say about you and me?

• Will they know that we have been consistent supporters of God’s kingdom?
• Will they recognize the banners now flying over the earth because they have seen us wearing the same colors proudly every day?
• Will they be thankful for the foundation that we laid in their lives and in our culture that prepared the way for the King to take His throne?
• Or will they wonder with good reason why at the last minute it appears we are switching teams?

Think on these things.

Pastor John

Connecting Points

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Today’s Topic: Get Wet

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 55:12-13 “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.  Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD’S renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.”

This morning I am in awe of the immensity of God. Never mind that in my mind I know the fact that He is limitless – today my heart has captured it in a fresh way.

I saw this picture in a National Geographic magazine this morning while I was waiting for my car to be finished at Aerco Auto Body. Take a look:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/12/magellanic-clouds/magellanic-clouds-photography#/06-centuries-old-supernova-670.jpg

This is a centuries-old supernova remnant. Its rose-tinted shock wave is blasting outward at more than 11 million miles an hour. It hangs in the Large Magellanic Cloud orbiting the Milky Way like an iridescent holiday ornament.

When I read the description of this picture, and saw that for several hundred years the shock wave of this exploding star has been travelling at 11 million miles an hour I was blown away. My mind cannot comprehend how big the universe is that God created and He holds in the palm of His hand.

For example, let’s just randomly assign an explosion time of 200 years ago; it could be older than that. Let’s see – 24 hours in a day times 365 days in a year times 200 years equals one million seven hundred fifty two thousand hours. That means the rose-tinted ring has already traveled over 19 trillion miles. Yet when you look at the picture, the ring has not yet reached the nearest neighbor stars. The heavens truly declare the glory of the Lord.

This is really significant today as we consider the closing verses of Isaiah fifty-five. They put a cap on several chapters of Messianic promises concerning the restoration of Jerusalem after its abandonment and destruction caused by the people’s sins which led them into captivity. God says that the day is coming when the people will return to the city in renewed glory, and when they do they will go out in joy be led forth in peace. Everything in nature will burst forth into praise to the Lord, and what had once been a land filled with thorns and thistles will now be a land of productivity and promise.

As I thought about that, and looked at the picture again, I realized that the thorns and thistles of my life that are so burdensome to me are less than specks to an awesome God who holds the universe in His hands. The problems of my life are not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in me when Jesus returns. We have the certain hope – the guarantee of God – that everything we consider hardship right now will be replaced with joy and peace when God finishes His work in us.

Just think – God’s Star exploded on earth 2000 years ago. The shockwave of His glory is filling the earth. You can see it. You can know it. You can live in it. Let everything in your life come under its influence. Don’t let the thorns and thistles speak. Instead, let every part of your life burst into song – Joy to the world, the Lord has come! After all, God is bigger than any problem you have.

Pastor John