Fantasy is Fallacy


If we want butter we are forced to go to the cow for its milk.

If we want metal we are forced to dig at the ground.

If we want rain we are forced to wait for the clouds.

If we yearn for day, in the darkness of night, we are forced to wait for the rising Sun.

If we want to learn we are forced to observe the things that are.

Fantasy gives birth to fantasy.  Lies give birth to lies.  Truth gives birth to truth.  And only God can give birth to what is godly.

Why do you look for godly righteousness in places where he is not?  Why do you search in your own heart for the things that God demands?

God is forever, never fails, and will never cease.  This is the nature of the righteousness you seek.  You do not possess it, nor can you create it.  It belongs exclusively to the Most High God in his Holy Son Christ Jesus.

Pride lies to itself and says,  “I will create what I do not have.  Then I will be perfectly acceptable and glorified.”

To the proud I say this:

“Make your own milk that you may have butter. 

Create your own ground that you may make metal. 

Go make your own sky and produce the clouds for rain.

Speak to the black universe and create your own Sun. 

Do these things, and vastly more, and it will be granted that you are righteous; able to save and sustain yourself.

But you observe what God has done and call it your own.  Let foolishness be what foolishness is.

Fantasy gives birth to fantasy. 

Lies give birth to lies. 

Truth gives birth to truth. 

And only God can grant what is God.

The Way it is


The gravel lays where it is placed and is forced to be ground to powder.  Once a majestic singular mountain, it is now but blowing dust in the open space.  Dust that is now forced to mingle and no longer be singular.

Raindrops fall by orders from creation.  They take their place together to create a body of water that was not before.  What was taken away is giving back.  A brief independence is forced to reunite.

Tree roots split dirt and rock to produce obedient fruit.  In its proper time the fruit appears and does not fade until ordered to fall.  With a crash the limbs shatter on the ground.  What was once tall and magnificently beautiful becomes rot for the growth others.

Three specimens to show God’s will dictated.  He alone is life, there is no life apart from him.  Yet what shall be said of man?

His body follows the dictates of God: to grow, to do, and to die.  But man is not faithful, as all creation endures.  He contrives means of rebellion.

How many ponder these things as they sit in open places?  How many allow themselves to be struck by the nature of sin?  And how many of those will fall on their face and beg for mercy?

Salvation belongs to our God and to the lamb.  What errant creature is able to save himself? 

Malicious Shadows


I cannot blame the Sun

For intensely being bright.

I cannot blame the moon

For shining through the night.

I cannot blame the wicked

For hating what is right;

For embracing all that is not God,

In his blazing Holy Might.

God Himself ordained the Sun

And gave it a place to remain.

The moon remains and serves him well,

Despite its shifting name.

God has given truth to man;

Displayed abundantly.

Account we’ll give on bended knee,

When his face we all will see.

This land is shadow and now proclaims:

“Your wickedness will end!”

When shadows cease and God appears,

No longer means to mend.

Malicious thoughts against the Lord;

A taunting threat displayed.

The great proud smiles of those who hate,

Their filthy lips, like tattered strings;

Unravel and are frayed.

Who has ears to hear these things?

Who has eyes to see?

Let him acknowledge Jesus Christ,

And bow his wicked knee.

Even so Lord Jesus come!

The Indellible Message


trees and grassNo matter, if we sleep or wake, we are without excuse.  Every day and every night, God has left his faithful mark among us.

 

The trees remain. Even the dead of winter does not remove their witness.  The grass obeys our feet; bowing low at our passing.  The stars recede at the breaking of dawn; obeying the greater light’s command to depart.  And the moon reflects the glory of the blazing Sun, regardless our perception.

 

We know wickedness first.  But all creation knows obedience first.  This is the witness God has created as a guide.  This is the witness God has left among us as a testimony to the work of man’s hands.  Obedience to God remains.  Wickedness is fleeting.

 

The witness of God among us is firm and entrenched.  Though we tear it up to replace its beauty with the work of our own hands, we must continually fight to restrain its appearance.  Grass grows up in the cracks of our “beautiful” construction.  We must continually attack it to force it back.  Tiny trees grow against our will.  All the while, who perceives this battle as futile?

 

We ignore.  Perhaps we delight in perception.  We alienate God’s powerful will among us.  Or we respect it.  Regardless, God IS.  His Holy command has left us the loudest possible message.  “I AM.  I will not be stopped or stifled.  Listen to Me and gain eternity.  Refuse and remain in death.”

A Memory of Gentle Beauty


Hummingbird Nest 2

Hummingbird Nest 2 (Photo credit: Robin Miller Photography – westcoastrobin)

Humming Bird 03

For a short while we managed an apartment complex.  One day we were cleaning out an apartment and I happened to be in a bedroom.  I noticed something in the corner of the window.   As I approached it became clear it was a humming-bird.  It had flown in and hid behind the curtain while we were cleaning.  I reached out my hands and, very gently, picked it up.  I took 2 seconds of the little bird’s life to hold it in the palm of my hand.  Then I released it through the open window.

What a marvelous world the Lord has made.  How beautiful it is when it is not corrupted by the things of man.  How very delicate and precious is this creation of His.  And it makes me wonder how it will be in that place He is building even right now.