Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com

* Who Moved?
* Scripture: "Why do you stand afar off, O Lord? Why do you hide in times of trouble?"
Psalm 10:1 , NKJV

They had been married a few years. Now, riding along, music and the road ahead held their attention. Finally, she turned, gazed at her husband behind the steering wheel, sighed and said, "You know, we don't sit close to each other like we used to."
He briefly turned his head to look at her, then down at the seat between them, and returned his focus to the road ahead. Finally, he softly asked, "Who moved?"
Distance is distance, a measurement between two points. It might be a few inches on an automobile seat, or ninety-three million miles between the earth and the sun, and you could debate how close the two points are, or how far apart. There are times, though, when it becomes important to establish one point as a reference and compare everything else to that.
I can state the dimensions of a piece of land in a certain number of feet east and west, and north and south, and you would know how big of an area it covers. Still, you wouldn't have a clue as to the location until I give you a reference point to work from.
It is quite likely that the husband in the story is sitting right where he always has - behind the steering wheel.
Who moved?

The little story comes to mind whenever I feel distant from the Lord, or when I hear someone lament, as did the Psalmist, that the closeness they had known is not like it used to be.

"Why do you stand afar off, O Lord?"
Who moved?

If we make ourselves the center of the universe, well, yes, I suppose the Lord is distant from us. But if we establish God as the reference point for all things, including our relationship -
Who moved?

We might cry, as Jesus cried from the cross (Mark 15:34) -
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" Or add the words from the Psalmist, "Why are you so far from helping me?" (Psalm 22:1)
Remember that the Lord is near:
"All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You. For the kingdom is the Lord's, And He rules over the nations." Psalm 22:27-28)
Make the Lord your Divine Shepherd! "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me!" (Psalm 23:4)
The Lord is right where He always was.
Scoot over a little closer!
April 23, 2006

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

* Ebenezer
* Scripture: Samuel took a stone and set up up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far has the Lord helped us.”1 Samuel 7:12, NIV

How do you carry things? Do you use a bag, a sack, or a poke? Many times an object goes by different names, depending upon the location. In some southern and midland areas of the USA, you put things in a poke, including a ‘pig in a poke.’ A picnic in one area might have a hopping good time with sack races, while another would use a bag.
Then, again, a ‘poke’ is a projecting brim on the front of a woman's bonnet, and you might be wearing a ‘poke bonnet.’
In Scotland, men and boys wear a bonnet, a brimless, seamless woolen cap. In other locations, men and boys would say that only women wear a bonnet, a cloth or straw hat tied under the chin. In Britain, you would likely pop the bonnet to check your oil, but Americans call that device the ‘hood’ of their automobiles.
Consider the saying, "Ne'er cast a clout 'til May be out". Clout is from an Old English word for cloth or clothing, and the saying was a reminder not to be too quick to shuck the winter woollies before the chilly days of May were over.
A farmer friend from ‘Down East’ commented that his neighbor used to say that he was "Light on rowen, but we got plenty hay. Ain't nothing wrong with good hay." Rowen is an old-time term for second-cut forage. Those who use the term will call first cutting hay, second cutting rowen. To call something second-cutting hay would be a contradiction in terms. Rowen derives from middle English rewayn, Norman French regain -- to grow or harvest again.
Many of the older church hymns use words or terms that are equally cloaked in unfamiliarity, the kinds of things you skip right over but keep on singing. The second verse of “Come, Thou Font of ev-’ry blessing” (Robert Robinson, John Wyeth) begins with, “Here I raise mine Ebenezer, Hither by Thy help I’m come;” Unless you are an especially astute Bible scholar, that one flies right over your head.
The author is referring to Samuel’s “Stone of Help,” which he set up “between Mizpah and Shen” to commemorate the Lord’s help . The verse continues,

“Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand’ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.”

Consider ways in which you can share the Lord’s help in your life. Set your own ‘Ebenezer’ and rejoice in it.
July 17, 2005

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: But the men who had gone up with (Caleb) said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” (Numbers 13:31, NKJV)

“Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh, my!” Many of you will recall these words chanted by the characters in the movie, “The Wizard of Oz,” as they step off into the unknown. “Lions, and tigers, and bears!” There are times when life is scary enough even without the spooky sounding soundtrack, as used to highlight the mood in the movie.
Fear - or “phobia,” to use the Greek word, can indeed paralyze, bring life to a (grinding) halt, freeze, cripple, or disable. Phobias are very real, and not easily overcome. ‘Claustrophobia’, the fear of confined places; or, ‘Agoraphobia’, fear of the marketplace or assemblage of people, confining people to the safety of their homes. Fears of the unknown, as in the movie.“What ifs,” things that we have heard about so they, maybe, they might, exist.- Like lions, and tigers and bears - and things that go bump in the night.
James Whitcomb Riley's poem, “Little Orphant Annie,“ (written in Hoosier dialect) built upon these fears to ‘persuade’ children to mind their manners, their parents and teachers:

An' little Orphant Annie says, when the blaze is blue,
An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes woo-oo!
An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray,
An' the lightnin'bugs in dew is all squenched away, -
You better mind yer parunts, an' yer teachurs fond an' dear,
An' cherish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear,
An' he'p [help] the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

Compare this to the passage in the epistle written by James: “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this; to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27, NKJV)
Sometimes the unknown can be alluring, enticing us to confront, to venture into, uncharted territory, even as the explorers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries pushed beyond the boundaries of the known maps with their warnings of “Here be Dragons,” or even Giants.
The men (spies) who had gone with Caleb and Joshua had seen with their eyes the inhabitants of the land. In their judgment, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” They were not counting on God’s help, as were Caleb and Joshua, who were over-ruled at this point in time.
Eventually, with strength and courage built upon the Word of God, they prevailed against those “unbeatable” inhabitants, whose “hearts melted; and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.” (Joshua 5:1b)
In the words of Psalm 46, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear . . . “ (vss 1, 2a)
Yes, prayer can help. There's a traditional Scottish prayer: "From ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties, and things that go bump in the night, good Lord deliver us."
As you venture forth in your life, facing the unknown, whether ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties, or things that go bump in the night, make God your refuge and strength, and ever-present help.
January 3, 2010
Seeds For Thinking, © Leland Hubbell, 1996-2010