Seeds For Thinking

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

Scripture: Jesus said, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” Mt. 5:44
Ezekiel 34:26b - I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing. NKJV

There shall be showers of blessing:
O that today day they might fall
Nathan

The occasion of rain is a curious phenomena - Some people want it, some don’t.
Granted, timing plays a large role in how rain is accepted. For some people, rain is an inconvenience, an interruption of life, a spoiler of fun:

“Rain, rain, go away;
Come again some other day.”
Why? “Little Johnnie wants to play.”

On goes the scowls, out come the umbrellas, washed away goes the day.
Rain is a blessing for other people, however: The farmer needing moisture to sprout or sustain crops, people with cisterns, and - assuming that the shower is gentle and warm - children with obliging parents.
Ever notice? Children who have to be dragged into the tub/shower go joyfully and gleefully into the rain. Laughter, giggles, looking for puddles, maybe eyes closed, looking to the heavens. (Perhaps it’s the absence of soap.)

So, some want (and need) rain, and rain will answer their prayers. Others, like Little Johnnie, are praying for sunshine.
Keep in mind the precepts of Matthew 5:45, that God makes the sun shine on the evil and the good. He sends the rain on the just and the unjust. Everybody! No matter what, somebody is going to be unhappy.
Does it grieve you that blessings fall on the evil ones, perhaps those who hate you, or curse you? Are you discouraged to see bad things happen to good people?
There are - and must be - times that we do not readily see blessings in the answer that God gives us. Look closer; there may be blessings falling, blessings sent by God that you are turning away with your scowl and ‘spiritual umbrella.’ Look instead for ways you can collect, as in a spiritual cistern, these showers for times when you can draw upon them as needed. Times when love, blessing, and prayer bring seasons refreshing to your soul, or to another’s.
Jesus, also, prayed for the “cup to pass,” but accepted God’s will.
He exemplified His teachings (Mt. 5:44) and, in so doing, brought salvation to the world.

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

Scripture: “I am come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10b, NKJV)

One of the most magnificent spectacles of life is found on the plains of southeastern Africa. An area known as the Serengeti, a vast plain in Tanzania, is noted for the annual migration of the area's large numbers of wildebeest, zebra, buffalos and gazelle. Driven by cycles of rain and drought, the animals, and their predators, follow the circuitous movement of the supply of grasses and vegetation that nourish them. A unique combination of diverse habitats ranging from riverside forests, swamps, grasslands and woodland, enables it to support more than 30 species of large herbivores and nearly 500 species of birds.
Towards the end of May, when the grass becomes dry and exhausted, the animals begin their trek in a column several miles long to the permanent waters in the north of the Park. Yet, after the rains, the golden expanse of dry grass is transformed into an endless green carpet flecked with wildflowers. In November, when the grazing is finished in the North, this army of animals surges back to the now green pastures of the south, where they calve and mate before starting the entire cycle again.
The Okavango Delta, in Botswana, is produced by seasonal flooding. The Okavango river drains the summer (January–February) rainfall from the Angola highlands, two countries away from Botswana, taking approximately one month to reach the delta. The waters then spread over the delta during the next four months (March–June). The flood peaks between June and August, during Botswana’s dry winter months, when the delta swells to three times its permanent size, attracting animals from miles around and creating one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of wildlife. More than 400 species of birds flourish in the lush forests of the delta and its islands, and along the floodplains created by the waters of the Okavango river.
On the mainland and among the islands in the delta, lions, elephants, hyenas, wild dog, buffalo, hippo and crocodiles congregate with a teeming variety of antelope and other smaller animals - warthog, mongoose, spotted genets, monkeys, bush babies and tree squirrels. The majority of the estimated 200,000 large mammals in and around the delta are not year round residents. They leave with the summer rains to find renewed fields of grass to graze on and trees to browse, then make their way back as winter approaches.
The animals have life, and have it abundantly, because of the rains that revive the forests, swamps, grasslands and woodlands. Life resumes anew in the waters of the river and channels of the delta, and slakes the thirst of the wildlife on the plains, as well. Everything is transformed by that renewing flow.
Oh! How precious is that flow!
I can’t help but think about another cleansing, nourishing flow:
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Nothing But The Blood (Robert Lowry)
Just as the animals in Africa must come to the water to benefit from it, so, too, we must come to Jesus to obtain that life-giving precious “flow.” As John writes, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us all from unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Jesus, speaking to the woman at the well, told her that He is “the living water;” whoever drinks of it will never thirst. It shall become “a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”(John 4:14)
Come, drink, accept God’s gift of abundant life.

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

* Rain
* Scripture: Jesus said, "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." Mt. 5:44
Ezekiel 34:26b - I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing. NKJV

There shall be showers of blessing:
O that today day they might fall
Nathan
The occasion of rain is a curious phenomena - Some people want it, some don't.
Granted, timing plays a large role in how rain is accepted. For some people, rain is an inconvenience, an interruption of life, a spoiler of fun:

"Rain, rain, go away;
Come again some other day."
Why?
"Little Johnnie wants to play."

On goes the scowls, out come the umbrellas, washed away goes the day.
Rain is a blessing for other people, however: The farmer needing moisture to sprout or sustain crops, people with cisterns, and - assuming that the shower is gentle and warm - children with obliging parents.
Ever notice? Children who have to be dragged into the tub/shower go joyfully and gleefully into the rain. Laughter, giggles, looking for puddles, maybe eyes closed, looking to the heavens. (Perhaps it's the absence of soap.)
So, some want (and need) rain, and rain will answer their prayers. Others, like Little Johnnie, are praying for sunshine.
Keep in mind the precepts of Matthew 5:45, that God makes the sun shine on the evil and the good He sends the rain on the just and the unjust. Everybody! No matter what, somebody is going to be unhappy.
Does it grieve you that blessings fall on the evil ones, perhaps those who hate you, or curse you? Are you discouraged to see bad things happen to good people?
There are - and must be - times that we do not readily see blessings in the answer that God gives us. Look closer; there may be blessings falling, blessings sent by God that you are turning away with your scowl and 'spiritual umbrella.' Look instead for ways you can collect, as in a spiritual cistern, these showers for times when you can draw upon them as needed. Times when love, blessing, and prayer bring seasons refreshing to your soul, or to another's.
Jesus, also, prayed for the "cup to pass," but accepted God's will.
He exemplified His teachings (Mt. 5:44) and, in so doing, brought salvation to the world.
November 19, 2006

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

Scripture: Job said, “My harp is tuned to mourning, and my flute to the sound of wailing. Job 30:31, NIV
“Into each life, some rain must fall.”
No, I’m not talking about the weather we have been having lately, but the old maxim (proverb) about things happening that we would just as soon not have happen. Misfortune, trouble, grief. A horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day. Days of sadness, and Job was having a few!
Job describes the many things he has done for people during his life. “I was like one who comforts mourners,” he states in a discourse to his friends. (Job 29:25b) Now, his friends do little to comfort Job. Visit him, yes. Their conversation centers on the goodness of God, and how God blesses those who keep His commandments. There is no question that Job has been blessed, both in family, possessions, and respect of the people. Until now. Surely (they claim) Job has committed some great transgression to deserve such a calamity as has befallen him.
In essence, Job is accused of “sowing trouble and reap(ing) it” (4:8) and now he is destroyed by the breath of God. Job protests his innocence, saying, “I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.” (Job 27:6)
Never-the-less, Job has little to cheer him up these days. His soul is filled with sadness, his spirit with wailing.
We have probably all been there at one time or another. Having a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day. There are two sides to this issue of “comforting mourners.” On one side is the one who is distressed; on the other, those who would bring comfort. From time to time we may be either. Does it help to say, as many have, “Into each life, some rain must fall.”? While true, it helps no more than the many words of advice from Job’s friends. Words that God found objectionable.
Studies of the Book of Job seem to skip over a very important part of the Epilogue - Chapter 42:7-16. Job never does find out why the Lord has brought such calamity to him. Yes! He “repents in dust and ashes.” (42:6) And is blessed “the latter part of (his) life more than the first.
Ahh! But take time to read those few verses having to do with the “comforting of the mourner” by the three friends, vss. 7-9.
Does that not mean that we are to be held accountable for our advice? Do we blithely chirp, “It’s God’s will. . . “ rain will fall” . . . etc. ? We should be God’s servant to comfort, not condemn, the mourner. Take time to read Job again, and imagine that you are one of the friends comforting Job.
June 9, 2002