Daylight would not solve their problem. It could very well spell their doom. But at least they could look their problem in the eyes. They could confront their situation head on.
No good thing comes from hiding in the shadows of difficulty. Regardless of the storm we face we are always best to face it and deal with it.
An interesting thing happened to me the other day. I was in a conversation with a man I deeply admire, a preacher 26 years my senior. In the course of conversation I mentioned that I had recently turned 60, telling him the date of my birthday. The conversation carried on with little change of direction with the mention. We enjoyed the meal and the fellowship. I thought nothing of my mention of my birthday nd would have guessed my friend thought little of it either.
I didn’t know. I meant nothing by it. He did not make a big deal of it at the time. But just the mention of my birthdate opened the doors of a sixty year old grief for him.
Behold the power and authority of Jesus Christ. Lazarus, a man who had been four days dead, heard the voice of Jesus, resurrected to life and came forth out of the grave.
But before He called Lazarus from the grave He spoke with His Father. It wasn’t that he had to ask for the power. It wasn’t that he asked His Heavenly Father to resurrect Lazarus. Jesus could, would and did do that. He spoke to His father to thank Him and to acknowledge Him.
We shouldn’t only pray when we need something. We ought to pray just to speak with God, to acknowledge Him in all things and to thank Him for everything.
Haman was a Gentile and had certainly never read to Proverbs and the warning of falling into our own snare. Nevertheless the truth is universal; vengeance belongs only to God. To attempt it for ourselves is to step into territory with terrible consequences. Haman’s hatred for Mordecai was so powerful he never thought about who may or may not be related to him. He never considered that he may have stronger ties to the king than he at first realized.
Offenses happen in this world. Let them go. If the Lord believes they ought t to be judged, He is more than capable of doing so.
What a big deal was made of what Jesus did.
Nothing much has changed these two thousand years. Some people still find great benefit in Christ. Some find hope in the work of Christ in others. However some are threatened by Christ’s work, some see it as superstition and some believe it to be of the devil.
Those of us who have been helped by faith in Christ simply enjoy what God has accomplished in us.
One of the great devices of Satan, and one that is frequently employed right now, is that of elevating the many religions and, indeed, no religion at all to the same place as Christianity. To imply that the Christian faith is a better faith, a higher faith, or even more true than a different faith is tantamount to hate speech these days.
We are losing perspective as Baptists. We are coming down to the level of Protestants and, in doing so, we are lessening the value of the work we do, even if we think we are doing more work.
Such as that of the police; the authority is demanded because of a badge. Sometimes the man with this authority is as guilty as those he may be policing. His own integrity has little to do with his authority. In some instances to challenge his authority is in itself a crime.
Such as belongs to a military officer whose authority is the result of an education and commission.
When a man has proven himself a leader and those who may have at first followed out of duty begin to follow out of devotion.
When people follow a man because they believe in his cause or His message.
It is seldom (except in the case of government which is ordained of God) forced upon its subjects.
It is a negative without any definitive reason. It’s a word that is used when we can’t think of anything more specific to say.
They say that the early bird catches the worm.
The Bible says these women came to the sepulchre of Jesus “very early in the morning.” Not just early, I would have still respected that, but very early.