“You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.” Psalm 139:5

God sightings should remind us of God’s great and detailed love for us. We have them every day (like getting safely home) but usually don’t notice them.

Here are a couple from my life recently.

While doing some repairs on the barn roof, I found a wallet, which obviously had been there a long time. It was all swollen and stiff from much rain. I looked for identification, but found none. Later I checked through it again and realized it was my wallet that I’d lost two years earlier! It had $500 and 4 gift cards it! I thought it had been stolen and was very glad to get it back.

I had wanted/needed a good vest for the colder weather but couldn’t find one in the second hand store, so I took the gift cards from my “found wallet” to a clothing store and got a very nice one—I never would have paid that much on my own, but since it was free with the gift cards I got it!

Both Barbara and I lately have had some difficulty getting up from our bed because it is so low. Then at the “too good to throw away” store at the dump I found a brand-new set of “bed risers,” one for each leg, which lifted the bed up four inches making it much easier to get out of bed. Just what we needed!

A retired fellow  who had a business repairing heavy equipment came the other day and said he would fix my excavator! I  hadn’t asked him, just prayed about it and God answered!

Each of these God sightings is like fertilizer to my faith. The next time I’m in a corner, I can remember these sightings and remind myself that, as God watched over, laying His hand upon me then, He can help me here!

We are very familiar with the truths of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Being used to the story can take the wonder and horror out of it. Here are some thoughts on what it cost Jesus to redeem us.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

The death of Jesus on the cross was an event he shrank back from, so horrendous was the prospect. In Gethsemane, “horror and dismay overcame him, and he said…‘My heart is ready to break with grief’” (Mark 14:4 NEB).

Four things brought on this horror.

First was the physical suffering: the cruel whipping, the pain of spikes being nailed into his flesh and bone, the agony of hanging there for hours, each breath a struggle as he slowly lost strength.

Second, he was to become sin for us. The ugliness, the stench, the putridness, the repulsiveness of sin–these he would become. Think of being lowered into a pit of liquid cow manure, its surface roiling with maggots, the stench overwhelming; and as you go down into it, it gets into your eyes, nose, mouth, and then lungs, engulfing you in its terribleness. This is nothing compared to Christ’s becoming sin for us, the evil of it entering His very being as a human.

Third, He was under the righteous wrath of God, which had been stored up from the beginning of time against all the sin ever committed and all that will be committed. This unimaginably immense weight of wrath came down upon Jesus with full force, crushing him.

And fourth, Jesus was torn out of the relationship of the Trinity–the perfect place of peace, the unflawed unity, the beautiful balance, the wonderful warmth that had existed from eternity. As He became sin and had wrath poured upon Him, He could not stay in that intimate relationship. His Father turned away and the fabric was ripped, the essence smashed, the unity destroyed. This brought the greatest suffering of all in His sacrifice, not only to Jesus, but to the Father and the Spirit as well.

More on “Your faithfulness will be my shield and my rampart….” Psalm 91:4b

I praise you, O Elohim, that in your power and faithfulness you consistently shield my head in the battle of each day. You always stand as the rampart between me and the attack of the enemy; I can rest in you.

You are the Most-High, the All-knowing, the All-present One, so you are never caught off guard, are never late, are never out-witted by the enemy.

Your defenses are impregnable, your presence is unassailable, your plans are impenetrable: the enemy can never get by you without your permission; you are always the Victor in the end! You are my Shepherd  a rod and a staff to protect and guide me.

So, in the daily battle I can press ahead with my responsibilities knowing that I am in your hand and you will carry me through whatever you allow. May I honor you with praise in faith in all.

This is a very unusual posting for me, as I don’t touch on such subjects, but this is more about aligning with God’s wisdom than anything else.

What would you think of voting for a candidate who as a young man had a practice of wiping out entire villages, killing everyone there, who hung out with outlaws, who was a womanizer, took other men’s wives, and even murdered one faithful follower. He also let one son get away with rape and another with murder without real punishment. Who would vote for him?

Or what about one noted for his explosive temper, who was impetuous, who killed people just for their clothes, who spent a lot of time with prostitutes, and frequently chose to do what he knew was wrong? How many would vote for him to be their leader?

There’s a saying: democracy is the process of picking the best of the worst. These two men I mentioned above were flawed, in fact, they could actually be called criminals. And yet God picked them, putting them in charge of his people. One was David the king, the other was Samson the judge. They weren’t elected, they were chosen, but the principle remains. As someone said, God can draw straight lines with a crooked stick.

We will never get perfect people to vote for; in fact, in my opinion, we shouldn’t vote for people at all anyway. Instead of voting for a person, we should vote for policy. A man we don’t like personally may have very good policies, one we like may have very bad policies.

Think of what biblical values you support (pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-two genders, pro-women, pro-religion, pro-common sense, pro-America, pro-free speech, etc.) and vote for the ones who have implemented those values in the past, and see what God does.

He, of course, has the final say, but, as usual, wants us to join Him in what He’s doing, so it is good  to vote. And not just for the president, but also for the congressmen, senators and local people running for offices. They all make a difference and so can we.

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires [“lusts” as KJV says] that battle within you?” James 4:1

I was unhappy, very unhappy–and didn’t know why. I snapped at my wife and was impatient with my boys. I felt very tired. There was no sweet spirit of peace and pleasantness flowing out of my heart; instead there was the acrid stench of selfishness.

Situations like this explode out of me periodically and I am taken by surprise when I act so badly. However, our gracious Lord, who knows all and controls all, was simply giving me another lesson in faith.

While this upheaval was going on, 1 Peter 1 came up in my devotions; verses 6 and 7 spoke clearly to this situation: “…for a little while you have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials, those have come so that your faith…may be proved genuine…”

Aha! One reason for the coming of these inner pressures is the Lord showing me where my faith is not genuine. I expect myself to be “spiritual” when in actuality I am a redeemed but desperately wicked sinner in need of God’s constant grace.

Turning to James, I read in chapter 1, “Consider it pure joy, brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (Jam. 1:2-3).  Again, here is the truth: God was using this distress to make me grow by giving new revelation of the depravity of my heart.

This was the essence of revival!  And my responsibility? To give thanks even though I felt the opposite, and then ask forgiveness from God and from those I’ve trampled on and to repent, being kind to them instead.  More to come on this.