Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in you; and in the shadow of Your wings I will seek refuge, until these calamities have passed by.
Richard Craig, Author at GraceAndWorks - Page 39 of 59
Is this not the fast I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And you righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, “Here am I.”
Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let such as love Your salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified!” But I am poor and needy; Yet the Lord thinks upon me, You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself; is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth; bears all things, believes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
As I told you all last week, my Dad was a stickler for getting the work done. However he was also always in for a good joke or some awesome horseplay. The one thing that he would not stand for was fiction (Telling non truths). No matter how hard one tried to get away with something, Dad would always find the truth. There was this one time my sister had gotten home later than she was supposed to and she told Dad that she had had a flat tire and was sticking by her story. Until—-Dad said, “Lets get in the pickup and you can show me where it happened.” That was the end telling fiction that night!! Turns out she had gotten into a pillow fight and lost track of time. Sure would have been easier to tell the truth to start with. Then there was this time when I was shooting my 22 rifle at the rain gauge on a fence post and as bad of a shot as I was, I hit the gauge!! Dad started questioning me about the shooting of the gauge. I think it went by for 2 or three days and I was sticking to my story that I did not do the shooting. Until—–Dad said, “I’m taking the bullet and have a ballistics test done on it.” That was the end of that fiction!!! Turns out I was the one doing the shooting. Sure would have been easier to tell the truth to start with.
The truth of the matter, I WAS rained out!! It was a Saturday, I was about 18 years of age and I wanted to quit early Saturday afternoon and Dad had said NO!! Remember he always wanted the work done before play time. He was sending me to a field to work that was 30 miles from home and about a 40 minute drive. Needless to say I was not a happy camper when I left home that morning to go to work. I got to the field and started tilling the ground, must have been about 8 AM. I started right then talking to God about making it rain and there was not a cloud in the sky. Noon came, ate lunch, fueled the tractor and greased the machinery–still no clouds!! Well, about 2 PM the sky opened up and just flat drenched me. YAY!! I could go home early. I got about a half a mile from the field, and I’m telling you, everything was dry as a bone. When I got home, here was Dad. “What are doing home?” he said. I told him I had been rained out. He looked at the sky and not one cloud, “hadn’t been any all day,” he said. Yep, you guessed it. He said, “get in the pickup and we’re going to go see.” Not a cloud in the sky and no rain had fallen–until about a half mile from the field and the road was complete mud. Dad said, “Well I’ll be…” and turned around and went home. By now it’s about 5 PM, so much for getting to quit early.
God is a lot like my Dad. He has a sense of humor and will let us get by with many things. However He won’t tolerate fiction from us. You can’t tell Him you didn’t do it—He knows everything. Just like Dad!! God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Just like my Dad was. Couldn’t fool Dad and can’t fool God. Guess it will be Fact NOT Fiction.
Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to others. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.
But now, O Lord, you are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand. Do not be furious, O Lord, nor remember iniquity forever; Indeed please look–we all are Your people.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.”
Let the peoples praise you, O God; Let all the peoples praise you. Then the earth shall yield her increase; God, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.
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