the wrong end of the telescope

Job 38:33 Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth?

I have enjoyed beginning to listen to the story of Job. Even though I have almost finished listening to the entire story I can tell that it is a story that I need to listen to again to more clearly and deeply appreciate the lessons that it teaches. I already see that one of the lessons is that we live so much on the horizontal, people to people level. We even judge God in terms of the quality of our life and how we are doing relative to othe people. But this morning it was the verse above that stood out to me. I thought about the advanced standing of science in our culture. We have a high regard for our knowledge of natural laws and we take pride in our scientific conquests, which are often very impressive. We have been to the moon, we have found cures for many diseases, we can manufacture sophisticated machines and produce them cheaply enough for average people to buy. But the verse above challenges me that there is a difference between knowing the laws of the universe and using them to regulate the earth. We only begin to approach who God is when we learn of the laws He has instituted to regulate this universe. For only He is in control...of seasons, of storms, of the beginnings of life and of the borders between life and death. Only He controls those laws of the universe to hold it in fine balance. And so we bow before Him...grateful for the advances understanding of His laws bring, but more grateful to know the One who uses these laws with wisdom to hold us in His hands.

-

blessings,

Rob Smith

closer to Heaven

Older believers are closer to Heaven...On average, the oldest believers among us are closer to transitioning from body to spirit and into the direct presence of the Lord. What a treasure our senior saints are! They have been through most of life's battles...growing up, helping others grow up, dealing with sickness and loss, making decisions and coping with success and failure, learning of the Lord and seeing the limits of self and pride.

-

As I watch the video tapes of the Mini Bible lessons that Dick Woodward taught 25-30 years ago and the camera pans across the audience I notice that most of the students are retirement age. As I look across my class each Sunday I also see mostly senior folks. It is the ones among us with some wear on the tires, with some creases in our skin, who have exchanged our original hair color for gray (or another of our choosing)...if we still have hair at all...These are so often the ones who have the focus and the hunger to keep learning and keep growing the Spirit within.

-

What a resource our senior church is! Our culture wants to run past them and say they are irrelevant...but they are a deep well to us all.

-

Maybe it really is because they are...Closer to Heaven!

-

With love to all,

Rob Smith

the incomplete view

I have started listening to the book of Job during my morning exercise time...the famous Old Testament story of a wealthy and good man whom God allows Satan to harm, almost like an experiment..or a disturbance to an experiment. We see the reaction of a good man when undeserved hardships come his way. It seems that Job wrestles with every important question as he tries to understand his difficulties and reconcile those with his faith in God. It occurred to me that another title for the book of Job might be, "The Incomplete View". Job can't understand why he is put through all the loss and suffering that he endures and his friends, who come to support him, try to explain Job's problem from their limited viewpoint. But neither Job nor his friends has the complete picture. As readers of the story we have more insight than they because it is revealed to us, up front, that God has permitted this to take place. One thing I find encouraging about Job is that, again and again, he comes back to his relationship with God...his knowledge of God...the reality of God as the plumb bob...the reliable standard...in his life. Even though he doesn't understand the "why" of what has happened to him he continues to direct his questions, his concerns and his frustrations upward to the God he knows. And, by chapter 19, we hear some beautiful insight: He says: "But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!"

-

We, too, have an incomplete view while we are here, in this body, but have we reached the place where we also can say, "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives!" Our incomplete view, in the body, is completed by our faith in the One we meet here in the spirit and eventually will see face to face when the body no longer limits us.

-

blessings,

Rob Smith

down the mountain

A lot of people think that there are many ways to "climb the mountain" to reach Heaven. "Just do the best you can", many would say. "Nobody's perfect...God is grading on a curve and if you haven't been particularly horrible you should get in." Or..."No religion has a lock on salvation. There are many ways up the mountain to God...How can all the religions of the world be wrong except one?" On the surface it seems to make sense. The problem is the price of admission. If Jesus died for the sins of the world, it is through that death that reconciliation has been made possible. There is truly only one way up the mountain. But there are many, many ways that God comes down the mountain to find us. He is as diverse and unique in His understanding of how to find us and how to reach us as we have personalities, cultures and, yes, even religions. The Son of God came down, off the mountain, to reach us and to give us the ministry of outreach. The sentence of death that hangs over every human life finds its pardon in the One who came down to live in our midst and to take our guilt on Himself. Now we need to take that message to the rest of the world at the base of the mountain. It wasn't our work and it isn't our message but it was His love that compelled Him to come to us. The unique bond God longs to establish with people everywhere shows that He has many ways to come down the mountain.

-

Romans 10:

⁵ For Moses writes that the law's way of making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands. ⁶ But faith's way of getting right with God says, "Don't say in your heart, 'Who will go up to heaven?' (to bring Christ down to earth). ⁷ And don't say, 'Who will go down to the place of the dead?' (to bring Christ back to life again)." ⁸ In fact, it says,

"The message is very close at hand;
it is on your lips and in your heart."

And that message is the very message about faith that we preach

-

blessings,

Rob Smith

 

start with the end in mind

I have recently started preparing to build a deck behind my house.  Building things doesn't come easily to me.  Projects like this seem overwhelming and I have to break them down into little steps.  I have been reading some articles and watching some You Tube videos to get ready.  But you have to start with the end in mind.  The end of the project will hopefully be a deck that is satisfying and useful and we have pretty much finalized that picture.  But to start the project we need to lay a foundation that won't be seen at all.  One of the most important aspects of the deck is that, once it is built, it cannot move.  It must remain in place, not only when we are walking around on it...but also when snows fall, winds blow and branches may even come from trees to strike it.  The first thing we need to do in the construction process is establish the concrete footers below the surface of the ground that will support the posts, that will support the beams, that will support the decking, that will hold the people.  Similarly, in our lives, it is important to establish the unseen foundation of faith in Christ, and His work on our behalf.  Until we have fixed our trust in Him, we cannot build the rest of the "deck" of our lives without fear of shifting or collapsing.  Through the grace of God, I am certain that one day I will be directly in His presence, in Heaven.  That is the foundation of my life.  I hope that you have the same sure and solid, though unseen, foundation in yours!

-

1 John 5:¹³ These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue tobelieve in the name of the Son of God.

-

blessings,

Rob Smith

influence

We are reading the book of Esther this week in our minibible college study. There are many lessons packed into this short book. One lesson that is speaking to me is "influence". There are several illustrations in the story of Esther of key people being influenced by other people into making decisions or taking certain actions. The question might be framed this way: "Who are you listening to?" The king of Persia, Xerxes, listens to a wicked prime minister named Haman and issued a universal command to destroy all the Jews. The beautiful young Jewish woman, Esther, listened to her adopted father Mordecai and concealed her Jewish identity even as she became queen of all Persia. When she does reveal that truth about her identity later in the story it is powerful to save the Jewish people. Haman listens to the counsel of his wife and family and decides to build a gallows to hang Mordecai and this gallows ends up being used to hang him instead! I think we need to check and guard the voices we allow to influence us and lead us to act, to speak and to decide. It is interesting to note that the king changes his listening pattern when his heart is changed by the love of Esther and it is interesting to consider the forces that cause us to change our listening orientation as well.

-

Who are you listening to? What are their possible ulterior motives? We need to surround ourselves with voices of integrity and spiritual health and we need to fill our minds and hearts with the words of the Lord, Himself. We need voices that inspire trust and become foundations for wisdom.

-

Esther 3:

⁸ Then Haman approached King Xerxes and said, "There is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire who keep themselves separate from everyone else. Their laws are different from those of any other people, and they refuse to obey the laws of the king. So it is not in the king's interest to let them live. ⁹ If it please the king, issue a decree that they be destroyed, and I will give 10,000 large sacks of silver to the government administrators to be deposited in the royal treasury."

¹⁰ The king agreed, confirming his decision by removing his signet ring from his finger and giving it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. ¹¹ The king said, "The money and the people are both yours to do with as you see fit."

-

blessings,

Rob Smith

being and becoming

A few friends and I are gradually working our way through the New Testament book of Ephesians. We meet monthly and generally take one chapter at a time...you might call it the "gradual approach" to Bible study! Yesterday we discussed chapter 2 of this great book. One theme that seemed to stand out is the emphasis on "who we are in Christ" and "who we are becoming" in Christ. It occurred to me that in this life we tend to emphasize "what we have done" and we worry about "what we will do" as evidence of our value and our status among others. But in Christ the starting point seems to be "who we are", and "who we are becoming".

-

The Lord had plans for us that go way back:

Ephesians 1:⁴ Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. ⁵ God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

and...¹¹ Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

-

He has an exciting deliverance for you:

Ephesians 2:⁶ For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. (notice the past tense..."raised us", "seated us" and present tense "we are united")

and...⁸ God saved you by his grace when you believed. (have you believed yet?)

-

And this is what we are becoming:

Ephesians 2:²⁰ Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. ²¹ We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.

-

When it comes to "being and becoming", what have you discovered and experienced on a personal level with God?

-

blessings,

Rob Smith

air bubble

I recently watched the famous German submarine movie, "Das Boot" about a U-Boat in World War II. It is a compelling story and it humanized the German fighting men in a way that I had never seen before. The captain of the boat is totally committed to his crew and he has great confidence in his boat. Several times he takes the craft very deep...into the crush zone...to escape detection. But, toward the end of the story, the U-Boat is damaged during a dive and is unable to level out. Eventually it settles on the bottom, well below the designed depth for the boat. Serious flooding begins and there is a desperate effort to stem the leaks and repair damaged motors and pumps. The situation seems impossible and the captain is at the end of his hope. But they find one opportunity, once repairs are made, to blow water out of the ballast tanks...and they succeed! The air that replaces the water gives the boat enough buoyancy to rise to the surface. It struck me that we carry air in our tanks as well, as believers in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is the air that resides in our tank and even when we are below crush depth...He will bring us to the surface. The Holy Spirit is the air of Heaven, itself, as the presence of God in our lives. And He cannot be crushed and He cannot be suppressed and He will cause us to lift...to rise...up from any and every crisis...even the crisis that may ultimately carry us from flesh to spirit in Heaven, itself!

-

Romans 1:4 and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.-

-

blessings,

Rob Smith

God's handiwork

Ephesians 3:¹⁰ For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

-

It seems like the world is often set ablaze in conflict between people. It is sad that many people lose their lives as a result and a culture of confrontation and violence can become common to so many. I've been thinking about the wonder of human life. I have had the thought that, if I can begin to see more of the beauty of God's handiwork in each life and if I can see the eternal potential of every human life, perhaps that will help me put some of these conflicts and confrontations into perspective. I enjoy reading and watching movies about our military heroes and the great courage and sacrifice they display. But lately, as I have read and watched I have been impressed by the medical corpsmen and battlefront surgeons who also sacrifice and take great risks to patch up the wounded and to save lives...sometimes even the lives of the enemy. There is the spark of the divine...the potential for eternal life...in every person. What a great challenge it is to see people this way and to realize the opportunity we have to help them find the path to a life that begins here and continues forever in the bright skies of Heaven!

-

Job 33:⁴ For the Spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

-

blessings,

Rob Smith

 

a different kind of wall

By the end of the book of Nehemiah the people of Jerusalem have rebuilt and dedicated the great wall that they have reconstructed around their city. The wall represents protection and security and defines the city from the outside world. But that physical wall was unable to prevent the people within from falling away from following God. Nehemiah leaves Jerusalem for a brief time to return to visit the king of Babylon. When he returns he finds that the people have failed in several areas: they have allowed the Temple to be violated, they have failed to keep the Sabbath and they have intermarried with foreign women. He takes action to counter each of these trespasses. It occurred to me that we may think we have constructed walls in our own lives that guarantee our security and safety, but we must be on guard to protect our hearts. In our day our Temple is our very life, our Sabbath is our intimate relationship with the Lord and marriage to outsiders may be likened to compromise with the world's values. We need to keep a sharp watch on the walls of our mind and heart for the secret agents of corruption that would seek to form a wedge between us and a close and sincere walk with the living God!

-

Nehemiah 13:⁶ I was not in Jerusalem at that time, for I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign, though I later asked his permission to return. ⁷ When I arrived back in Jerusalem, I learned about Eliashib's evil deed in providing Tobiah with a room in the courtyards of the Temple of God. ⁸ I became very upset and threw all of Tobiah's belongings out of the room.

-

blessings,

Rob Smith

fresh canvas

Like a canvas of freshly fallen snow,

This day starts a new page of life.

-

See the sparkles from the perfect page so white

catch the rising sun...reflect its light.

-

He makes all things new. The storm is past

and we have come now through the night.

-

We are His image and we too are fresh sheets

for Him to write and Him to paint and Him to sing!

-

Of Himself and of His love and grace and might.

-

Have your way, Oh Lord. This canvas yields to

Your artist touch.

-

Genesis 1:

²⁷ So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

-

blessings,

Rob Smith

Questions...

It occurred to me over the weekend that we all have questions. I mean questions that are deeper...under the surface...down in our heart questions. And the questions may change over time as we move through different seasons of life. But we do have questions. We have questions because we enter our days full of unknowns. We really don't know what the day holds as we head into it. We have questions about what will happen to us, to our loved ones, to our friends. When we are young we have questions about how our lives will play out. How will we find our place in this big world? As we move through life we wonder: What is my life all about? Even when we get the big answers, like the provision of a spouse, children, occupation and even spiritual gifts....we still carry questions. But the other thought that occurred to me was that all our questions find their rest in the only One who, not only knows the beginning from the end, He knows my beginning from my end. In the Lord we have One who will take our questions and give us rest, even before we have answers. I think the continual presence of questions shows us our continual need to trust...to trust the One who holds us know and carries us always!

-

Matthew 7:⁷ "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

-

blessings,

Rob Smith

Your last chance

"Robert, this is your last chance", was the subject line on an email I received this past week. Needless to say, whoever sent that email got my attention right off the bat. It turned out to be "my last chance" to enter a drawing to win a trip to hear some political speakers in Washington, D.C. I wasn't interested in the drawing but intrigued by the phrase, "...this is your last chance". I thought about all the 'chances' we have in life...each day...chances and choices. And too often I let the routine run and days pass and the opportunities run off like rain over rocks. One day it will be my last chance because it will be my last day to make choices...to take chances...to make changes. I am continually challenged by the big choice each day: Will be God or will it be me today? In a sense every false idol is reall a choice for self over God. When eternity swallows up my days I know that my only choice will be the wonderful God in whose direct presence I will live. But now are the days of adventure when I have the freedom to choose His ways or mine. And I know that His are far better.

-

Who knows...perhaps today is my last chance...to choose Him!

-

Perhaps it is your first time to choose Him!

-

Deuteronomy 30:¹⁹ "Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

-

blessings,

Rob Smith