Whispers of Truth

The Living Water is not meant to be contained in the sanctuary.  I t is running water that should seep out, then increase its flow until it saturates everything around it. As I read Ezekiel 47 again, the picture God offers Ezekiel in the vision of water flowing from the temple beckons deeper thought about my worship and its effect on those around me.  As Ezekiel’s spirit-tour of the temple nears its completion, he is brought to the door of the temple and sees water issuing out from under its threshold. It is made clear to him that the water is not only spreading in every direction but that it is also rising. The measuring by the man with Ezekiel is eastward, the direction of the gate that was to remain shut and not be used for foot traffic because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it (Ez. 44:1-2, ESV). God’s glory radiated from the temple when Ezekiel was taken around to view it by entering the north gate to the front of the temple, and he rightly falls on his face before th

A WORD that seeks a home is not lost, but where does it go? Does it roost in the top of a tree looking for another soul? Why, Lord, do WORDS fail to lodge in one soul and find rest in another? The Father spoke through men with prophets voicing Truth. Men killed the prophets, but THE WORD that had spilled out of them was not emptied of its Power.  THE WORD accomplished its purpose. God sent His Son to speak HIS WORD  to the children of those who killed the prophets, And they either could not hear or would not listen to the Truth He spoke to them. “I came from God,” He said to them. “He sent me—the Great I AM—and I speak His Truth. Why won’t you listen? Why can’t you understand?” They then killed THE VERY WORD made flesh, raised Him up on the top of a tree  they had crafted f rom the wood God Himself had created.  THE WORD OF GOD willingly resting on the top of their tree, And salvation came pouring down upon men with the life blood Jesus freely shed for them. The Lamb

As I read through Isaiah again in my quiet time, the reality of friendship with the world being enmity with God hits me hard. The middle section of the book is full of evidence that God is for His people and is working behind the scenes to get them to realize He alone is God, to submit to His authority, to rely on His strength alone, but they continuously slip back into the now comfortable patterns they have known for so long. But first, let me back up just a bit. Chapters 28-30 hold much woe and many cautions about living like the world around us; even if they are directed at Ephraim and Jerusalem, we too can learn from them. God’s Word is faithful and true; hear these warnings: Viewing truth as stupidity: The “worldly” leaders of the time saw God’s words spoken through Isaiah as stupid and rejected God’s attempts to instruct them in the way they should walk, resulting in their coming destruction (Is. 28:9-13). Scoffing truth and delighting in delusion: Not only did they reject G

We forget so quickly what it is like to be a small child, to have the faith a child has so naturally, to look up to the ones we love and want to imitate them, to be just like them.  Last week, my husband fed a friend's catfish one afternoon for him, and since my oldest son and his family were with us, we took them, too, and let them see the fish feeding. Right now, we are in the middle of an extreme heat wave (yes, even the Deep South in August has heat advisories), but the uninitiated might have a hard time appreciating how miserable that can quickly get. All that to say it was hot! But we went and fed the hungry fish as quickly as we could and still let the little ones take it in. As we walked onto the pier, we held tightly to the boys. The oldest grandson wanted to help feed the fish and do everything his daddy and his granddaddy were doing. He imitated them, watching closely, receiving instruction, and then with his own flair, throwing food to the eager catfish until it ran

All Christians struggle at times to know the right thing to do in a particular circumstance whether it is job-related, relationship-related, or service-related. This year, knowing God’s will has been one of those topics that keeps popping up in and around my life.  As our women’s study group finished up 1 Thessalonians earlier in the spring, we encountered Paul teaching about knowing the will of God, and in chapter 4:3 he boils it starkly down to this statement: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (ESV). Lest I ever wonder what God would have me do, my first question should always be how the thing in question would affect my conformity to His will, which is for me to be like Him, to accept the work He is doing in and around my life. My job is to simply obey Him, showing my love for Him and letting His grace wash me clean, not to walk in the way of the world or my own will; so I am to ask, “How will doing this sanctify me?” The problem often is when "simple obedien

I always hate being confronted with my Pharisaism, but God is always good, and He never leaves me in the particular sin I’m bent towards. Just when I think I (you heard that emphasis on “I,” right?) have it all figured out (and often consequently that no one else does), He lets me read a particular passage at just the right time or hear a piece of a random sermon or a blurb of something that penetrates like the barb of a really sharp arrow. He places me in situations that confront my preconceived notions that my way is the best or only way and shakes my whole being loose from the constraints of this world in which I live and often walk blindly about in. This rod of discipline is necessary for me and it is always welcome in retrospect even when the need for it is not recognized in advance. Last night was one of those nights. I was tired after a weekend spent prepping for homecoming at our own church and a day spent serving others and thought I was just going (no, let me be truthful a

 LORD, I call on You. Give me a voice to utter prayers You hear And hands that lift in praise, A mouth that opens in worship of You, Guarded in all it says. Give me a heart inclined to good And friends who won’t leave me alone in my sin. Give me ears that won’t refuse to hear their rebuke And a mind that accepts instruction. Let my eyes be ever looking on You Even when things look bleak. Let every part of me be washed and clean, Kept pure as I seek You. Be my refuge, LORD, and all my strength, As I pass safely through this world. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As I read through the Word over and over again, I find in my heart a constant song, a rejoicing within that has to come out, and sometimes the song is so strong I must write it down, get it out. That's what I have been doing a great bit of this past year. Writing down the so

This year in my read through of the Word, I am using the ESV (English Standard Version, 2011) instead of my normal study version I have used for many years (NASB, 1995). I have found the past few years that changing up the version (while making sure it is a reliable translation) I read from in my quiet time each day causes me to notice things that might have become so familiar in the wording as to pass me by in the NASB. As I finished reading through 1 Kings this morning, the ESV's stating of a verse caught my attention through the presentation of the struggle the people of Israel were having with their faithfulness towards God as an image : “And Elijah came near to all the people and said, 'How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ And the people did not answer him a word” (1 Kings 18:21). The NASB states Elijah’s question to the people in 1 Kings 18:21 a bit more straightforward, like this: “