beauty Archives – Sonshine's Journal

September 30, 2015

But then….

Beloved, are you praising God or are you struggling? Psalm 108-109 show us the opposing sides of life’s coin. Together they teach this principle: in all of life we must be God centered and focused.

How often do we quote Psalm 23 and invoke its beauty and add that to our repertoire of prayers as we begin our day. We fall in love with Jesus as we “sing and praise with our whole heart. [vs 1] We encourage ourselves with vs 2 “I will wake up at dawn.” We evoke the words of vs 4 “your lovingkindness is great above the heavens.” BUT then… life interrupts and we are faced with those intimidating circumstances. What then? The imprecatory Psalm 109 is one of the strongest and it flies in the face of what we say is so unChristlike. But, there are valuable lessons to be gleaned from Psalm 109 and it is this: Heart preparation is key to all of life; whether life is sunny times or stormy.

God has left these psalms to teach us how to face all of life. We are to praise Him for His majesty and his lovingkindness. But we are also to seek his face when things go awry and life is so very very hard. Psalm 108 begins “I am determined” and Psalm 109 ends with “I will greatly praise the Lord.” Take heart Beloved; God loves us with an everlasting love in the sunny times and in the stormy times.

Photo: David Hanlon Dreamstime.com + added thoughts

January 29, 2014

Beauty Out of the Ashes

How beautifully the Spirit led Dr. Luke to record for us the witnesses regarding the Son of God. We begin our study today by seeing the subterfuge of the religious leaders and end up with the confession of the criminal. What a contrast! Only by the Spirit of God could one chapter hold so much that grabs our attention and cause us to fall upon our knees in humble adoration for the Messiah who gave all that we might worship Him alone.

As we walk through the streets of Jerusalem to the Praetorium where we meet Pilate we are jostled about by the very pilgrims who shouted Hosanna to now are shouting Crucify Him, Crucify Him!… and all being led by those who were given the privilege of treasuring and imparting the sacred scriptures. These leaders had been called, chosen, and anointed with the blood of a ram that they might be cleansed and surrendered to the will of God. And yet, it is not the outward cleansing but the cleansing of the heart that God desires. Rightly Jesus pinpointed their inner heart problem: Luk 11:39 But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.” God desires instead that we Heb 10:22 draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, ….having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience..”

Contrast this scene to the one criminal on the cross who recognized and submitted to the Son of God. Listen to his words “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we rightly so, for we are getting what we deserve for what we did, but this man has done nothing wrong…Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” In that one brief interchange Dr. Luke transcends earth to heaven so that beauty may come from the ashes of sin and we learn of the plan of salvation. First one must revere God, Secondly, one must recognize that they are a sinner in need of repentance, Thirdly we are justly condemned for our sin; Fourthly we must seek His face and His forgiveness. We lay ourselves open to Him and He responds: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Note the promises: it happens today not in the future. We will be with Him! We will be in paradise 2Ti 2:12 “If we endure, we will also reign with him..”

Beloved, forest fires burn off the dross so that the beauty may come forth as new vegetation and that is God’s promise. We who are weak “will be lifted from the dust, from the ash heap and seated with Him in glory” [1Sa 2] We will be “righteous, like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.” [Is 61] Will you keep the embers burning in the fire of the “deadly d’s” or remove them one at a time and allow Jesus to take the ashes and bring beauty out of the barrenness?

December 6, 2013

“We Say What Happens Happens but God says—What Must Happen”

Join me for your ringside seat to what “must” (that is what is necessitated) happen after these things. As I was reading I stopped and asked: “after what things?” The scholars say after seeing Christ in all of His glory, after hearing and telling about the 7 churches. Now the clock starts ticking down to the judgment of the earth and the sin that envelops it—he who has ears had better hear what the Spirit says. Before John can share the events ahead he asks us to join him in viewing the contrast to the horror of sin here on earth as he lives on the barren island of Patmos to the awesome, marvelous incredible beauty of the throne room in heaven. John is not the only one to have had a vision of the Godhead but also the prophet Micaiah, Isaiah and Daniel. These too were transported in some way to see and thus to behold what we who are earthlings have yet to view. What must it have been like to see with earthly eyes that have been transformed so that one can see with heavenly eyes? How does one describe a holy God?

Micaiah says he saw the entourage of heaven—all of the assembly of heaven both on God’s right and left. Isaiah said: “I saw the sovereign master seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple.” Ezekiel’s vision included “Above the platform over their heads was something like a sapphire shaped like a throne. High above on the throne was a form that appeared to be a man.” And Daniel said “thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His attire was white like snow; the hair of his head was like lamb’s wool. His throne was ablaze with fire and its wheels were all aflame.” And now John writes: “a throne was standing in heaven with someone seated on it that gleamed as jasper and carnelian with a rainbow encircling it. Around the throne were those who would worship without ceasing with white gleaming clothes and crowns about their heads. Beloved, are you ready to enter the expanse of heaven and see this too?

First John heard the sounds of roaring and crashes of thunder and flashes of lightning. In the midst of this power he heard worshipers. They were never in the mode of rest but over and over they say: “Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God, the All-Powerful, Who was and who is, and who is still to come!” You alone are worthy to be praised for you are “THE” Creator of all that was and is to come. Beloved is this our mode, do we worship without ceasing?

As we move from Revelation 4 to Revelation 5 we will now see what “must” happen. Are we prepared? Jesus said in Matt 13 ““You have been given the opportunity to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven…For whoever has will be given more, and will have an abundance.” But, Jesus also said that if we reject what has been given “even what he has will be taken from him.” Again Jesus explained that if our hearts are dull, hard of hearing, and blind, we will never see, never hear, and never understand the spiritual truths that he has for us. May we today have soft heavenly hearts, soft heavenly ears, soft heavenly eyes to see and behold the One who sits enthroned in the heavens.