One of my favorite scenes in the Bible is the funeral scene of Abraham in Genesis 25:8-10. We begin by reading that verse.
“Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah. There Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife.
That is the way to go – in a good old age, surrounded by your people, and buried by your children.
When you have lived for a few decades, you think about what it means to get old. One man wrote a poem (H.S. Fritsch) that has helped me through the years. I want to share that with you now. Perhaps it will bless your life.
Age is a quality of mind. If you have left your dreams behind.
If hope is cold, If you no longer look ahead,
If your ambitions’ fires are dead Then you are old.
But if from life you take the best If in life you keep the jest, If love you hold;
No matter how the years go by, No matter how the birthdays fly –
You are not old.
I didn’t wrote that poem, but they resonate with me.
In John 6, when the disciples saw the big hungry crowd following Jesus, Jesus tells his disciples to give them something to eat. Maybe this is where the idea of a church dinner first came from? Well, anyway, our text tells what comes next. – John 6:5-7
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
Why would Jesus tell them to get food for and feed 5,000 people? Actually the text tells us. the Bible says, “He asked them only to test.” “He already had in mind what he was going to do.”
You too will face tough situations. You might not know what to do, but you need to ask yourself, “Is this a test?” If God is watching, and of course he is, then we need to remember that it is a test. Handle this crises so that God is pleased with your faith.
Proverbs 17:3, tells us God works this way with us. “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.” Heat doesn’t make silver or gold. It merely reveals it. The heat and pressures of life don’t make you strong. They just reveal your true strength. Perhaps, even strength you didn’t know you had.
God is not bound by our human limitations. He can turn our problems into victories, our struggles into successes, and our weaknesses into strengths.
Thousands of people were following Jesus to hear him preach, but thousands of poeple bring there own problems. They might not get tired, sick, or weary, but eventually they always get hungry.
With this background we begin with the reading of Mark 6:35-37
By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “That would take eight months of a man’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”
In the middle of nowhere, a remote place, how do you feed more than 5,000 people? The disciples have a suggestion.
Send the people away. It doesn’t have to be our problem, they think. Let them buy something for themselves. Actually, I get it. There seems to be no other solution.
But Jesus has another idea. He tells the disciples, “You give them something to eat.”
Do you see the cycle?
They say, Let them go somewhere to eat. In other words, let’s duck this problem.
Jesus said, “No, You handle it.”
There are a two great lessons to learn from this story.
#1. Handle your problems.
If you ignore them, they won’t go away. They will get bigger.
I once knew a man who would, when a problem arose, would retreat into his bedroom until the problem went away. You may have some form of that yourself. They #1 way of hiding is to retreat into tomorrow. Tomorrow I will handle it. Then tomorrow there will be another tomorrow. Your may think the problem goes away because it seems to settle down, but unhandled, unresolved problems are usually still lingering just beneath the surface of life.
#2. God always has a plan, even if you don’t know it.
“You give them something to eat” must have seemed ridiculous to them. They didn’t have enough resources, or so it seemed to them. The only ridiculous thing was for the disciples not to understand that when Jesus told them to do something, he would always provide the resources for them to do it.
God still works in that way. Once you know what God wants them just do it. He will help!
Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Notice how he starts this teaching, “I tell you the truth…”
And what is the reason for the truth that he was telling them? He shares the answer with us at the end of verse 10, “I am come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
So why do so many of us live lives that don’t feel like an abundant life? Perhaps it is because we do to drink in the full experience of Christianity. The following story is a great illustration of how we miss so much in life and certainly in the Christian life.
The story is told of a little boy who lived on a farm in the 1800s. When he was a twelve-year-old, he heard that a travelling circus was coming to his little remote town. He had never been to a circus and was excited about the possibility. When he first heard the news he ran home and asked, “Daddy, can i go?” He was from a poor family, but the father sensed how important this was to his son, “If you do your chores ahead of time, I see that you get to go next Saturday.”
On Saturday morning, with chores done, he went to his dad. His dad reached into the pockets of his work clothes and dug out a dollar. It was more money than the boy had ever seen. His father cautioned him and sent him on his way to town.
On the way to town, the boy feet hardly touched the ground. As he neared the outskirts of town, he noticed people lining the streets. He worked his way through the crowd until he could see what was happening. It was the approaching spectacle of a circus parade! The parade was the most amazing thing he had ever seen.
Caged animals roared as they passed. Bands beat their rhythms and sounded shining horns. Acrobats did leaps and flips while flags and ribbons swirled overhead. After everything had passed where he was standing, a circus clown, with floppy shoes, baggy pants, and a brightly painted face, brought up the rear. As the clown passed by, the little boy reached into his pocket and took out that precious dollar bill. Handing the money to the clown, the boy turned around and went home. The boy thought he had seen the circus when he had only seen the parade!
God has promised us great things, but too many of us upon seeing the parade, clap and then go home and think we have seen the parade.
Jesus did not come to make life average. He did not come to make life tolerable. He did not come to make life good. He came to give you life to the full. The NAS and KJV say, “Abundant life.” Jesus meant for you to have an abundant life now.
Before I read, let me explain what I am going to read. There are two commands. The first is to all folks. The second is to those who hold the most important job on earth. It is not the job of a king or a president. It is not the job of a teacher or a doctor. It is a job of a Godly mom or dad.
The first verse we read is to all of us.
[5] Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
This is the greatest command. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. But the greatest job is found in the next four verses. It gives instructions to mothers and fathers.
[6] These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. [7] Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. [8] Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. [9] Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
So the greatest job is to see that our children know about God. Nothing is more important. Remember these words from Deuteronomy 6.
I will close with reading a poem that reminds us of why. It is called “The Bridge Builder.”
An old man going a lone highway,
Came in the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm vast, both deep and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The swollen stream was as naught to him;
But he stopped when safe on the farther side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting your strength in labor here;
Your journey will end with the closing day,
You never again will pass this way.
You’ve crossed the chasm deep and wide
Why build you this bridge at eventide?”
The laborer lifted his old gray head,
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm which has been naught to me
To that young man may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim.
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”
Miss Will Allen Dromgoole
Remember to help build a bridge for your children. Build is so they will have an easier path to God.
The title of this article is a description of Christianity by billionaire Ted Turner.
In the end of his life, he changed his view. He said that he regrets his fifty years of negativism toward Christianity. He apologized and said Christianity is a positive influence.
Why he turned against Christianity a lifetime ago is a sad story. When he was 15, his 12-year-old sister developed terminal lupus. He prayed for her for one hour every day for most of five years. Over those five years he saw her in pain and finally her death. His conclusion was that God her and so he quit God.
His is not an unusual story. We see it all the time. Someone prays for a heartfelt, specific outcome and God does not grant it. The praying person becomes frustrated with God and quits Him.
The quitting does not always manifest itself in a “religion for losers” mentality or an “I’ll never go to church again” attitude. Sometimes the quitter just quietly quits worshipping or maybe continues to frequent services, but settles into a duty bound, joyless religion.
There is such a thing as “religion for losers,” but it is not true Christianity. Religion for losers is a religion that does not feel the joy or power of God. Religion for losers often worships but counts the minutes until it is over. Religion for losers does not lead us to our knees in prayer.
When those with true faith pray, they do not always get what they ask for in exactly the way they asked. God is not a genie in a bottle and prayer is not like rubbing the lamp.
True faith knows that the Father knows best and is willing to leave it with him. True religion knows that when life tumbles in, when our hearts break, and when struggles surround us, God is faithful. (1 Cor 1:9)
You may not always understand Him, but God is always faithful.
“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
How to we learn to trust like this?
The Bible tells us about Abraham, who went to a place where God called him to go, even though he didn’t know where he was going. This has led some people to believe that we should always trust God, even when we don’t know what’s going to happen.
However, I think we get this wrong. Abraham’s faith was amazing, but God doesn’t ask us to leap into the dark. When the Israelites fled from the Pharaoh, he pursued them. Israel escaped to the Red Sea and the Pharaoh chased them there.
When Israel was safely on the other side of the Red Sea, an amazing thing happened. The water that had parted for God’s people came back and drowned the Egyptian army. Standing on the other side, the Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians that washed up on the shore.
Moses tells us, “When the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him and in Moses His servant.”
Did you catch that? When they saw with their eyes, their faith grew. It is good to grow from experiencing God. This is not the only time this happened. Gideon asked God to show him evidence of His power. Moses struggled with faith even after seeing a powerful sign from God.
God calls on us to test Him. As our text for today said, “‘Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.'”
God knows we are made of clay. God knows we have weaknesses. He does not blast us for our weakness, but “leads us beside the still waters.” Our problem is not that we have tested God and found him to fail. Our problem is that we do not test Him at all. Learn to lean on Him. He is the only leaning post that will never fail you.
Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.
When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
The story of the blind beggar teaches us three important life lessons:
1. God helps us with what we need, not just what we ask. The blind beggar never asked for anything more than a few coins. He was born blind and begging was his life. God worked behind the scenes to heal him, even though he did not ask. This is a reminder that God knows our needs even before we ask, and that He is always working to help us.
God can help in the most hopeless circumstances. The beggar had been blind since birth. He had never known what it was like to see. He had lived his entire life in darkness. He was poor and had no means of support. He was forced to beg to survive. Despite all these challenges, Jesus healed the beggar. This is a reminder that God is not limited by our circumstances. He can help us no matter how hopeless our situation may seem.
Jesus meets our needs in ways we do not expect. When Jesus healed the beggar, he did not use expensive medicine or surgery. He simply made some mud with his spit and put it on the beggar’s eyes. This is a reminder that God can help us in ways we do not expect. We should never assume that we know how God will help us. We should simply trust Him and obey His commands.
We may not be blind beggars on the side of the road, but God is still ready to help us with what we need. Just as the blind beggar was ready to receive Jesus’ gift of sight, we should be ready to receive the gifts that God has for us.
“Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.’
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.”
In this passage, David asks a question that has been on the minds of people throughout history: “Why do the nations rage against God?”
The answer, of course, is that they do not know God. They do not understand his power or his love. They see him as a threat to their own power and control.
But David reminds us that God is in control. He is the one who sits in the heavens and laughs at the nations’ attempts to overthrow him. He is the one who will have the last laugh.
This is a good reminder for us in a time when our nation is facing so much turmoil. It is easy to get caught up in the anger and frustration of the moment. But we must remember that God is in control.
What does this passage mean for us today?
It reminds us that God is in control, even when the world seems to be falling apart.
It encourages us to trust in God, even when we are afraid.
It gives us hope for the future, knowing that God will ultimately triumph over evil.
Do you about Joseph in the Bible? Not not the one who served in Egypt and saved his family from famine. The one who is most overlooked. The Joseph who was the earthly father of Jesus.
We know about Mary and even his brothers, but Joseph rarely gets mentioned in the story of Jesus. He must have been a great man because when God decided to pick someone to be an earthly father to his only begotten son, he picked Joseph.
I want to share with you a little of his story and then point out one special way that he was great.
Matthew 1:18-19
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.
It is not a long reading, but it shows the special character of Joseph. Think about it. Joseph loved this special girl, Mary, but discovered that she was already with Child. What was he going to do? He could have exposed her behavior, but that is not what he did. He decided to quietly end the relationship.
Why is that noble? To “secretly” end the relationship certainly exposed him to gossip. To secretly put her away meant that he was not going to tell everyone his side of the story. He would just leave.
We know how the story ended. Joseph stayed with Mary and obeyed God.
I wish I knew a whole book worth of information about this amazing man, but what I do know is that he is truly a great man.
If Joseph can follow God’s lead under very challenging circumstances, surely we can too.
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
3 “but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
From this great text, I would call your attention to the three great challenges of the serpent. He basically had three great questions for Eve.
1. First, he asked, “Do you know what God said?”
2. Then he asked, “Do you believe what God said?”
3. Finally, he challenged, “Wouldn’t you rather be your own God?”
Unless you read between the lines, you will not see these questions. Look closer.
In verses 1-2, he asked, “Has God indeed said?” His first question was about whether she knew God’s word.
In verse 4, the serpent says that God is lying. “You shall not surely die.”
In verse 5, the serpents tells Eve, “You will be like God.” He is really saying, “Eve, you don’t have to obey God. Ignore God’s teaching and decide for yourself.”
Satan’s strategy hasn’t really changed. He still challenges people. Do you know what God said? Do you believe what God said? Wouldn’t you rather just do whatever you want to do?
Unless you can answer these questions correctly, then you are in the same place as Eve. The devil tricked her. Don’t let him trick you.
A writer once proclaimed, “Songs shape minds, laws matter less.” Might this claim seem exaggerated? Not in my view. Repeated songs mold thoughts and beliefs. This truth resonates in our own society.
The same is true of our worship songs. In college, I knew a boy who knew his church songbook so well, that I could say a number and he would tell me the song on that page. His songbook was called, “Songs of the Church.”
I think Jesus knew his worship songbook that well also. Today we know the name of his songbook. It is called, “The Book of Psalms.”
Psalms is not merely a book in our Bible but was the songbook of worship among the Jews in the time of Christ. Over the next few days, we will briefly examine that songbook. We will begin with the first song in the songbook of Jesus, Psalms 1. It is only 6 verses long and reads as follows:
Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
3He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
4The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. 5Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Let me call to your attention three great teachings in that first song of worship.
The first thought in the first song tells the importance of choosing godly companions: The psalm begins by highlighting the blessedness of those who do not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners. It emphasizes the significance of surrounding oneself with those who follow godly principles and avoiding the influence of those who are ungodly. This is one of the great teachings of Godly parents for their children. It is a teaching for the parents as well. Be careful who you pick as your friends.
Secondly, the song teaches the value of delighting in God’s Word: It says, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.”
Finally, we note that the idea of the entire song is to show the contrast between the righteous and the wicked: It describes the righteous as flourishing and prospering, while the wicked are described as chaff blown away by the wind.
Psalms 1 can be summed up in a sentence this way, Blessed is the one who delights in the law of the Lord and prospers in righteousness.
Suppose someone were to ask you to pick two verses to anchor your life around. What would you choose?
In the Bible, there are two verses that change everything. Without them there would be no Christians, no faith, and no hope.
These two verses are Genesis 1:1 and Matthew 28:6.
Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” It tells about the beginning of everything, the sun, the moon, and the stars. It introduces us to “God.” It also tells us about time itself, “In the beginning.”
As much as people attack the stories of the Bible, this verse is the one they would most like to exclude. Since this verse is true then nothing else is impossible. If God created the heavens and the earth, why would you doubt that he can heal a blind man or even cause a dead man to get up from the grave? Genesis 1:1 is only 10 words, but it is the foundation for every other miracle in the Bible.
The second verse, Matthew 28:6, tells us about the fundamental belief in Christianity. When the disciples came hunting for the dead body of Jesus, the angel told them, “He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying.”
The angel could not show them the dead body. All they could do was show them the place where the body had laid. The enemies of Christ would have loved nothing better than to stop this new faith before it began. It would have been easy. All they needed to do was to show the followers, not the place where the body was, but rather the body itself. The fact that Christianity grew from here, tells us they could not show the body. They could not because Jesus was no longer dead.
On these two verses hangs all the reason for God and Christianity. This little note is too short to cover everything in these verses, but they would be a great starting point for your own study.
Here is something a little different. It is a list of sorts. I call these the “Five Rules for Time.” Each of us begins our day with a decision to make on how to use our time. So that you might be better able to make this decision, here are the five rules for time.
#1: “There is a cumulative value to investing small amounts of time in certain activities over a long period.” One cannot pray for ten hours in one day and have the same effect as if one were to pray for thirty minutes a day for twenty days. Important activities must be done in small pieces over a long period of time.
#2: “There is a cumulative effect to neglecting important things over a long period of time.” An important activity neglected will always impact negatively your life. It may take time to show, but it will always damage your life.
#3: “There are rarely any immediate consequences for neglecting single installments of time in any arena of life.” When you skip something important, the impact will not be felt immediately. That is the reason we skip it! Of course, the effect shows up later.
#4: “There is no cumulative value to the things we allow to interfere with what is most important.” For example, when you decide not to study the Bible daily and look back on the time you gained by neglecting to study, there will be nothing significant gained.
#5: “In the critical areas of life, you cannot make up for lost time.” Farmers know that you cannot go into the field and put in long days of planting the week before the harvest. If you did not plant in the due season, then it is gone. Plant in due season and reap in due season. You cannot make up for lost time and neglected opportunities.
Paul urges, “Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is” (Ephesians 5:15-17).
All people have struggles. All people have fears. All people have regrets. There are no exceptions. Your attitude is not about how smooth the seas are, but about who is piloting your ship.
One of my favorite advertisements was by Nationwide Insurance. One of their commercials had a theme “Life comes at your fast.” In one of those commercials, a guy parks his beautiful new car. Within seconds someone backs into it, paint is spilled on it, lightning strikes a tree near it and part of the tree falls on the car. “Life comes at your fast,” they said. Things go wrong – for someone. Life is not about circumstances it is about what you do with those circumstances.
One poet put it this way:
I was regretting the past and fearing the future Suddenly my Lord was speaking. “My name is I Am” He paused. I waited. He continued. “When you live in the past, with its mistakes and regrets, It is hard – I am not there. My name is not “I Was.”
“When you live in the future, with its problems and fears., It is hard – I am not there. “My name is not ‘I Will Be.’”
When you live in this moment, it is not hard, I am here – My name is ‘I Am.’”
‘The circumstances of life come and go, but we must learn to live above the circumstances. Learning this skill may take a long time, but in the end, it is the only way we can have peace and joy.
One more thing. The difference between David the giant killer and the cowering soldier around him, was that David saw the giant through the eyes of God. The soldier could only see the giant.
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Over the years many Christians have debated this truth. However, It is a proverb and not a law. We ARE given free choice by God and so a person can choose to turn their life around, but there is a strong pull towards one’s upbringing. This is explained in an amazing poem by Dorothy Nolte called,
CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
he learns to find love in the world.
This is a truth all experienced parents should know.
Should I change jobs? Should I get married? Should I get a divorce? Should I drop my friend?
There seems to be more questions than there are answers.
As you ponder your own questions that need answers, I would call your attention to Exodus chapters 3 and 4.
These chapters tell the story of Moses and the burning bush. Israel was suffering as slaves in Egypt. God decided to deliver them. He spoke to Moses from a burning bush and told him exactly what to do. Moses listened. doubted, and made excuses. He had excuses but from the burning bush, but God had answers, assurances, and direction.
Wouldn’t you love to find your own burning bush? A wonderful source for answers to all your questions. If only we could talk to a burning bush then we would know what we should do.
Really?
Moses tried not to listen to God from the burning bush. I think that most folks would respond just as Moses did. They too would make excuses rather than obey. I know this because I see it all around. Sometimes it is me who does not listen but hunts for an excuse.
For example:
· From His Word, God says we should live thankful lives. “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess. 5:18)
· He commands us to live faithful lives. “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
Obviously, this list could be greatly expanded. The point of all of this is to encourage all who wish for a burning bush so you could hear what God wants you to do, ask yourself “Are you even listening?”
We do have a burning bush. It is called the Word of God.
Sometimes we don’t learn or even see the lesson for many years. Today’s thought is one of those lessons.
When I was in high school, I was presented with a puzzle. It was one of those where people were trying to cross a river with only one boat. It was a really good puzzle and I could not solve it. I, therefore, judged it unsolvable.
All through college I challenged others with the puzzle. No one ever solved it. Later I was teaching 8th-grade school. To keep my class busy, I gave them the puzzle. Of course, I knew it was unsolvable, but wanted to challenge them to struggle with it.
About 5 minutes into the puzzle, one little girl, said, “I’ve done it.” Of course, I knew she had not, but I let her come show me. She had no chance. She came to my desk to show me. Wow! She had solved it.
I had prejudged her and decided that an 8th-grade girl could never do this.
The lesson I should have learned was that I should not prejudge. Sometimes answers come from unexpected sources.
In 1 Samuel 17, the Bible demonstrated that principle. For 40 days, King Saul and all the Israelite warriors were tormented by a giant named Goliath. For 40 days, the Hebrews had lived fearfully. No one could get the victory for Israel. Finally, a teenage boy came forward and offered to fight the giant.
The mighty King Saul, told the teenager, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” (v33).
Well, you know how that story ended. King Saul prejudged the youth but in the end, the youth delivered the solution by meeting and killing the giant.
King Saul almost lost the battle, because he prejudged the boy and was ready to reject the only one who could solve his problem.
I sometimes do that too, but we must not make Saul’s mistake. It is important to remember that help sometimes comes from unexpected places.
One of the most familiar texts from the Bible are the words of Jesus found in Matthew 6:9-13. It is often called, “The Lord’s Prayer.”
“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
In the 1950s, Texas’s children started their school day by reciting these words. Unfortunately, the children did not understand the meaning of the words they were reciting. Many of us still do not. For today’s Bible toolbox, let’s look at one great purpose of this verse.
These words are not intended to be a memorized form for prayer, but rather an example to teach us about prayer. Those who teach about prayer will often use this prayer example of Jesus to show want our prayer ought to cover. Notice these parts to a good prayer.
Prayer should:
1. Acknowledge God as our Father: The opening phrase of the prayer, “Our Father in heaven,” reminds us that God is not only our Creator but also our loving and caring Father.
2. Honor God: The phrase “hallowed be your name” acknowledges God’s holiness and reminds us of the need to honor and respect Him.
3. Pray for God’s will to be done: When we pray “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” we are surrendering our will to God’s and asking Him to bring about His purposes in our lives and in the world.
4. Pray for our daily needs: The prayer includes the phrase “give us today our daily bread.”.
5. Confess our sins and ask for forgiveness.
6. Ask for God’s protection. The prayer includes the request “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
These lessons still provide insight and inspiration as we study and practice the blessing of prayer.
