Friday Coffee with PJ

Yet another Friday. So pour yourself a cup of coffee (or your morning beverage of choice) and join me for a few random thoughts which I hope will help you in your faith walk with God. 

Every Thursday morning at 6:30 I meet with a small group of men to pray. When I started this practice over twenty years ago, I opted to call the group the Brothers of Aaron and Hur. I chose this name based on an incident recorded in Exodus 17. Joshua led the army of Israel to fight against the Amalekites who had come against the Israelites as they marched out of Egypt. Here is what Moses wrote about the battle: 

Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought against Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. While Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but whenever he put his hand down, Amalek prevailed. When Moses’s hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his army with the sword.

I think you probably see where I am going with the choice of the name for the group. As a pastor, with each passing year, I realize how dependent I am upon others coming alongside of me to support my ministry in prayer. I cannot tell you how much I have appreciated these men who have joined with me to pray each Thursday morning. It is always a highlight of my week!

Yesterday morning (being Thursday) brought a small group of us (brothers of Aaron and Hur) together. I often open with a verse or two from Scripture which reminds us of some truth about God. Yesterday I chose James 1:17 which reads:

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 

Here James refers to God as "the Father of lights," a reference to the fact that God is the creator of the sun, moon, and stars. And unlike the shadows created by these heavenly bodies (which shift in relation to the movement of these sources of light), God never changes! This is of utmost importance to us, given what James states in the beginning of the verse - that EVERY good and perfect gift is from him. You see, if God could change, perhaps he would grow tired of giving so much to so many and therefore stop giving. Or maybe he would "wake up" one morning, grumpy and unwilling to give good gifts to his creatures. Or it might happen that his knowledge of what we might need most would become distorted and therefore the "good and perfect gift" he gives us wouldn't really be "good or perfect" for us! 

All this to say isn't it a great comfort to know that our God (so UNLIKE us) never changes! That he is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13: 8). As such, he is indeed a God worthy of our trust, obedience, worship, and love. 

Thanks for stopping by . . . 
pj

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