Friday Coffee with PJ

I just love my coffee. And for the past two months I have been drinking it black and enjoying it more than ever! And apparently my liver has been enjoying it too! So pour yourself a cup of your favorite java and read on, my friends. 

1. The past four Tuesday evenings I have been teaching a class at Lancaster Bible College in their AUD program. This particular class (which ends next Tuesday - that's why it's called "accelerated") is an exploration of the Bible's first five books known as the Pentateuch. I was struck again in the reading of the book of Numbers at how God instructed the various 12 tribes of Israel to encamp in a prescribed order with the Tabernacle (in which God's glory dwelt) in the very center of their camp. What a beautiful reminder for us! This is how God desires us (in fact commands us) to arrange our lives - with God himself at the very center. Yet all too often we have other things at our life's core. It could be self, it could be family, it could be money and the stuff money buys, or a host of other things. But doing so is like replacing the world's most brilliant diamond on display in our living room with a barrel of manure from farmer Jones' barn (and even this comparison is woefully lacking). King David, who wrote half of the book of Psalms, in Psalm 27:4 wrote, 

I have asked one thing from the Lord;

it is what I desire:

to dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

gazing on the beauty of the Lord

and seeking him in his temple.

Oh that we would have that same desire ... to become so enamored with the beauty of God that we would strive to keep him where he belongs ... at the very center of our lives! 

 

2. With all the rain that has been falling the past 2 months, my grass is growing at an incredible rate. Cutting it once a week is not enough! So to keep ahead of the growth, I have found myself mowing my lawn about every 4-5 days! Now this doesn't surprise me. That is what  a lot of rain will do. It waters the soil which allows the grass to get more than enough H2O to grow ... no, to REALLY grow! Thinking about this brought the following Scripture from Isaiah the prophet to mind: 

For just as rain and snow fall from heaven

and do not return there

without saturating the earth

and making it germinate and sprout,

and providing seed to sow

and food to eat,

11 

so my word that comes from my mouth

will not return to me empty,

but it will accomplish what I please

and will prosper in what I send it to do.

(Isaiah 55:10-11)

Are you allowing God's Word to water the soil of your soul? If not, then don't expect to grow in your faith. But if you really want to grow . . . then commit to getting into the Bible every day (Psalm 1:1-3). If you are feeling spiritually dry, then the water of the Word is just what you need! 

Thanks for stopping by . . . 

pj