05/03/09
Sunday School 9:45 a.m.: Proverbs
30:7.
"Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die: 8. Keep
falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me
only my daily bread. 9. Otherwise, I may have too much
and disown you and say, `Who is the Lord?' Or I may become poor and steal, and
so dishonor the name of my God."
Scripture reading: #628
Vespers this Sunday evening @
5:00: An
evening of music: getting acquainted with the new hymnal!
Wednesday at 7:00: This week: Jesus, Mary &
Martha – what is the ‘better thing’ and why? Discussion based upon the book
"Desire of the Everlasting Hills" by Thomas Cahill.
Return to Him – He’ll return to you
4th prophetic period (Zechariah's ministry era
approximately 538-516 B.C.)
Zechariah 1.3. "Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD
Almighty says: `Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, `and I will return
to you,' says the LORD Almighty."
There was a time when Elisha, experiencing great
stress, cried out, "Where now is the Lord the God of Elijah?" 2 Kings 2:14
You might have wondered that from
time to time.
Elisha was
probably feeling very much alone and on his own. His mentor and friend, Elijah,
had just disappeared - and there were skeptics watching Elisha.
The Apostle John relates the story of Mary
Magdalene coming to the garden tomb early that first Easter Sunday morning. She
comes face to face with Jesus but doesn't recognize him. She is crying. "Why are you crying?'' he asked her, "Whom are you looking for?'' John 20:15
Mary was
probably feeling very much alone and without hope for the future. Her mentor
and friend had been killed and now his body was missing. Her world had become
hostile and confusing.
Zechariah was ministering to the people as they were
beginning the rebuilding of the temple. Haggai had called the people to this
task only two months before the occasion of this sermon of Zechariah's. The
first group of the exiled Jews had returned to Jerusalem sixteen years earlier.
They were now living securely in very nice homes and had just recently started
work on the central structure of the old holy city, the temple.
The people had returned physically to the 'City of
their God' and yet Zechariah was calling them to "Return
to...the Lord Almighty."
We can be where we are
supposed to be, physically, and yet not be anywhere near where we want, or
need, to be spiritually.
We can see everything in familiar terms and terrain, and
still feel very much alone, on our own, without hope for the future,
or fragile and in desperate need of comfort. We can feel all or any of that
while very busy and in the middle of a crowd of people.
We find ourselves
wondering "Where is
God...?" and somehow can't see Jesus standing before us
asking, "Why are you
crying? Whom are you looking for?"
If we will "seek the Lord with a whole heart" as David, and Jeremiah four hundred years later, entreated
us - He will hear us, He will bless us, He will reveal
Himself to us.
That is the answer to our loneliness, hopelessness,
fear and sorrow...
"I come to the garden alone, while the dew is
still on the roses. And the voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God
discloses. And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His
own; and the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known." In
the Garden by C. Austin Miles