Today's Soul Food
 

 

JANUARY 8

GOLDEN WORDS


Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.  

 Isaiah 9:6-7 KJV

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Just as the prophets foretold 700 years before the birth of Christ, we are told that he is coming again. He will come as King, not as a baby in a manger. He will come again. On this we can depend. It is a sure thing. Are you ready?

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God clothed himself in man's vile flesh that he might be weak enough to suffer woe.

—  John Donne, Holy Sonets

Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman


January 8

"Give me neither poverty nor riches, but only my daily bread" Proverbs 30:8.

There are several verses in the Bible that encourage us to be content with our lives: "I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am" (Philippians 4:11b); "And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content" (1 Timothy 6:8); "...Be content with your pay" Luke 3:14c.

Whittier said that contentment is "The harvest song of inward peace." Then let us sing His praises for all He has given us, quit worrying about what we don't have, and enjoy that inner peace that seems to elude those grasping for more and more of the world's good.

"If we wished to gain contentment, we might try such rules as these: 1) Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even the weather; 2) Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstances in which thou art not; 3) Never compare thine own lot with that of another; 4) Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou dost thyself; 5) Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God's, not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. `The Lord will provide.'" E.B. Pusey.

"A man's own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the Lord" Proverbs 19:3. What we do to ourselves hurts God as much as it hurts us. In fretting against Him, we affront Him and His justice and goodness, along with losing peace of mind and possibly causing others to lose their peace. "Perverse mankind! whose wills, created free,/Charge all their woes on absolute decree;/All to the dooming gods their guilt translate,/And follies are miscalled the crimes of fate." Pope.

Pat Nordman ©



Today's Bible Question ?


What city was the prophet Jeremiah from?     
 


Previous question and Answer:

Who or what what was "Nehustan"?

Moses' brasen serpent 2 Ki. 18:4 

 

 

Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions

Spurgeon's Morning for January 8

Spurgeon's Evening January 8

 

"The iniquity of the holy things."

--Exodus 28:38

 

 

"Thy love is better than wine."

- Song of Solomon 1:2

 

I look at the weeds which overspread my garden, and breathe out an earnest wish that they were eradicated. But why? What prompts the wish? It may be that I may walk out and say to myself, 'In what fine order is my garden kept!' This is pride. Or, it may be that my neighbors may look over the wall and say, 'How finely your garden flourishes!'

Nothing gives the believer so much joy as fellowship with Christ. He has enjoyment as others have in the common mercies of life, he can be glad both in God's gifts and God's works; but in all these separately, yea, and in all of them added together, he doth not find such substantial delight as in the matchless person of his Lord Jesus.  

   

 

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Special Saturday Mornings

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement shack with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning, turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it.

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whoever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles".

I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say. "Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital."

He continued, "Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities."

And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years."

"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting to the important part."

"It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy."

"So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away."

"I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight."

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday, then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."

"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. 73 Old Man, this is K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast."

"What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids.

Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."

  


Today's' fact about Time and its measurement, a time quotation and a New Year Inspiration.

New Year 12

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January 8  Genesis 22:1- 24:67



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Today's  Devotion

 

... ...and by his light I walked through darkness!    JOB 29:3 NIV

 

Love is Kind

by Pat Nordman

 

"Love is kind" 1

Corinthians 13:4


People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." Anonymous. "Do not say to your neighbor, `Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow' – when you now have it with you" (Proverbs 3:28). Compassion cannot be timed. "Too little, too late" is a tragic assessment of damaged friendship. There is a proper time for impulsiveness. When we feel compelled to make a call or to take up a worthwhile cause, there is no time, literally, like the present to make of life a present to others.

Sometimes we weigh an action on a scale of what we call common sense until it becomes such a heavy burden and so one-sided that we decide we can't help. "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2). Burdens come in all sizes and shapes. They may seem to be – indeed, often are – unfair burdens, both for ourselves and others. But we are all dust and the environment in which we all live is polluted and our loved ones die always at a bad time and tornadoes and hurricanes always strike at inopportune times. We're all in the same rocking boat of a world; therefore these are the only times we have to take ad-vantage of our opportunities to give others God's love and ours.

"The king asked, `Is there no one still left in the house of Saul to whom I can show God's kindness?'" 2 Samuel 9:3. David was concerned about showing compassion because of his great love for Jonathan, Saul's son. And it was God's kindness he wanted to share, so his motivation was pure.

Kin Hubbard leaves us this thought, "Kindness goes a long ways lots of times when it ought to stay at home." How hard it is to love the unlovable, especially the home folks. The humorous footnote to this is that our family members may well feel the same way about us!


Sometimes we weigh an action on a scale of what we call common sense until it becomes such a heavy burden and so one-sided that we decide we can't help

© Pat Nordman

 

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