My busy week kind of seemed like it was too busy for God! And that is way too busy! It seemed as if it was way too hard to try to find God in my business. Yet as I look back on the week, I found that God was there all along, giving me nudges to “Look, I’m here with you even in your business.” Just to be clear, my business is not nearly as busy as it used to be! My body has grown older and stiff and painful, and I am forced to sit and recover and regroup before I can continue with the business. You would think that would give me time to stop and give a few moments with God! But no, I am a self-centered person and just sit and think about my pains and what I wish still was. I should be thinking how thankful I will be and how wonderful it will be when I will receive a made new body in heaven. I am longing for that day! But not just for that reason. The chance to be with Jesus tops all my almost selfish reasons.
We ended last week with an unplanned trip to visit with a doctor two hours away. So that pretty much took away my whole day for getting Sabbath preparation done. I was so thankful for the wonderful offer of don’t worry about Sabbath dinner—”I will have something for you”. God has helpers for me when I least expect it. The hospital that I had the appointment with has a wonderful service that we use and have been so thankful for many, many times. It is a free service, and we have tried to express our thanks each and every time we are there and have often left a tip for the drivers to share. This time, a new driver came to get our car. When It was time to have our car brought back to the hospital entrance, it was done almost before we could get out the door! And then as I seated myself back in the car, I noticed that all was not as we left it. I had left two quarters on the console between the front seats. And those two quarters were missing! I was saving them to see if I wanted to add them to my quarter collection. And now I can’t. Yes, it’s my own fault for leaving a temptation. I am sorry if I caused the sin. And this was a bit of bad taste in an otherwise wonderful service. We all get tempted by Satan. We have the choice of whether we want to yield or resist. We can be tempted to sin on even so small a thing—just two quarters! There is another possibility that we are going to try to remember. Perhaps the thought was—”Look, they left me a tip!”
We were still two hours away from arriving home when suddenly my phone announced that there was a severe thunderstorm warning for our area! What?!!! There had been no advanced prediction of storms when we left home! A quick check of radar by phone let us know that indeed a storm was rapidly headed right for our home, and we had left three windows wide open! Two hours away was too far for us to get home to fix that problem! We began to think we would have to do a lot of mopping up water when we got home. We began to think, who could we call on for help? One by one we checked them off as Nopes! That left only one possibility and so we became beggars and called begging for help. The helper was pretty busy with his own “Gotta try and beat the storm” job! But the helper said he might be able to help us get the windows shut before the storm came. What a relief we had when we received the message of windows successfully shut! You might say our last resort helper was an answer to our prayers though I’m not sure that we actually said a verbal prayer. We should always be in an attitude of prayer all day long and perhaps this was how we received a wonderful answer to our “prayer”. God sends us a willing helper even when we haven’t asked for it. We get blessings all day long that make us thankful. Shame on us for almost leaving God out of our problems. And we are thankful for those who are willing to help those in need even when the need was created by our own negligence, since I remember having the impression to shut the windows before we left to go to my appointment!
When we arrived back home with just a short time left to our day before sundown, we made a discovery that couldn’t wait to be taken care of after Sabbath was over. The sound of falling water coming from our basement was not good. With the fear that the sump-pump motor could burn out, Garry thought, “this won’t take long! I’ll just get my screwdriver and get it fixed—with plenty of time left.” We have a black snake of a hose that snakes its way across our lawn to deliver excess drain water far away from our house. The problem was, that black snake had a hole and leak in it, next to the house and water that was supposed to end up away from the house instead was going right back down to our basement, only to be continuously pumped back out. The idea he had was to turn the hose end for end. But Satan can so easily tempt us into a bad attitude and cause things to go wrong, especially when we want to be ready to walk and talk with God on his Sabbath. The job was complicated with when each time—every 90 seconds—the pump started, a large fountain of water came out to get him wet if he didn’t quickly move and moving quickly is not something he can do—ever! And then not many jobs are as easy as they first appear. This one wasn’t! Nothing would come apart the way it should have. The struggle was a temptation to lose his temper and grow more and more frustrated with the problem and with the physical limitations he has. And the sun was rapidly going down—no light to do the job and Sabbath beginning! Fixing a geyser by lamplight isn’t exactly easy! And then, I spotted an angel walking by just as we needed an Angel helper—the same one that had closed our windows earlier in the day. And together, Garry and the Angel were able to get the geyser under control. I am so thankful that God sends us help when we are in need.
Last Sabbath I had some thoughts and stories to illustrate the fruits of the spirit during our Sabbath School time. You will remember that Galatians gives us a list. The Fruits of the Spirit are a list of nine virtues: love/charity, joy/gladness, peace, patience/forbear-ance, kindness/generosity, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness/meekness, and self-control. These qualities are considered evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in a person’s life, reflecting God’s character and growing as a result of a life aligned with the Spirit’s presence and guidance. I would like to think that there is another virtue that could be added to the list. Then we would have an even 10!
My experience with the doctor assigned to my case was just the person God meant for me to have. I was concerned with some pains I was having near the site of my cancer surgery. As I have expressed, the word cancer never leaves me. It is always lurking in the back corners of my thinking, and I often wonder when the next bad news will come after my two cancers. I was concerned once again and needed to find out if something serious was happening. The doctor I visited with and was examined by seemed to understand my concerns. As I was telling her my concerns, she could see that I needed mind relief. She handed me a tissue and then told me, she understood! That she was a cancer survivor herself. She could understand my feelings and empathize with me! Later I began to think that the virtue of empathy could be added to the fruits list. It is such a good virtue to have and not everyone has it. A google search gave me these ideas: Empathy in the Bible is a call to deeply understand and share in the feelings and experiences of others, rooted in God’s own compassionate nature and demonstrated through Jesus’s example and commands to believers. Key directives include sharing in others’ joys and sorrows (“Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15), acting with compassion and tenderheartedness (1 Peter 3:8), and bearing one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:10). This empathetic response comes from God’s love for humanity and is integral to living out the commandment to love one’s neighbor. Compassion comes from another person’s legitimate suffering or distress whereas empathy involves relating to a variety of emotional states whether fallen or not. Compassion stimulates action to alleviate the need. One sees this quality of compassion in the life of Jesus. Jesus does not simply empathize. Jesus has compassion in the face of legitimate suffering or distress and then from that compassion acts immediately to alleviate the suffering or problem.
Perhaps the virtues of empathy and compassion are hidden in goodness and gentleness, but I like them as possible additions!
This week we had a lesson in the sins of neglect and procrastination. Yes, I said sins. My life has seemed kind of overwhelming the last few years. There are so many things I have had to leave undone or discover that I can’t do them. Some of the “undones” are mostly only important to me—my personal wish list. Others should not have been neglected and procrastinated on. This week we had to reap the results of something that had overwhelmed us so much that we had neglected and procrastinated doing because of the hugeness of the problem that we could see no way to fix. Now that I can look back, yes there was a way if I hadn’t let the large problem take hold of my thoughts. We had a freezer failure! A freezer failure cannot be recovered from!! And so, we were given no choice—this had to be taken care of. It was now a bad bad nasty job, and we were given helpers to tackle this nasty job for us–I believe sent from God. He gave us people who must love us so much! It wasn’t a job that anyone should have to volunteer for, but they did. We knew the problem was developing but did not see how we could take care of it. It became overwhelming. Now I have so many “If onlys……..” But no one can go back and eliminate the “If onlys”. We have to forgive ourselves just as God forgives us for our neglect of Him and our procrastination of cleaning the sins from our lives. God has to take over and clean out the nasties from our lives for us. We can’t do it alone.
The smell of the sins we commit are very offensive to God. Can you picture God holding, pinching His nose as He deals with my misdeeds?
The phrase “sin stinks to God” is kind of a metaphor way of describing how God views sin. It means that sin is offensive and displeasing to God, just as a bad and foul odor is unpleasant to humans–the smells from our freezer were just as bad The Bible uses this image to show the separation that sin creates between us humans and God. The concept of sin’s “stench” or “smell” comes from verses like Isaiah 65:5, where God describes certain practices as “smoke in my nostrils”. This imagery is used to show sin as something that God finds repulsive and offensive. Sin is not just a wrong action; it creates a barrier and separation between humans and God. The “stench” or “smell” of sin highlights this separation and emphasizes the need for forgiveness and reconciliation with God. The idea that sin stinks to God also serves as a reminder to us of the importance of repentance. When a person recognizes their sin and turns away from it, we are essentially removing the offensive odor and seeking to be closer to God.
We had a huge amount of laundry this week from days and days of rainy weather! We are old school and hang our wet laundry outside to dry. The job took several days for us to get done because of our “physical abilities”. It has been such hot weather! We have sweated! Because of that our clothes smelled of sweat. Stinky smell! Just as we wash the smell of sweat from our clothes and freshen them with softeners and the sunshine and fresh air, in the same way Jesus washed the stench of sin from our lives with His Blood on the cross. It reminds me of the song, “Washed in the Blood”:
Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing pow’r? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin. Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you washed in the blood, In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
There’s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean. O be washed in the blood of the Lamb!
In our home, we have Miss Kitty. Miss Kitty needs so much attention. When she comes in from having outside time, she “tells me” in her own kitty ways that she now has to held in my arms that are curled around her so that she can knead my arm. That happens with her claws out! Ouch! I want to have my arm covered by my fleece before she settles in. She gets impatient with me when I don’t immediately stop everything and give in to what she thinks she needs. In her mind, it is a must-have need. On the other hand, if I don’t give in to her wants and needs, she doesn’t give up and just leave me alone. She follows me back and forth till I oblige her. Or she gets in front of me and in my face and stands on top of what I am working on, computer, etc. and manages somehow to always get between me and my phone! I truly love her but sometimes I lose patience with her! I shove her aside, go where she can’t go, push her off the table where I am working! But then, she often seems to be frustrated with us as well. God got frustrated with the Israelites in the desert. The Bible story depicts God as becoming angry and losing patience with the Israelites due to their repeated disobedience, idolatry, and unfaithfulness during their time in the wilderness, and that led to punishments—the 40 years of wandering and the exclusion of their generation from the Promised Land. God’s anger was a response to their actions, but it is also described as part of his character, where he is faithful and merciful but also must deal with evil and sin. I am sure that God gets frustrated with us as well. We are demanding or we turn away just as the Israelites did. But unlike me, He doesn’t put us down or shove us aside.
Right now, in our yard we have beautiful flowers—the “Susan’s”, red and pink hibiscus, pond lilies—they are giving me hope for a beautiful new life with Him! And best of all, we have received the promise of kids coming home for a visit! On this earth, that promise is nearly as good right now as the promise that Jesus is soon coming again—
To take me Home!
God, thank you for that Promise!