Realistic Pessimism

Sharing a brief excerpt from my devotional reading today from Knowing God Through the Year by J.I. Packer.

For in much wisdom is much vexation, 
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. 

Ecclesiastes 1:18
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If life is senseless, then it is valueless. And in that case, what use is it working to create things, to build a business, to make money, even to seek wisdom, for none of this can do you any obvious good (Ecc. 2:15-16, 22-23, 5-11)? It is to this pessimistic conclusion, says the preacher of Ecclesiastes, that optimistic expectations of finding the divine purpose of everything will ultimately lead you (1:17-18). And of course he is right. For the world we live in is in fact the sort of place that he has described. The God who rules it hides himself. Rarely does this world look as if a beneficent Providence were running it. Rarely does it appear that there is a rational power behind it all. Often what is worthless survives, while what is valuable perishes.

Be realistic, says the preacher. Face the facts. See life as it is. You will have no true wisdom till you do. And then praise God for giving our life the meaning that the world does not hold. 

Painting ~ A Peaceful Read 1869, George Goodwin Kilburn 1839-1924
Wikipedia Commons public domain

Inscrutable

Sharing with you today a brief portion from my devotional reading in Knowing God Through the Year with J.I. Packer.

Ecclesiastes is intended as a warning against a misconceived quest for understanding.

Look (says the preacher) at the sort of world we live in. What do you see? You see life's background set by aimlessly recurring cycles in nature (1:4-7). You see its shape fixed by times and circumstances over which we have no control (3:1-8). You see death coming to everyone sooner or later, but its coming bears no relation to whether it is deserved (7:15). The wicked prosper; the good don't (8:14).

Seeing all this, you realize that God's ordering of events is inscrutable. Much as you want to make it out, you cannot do so (8:17). The harder you try to understand the divine purpose in the ordinary providential course of events, the more obsessed you grow with the apparent aimlessness of everything and the more you are tempted to conclude that life really is as pointless as it looks.

... then I saw all the work of God, 

that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. 

However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. 

Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.

Ecclesiastes 8:17

Picture ~ Zinnias in my garden by the driveway

God Is Personal

The Earthly Paradise, Jan Bureghel

Sharing some devotional reading with you today from Knowing God Through the Year.

Right from the start, the Bible's story is told in such a way as to impress on us the twin truths that the God to whom we are being introduced is both personal and majestic. Genesis reveals the personal nature of God expressed in vivid terms. He deliberates with himself, saying, "Let us..." (Genesis 1:26). He brings the animals to Adam to see what Adam will call them (2:19). He walks in the garden calling to Adam (3:8-9). He asks people questions (4:9). He comes down from heaven in order to find out what his creatures are doing (11:5). He is so grieved by human wickedness that he repents of making them (6:6-7). Representations of God like these show us that God is not a mere cosmic principle, impersonal and indifferent. Rather, he is a living Person, thinking, feeling, active, approving of good, disapproving of evil, interested in his creatures all the time.

~ J.I. Packer

And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, 

and there he put the man whom he had formed.  

And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree  

that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.  

The tree of life was in the midst of the garden,

and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The LORD God took the man  

and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, 

"You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 

but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,

for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; 

I will make him a helper fit for him."

Genesis 2:8-9, 15-18

Painting ~ The Earthly Paradise, 1607-1608, Jan Brueghel 1568-1625

Wikimedia Commons public domain

Hope

Be of good courage, and [God] shall strengthen your heart.

 Psalm 31:24

We human beings are so made that we live in our own fancied future. This is not a policy decision but simply the way we are. To look forward, to dream of happy things to come, to want what is good to continue and what is bad to end, and to long for a future that is better than the past is as natural as breathing.

~ J.I. Packer, in Knowing God


Painting ~ The Garden of Felicien Rops at Essone 1910
Theo van Rysselberghe 1862-1926
WikiArt public domain

Strengthening That Which Remains

A friend and I are getting together this morning for a walk in the cemetery. Meeting in front of the mausoleum. A sepulcher. It's beautiful marble on the outside.

Inside it's full of dead bodies. That's what Jesus called the Pharisees. Whited sepulchers. Marbled mausoleums. Outwardly beautiful. Inwardly unclean. Outwardly righteous. Inwardly not.

It's easy to be like a Pharisee, to clean up the outward and neglect the inward. I like to make lists. It keeps me on track and gives me a sense of accomplishment when I see the check marks tally up. It's too much of a tendency to transfer this to the spiritual. I can check off the outward: right words, right actions, right place at the right time. The inward requires more. It's a matter of the heart.

I want my heart to be in tune with God. "How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD. How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart" (Ps. 119:1-2). I have a longing to know God. One of the ways I learn to know him is by responding to Him through His Word each day.

Another way is going to church and listening to our pastor teach God's Word. We're in a series on the Seven Churches in Revelation, and not long ago he talked about the church at Sardis, which had no commendation given to them. I've been thinking about that.

"To the angel of the church in Sardis write: ...I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die..." (Rev. 3:1-2).

I don't want a name, a reputation. I want Christ-like transformation in my life. I want to know God. I've been reading Knowing God Through the Year by J.I. Packer. I especially like through-the-year books that I can jump into anytime and ponder day by day. One of the readings is "Law and Love," based on Psalm 119:97, 10, 125.

"Oh, how I love your law! How sweet are your words to my taste!... Give me discernment that I may understand your statutes."

Packer begins with these questions: "Do not all children of God long, with the psalmist, to know just as much about our heavenly Father as we can learn? Is not the fact that we have received a love for this truth one proof that we have been born again? And is it not right that we should seek to satisfy this God-given desire to the full?"

Knowing God through His Word--so that my heart might respond to it and my life be transformed by the renewing of my mind. And so I strengthen that which remains to be strengthened.

Walking with my friend today. Walking with my God today and tomorrow....and into eternity.

Image ~ Cemetery, by Stockvault
via Freepik

Changeless Ways

Sharing with you today from my quiet time reading with J.I. Packer.

God's ways do not change. Still he blesses those on whom he sets his love in a way that humbles them so that all the glory may be his alone. Still he hates the sins of his people and uses all kinds of inward and outward pains and griefs to wean their hearts from compromise and disobedience. Still he seeks the fellowship of his people and sends them both sorrows and joys in order to detach their love from other things and attach it to himself. Still he teaches believers to value his promised gifts by making them wait for those gifts, and compelling them to pray persistently for them before he bestows them.

So we read of God dealing with his people in the Scripture record, and so he deals with them still. His aims and principles of action remain consistent. He does not at any time act out of character. Our ways, we know are pathetically inconstant--but not God's.

As for God, his way is perfect. ~ 2 Samuel 22:31

 

from Knowing God Through the Year, J.I.Packer

Painting ~ Woman Reading in an Interior, Carl Holsoe 1863-1935
WikiArt public domain

The Simple Woman's Daybook

Today I reflect on simple thoughts and simple pleasures. My leads are somewhat similar to others in The Simple Woman's Daybook group, yet a bit different as well.  

A picture to share...  

 

 

Outside my window...

Snow white azaleas in full bloom in the front garden. Especially gorgeous at night!

Thinking...     

About the good fellowship that I had while walking this week.

 

Thankful...   

That my parents and sister's families were safe during the tornadoes this week in Huntsville. They only lost electricity that will be off for several more days. Inconvenient, but many others lost much more.

 

Learning... 

That quilt blocks don't necessarily come out square with precise 1/4 inch seams, but rather that the seams need to be adjusted to make a block square.
  

Around the house.... 

Finished a new 4-week menu rotation for May-August. This sure is a big help when it comes to supper time and grocery shopping. Not that I'm stuck to the menu when I want to do something different, but when it's on paper it's off my mind (not a lot seems to stick there anyway), and I can just give it a quick glance to see what's upcoming for supper.

Noticing the sound of...

Quiet. A peaceful night.

Reflecting creativity, in His image...
Gave The Book Nook a Mother's Day touch
 

From the kitchen....

Sharing one of the new recipes to our menu rotation. This one is Debbie's from our local homeschool support group cook book. Thanks, Debbie!

Meal-in-One Casserole

(Crock Pot)

1# ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped 

1 medium green pepper, chopped

1 cup whole corn, drained (I used frozen)

1 cup mushroom tops and pieces, drained (I used fresh)

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1- 11 oz. jar salsa (I think mine was about 14 oz.)

5 cups uncooked medium egg noodles (I just cooked enough for the two of us)

1- 28oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 cup water

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I used mozzarella)

In a skillet cook beef and onion over medium heat until beef is done. Transfer to slow cooker. Top with green pepper, corn and mushrooms. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour salsa over mushrooms. Pour tomatoes and water over all. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and cook on low for 2-3 hours, then add noodles and continue cooking 1-2 hours or until noodles are tender. 

 

I just cooked the noodles separately so I could save mixture leftovers. The next time I won't add as much liquid. I think the mixture would good over nacho chips, too, especially with less liquid.

A thought from my Quiet Time....

From Knowing God Through the Year by J.I. Packer

Just as you do not know the path of the wind, ... so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things. ~ Ecclesiastes 11:5

"Among the seven deadly sins of medieval lore was sloth (acedia)--a hard-bitten, joyless apathy of spirit. There is a lot of it around today in Christian circles. The symptoms are personal spiritual inertia combined with critical cynicism about the churches and supercilious resentment of other Christians' initiative and enterprise. Behind this morbid and deadening condition often lies the wounded pride of one who thought he knew all about the ways of God in providence and then was made to learn by bitter and bewildering experience that he didn't.

This is what happens when we do not heed the message of Ecclesiastes. For the truth is that God, in his wisdom, to make and keep us humble and to teach us to walk by faith, has hidden from us almost everything that we would like to know about the providential purposes that he is working out in the churches in our own lives."

Currently reading...

The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson. I began previewing this book as a possible Book Nook addition, and I quickly found that it certainly is one I'd encourage all mothers to read! In fact, I'm thinking about hosting a 6-week discussion group for moms around this book. It's that good!

This coming week I'm looking forward to...
Our upcoming visit with Elizabeth and Craig and our little Elijah. Looking forward to holding and hugging! 

You may also enjoy reading what other simple women are saying and doing these days. Just click here to go to The Simple Woman's Daybook site. I'll be posting my journal on Saturdays. Do stop by again.

Ordered Paths

[God] knows the way that I take;

when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

Job 23:10

I've been reading through Job in my quiet time, and that reading converged with a thought from J.I. Packer in Knowing God Through the Year. Sharing it with you today.

The same wisdom that ordered the paths that God's saints trod in Bible times orders the Christian's life today. We should not, therefore, be too taken aback when unexpected and upsetting and discouraging things happen to us now. What do they mean? Simply that God in his wisdom means to make something of us that we have not yet attained. Perhaps he means to strengthen us in patience, good humor, compassion, humility or meekness by giving us  practice in exercising these graces under especially difficult conditions. Perhaps he has a new lesson in self-denial and self-distrust to teach us. Perhaps he wishes to break us of complacency, unreality or undetected forms of pride and conceit. Perhaps his purpose is simply to draw us closer to himself, for it is often the case that fellowship with the Father and the Son is most vivid, and Christian joy is greatest, when the cross is heaviest. Or perhaps God is preparing us for forms of service of which at present we have no inkling.

Painting ~ Forest Path, Hein Van Den Heuvel

A Life of Ease

Sharing a portion today from my quiet time reading with J.I. Packer on Knowing God Through the Year.

God’s almighty wisdom is always active and never fails. All his words of creation and providence and grace display it, and until we can see it in them, we just are not seeing them straight. But we cannot recognize God’s wisdom unless we know the end for which he is working.

Here many go wrong. Misunderstanding what the Bible means when it says that God is love (see I John 4:8-10), they think that God intends a trouble-free life for all. Hence they conclude that anything painful and upsetting (illness, accident, injury, job loss, the suffering of a loved one) indicates either that God’s wisdom or his power, or both, have broken down. Or they conclude that God, after all, does not exist.

But this idea of God’s intention is a complete mistake. God’s wisdom is not pledged to keep a fallen world happy. Not even to Christians has he promised a trouble-free life; rather the reverse. He has other ends in view for life in this world than simply to make it easy for everyone.

Painting ~ The Bracelet, Isaac Snowman 1903

The View We Need ~ From the End of the Platform

Sharing a bit from my morning devotional reading from
Knowing God Through the Year, J.I. Packer.

York Station

"If you stand at the end of the platform at York Station, you can watch a constant succession of engine and train movement that, if you are a railway enthusiast, will fascinate you. But you will only be able to form a rough idea of the overall plan.

"If, however, you are privileged to be taken into the magnificent electrical signal box that lies athwart platforms seven and eight, you will see a diagram of the entire track layout for five miles on either side of the station. At once you can look at the situation through the eyes of those who control it. You will see why this train is diverted from its normal running line and that one parked temporarily in a siding.

"Some people feel that if they were really walking close to God, so that he could impart wisdom to them freely, then they would find themselves in the York Station signal box. We might suppose that the gift of wisdom consists in an ability to see why God has done what he has done in a particular case and to see what he is going to do next. But in truth this view would be more than our human minds could comprehend. God gives us the view that we need--from the end of the platform."

J.I. Packer ~ Knowing God Through the Year

Hope in Our Hearts

I called a friend to see if she might want to get together sometime this week, out into the beautiful sunshine that we're expecting. "No, I'm really not interested in...." I've been trying to reach out to her, but mostly been put off because of her lack of interest. She sees very few people and seldom goes out of her home. If I didn't realize that she is lonely and in need of friendship and has serious bouts of hopelessness, she'd be so easy to give up on. But that isn't God's kind of love, so I'll wait awhile and try another door.

I know how hopelessness feels. I was there once myself. That and God's love is what compels me to reach out to her and to comfort her with the comfort that I received. I know the importance of God's touch through a human hand. But I fear that perhaps my sequestered friend has been medicated to the point of not feeling much at all beyond herself. It has dulled her senses and awareness. There needs to be some penetration through the barrier that secludes her from reality and the joys of living, to awaken her from her numbness and to help her see that God, in his rich mercy, can rescue her from hopelessness and fill her with joy and peace.

And give her hope in her heart.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, 

so that you may overfow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

J.I. Packer writes in Knowing God--

I have been a believer for more than half a century, but only recently have I appreciated how pastorally profound Paul's prayer was--and is. While there is life, there's hope we say, but the deeper truth is that only while there's hope is there life. Take away hope, and life, with all its fascinating variety of opportunities and experiences, reduces to mere existence--uninteresting, ungratifying, bleak, drab and repellent, a burden and a pain.

People without hope often express their sense of reality and their feelings about themselves by saying they wish they were dead, and sometimes they make attempts on their own life. But hope generates energy, enthusiasm and excitement; lack of hope breeds only apathy and inertia. So for fully developed (as distinct from partly diminished) humanness, there needs to be hope in our hearts.