The Plumbline

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.) (Genesis 16:1-3) Have you ever gotten ahead of God's plan? You know what I mean - anxious for something to happen, so you just 'improvise' a bit to see if you 'can get things going'. Whenever I have done this, things go from bad to worse in no time at all! Why? God isn't in my 'improvisation' - he had another thing planned and I just stepped out of it. The good news is that whenever we make our own plans and take our own steps to see God's will fulfilled, he isn't going to let us muddle in tha

Everyone enjoys a fitting reply; it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time! (Proverbs 15:23) If you have ever found yourself wishing you could 'pull back' those words you just spoke, beginning to see and feel their impact even before the other person does, you are not in that boat alone! We all do it on occasion - words sort of 'fall out' of our mouths and then 'whammy', the discord begins. It is a real battle - one won not with words, but with the Spirit of God within. Have you ever spoken 'ingenuine' words? Some might call them words of flattery or insincere praise. As you may have discovered, those 'ingenuine words' don't last very long or get you very far in life. They might be okay for a while, but before long, others will look for proof that you mean what you say.  Yehuda Berg reminds us, "Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of

What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole. (I Peter 1:3) This was one of those verses I'd remind mom of anytime she'd worry over her many aches and tremendously haunting neuropathic pain. We'd just sit for a bit and imagine her walking upright, without pain, able to see perfectly once again. She had a hard time imagining it, but she held onto that promise time and time again - life healed and whole. Sometimes all we have is the hope - we cannot let go of it no matter how long the answer may be delayed - because the day is surely coming! I don't know what you delay may be, but trust me on this one, the day is coming! Too many times we think the 

  God, the one and only— I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I need comes from him, so why not? He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I’m set for life. (Psalm 62:1) How many times have we found it hard to wait for God's timing in our lives? The more we wait, the harder it seems to await whatever it is we are waiting on. Unable to wait longer, we can jump ahead of his timing, bringing disaster to bear in our lives. Been there, done that, and even wore out the t-shirt! Our psalmist puts things in perspective for those of us who have had to wait a little longer than we might have liked: "Everything I need comes from - so why not wait"? He is our solid rock - a firm foundation upon which we can base our trust. He gives us a chance to rest in him - breathing room for our souls, so we don't jump ahead of him. He is that impregnable castle - a word picture for not only the capability he has to keep us in our times of waiting,

Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God. For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours. ( Psalm 90:2,4   NLT ) Most of us don't really understand how a thousand years can be like a day to God - as brief as a few night hours. In fact, if you have ever spent a sleepless night, awakened by some noise, then unable to fall back to sleep again, you know how "slowly" those hours pass! The important thing for us to remember is that God's time-continuum is different than ours - his economy of scale is huge compared to ours. This is so very valuable for us to learn, because we tend to think in the here and now, with maybe a little look into the future now and again, but God sees the bigger picture long before it ever happens! The above passage begins with, "Lord, through all the generations you have been our home." This is the pivotal point of all the psalmi

Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. ( Ecclesiastes 11:5   NLT ) Viability is determined for the fetus at a point in time when the baby can "exist" in an environment outside of the womb. Premature birth may actually "harm" the tiny infant because it cannot fully support life outside of the womb - intensive intervention must be performed repeatedly to sustain the life of a 24 week fetus. It may be possible for the tiny infant to survive, but the effort which must be put forth to see that life sustained outside of the womb when born too early is astronomical. There are times in our own walk with Christ when we try to birth something way too early, resulting in a whole lot of extra work, or "re-visiting" of the subject matter time and time again in order to sustain that thing which was birthed way too early! When w

Some of the actions we take in life just don't come out right, do they?  We might plan one thing, but in the course of living out the details of the plan, something quite different actually begins to blossom.  We have a pretty good idea we are headed in a direction we will actually benefit from, but in the end, we almost lose something in the venture.  What's going on here?  In the simplest terms, we can plan all we want, but unless we submit those plans to God's purpose and his timing, we can have all the right plans but miss the timing or purpose he has for us.  Therefore, we need to have some pretty well understood "tests" which will help us to determine of the action we are planning will actually fit into both God's purpose and his timing for our lives. Honesty lives confident and carefree,   but Shifty is sure to be exposed. (Proverbs 10:9 MSG) These aren't rocket science by any means, but if we will keep them in mind, they should answer the "

EXPAND:  To increase in extent, size, volume, or scope; to unfold; to express in fuller form or detail; to enlarge.  PUNY:  Of less than normal strength or size; weak; unimportant; insignificant.   Not sure which side of the fence you are on today, but I know I would prefer the "expanded" version of life vs. the "puny" version.  In fact, in examining the steps I have taken over the last year (something I do in the first part of each new year), I can see some steps I have taken to "position" myself for growth in a number of ways in my life.  First and foremost, I find myself enjoying the times I have with my Lord - long or short.  There are times in my day when I just get quiet for a few brief moments - settling my spirit and emotions into the presence of God.  Others don't know about this, but it is what keeps me centered and on task in my life.  If someone comes across me at that moment, they might think I am deep in thought, but in actuality I am j

Do you ever overlook the obvious - believing instead there must be something more to what you are seeing or hearing?  I guess this is human nature - we see or hear one thing, then immediately jump to the conclusion there must be some other meaning - either because we don't think things can be THAT simple, or we believe others just could not MEAN what they are doing / saying.  I think this is some defense mechanism on our part - protecting us from some things we just don't want to deal with right now, or attempting to believe the best about another just because we don't want to think it possible they could behave that way.  In some respects, this is what we do with God at times - we overlook the obvious.  He spends time revealing himself to us in  a particular manner, then we try to analyze what he is doing so much we overlook the extremely "obvious" in his actions!  The problem is - we NEED the obvious to make the "obscure" clearer! Don’t overlook the

5-6 Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit. (John 3:5-6 The Message) Nicodemus came to Jesus under the cloak of darkness - maybe because he was a prominent religious leader of the day, afraid to be seen seeking answers from the very one that those religious leaders would ultimately send to the cross.  As the story opens for us, we see a familiar scene of Old Testament times.  The Rabbi (the teacher) would pose a question or introduce an idea that would stimulate thought and provoke conversation.  Then, in the customary manner, the Rabbi would beg