The Plumbline

Few things are brought to a successful issue by impetuous desire, but most by calm and prudent forethought. ---Thucydides A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. (Proverbs 27:12 NLT) Impetuous desire has been the downfall of many since the beginning of time, has it not? If we were to be honest with each other today, we'd likely have our own accounting of 'impetuous' decisions we've made that didn't end so well. Without thought or care, we trudged into something, finding what we hoped to be there fell short of our desires. Did we learn from those impetuous decisions, or do we continue to make them, thinking the outcome will somehow change? As a wise person once told me - if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten. We might refer to that failure to learn as being a little bit foolish, right? We know the outcome will be a certain way, but we blindly ...

God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. (I Peter 1:3 MSG) I cannot help but think that someone needs to hear this today. God is keeping his watch over our lives - regardless of what we may see happening around us that seems to indicate he has 'slacked' in his watchfulness and care. The present and the future are both in his hands. We can never forget this fact. We don't rely upon a changeable God - his power is unchanging as is his presence with us as we navigate through life. Living with a fear that God may abandon us is a message straight out of the pit of hell. God can no more abandon one of his children than we can take the earth out of its orbit by blowing into the wind. The oversight of God in our lives isn't diminished because evil abounds. We may feel like the pressures of life have overtaken us, but we are still clearly in his hands. While the devil tries to 'huff and puff' and blow our house down, God's right hand is holding us secure...