His Government

For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor,
The mighty God,
The everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end,
upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it,
and to establish it with judgment
and with justice
from henceforth even for ever.
(Isaiah 9:6-7)

Merry Christmas!

Where there's smoke?

Our minds are well-designed and well-trained to draw conclusions by what we observe and the "rules" we have learned to apply.  This serves us well in many ways. Yet as we experience life, we come to understand that things are not always what they seem at first.  Or as they appear to us.  Knowledge is not the same as wisdom.  Google provides unlimited knowledge but one must search (no pun intended) diligently for wisdom (Eccl. 7:25).

Knowledge can recite the rules and exactly why the sinner should be stoned.  Wisdom turns the judgment on the judgers and inquires whom among you that is without sin let him cast the first stone.

Knowledge determines the rabbi to be guilty by association.  Wisdom catches His vision that the whole need no physician and that salvation is for those who are able to see themselves as lost.

Knowledge acquired puffs the mind.  Wisdom increases humility.

And, lest we take ourselves too seriously, knowledge is knowing that tomatoes are technically classified as fruit; wisdom is not putting them in a fruit salad!

"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." (Psalm 91:12)

How shall we sing?

See them, who their harps suspending
On the weeping willow tree,
Lacking zeal Thy pardon spurning,
They could not rejoice in Thee.

But we are in Thee confiding,
Freed from Babylon and sin;
Even tho' our life they threaten,
Thou, O Lord, wilt help us win!
--Zion's Harp #214

"How shall we sing the LORD’S song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning." (Psalm 137:4-5)

What a sad scene it must have been "by the rivers of Babylon"!  Looking back with hopes dashed, the realization of warnings spurned and pardon missed because of disobedience.  No song would come, no mirth from their grieving and regret-filled hearts.  Yet, at end, a resolve to never forget Jerusalem; the city of David, the embodiment of the once and future time when obedience would flourish again,  accompanied with promise fulfilled of the Lord's blessing.

Thou, O Lord, wilt help us win!

Not one cubit!

If I said it once, I said it a dozen times, "which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?" (Luke 12:25)  But all three of them passed me up with a grin that seemed to indicate they had accomplished something.  Poetic justice has the youngest now the tallest; some satisfaction in that for dad!