Whatever the motive, the question remains, could He not have prevented this man’s dying? Of course He could! And yet He could not! If it is a question of power, yes. His power was unlimited. But it is not a question of power; it is one of purpose. There are things which God is limited, limited by His own purpose….Purpose means the resolving of all that appears to be discord into the harmony of God’s perfect will and perfect action.
- G Campbell Morgan
1. Dear refuge of my weary soul,
On Thee, when sorrows rise
On Thee, when waves of trouble roll,
My fainting hope relies
To Thee I tell each rising grief,
For Thou alone canst heal
Thy Word can bring a sweet relief,
For every pain I feel
2. But oh! When gloomy doubts prevail,
I fear to call Thee mine
The springs of comfort seem to fail,
And all my hopes decline
Yet gracious God, where shall I flee?
Thou art my only trust
And still my soul would cleave to Thee
Though prostrate in the dust
3. Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face,
And shall I seek in vain?
And can the ear of sovereign grace,
Be deaf when I complain?
No still the ear of sovereign grace,
Attends the mourner’s prayer
Oh may I ever find access,
To breathe my sorrows there
4. Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet,
Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet
-Anne Steele
A while back Hannah and I took a day trip to Bath. There is a book binder there that has gorgeous leather embossed books that they bind and emboss themselves. Downstairs is a large selection of used old books. I picked up two to start my son’s collection. Hannah and I grew up knowing the value of reading and we have imparted that to Fae and will impart that to Flint when he is born in November. Even fiction plays an important role in the development of children in Christian families. Here is an excerpt from Douglas Wilson from his book Future Men:
In C.S. Lewis’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, we are given a good example of a boy who was brought up poorly. Eustace Scrubb had stumbled into a dragon’s lair, but he did not know what kind of place it was. “Most of us know what we should expect to find in a dragon’s lair, but, as I said before, Eustace had read only the wrong books. They had a lot to say about exports and imports and governments and drains, but they were weak on dragons.”
It is a standing rebuke for us that there are many Christians who have an open sympathy for the “true” books which Eustace read—full of true facts about governments and drains and exports—and who are suspicious of great works of imagination, like the Narnia stories, or The Lord of the Rings, or Treasure Island, because they are “fictional,” and therefore suspected of lying. The Bible requires us to be truthful above all things, they tell us, and so we should not tell our sons about dragon-fighting. Our sons need to be strong on drains and weak on dragons. The irony here is that the Bible, the source of all truth, says a lot about dragons and giants, and very little about drains and exports.
Like Eustace in the dragon lair, we do not recognize our surroundings because we have been reading the wrong kind of books, and this in turn causes us to read the Bible in the wrong way. And then, when the time comes to educate our sons, we stuff their heads with soul-deadening, imagination-killing factoids. But if our sons are to be prepared for the world God made, then their imaginations must be fed and nourished with tales about the Red Cross Knight, Jim in the apple barrel, Sam Gamgee carrying Frodo up the mountain, Beowulf tearing off Grendel’s arm, and Trumpkin fighting for Aslan while still not believing in him. This type of story is not allowed by Scripture; this type of story is required by Scripture. The Bible cannot be read rightly without creating a deep impulse to tell stories which carry the scriptural truth about the kind of war we are in down through the ages.
Here is a link to the source EXCERPT:
I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. – John 8.12
Anyone can to his own satisfaction confute the claim that Beauty makes, by saying, I do not see it; or the claim inherent in Goodness, by saying, I do not hear it; or the self-evidencing nature of Truth, by saying, I do not know it. But man doe not create goodness, or truth, or beauty; and to say that he cannot see them is to condemn himself, not them. So with LIGHT. – C.J. Wright
I am the creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God returning to God; just hovering over the great gulf; till a few moments hence I am no more seen; I drop into unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing, the way to heaven; how to land safe on that bright shore. God Himself has condescended to teach the way; for this end He came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price give me the book of God! Lord is it not Thy Word- “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God? Thou givest liberally, and upbraidest not. Thou hast said, if any be willing to do Thy will he shall know. I am willing to do; let me know Thy will. -John Wesley
BELIEVER
I: Come my soul and let us try
For a little season,
Every burden to lay by
Come and let us reason.
What is this that casts you down?
Who are those that grieve you?
Speak and let the worst be known;
Speaking may relieve thee.
SOUL
II: O, I sink beneath the load
Of my nature’s evil!
Full of enmity to God
Captivated by the devil!
Restless as the troubled seas,
Feeble, faint, and fearful;
Plagues with every sore disease,
How can I be cheerful?
BELIEVER
III: Think on what thy Saviour bore
In the gloomy garden.
Sweating blood at every pore,
To procure thy pardon!
See Him stretched upon the wood,
Bleeding, grieving, crying,
Suffering all the wrath of God
Groaning, gasping, dying!
SOUL
IV: This by faith I sometimes view,
And those views relieve me;
But my sins return anew;
These are they that grieve me.
O, I’m leprous, stinking, foul,
Quite throughout infected;
Have not I, if any soul,
Cause to be dejected?
BELIEVER
V: Think how loud thy dying Lord
Cried out, “It is finished!”
Treasure up that sacred Word,
Whole and undiminished;
Doubt not He will carry on,
To its full perfection,
That good work He has begun;
Why, then, this dejection?
SOUL
VI: Faith when void of works is dead;
This the Scriptures witness;
And what works have I to plead,
Who am all unfitness?
All my powers are depraved,.
Blind, perverse, and filthy;
If from death I’m fully saved,
Why am I not healthy?
BELIEVER
VII: Pore not on thyself too long
Lest it sing thee lower;
Look to Jesus, kind and strong
Mercy joined in Power
Every work that thou must do
Will thy gracious Saviour
For thee work, and in thee too,
Of His special favour
SOUL
VIII: Jesus’ precious blood, once spilt
I depend on solely
To release and clear my guilt
But I would be holy
BELIEVER: He that bought thee on the cross
Can control thy nature
Fully purge away thy dross
Make thee a new creature
SOUL
IX: That He can I nothing doubt
Be it but His pleasure
BELIEVER: Though it be not done throughout
May it not in measure?
SOUL: When that measure, far from great,
Still shall seem decreasing?
BELIEVER: Faint not then, but pray and wait,
Never Never ceasing
SOUL
X: What when prayer meets no regard?
BELIEVER: Still repeat it often
SOUL: But I feel myself so hard
BELIEVER: Jesus will thee soften
SOUL: But my enemies make head
BELIEVER: Let them closer drive thee
SOUL: But I’m cold, I’m dark, I’m dead
BELIEVER: JESUS will revive thee.
-Hymn 780 by Joseph Hart
