Questions

Scripture

When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord. All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven, but my soul was not comforted

~Psalm 77:2, NLT

Quote

Even when we have followed Christ for a life time; we can still wrestle with doubt which is the raw side of honesty.

~Erwin W. Lutzer

Psalm 77 was written by one of Asap’s descendants and the setting is the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple in 605 B.C. This was a devastating blow to orthodox Jews. They associated the temple with God’s presence. The Psalmist said,  When I think of God, I groan [NIV]. The Hebrew word means a sound, a noise of sorrow and grief. The Psalmist was so overwhelmed with grief that he did not make intelligible sounds, only groans. He could not sleep and he was so distressed that he could not pray [v.4]. Questions were swirling in his mind like the winds of storm: has God rejected me? Will He ever show kindness to me again? Does He still love me? Have His promises failed? Has God changed, is He no longer gracious and compassionate? It is not a sin to doubt God unless we continue to doubt until our doubt turned in to unbelief. Corrie Ten Boon tells the story of her father preparing the family to take a trip on the train. Corrie ask for her ticket in advance. Her father told her, “I have taken care of the ticket.” This was not enough for Corrie, she wanted to see the ticket. Finally her father said, “I have taken care of the tickets, on the day of our departure, the ticket will be in your hand and until then, you will wait.” Corrie questioned him again and he said, “Corrie, I am your father, you must trust me.” There comes a time when we must stop doubting and go to trusting.


A huge transition takes place in verse 10, “Then I thought…” The Psalmist looks back at the past and God’s faithfulness to Israel. He goes by to the Exodus and the Red Sea. Our barometer for God’s love in the cross. When we look back, we look back to the death of Jesus which is proof positive that God loves us. The Jews went back to their salvation from Egypt and all the miracles associated with their deliverance. God through Moses lead over one million people through the Red Sea on a road that no one knew was there other than God. Psalm 77:19 is very interesting in the NLT second edition…Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters–a pathway no one knew was there. There is a raised plateau about the size of a railroad bed that leads through the Red Sea. I have seen it in pictures. I am told that relics from the Egyptian chariots are still on the floor of the sea along this shelf or raised area. Although it is not mentioned specifically in scripture, there must have been a huge thunderstorm with the wind that parted the waters… When the waters saw You, O God, they were afraid, and the depths of the sea trembled. The clouds poured down rain; thunder crashed from the sky, and lightning flashed in all directions. Any way you cut it, it was a miracle and a reminder of God’s awesome power.

When your heart is troubled, don’t look around at the circumstances, they may not change for awhile. Matter of fact, they may get worse. Don’t look in either: our flesh and strength will fail us in crisis. When your heart is troubled, look up. Remember, Peter stayed above the water when he was focused on Jesus; he sank when he took his eyes off of Jesus and focused on the storm. Dr. Jack Taylor asked a fellow one day how he was doing: the man said, “Pretty well, under the circumstance.” Dr. Jack responded, “what are you doing under the circumstances? Christ has made you a hyper-nike, more than a conqueror.”


  •  I don’t remember an August like this one: rain practically every day but I will take it and the low tempts of 95 plus and drought. I am a bit tired of cutting grass. I mow 9 yards and 7 of them have to be cut every week. There are parts of mine that I cut twice. August is flying by–football is just around the corner.
  • Gathered our last bit of corn yesterday. I’m going to plant some turnips if we can get a few days of sunshine.
  • Golf Tournament Monday for DHS Women’s Softball. A team has dropped out and they need one to take it’s place. It is 75$ per person. Call Joe David if you are interested.
  • Test your knowledge. I read the IMPRIMIS each month and there were 3 new words in the last article, at least new to me: fatuous, obscurantism and Luddite. Do you know what they mean?
  • Normal Schedule this Sunday: Deacons @8:15, LCBS @ 9:15 and Worship Celebration @ 10:15. PM is AWANA swim party at Hartselle Pool. The party is 6-8 pm.
  • I usually do the blogs in the morning during my QT but I post them right before I go to bed at night which is usually between 11:00 and midnight. Tonight, I am smoking turkeys which means I will be up past midnight. It’s my first time to do on a green egg and I like it. The temperature is much easier to regulate.
  • Have you heard of Tullian Tchividjian? He is Billy Graham’s grandson and I am reading his book, DO YOU KNOW GOD? It pretty good. Just finished Erwin Lutzer’s book on death this morning. It is very good. It’s the second book I’ve read by Lutzer: both have been good.
  • Liberals are fatuous which means stupid, foolish or idiotic. Obscurantism is what liberals do: it means the practice of deliberately preventing the facts or full details of something from becoming known. The Luddite impulse describes a person is opposed to new technology or simply a person who refuses to change no matter what.

Felton Will Not Remember This One

Brain Twister

Many years ago, I married a widow out of love who had an 18 year old daughter. After the wedding, my father, a widower, came to visit a number of times, and he fell in love with my step daughter. My father eventually married her without my authorization. As a result my step-daughter became my step mother and my father became my son in law. My father’s wife (also my step daughter) and my step-mother, gave birth to a son who is my grandchild because I am the husband of my step daughter’s mother. This boy is also my brother, as the son of my father. As you can see, my wife became a grandmother, because she is the mother of my father’s wife. Therefore it appears that I am also my wife’s grandchild. A short time after these events, my wife gave birth to a son, who became my father’s brother-in-law, the step-son of my father’s wife, and my uncle. My son is also my step mother’s brother, and through my step-mother, my wife has become a grandmother and I have become my own grandfather.

Redneck Grill

This is how it works. By the time you are through grilling, the ice will have melted in the redneck cooler [commode reservoir] and you pull the flush handle and the water puts out the fire. Is this a cool invention or what?

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