Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

This is a really powerful story from Shai Linne that I came across on Spotify:  Once upon a time in a land full of charm There lived a great Man and this Man owned a farm We'll call Him Farmer, He did no one any harm Built the entire farm with the strength of His arm One day, something happened that was cause for alarm It started with the conversation held inside the barn Between a horse, a hog, a chicken, and a frog Late at night, away from the thickness of the fog It wasn't the first meeting, they met many times before Inclined to pour into each other behind the door Which was a portal for moral lessons, important questions The normal expression of this would be formal addresses Where each was unleashed to give a speech to teach Or even preach in order to impeach or beseech The first to speak on this particular evening was the hog He began by acknowledging the horse, chicken, and frog [Verse 2: Mr. Hog] To my distinguished guests, thanks for lending me your ears To me, it'

 

 

  ‭‭Acts‬ ‭1:7‬ ‭ESV‬‬ He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. https://bible.com/bible/59/act.1.7.ESV We mark our own times and seasons. In the middle of winter for example we mark New Year. The Everlasting God however works to a different timescale to us. In the fulness of time, Jesus came to redeem His people from their sins. When the time is right, He will return to call His people home. Scoffers may doubt He'll ever appear, but they'll be in for a rude awakening. At the time of Christ's ascension, the next big event on God's calendar was the outpouring of His Holy Spirit in a reversal of the curse of Babel. God's Holy Spirit blesses His people with unity. This is despite our diversity of languages, ethnic groups and nations to which we belong. Now that the Holy Spirit is with us, the next big event on God's calendar is the return of Jesus to call His people home. It's been nearly

  ‭‭Ezra‬ ‭1:1‬ ‭ESV‬‬ In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: https://bible.com/bible/59/ezr.1.1.ESV Cyrus was the most powerful man in the world in his day. Yet even he was simply putty in the hands of God as it were. God had said about seventy years previously that the Babylonian exile of the Jews would be about that length of time, and so it was. The repatriation of the Jewish people to their homeland in Cyrus's day was more remarkable than the creation of the modern state of Israel in 1948, because it was even more expressly the fulfilment of prophecy. I can't think of any incentive from a worldly perspective for pagan Cyrus to allow the Jews home, but He did. God turned his heart to do so. This remarkable episode in world history is an encouragement to us

  ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭1:18‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.1.18.ESV I love how the gospel accounts interweave God in His holiness and mankind in our sinfulness. God isn't ashamed to be associated with the likes of us, amazingly. Almighty God humbled Himself to a virgin's womb. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. His Father is God. He's the eternal Son of God, begotten, not created. Having said the above, He isn't ashamed to associate with sinners like us. Even Mary admitted God was her Saviour. Her ancestors were a rogues gallery of fellow sinners. Why did Jesus bother to become one of us? In order that He might save us. He's our perfect Substitute who takes our sin upon Himself and gives us His righteousness. 'Father God, thank You for sending Jesus in the power of Your

  ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43:18‬ ‭ESV‬‬ “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. https://bible.com/bible/59/isa.43.18.ESV Many of the trials, temptations and sins that beset us throughout our lives will be forgotten in eternity. God encourages us to start now. Instead, He calls us to see that He's got new things for us. In the context, it sounds like Isaiah is describing the irrigation of an arid region. We must remember however that the Bible is primarily a spiritual book and needs to be understood spiritually. Spiritually, our hearts are dry and arid. We need God to irrigate our hearts and to pour out the living water of His Spirit upon us. He does so when we trust in Jesus for our salvation. Maybe life so far has felt like a barren wilderness. God is able to make our desert souls overflow with the fruits of His Spirit, by the power of Christ Jesus. May 2024 be a fruitful time for us, until Christ returns. 'Lord God, please help us to forget negativity and

  ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭44:21‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. https://bible.com/bible/59/isa.44.21.ESV In the very chapter after God said 'remember not the former things', He says to 'remember these things'. We are to remember that we're God's creation, created in Christ Jesus to serve Him by doing good works, which He prepared in advance for us to do. We are to bear the fruit of the Spirit, to be loving, joyful, peaceful etc. We are to remember that God will not forget us. We might sometimes feel like He's not remembered us, but He is omniscient, He's all knowing and able to always have each of us always in mind. He cares for each one of us individually. Spiritually, it's not just the fleshly descendants of Jacob who bear his name. We're all spiritually 'Jacob'; deceitful usurpers of the glory of God. He deserves all the glo

  ‭Genesis‬ ‭1:1‬ ‭ESV‬ In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. https://bible.com/bible/59/gen.1.1.ESV 'In the beginning': so there was a beginning. The universe began. In the beginning God though: God was there before the beginning of time. He's eternal. 'In the beginning, God'. Not some impersonal force. Not gods. The God of the Bible. There is One who is God. Yet the Father is God, the Spirit is God, and the Word/Son is God. God is love, He's relational, He is three persons, but one God. The triune God was involved in creation. It wasn't just the Father, Son or Spirit. They all had a part to play. 'Triune God, we praise You for Your creation, for You have made all things well. Please recreate us in Your likeness. For Your glory, amen'