For Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. Psalm 92:4, 5.
Many are the ways in which God is seeking to make Himself known to us and bring us into communion with Him. Nature speaks to our senses without ceasing. The open heart will be impressed with the love and glory of God as revealed through the works of His hands. The listening ear can hear and understand the communications of God through the things of nature. The green fields, the lofty trees, the buds and flowers, the passing cloud, the falling rain, the babbling brook, the glories of the heavens, speak to our hearts, and invite us to become acquainted with Him who made them all.
Our Saviour bound up His precious lessons with the things of nature. The trees, the birds, the flowers of the valleys, the hills, the lakes, and the beautiful heavens, as well as the incidents and surroundings of daily life, were all linked with the words of truth, that His lessons might thus be often recalled to mind, even amid the busy cares of man’s life of toil.
God would have His children appreciate His works, and delight in the simple, quiet beauty with which He has adorned our earthly home. He is a lover of the beautiful, and above all that is outwardly attractive He loves beauty of character; He would have us cultivate purity and simplicity, the quiet graces of the flowers. If we will but listen, God’s created works will teach us precious lessons of obedience and trust…. No tears are shed that God does not notice. There is no smile that he does not mark.— Steps to Christ, 85.
With God at Dawn p. 23
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for my coworker Cindy’s mom who has Covid. Wanangwa
—-Please pray for Dwight who is having surgery this morning. Pray all goes well. Pray also for his wife, Marlene, who had surgery a couple of weeks ago and needs further treatment. Mike
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Dear Friends,
I thought I’d share a poem that Esther wrote for one of her classes when she was in college. It is called
Wonder
When I think about the Good News that Christ alone brings,
The Gift of Life and that special Atonement
That came to us one quiet night from a place we can’t even imagine,
It fills my heart with awe and causes chills to race through my soul.
Then I feel the immeasurable sacrifice that was given to a world so insignificant.
Yet truly we are significant, not because of us, surely because of the grand Price paid.
Worlds full of curiosity are edged on this speck- absorbed in the drama.
How strange it must be to them that the rebels shun ultimate love.
How strange that the mutinous scorn Mercy.
Will mercy last forever?
One day the grand bar will close, we will all have chosen our fate.
Some will choose the Good News that comes to us free.
Others will reject the Gift of Life and the Atonement that must betide.
I wonder…What will I decide? What choice will you make?
Esther’s poem sets forth the choice that every person must make. Truly it is the most important of all choices. The evil one tries to confuse us and sets allurements before our eyes that are geared to keep us so occupied, that we postpone our choice until it is too late. Yet that, too, is a choice for if we fail to choose we will find ourselves on the wrong side in the great controversy between Christ and Satan. The One Who gave His Life for us explains, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” John 3:14-21
May we “fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth.” May we “choose you this day whom ye will serve. . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Josh 24:14, 15
Rose