Worry

Our cozy little tree house Nehemiah and Mark built for the grandkids.

Last summer our son Nehemiah and Mark built a wonderful tree house in the woods on our property. Since then many little children (and some bigger ones) have scampered up the stairs and enjoyed a fun time in this place where imaginative play blossoms. One thing I particularly think of when I see this little place is the great carefree hearts of those who enjoy it. When did you last enjoy such freedom of care/worry?

While reading Jerry Bridges book “Respectable Sins” this week, particularly his chapter on worry, I found some thought provoking quotes. Consider this: Suppose someone you love were to say to you, “I don’t trust you. I don’t believe you love me and will care for me.” What an affront that would be to you! Yet that is what we are saying to God by our anxiety.  Jerry Bridges Another quote from John Newton (the author of Amazing Grace) caught my heart. “ [One of the marks of Christian maturity which a believer should seek is] an acquiescence in the Lord’s will founded in a persuasion of his wisdom, holiness, sovereignty, and goodness. … So far as we attain to this, we are secure from disappointment. Our own limited views, and shortsighted purposes and desires, may be, and will be, often over-ruled; but then our main and leading desire, that the will of the Lord may be done, must be accomplished. How highly does it become us, both as creatures and as sinners, to submit to the appointments of our Maker! and how necessary is it to our peace! This great attainment is too often unthought of, and over-looked; we are prone to fix our attention upon the second causes and immediate instruments of events; forgetting that whatever befalls us is according to his purpose, and therefore must be right and seasonable in itself, and shall in the issue be productive of good. From hence arise impatience, resentment, and secret repinings [i.e., complainings], which are not only sinful, but tormenting; whereas, if all things are in his hand, if the very hairs of our head are numbered; if every event, great and small, is under the direction of his providence and purpose; and if he has a wise, holy, and gracious end in view, to which everything that happens is subordinate and subservient; — then we have nothing to do, but with patience and humility to follow as he leads, and cheerfully to expect a happy issue. … How happy are they who can resign all to him, see his hand in every dispensation, and believe that he chooses better for them than they possibly could for themselves!” John Newton

I cannot express well enough how excited I am to be starting a brand new class for the Ladies Bible Study this week on the subject of worry. Do we really know what it is and do we actually know what to do about it? We will be doing the first chapter in Juanita Purcell’s book “Worry-Free Living.” If you don’t have a book, let me know. Please note that this book gives us the structure for what we will be discussing each week, however, many wonderful resources exist beyond it. In particular my son’s book “What if…How to Kill Worry and Anxiety Before It Kills You” would be an excellent supplement for our study.

See you on Zoom (find us at discoverybaptist.org) Thursday morning at 9:30.

Blessings Overflowing

A very happy time occurred this past year when all eight of our children (and their families) came together with us to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.

“You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.” Psalm 23:5b

With Mother’s Day coming up this weekend my thoughts concerning blessings go toward our wonderful eight children given to us by God in His great kindness to my husband and me. God led us beautifully through difficult, as well as, joyous events during the forty-one years children were in our home. Now, He blesses us even more with the happiness of wonderful grandchildren and great grandchildren; our “cup overflows with blessings.”

Perhaps the most important thing in my life during all my years of mothering (and even now) came down to spending real connected time with the Lord every day not only attentively reading His Word, but, also pouring my heart out to Him. I came across a beautiful quote from Samuel Burder (1773-1837)in his comments on Psalms 23:5b that pictures the blessings I sense in spending time alone with God. “In the East the people frequently anoint their visitors with some very fragrant perfume; and give them a cup or glass of some choice wine, which they are careful to fill till it runs over. The first was designed to show their love and respect; the latter to imply that while they remained there, they should have an abundance of everything.” I hope you daily experience such blessings.

This Thursday morning Zoom will bring us together at 9:30 to discuss this short passage of Scripture. I am looking forward to seeing you and encouraging you in staying close to the Lord.

If you would like to be part of this study, go to discoverybaptist.org and click on Ladies Bible Study.

DISCIPLINE THAT GUIDES TOWARD WISDOM

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

(Proverbs 22:6)

Ever since becoming a mom 48 years ago, Proverbs 22:6 (quoted above) has been a source of pondering for me. Just as with all Scripture, the more you meditate on it, the more you understand from it. Jason DeRouchie, Professor, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary wrote a wonderful blog on this verse that is worth considering. The following excerpt from that blog hopefully gives all of us further understanding of this well-known verse. As you read this quote, think about how a similar training and discipline comes to us from our heavenly Father.

“The consequence statement in Proverbs 22:6 implies that the parents’ intentional moral and religious shaping early on will have a permanent effect on their child for good. This statement is not a hard-and-fast promise to parents, however, for the rest of the book makes clear that the power of the youth’s future depends not only on the parents’ guidance but also very much on the choices he or she makes. The immediately preceding verse implies that the youth must guard his soul from those who are crooked (Proverbs 22:5). He could choose to follow the wicked unto death (Proverbs 2:12–19), or he could heed the wisdom of his parents and choose the good paths of the righteous unto life (Proverbs 22:1–11, 20).

While Proverbs 22:6 is framed as instruction to parents, the book as a whole gives guidance to the young (Proverbs 1:4), which suggests the proverb actually intends to call straying youth back toward the right way. If you are a son or daughter who had parents that worked hard to set positive moral and religious trajectories for your life (though imperfectly), you must not counter this trajectory by foolish decisions today.

Proverbs 22:6 sets out a principle that time will prove true unless God intervenes for good or ill. As a parent, I rejoice in the directions given me in God’s word — the Lord calls me and my wife to actively and intentionally dedicate our six kids to represent, reflect, and resemble the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Yet Proverbs 22:6 also reminds me how much I and my children fail, so I also rejoice in the power of the gospel to curb my own faults and the hardest of my children’s hearts. God in Christ makes those dead in sin alive (Ephesians 2:4–5), forgives all who confess (1 John 1:9), and overcomes the old creation with new (2 Corinthians 5:17).”

Be prepared to discuss pages 128-135 in our study books for this coming Thursday morning. If you don’t have a copy of the book, come anyway; I have a free one for you. Bring your little ones along—Anne and Liesl will be waiting for them.