Lenten Meditation 2020

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.   Hebrews 11.17-19 A J Reimer in his book Trusting God - Why His Plan Is Better Than Ours , that we, as humans, go through seasons in our lives as God works, grows, and teaches us. This is a book which makes us understand the importance of trust and all that it entails. A J Reimer speaks about river faith and canal faith. This is how he speaks about them, "Have you ever seen a straight river? Canals are straight, but all rivers seem to be crooked. We call it “meandering.” Why are rivers crooked? Because the natural tendency of a river is to take the easiest way around any obstacle. So rivers are always crooked, and they always run downhill...

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.    Matthew 4:1&11 Today its an important day for the church. We celebrate the 40 th Friday of the Great Lent. Jesus fasted for forty days and at the end of the fast he was tempted by the devil. On the 40th day of the Great Lent which is always a Friday, the church commemorates the tempting of Jesus and his triumph over Satan. In the Gospel we see that after his baptism, Jesus was led up into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (St. Matthew 4: 1). So we who are baptized should not be surprised if we are also tempted like him. In the 1970's comedian Flip Wilson made " The Devil made me do it " a catchphrase. As host of his own TV variety show, Flip Wilson created a recurring character named Geraldine. And every time her husband accused her of doing something wrong, whether it was buying...

But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.   Exodus 14:29 I came across a story many years ago concerning General George Washington (George Washington was an American political leader, military general, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Previously, he led Patriot forces to victory in the nation's War for Independence.) General Washington was approaching one of the fiercest battles of his campaign. He and his troops had crossed over a bridge as they were nearing the battle when one of his officers came to him and asked whether or not to burn the bridge behind them. (It was customary to burn the bridges as they crossed over them to prevent the enemy from slipping up on them from behind & to prevent soldiers from running away from the battle when it became too hot to handle.) The great General Washingto...