Panoramic Arrivals

Panoramic Arrivals When God lifts the veil Copyright Doug Blair, Waterloo, ON, 2019

I have been in some darkened mood When all seemed bound to crash And try to elevate but nothing works I am a child of faith yessir Oft thinking of my King But hardship knocks 1

And I can’t change a thing.

Oh pray I do and lay the mess On altar blessed above Full knowing He is power Truth and love.

A touch is felt and I have sensed That loving nudge before He’s come the Carpenter With insight, comfort, grace The Gospel calms again And strokes my teary face.

I look up to the Heavens As sunrise bursts above With colour form and marvel Yes, that’s His love.

Don't Waste Your Sorrows

Years ago I was given a copy of a book by this title. The donor, Bob was a friend who taught a class of special needs children. He was aware that Hilary and I were going through difficulties and he wanted to encourage us with honest insight on the purposes of suffering.

The author Paul Billheimer had enjoyed a vibrant ministry together with his wife until a serious heart attack put him on his back with little or no chance of returning to his beloved vocation. The Billheimers stayed close

2

to the promises of God regarding healing and submitted to extensive treatment. The sense of hopelessness passed with the increasing realization of God's presence and love. Paul was returned to activity as counsel for the TBN Network (Paul and Jan Crouch).

The testing and victory led to the above-mentioned book which is a part of a trilogy of titles (Purposes in prayer; purposes in suffering; priority of love). I strongly recommend this writer.

He suggests that the greatest Sufferer of all is God who is so grossly misunderstood and maligned by the greater number of people. He is sovereign however, and His plans will succeed. He desires to partner with faithful children who are learning progressively to understand His nature and to walk in His ways. He wishes to accomplish His will in response to faithful prayer. Indeed, John Wesley went so far as to say that God will do nothing on this planet except in response to prayers and supplications from His children. We have a huge job to do in the way of intercession and we are told repeatedly in the New Testament that we are to PRAY - for friends, ministers, persons in authority, the sick, the deprived, the lonely, the wayward.

But how are such prayers to be offered with fervency? The answer is Christ-like compassion. How is that compassion to come? Identification with the real facts and issues and challenges behind the case. How is that identification to come? SUFFERING.

3

Therefore one must not "waste" his sorrows, through fretting, self-pity, anger or despondency. Look for the opportunities. Gain the audacity and the resource. Grow in Christ. Allow the greatness of His suffering and ultimate victory to chisel away at the size of your portion of gloom.

And whatever the circumstances there is always cause to rejoice in the Lord (Philippians 4:4) and one's inevitable inheritance by faith. Someone needs to hear this today. Someone needs to know that there is a precious currency and partnership in suffering.

Baffled to Fight Better December 06, 2009

Many in the Church have enjoyed the classic devotional ​"My Utmost for His Highest"​ by Oswald Chambers. But have they heard of the topical teaching texts from which the entries of the daily devotional were gleaned? All of such written material is available thanks to the widow of

4

Chambers, Gertrude, who sorted through short-hand notes taken from teaching sessions and sermon outlines. It was a lasting tribute to a dear husband who had contracted a fatal illness at age forty-three while serving among the troops in Egypt in 1917.

Two particular favourites of mine were ​"The Psychology of Redemption"​ and ​"Baffled to Fight Better". T ​ he former compared the stages in the development of the faith life of a believer to those in the life of the Lord. The latter was a teaching on the Book of Job. I remember well the impact which "Baffled" had upon me. It was a time of personal crisis back in Chatham referred to in some of the "Milestone" posts in this blog. It was a calm, overcast winter day in March and I had gone off to a quiet spot in the country to pray and to get some direction in my dilemma. Almost a sense of morbidity had caused me to take a copy of Chambers' book on one of the greatest sufferers in all of recorded history, the patriarch Job. But that day I persevered through the entire volume , and heard words of encouragement from God, parked at a quiet spot by the icy Thames River.

At one point Chambers said the following: "The human problem is too big for a man to solve, but if he will fling himself unperplexed on God he will find Him to be the kind of Refuge

5

Job is referring to. We know nothing about the Redemption or about forgiveness until we are enmeshed by the personal problem; then we begin to understand why we need to turn to God, and when we do turn to Him He becomes a Refuge and a Shelter and a complete Rest. Up to the present Job has had no refuge anywhere; now he craves for it.

When a man receives the Holy Spirit, his problems are not altered, but he has a Refuge from which he can deal with them; before, he was out in the world being battered, now the centre of his life is at rest and he can begin, bit by bit, to get things uncovered and rightly related."

And elsewhere: "The still small voice is an appeal not to superstitious belief in God, but to the actuality of God to man. God disposes altogether of a relationship to Himself born of superstitious dread- 'No, stand like a man, and listen to facts as they are'. God counsels Job- 'Don't come to too hasty a conclusion, but gird up your loins like a man and wait. You have done right so far in that you would not have Me misrepresented, but you must recognize that there are facts you do not know, and wait for me to give the revelation of them on the ground of your moral obedience'."

In a nutshell, I learned some things about God and His sovereign keeping care. I got no specific answers to specific problems. Rather, a settled peace and "starch" for the journey. I knew that in His hands I would "fight better".

6

Running

Lest you think you are all alone‌

He runs

As He hears the plaintive wailing

He strokes calm

The hot and fevered brow

7

He smiles

Knowing joy comes in the morning

Though the child of faith

Can’t see the Glory now.

Our God tends to

The birthing in the barnyard

And smiles

As big surf rolls tropic’s shore

Sustains the penguin

Nesting through the blizzard

And gives

Small children campfire’s wonder lore.

He runs

8

Oh yes He runs

Dismissing cautious reservation

And He hugs

The weary back into His arms

Like the ones

Stretched on a beam’s humiliation

That each child

Might rest secure from living’s harms.

To the Other Side

Jesus got into the boat with some disciples and said, "Let us go over to the other side". He proceeded to go to sleep abaft. A fearsome storm arose on Galilee. The disciples in a panic reduced sail and bailed for all they were worth. But conditions worsened.

9

Finally they alerted their Lord, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?"

He awoke and calmed the maelstrom with His word. "Peace be still."

(Mark 4: 36-41). His next words convicted them "Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?"

Faith in what? His word of course. His abiding care. "Let us go over". I like what Kathryn Kuhlman said in a book about this episode. 'Their faith was asleep in the boat with them. Totally confident. Totally immersed in the human condition and in the immediate peril. Totally aware of the wiles of the devil.' He hadn't given them a creed or a twelve-point program. He had given them Himself.

In a memorable song by Phil Driscoll the following words stand out:

And I love my Master And the creaking of the riggin' in the wind.

Think I'm gonna sail away with Him. His Earth Walk​ ​Rescue​ S ​ ea Brine

10

Image by James Tissot...Jesus calms the storm

Inheritance

It’s the joy of our sins all forgiven. It’s the peace of the Lord’s resumed smile. It’s the hope of new tasks in the Kingdom. It’s the hush of His presence a while. It’s the promise of kin never parting. It’s the safety of homes filled with grace. It’s the dignity love gives the lowly. It’s the Body where each has his place. It’s the troop of a marvelous Captain. It’s the news of a battle well won. It’s the end of all fretful endeavour. It’s a right-standing now in God’s Son. It’s the certainty His Word is faithful.

It’s the relish in simplest of prayer. It’s the blazing of light at life’s passing. It’s the knowing our Christ will be there.

11

Simplicity

approachable along the by-ways (Matthew 22: 8-10)

Paul said the following in his ​Second Letter to Corinthians chapter 11: 2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

12

Truly Jesus was a man’s man and entirely approachable in His service.

There were no apparent barriers of form or protocol in getting in touch with His incomparable servant-messenger heart.

Unadorned – He carried none of the trappings of religion or privilege or self-pampering.

Unhurried – He knew that He had an itinerary of many villages to visit in the announcing of the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven. But in every episode we see the calm, collected Helping One, and often releasing His blessing to just one person at a time. Relaxed He seemed.

Unmixed – The things that He said and did were just as the Father had instructed Him. No deal-making with the agendas of politics or intimidating religion. “Mustard seed faith” as He described it was simply pure and unadulterated (Luke 17: 6)

Untiring – Jesus had found the way to live out the parable of the “unprofitable servants” recorded in Luke 17. He was always up for the next assignment and did not expect kudos or back-patting. He knew that in child-like obedience there came more understanding of the heart and will of His Heavenly Father (John 7: 16, 17). He also said that in obedience one would find food and recharging that the disciples still did not understand (John 4: 32-34)

13

Unprecedented – Unlike any of the other rabbis of His day He went in His teaching right to the will of the Father and to the illustrations in Creation as He had experienced same. There was no long listing of prior teachings of any schools of thought to add authority to the lesson. No hiding behind other opinions. No resorting to the “lawyer’s game”. (Mark 1: 22)

Unintimidated – Even His detractors knew that He understood the hearts of men and would not soft-sell the truth as He knew it. (John 7: 26). Ultimately before Pilate he knew that it was time to announce that He was King of the Jews. (John 18: 36, 37). And that “I am” sealed his fate.

Unblemished – Any sacrificial lamb according to the Mosaic form had to be searched to ensure that it was without any spot or break or blemish.

The authorities did this to Messiah in their subtle questioning recorded in Matthew 22. Think of an entire life without slipping or stumbling or raging or rebelling. Amazing! http://momentsmidstream.blogspot.com/2009/11/lamb-without-blemis h.html

Paul’s letter to Colossians expresses in many ways the completeness of the representation of Jehovah in and through the Son Christ Jesus.

14

(Colossians 3: 9-11). We have only to step into the new man waiting for us clothed in the beautiful things of righteousness, honour and peace.

Corrie Ten Boom, that wonderful post-war evangelist and one-time death camp resident, wrote of ministering the Gospel to severely handicapped or mentally challenged people. She said that it was entirely possible because the gracious Lord had made it all so simple.

Even Father-God can be regarded through this filter of simplicity:

15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. (Isaiah 57)

Indwelling Life

Oh how I want your Spirit

Each moment of each day

15

Not lessons filling up the head

Your Love must lead the Way.

Just as the Godhead functioned

Throughout all time and now

The heart and mind of Jesus comes

To show me when and how.

To meet the present need so clear

And dwell within that place

Of unity for which Christ bled

And suffered such disgrace.

So many times we think the wise

Will know what things to do

But good is rival of the best

16

Agape love comes through.

Just like the Master we will use

The words His Father spoke

The deeds He knew from God to bless

Let Triune love evoke.

17

18

19