Tuesday, December 23, 2014

His Compassion Doesn’t Fail.

'oH  ghaH  vo'  joH'a'  muSHa'taH kindnesses  vetlh  maH  'oH  ghobe'  Soppu', because  Daj compassion  ta'be' fail.

 It is of the LORD's loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion 
doesn’t fail.   Lamentations 3:22




Matthew Henry notes:

The prophet relates the more gloomy and discouraging part of his experience, and how he found support and relief. In the time of his trial the Lord had become terrible to him. It was an affliction that was misery itself; for sin makes the cup of affliction a bitter cup. The struggle between unbelief and faith is often very severe. But the weakest believer is wrong, if he thinks that his strength and hope are perished from the Lord.
Having stated his distress and temptation, the prophet shows how he was raised above it. Bad as things are, it is owing to the mercy of God that they are not worse. 

In the worst moment, when we realize this, that "Bad as things are, it is owing to the mercy of God that they are not worse" we may begin to have hope. On that, I reflect on Viktor Frankl's words:

Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation. You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you.  (Man's Search for Meaning)

Tuesday, December 09, 2014

God works in you.

vaD  'oH  ghaH  joH'a'  'Iv  vum  Daq  SoH both  Daq  DIchDaq  je  Daq  vum,  vaD  Daj  QaQ pleasure.
For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)

God works. 

God works in you.

Matthew Henry puts it well:

It is the grace of God which inclines the will to that which is good: and then enables us to perform it, and to act according to our principles. Thou hast wrought all our works in us,Isa. xxvi. 12. Of his good pleasure. As there is no strength in us, so there is no merit in us. As we cannot act without God's grace, so we cannot claim it, nor pretend to deserve it. God's good will to us is the cause of his good work in us; and he is under no engagements to his creatures, but those of his gracious promise.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Daq lIj tIQDu' vegh HartaHghach / In your hearts through faith

vetlh Christ may yIn Daq lIj tIQDu' vegh HartaHghach; Daq the pItlh
vetlh SoH, taH rooted je grounded Daq muSHa',
may taH strengthened Daq comprehend tlhej Hoch the le' ghotpu'  
nuq ghaH the breadth je length je height je depth,
je Daq Sov Christ's muSHa' nuq surpasses Sov,  
vetlh  SoH may  taH  tebta'  tlhej  Hoch the fullness  vo'  joH'a'.  KLV


And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.   Ephesians 3: 17-19 (NLT)




This comes from a passage of Ephesians that I love 
(in fact I've memorized it from the NLT translation.)

and I really appreciate how the Life Application Bible describes it:


God’s love is total, says Paul. It reaches every corner of our experience. It is wide—it covers the breadth of our own experience, and it reaches out to the whole world. God’s love is long—it continues the length of our lives. It is high—it rises to the heights of our celebration and elation. His love is deep—it reaches to the depths of discouragement, despair, and even death. When you feel shut out or isolated, remember that you can never be lost to God’s love.

God's muSHa', his love, surpasses Sov, our knowledge.  And he gives it freely to all of us.