The Blessing of Peace

For today’s devotional I give you an original poem written in 2010 and revised June 22, 2019. I pray reading the scripture and the poem will bless you. 
 
The Blessing of Peace
“The Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.” -Psalm 29:11 (KJV)

“May God give peace to you, my Christian brothers; and love, with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” -Ephesians 6:22 (TLB)



Today a brand new year
stretches before us like the pages
of an unwritten book.
In our country and in the world
turmoil exists;
there seems to be little peace,
a lack of trust, no rest from trouble,s
and absence of direction and purpose.


Yet within the heart of every child of God
it is possible to have peace, joy, gratitude,
love, hope and vitality.
These are gifts of promise
from the Almighty who orders the universe
and visits every believing heart, saying,
“I will give strength to my people;
I will bless my people with peace.”


Peace is not a result of outward circumstances,
although we can be buffeted about by them.
Peace is a gift from God, as is love.
We love because He first loved us.
We have peace because He is the author of peace.
He will assist us to write “Peace” on the pages of our lives.
I know not what this new year holds, and good it is
that I cannot see the pitfalls, challenges ahead.


But these truths I know with assurance:
I walk with God; God walks with me.
In the pathway, with Him leading
there will be, every day and night,
peace, joy, gratitude, love, hope and vitality.
How do I know? Can I count these as reality?
Yes! How can I answer so emphatically?
Because I walk with God and He walks with me.


- Georgianne Ethelene Dyer Jones
(Composed January 10, 2010; revised June 22, 2019)

Considering Three Pursuits: Beauty, Truth and Love

“Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” –Psalm 29:2b (NKJV).

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”-John 14:1 (NKJV). “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” –John 8:32 (NKJV). “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” a-1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (NKJV).

“For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it.

For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it.

For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.”

These are words from the pen of Ivan Panin who lived from 1855-1942. Dr. Panin was a Bible scholar born in Russia who did much study in the Hebrew and Greek languages and applied what he learned to an intensive study and interpretation of the Scriptures.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” wrote Margaret Hungerford (1855?-1897). How we view people, places, objects and events makes the difference in whether we consider them ugly or comely, of little value or priceless. How does your eye view an object, person or situation to determine beauty? According to Ms. Hungerford, the beholder either sees beauty or does not. If we train ourselves to look for beauty, it is likely that we will be searching for it wherever we are. And this being the Lord’s Day, Sunday, we have the opportunity for beauty when we gather together in bonds of Christian love to “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”

“Truth will out,” wrote John Lydgate (1370?-1450?). Sometimes we cannot hear truth because we are deafened by deep-set prejudices, preconceived notions and irrelevant ideas. Is your ear attuned to Truth? Jesus invited us to seek and follow Him and He will lead us to Truth which is freeing and satisfying. Today many voices vie for hearings and we need to weigh and seek to sift the false from the true. Back to another truthful saying by Dr. Ivan Panin who believed that “For every truth there is an ear to hear it,” also held that we can learn truth. “Experience, if we only learn by it, is cheap at any price,” he wrote. Such experience we can apply to learning truth.

“Love either finds equality or makes it,” wrote John Dryden (1631-1700). Love is more than a fleeting feeling and a romantic attachment. Love is a deep commitment. Have we a heart to receive—and give—love in the places where it is needed most? Paul wrote that he would show the Christians at Corinth “a more excellent way.” Then followed the great treatise on love found in 1 Corinthians 13. The qualities of love are identified. We can use the characteristics in the chapter as a check-list to see if our manner of giving and receiving love is according to

God’s will and way. 

 

Does the way I live my life demonstrate beauty, truth and love?

-Ethelene Dyer Jones November 8, 2015

Being There

The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty…The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness.” (Psalm 29:4, 7-8, NRSV).

We are often saying to someone, with the hope that they will feel our support and presence in their time of grave need, “I will be there for you.” We have also said, in effect concerning someone who has meant much to us, helped us through troubles, encouraged, uplifted or inspired us, “He/she was always there for me.”

Today I would like to propose another aspect of “being there” that came as a reminder to me as I read a book by Chris Webb entitled The Fire of the Word: Meeting God on Holy Ground (Downer’s Grove, Il: Intervarsity Press, c2011). Using the technique suggested by Ignatius of Loyola, Webb invites us when we read a passage of scripture to imagine the scene as clearly as possible and allow oneself to be drawn into it—the place, the sights, the sounds, the touch. Pay attention to the details; “be there”. Then allow yourself to be a participant. What is your reaction? What is God saying to you personally in this passage? What would you say and do as a result of “being there”? Chris Webb states: “Over time, you will learn the art of being ever more attentive to God in Scripture” (p. 123).

Imagine what it was like when Moses encountered the burning bush on Mt. Horeb in the desert of Midian (Exodus 3 and 4:1-17). Moses was going about his tasks of minding his father-in-law Jethro’s flock on ‘the west side of the wilderness.’ See it: some grassland there for the flock to feed upon, but no other human being was around. Who knows? Maybe Moses was thinking about his people in Egyptian bondage and that he had killed an Egyptian taskmaster and fled the country for his life, even though he had been reared by Pharaoh’s daughter. Then in that quiet place, God spoke to Moses from the burning bush. What an amazed, astonished Moses took notice and listened. The Psalmist, in our focal verses for today, seems to recall vividly that pivotal event in Moses’ life.

Our “burning bush” experience is not likely to be as spectacular, but God wants us to “be there,” to draw near to Him so that He can draw near to us! And as with Moses—and so many others since—God wants to “be there” to speak to us individually and clearly. Moses offered excuses before he finally relented, went to his father-in-law Jethro and asked his permission to return to Egypt. From tending sheep to freeing an enslaved people and leading them; what an about-face for Moses! His obedience to the call of God stemmed from “being there” to hear and obey God. Our task, too, is to “be there,” to listen, to respond, to heed. May we be aware and obedient! –Ethelene Dyer Jones 09.14.2014.