"So There!"

"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." (Psalms 56:3) Short and sweet, that's what this is all about; it's not about rhyme or reason, it's just about doing what seems best because He is God! Obviously we all have some kind of fear of something; whether it's a fear of dying, or a fear of spiders; there is always something that just hits the fear spot; and for some, there are many somethings. I have been trying to think all morning of what it is that I am afraid of, and I can't really put a finger on it. Maybe the fear of dogs that bite; that's something I don't want to have happen, and when I see a dog loose that I think will bite, I take cover. If you really think about it, and if you put things into the right perspective, then there is really only one thing that we truly need to be fearful of, and that is not pleasing God. Everything else really does not matter, because if we please God, then we are good to go! So, what pleases God? Oh, how I wish there was some sort of a map or a instruction manual for pleasing God; at least some kind of sign that points the way. Listening to Pastor Jon yesterday, I was laughing so hard that I almost needed to pull over; but he was teaching on the portion of Scripture from Numbers 22, which is about Balaam and his donkey. What makes this story so funny, is that when the donkey speaks, Balaam answers it as if he was talking to a person, like, as if it was no big deal that his donkey was speaking to him. But in the next chapter, things get a little more interesting, because Balaam is taken up to a high place where he is able to look down upon God's people, and from that vantage point, he could see the cross; once he saw the cross, he could do nothing else but please God... "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and make another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As He saith in Hosea, I will call them My people, which were not My people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people; there shall they be called the children of the Living God. Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the seas, a remnant shall be saved: for He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Isaiah said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at the Stumblingstone; as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumblingstone and rock of offense: and whosoever believeth in Him shall not be ashamed." (Romans 9:21-33)