Insightful Musings on the Scripturesby
Ray Sparre, NU class of '67
Ray has a wealth of experience as a Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary, and student of the Word. He believes and practices his faith where the rubber meets the road. You'll find his writings to be practical, insightful, and grounded in a truly Christ-centered world view.
Below are links to a printable daily Bible reading guide which Ray has followed, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010 and 2011.
| Sparre Home Page | Daily Reading Guide | 2011 Devotion Archives | 2010 Devotion Archives |
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11 June 11
Good morning, dear ones.
Thus begins another Saturday with a huge TO-DO list. We have a house full of grandsons again—well, it seems full with two.
My brother surprised my socks off with an email he just sent in this morning. He just bought a Porsche Boxter…and sent photos along. It’s used…but still amazing. I better get my socks put back on.
We did a lot of logging yesterday at nearby Camp Adams. I may do a bit more today and haul my track hoe back home. We’ll see. Oh yes…I need to get some vinyl graphics done up right away to apply to a guy’s big rig truck that he’ll be bringing by today. Another guy is coming to pick up a bunch of big timbers we milled for him, and….
Blessings on your day. Love, Dad/Ray
11 June 2011
Psalm 40
Focus: “Many, O LORD God, are the wonders you have done.” Psalm 40:5a.
Do you ever ponder the respiratory and circulatory systems of a gnat? How about his vision? What about his choice of food and digestion? Is it not marvelous to consider how he flies with such precision and control with those tiny wings? How does his muscular system link up with his skeletal system so as to allow movement and function of those hair-like appendages? Do you wonder about reproduction? Do gnats sleep? What do baby gnats do? How do they communicate? How do they find each other? Well, I don’t have the answers to all these curious questions, but I’m sure of one thing: If you don’t see the fingerprints of the Creator all over that little gnat, you’re blind as a bat!—even blinder!
I don’t say that out of condemnation or derision. It’s simply the way things are. A HEART AFTER GOD, or the absence thereof, is what makes the difference. David’s HEART AFTER GOD enlightens his vision to see things that Larry Lazy, Sam Cynical, and Peter Proud just don’t see. He exclaims, “Many, O LORD God, are the wonders you have done” (v. 5a). That includes wonders in his own life and experience. He testifies to God’s rescuing him “out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire” (v. 2)—his desperate human condition—then God gives him a “new song” and a “hymn of praise” (v.3). Furthermore, David’s enlightened perspective recognizes the emptiness and ineffectiveness of a bunch of religious forms and rituals without A HEART AFTER GOD (vv. 6-8). While David knows he is surrounded by “troubles without number” (v. 12), he also exclaims, “The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare” (v. 5b). So while others are singing, “I’ve got heartaches by the number, troubles by the score,” David is singing, “O for a thousand tongues to sing my Great Redeemer’s praise!”
This is the contrasting reality of human life on this planet. In my view, it boils down to a matter of the HAVES and the HAVE NOTS—those who HAVE A HEART AFTER GOD and those who HAVE NOT. Those who HAVE cannot be silent. “I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly (in public); I do not seal my lips, as you know, O LORD. I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly” (vv. 9-10). Those who HAVE NOT are indifferent and flip the channel to something else. In so many words they are inclined to say, “You go ahead and strain at your gnat—I’d rather swallow my camel!”
“Faith hears the inaudible, sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible.”