Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Greetings, dear people.

The little boys were dropped off here at 6:45am. So, ready or not, the day has begun.

I may be in line for cutting up some oak logs today. The guy should be calling me any time now to confirm our plan. In preparation for that operation, I made a dash to WoodMizer in Wood Village yesterday late afternoon to get a box of special blades for cutting hardwood. I also dropped off a bunch of blades to be resharpened.

I’m sure that Thano will be bugging me today to get on with helping him to set up his new wood splitter. With that he should be able to split up about 2 cord per hour from bucked rounds. Firewood is still a very popular medium for heating homes in these parts. But I’ll probably need to keep bugging Thano today to give as much attention as he can to his little boys. That’s a regular challenge around here. Insofar as adult maturity is concerned, Thano’s head injury seems to lock him in at about age 12, give or take, depending on the issues faced. Who said parenting would be easy?

Without a doubt, you are facing your own set of technical difficulties. And without a doubt, if you can know and understand a few basic Biblical essentials, you’ll be OK. Can I say, BLESSED?

Love, Dad/Ray.

I hope and pray that you know and understand that there are some very important things that God wants you to know and understand. But please know and understand that He does not intend for you to know and understand everything—nor has He equipped you with that capacity. I’ve said it before—I’ll say it again—I believe that God’s Word, the Bible, is inspired of God—not just for what it says, but also for what it does NOT say. It discloses to your HEART AFTER GOD the essentials of what God wants you to know and understand.

Verse 38 reads this way: “But if I do it (the will and work of the Father), even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father.”

Now, please allow me to put the key thoughts of Jesus’ statement into my own words: “Even though you are confused and find it difficult to believe in me at this present time, please pay attention to the fact that I have been the agent of many undeniable miracles. Allow that fact to settle into your minds with the truth that there can only be two origins of the supernatural—either from God or from Satan. I promise you that if you are honest and desirous of truth, and if you will begin with at least this plain fact, you will afford a sufficient opening in your mind and spirit so as to allow penetration by the revelation knowledge of the Spirit of God. If you carefully examine the miracles I do as well as my own life, message, and motives, I guarantee that you will put yourself on a road toward clearly knowing and understanding that I am, in fact, God incarnate.” (Quite honestly, it is at junctures like this in Jesus’ hassle with His adversaries that I wish He would have said something like, “May I suggest that you have a chat with my mother?” There were important things they simply did not know or understand!)

I really REALLY believe that if you will carry with you the attitude that says, “Lord, what do you want me to know and understand?”—and will accept His Word as the general embodiment of what He wants you to know and understand, you will set yourself on a course to “know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).