Insightful Musings on theScriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear ones.

As I type this, I hear that crazy red-headed woodpecker again. For reasons I don’t really get, he likes to peck on the sheet metal downspout on the corner of this pole barn structure. Someone has suggested that he chooses that amplified noise-making routine as a strategy for attracting a mate. I’m not so sure. I mean, what did these woodpecker guys do before metal downspouts? Just live celibate?

Here’s another older production…but I think it’s as new as ever insofar as relevance is concerned.

Becki shared with me something she wrote down some time ago—a translation of Psalm 91:1. Does it grab you like it grabs me? “He that chooses as his permanent abode the secret place of the Most High shall always be in touch with the almightiness of God.” Wow! I think that’s worth painting on my wall. (I can paint it on yours as well for $50 per hour.) I think it fits well with the devotional too.

Blessings on you and whatever this day throws at you.

I run the risk of being a kind of broken record, but I’d like to lace into this statement the essential of A HEART AFTER GOD. I think it fits. Let’s see if you agree.

Jesus pauses before entering Jerusalem and appears overwhelmed with emotion in His overview of the city. Jesus wept. “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes” (19:42). One of the ideas I have here is this: If important things are hidden from the eyes of the closest disciples, how can we be expected to see things with perfect clarity? Is it not possible that certain yet-to-be-revealed things are hidden from our eyes as well—for the time being?

Just before this pause in Jesus’ course it says that “the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen” (19:37). Get this—they were disciples. So did they really get it? Were they really understanding all that was transpiring? Nope. They had made some wrong assumptions, thinking “that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once” (19:11). Yes, they were caught up in the “Jesus movement.” They enjoyed the fellowship of the group and the excitement of beholding miracle after miracle. But there was still a lot of stuff HIDDEN FROM THEIR EYES. That fact is proven by the unfolding story. They just didn’t get it. But for those who were in possession of A HEART AFTER GOD, however, they made it through the surprises, setbacks, and disappointments just fine. Those who weren’t, didn’t.

I’m convinced that A HEART AFTER GOD is the essential foundation of an essential faith. It’s like the lowest common denominator of the Kingdom of God. It is this kind and quality of essential faith that supports us and carries us successfully through our own sojourn—even though we may not clearly foresee the future or even understand the full significance of the present. There are a lot of details still hidden from our own eyes. We still “see through a glass darkly” (1 Corinthians 13:12). But A HEART AFTER GOD says—and even sings, “That’s quite OK—I don’t know about tomorrow, but I know Who holds my hand.”