Insightful Musings on theScriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Greetings, dear ones.

The day is already complicated. So many directions to go. And now the weather is delivering some Spring sprinkle. That will have some bearing on the unfolding of the day.

May your day be a blessed one as you maintain the objective of PLEASING HIM.

Love, Dad/Ray.

Part of the equation for objectively critiquing our lives in the rear-view mirror is to raise WHAT IF questions. What if I had made decision B rather than decision A? What if I had never met Becki? What if we never had children? What if my speargun had not misfired on that day in the Majuro lagoon? What if my daughter and I had not been rescued by that other boat at that critical moment? What if my parachute had not opened? What if I had not been exposed to the Biblical Gospel? What if I had never known the touch of God’s Holy Spirit on my heart and mind?

David is doing much the same kind of cranial exercise in Psalm 124: “If the LORD had not been on our side—let Israel say—if the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us, when their anger flared against us, they would have swallowed us alive; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away” (Psalm 124:1-5). I believe David’s reasoning is sound and accurate. And, of course, the great value of such reasoning is that it lends support to our applauding the sustaining grace and intervention of the LORD. Life is frail, and our eternal destiny is delicate. It’s unreasonable to conclude that our survival, deliverance, or life courses are entirely the result of our own strength, brilliance, or foresight. Let’s sing again, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.”