Category: Bible Nuggets

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Grasshoppers

I know a person or two who are terrified of grasshoppers. Do you? Much as I would like to laugh at them, I don’t because I too go into flight mode—not the phone feature—when I see certain (harmless!) creepy crawlies.

Now, the other day a verse came to mind and I looked it up because I remembered only a portion of it. The verse said,

"He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
    and its people are like grasshoppers."
Isaiah 40:22 NIV

My initial thought was to remember how I sometimes squish dudus (bugs) for no reason other than because I can. As you can imagine, seeing this verse made me view God through my own actions towards dudus, and I was left feeling extremely discouraged! The Lord in His mercy turned my attention to Job—chapters 38 and 39—where I read that the animals we consider strong and dangerously powerful beg God for mercy. And not just that, but also that these mighty animals ask God to allow them to be His slave! Isn’t it amazing to know that these huge and powerful animals acknowledge God’s might!

Somehow, reading about God’s power through these chapters in Job encouraged me. I understood that God is Almighty, all powerful and sovereign over all creation. He uses His power for good (e.g. setting the earth’s dimensions so it can sustain life, or giving food to the ravens). I also understood that unlike me, God does not squish His creation pointlessly—like I do with dudus. He instead gently cares for all His creation, and directs everything in the way it should go.

I now realise that it is beyond my ability to comprehend the extent of His power! And, that unlike God, I am in not in in control of anything.

Everything is possible for Him. So, I shouldn’t limit Him by saying “safe” or “small” prayers. Also, because He is so much more powerful than I can imagine, everything about me is small in comparison to Him. Therefore, to Him there is no big or small prayer . . . they’re all small! Which is all the more reason why I should pray about everything.

And . . . if I know He has the power to do anything and everything, then I should have faith that He is able to do what I have asked. Especially when what I have asked seems impossible.

At the moment I must confess that this is head-knowledge for me, and my current prayer is for Him to turn it into experiential knowledge.

Lord, I believe all things are possible for You. Help me overcome unbelief!

 

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Am I the Cause?

Comea long today as I share a thought on matters work etiquette.

But first, I’ll start by saying that before my recent career change, I worked in the area of customer satisfaction. Not the popular practise where businesses call to find out your experience post-purchase, but rather where companies internally strive to sell only what will satisfy their customers. Being proactive about customer satisfaction is what I’ve worked on for close to two decades. 

Naturally, even though I’ve changed career, my attention is quickly drawn towards matters customer satisfaction. And I’ve been increasingly noticing something peculiar about us as a culture. I’ve observed that we are primarily interested in the money we will collect during a transaction, and less interested in the other end of the transaction —where we give the customer what they’re paying for. What’s more, this attitude seems to cut across all sectors. The landlord/agent is interested in collecting rent & deposit, and not so much in making sure they’re handing over a functional house. The car-wash guy wants to collect his pay, with little care for how thorough the cleaning is. The investment company is quick to take your cash, but works at snail’s pace when it is time to give the money back. The food vendor is happy to receive your money, with little concern for the safety of the food they’re serving. Then there’s the tailor . . . there are endless examples! I used to think that as a society we lacked awareness on matters quality and customer satisfaction. However, I now view this as a greed problem. 

That’s a strong assertion, I know. But hear me out.

You see, when I read Romans 1:21–32, I can’t help but wonder whether you and I are the cause for the economic and political state we find ourselves in as a country. My take-out from these verses is that whenever our hearts are repeatedly rebellious towards God, then God “gives us over” to be oppressed by the very thing that we are choosing instead of Him.  

Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.
Romans 1:28–31 NIV


I cannot help but wonder if Paul had this in mind as he wrote the above:

“But my people would not listen to me;
    Israel would not submit to me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
    to follow their own devices.”
Psalm 81:11–12 NIV


Could God have given us over to economic hardship because of our love for money? Could the chaos/protests we are witnessing be an indicator of our disregard for law and order, or our impunity? Could God have given us over to our penchant for shortcuts by allowing us to be consumers of sub-standard goods? These are the questions on my mind today. More importantly, how have I contributed to the situation? 


Very often we hear that if we fast and pray then God will forgive us and heal our land. What I rarely hear mentioned is the part of 2 Chronicles 7:14 where we turn from our wicked ways. God incorporates us changing the wrong actions that are causing us to be oppressed. Without a turnaround in behaviour, we should expect more of what is currently going on. 


I can certainly see how I could do better when God brings the next tenant . . . things to make them comfortable. How about you? Might any of your actions have contributed to God punishing the nation by letting us have our own way? These are weighty matters and deserve serious soul-searching and a commitment to do right.

God promises in Psalm 81:13–14 that when we return to His ways, He will quickly subdue our enemies.

It is definitely worth giving thought to what changes you need to make . . . 

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Good. Perfect.

Previously, I shared some of what’s been going on . .   around me, that is. Today I’d like to share some of what has been going on in my heart. 

By now you know that songs are my go-to when I need encouragement. And you’ll be pleasantly surprised to hear that the song I have on repeat isn’t a hymn! 😃 I’m listening to Sinach’s “Final Word.” It’s the first time I’ve listened to it and I love it! 

But what does “Final Word” have to do with where my heart is at the moment? 

To answer this, I’d have to take you back about a decade ago, when a friend gave me a cute Bible as a gift. To make the gift extra special, she wrote her favourite verse below my name. I excitedly turned to the verse and my excitement quickly faded and gave way to disappointment. You see, the verse was Psalm 115:3 which says,

“Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.“

My outlook dimmed because the thought that God does what He wants was the least comforting thing for me to hear. Due to the depth of pain from my childhood, and seemingly endless waiting for many prayers to be answered, it felt as though God’s will was to cause me pain. To make life as difficult for me as possible. I don’t know if you can relate. 

Needless to say, I made sure not to look at the “special verse” again!

And that’s generally been my attitude regarding God’s will until yesterday. Which is when I heard a sermon that linked Psalm 115:3 to a verse I love in the book of Romans. 

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.” 
Romans 12:2 NIV

During the sermon, it instantly clicked that what God is pleased to do is always what is good for me; what will bring perfection in me. Even when it doesn’t seem glaringly obvious. So take for instance my current situation where I am waiting on God to fulfil His word to both heal and save my dad . . . what I see at present has me strongly discouraged, but despite the emotional rollercoaster, I can be confident that if this is God’s will, then this is what is good for me at the moment. God is not out to punish me. He wants what is good for me. (Though I deeply yearn for Him to act quicker!) 

And, if the only reason that I’m having to go through this emotional rollercoaster is so I can come to this place — where I don’t see God as out to cause me pain, but rather view Him as a loving God who wants the absolute best for me — then the many tears and sleepless nights will be worth it. (Much as I really don’t like or enjoy this rollercoaster.)

So, as Sinach sings, “everything You do is good. You are God alone.” 

I suppose what’s actually unfolding in me is a step away from fear, and deeper into the knowledge of God’s love. 

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”  
1 John 4:18 NIV

Finally, I must say I do not think this renewal of my mind would have happened if I had not accepted the Lord’s Triple the Word challenge. 

Glory be to God for the work He is doing, through His word, to transform me!  

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By Your Truth

Remember how I got started on reading triple the word? (If not, you can click on the link) 

I thought I should share a quick update on how that’s going. 

This morning as I was having my morning chat with the Lord and acknowledging His grace in freeing me from holding onto an offence that I just couldn’t shake off no matter what, a verse dropped into my heart.

Before I share the verse, allow me to give you some background on the offence . . . since the year 2020, a young lady I had helped raise, began to increasingly speak to me with anger and disrespect. Her attitude got so bad that in 2022 she said the worst thing anyone has ever said to me. Her mother was with us at the time, and she made no effort to correct her daughter. Mark you, her mother is close to two decades older than me. I was very hurt and angry. I kept thinking “after all my time and effort in caring for her since she was a child this is how she treats me? And her mother is silent about it!” As I’ve since learnt, offence comes with the entitled attitude that “I deserve to be treated better because of what I have done for them.” 

Despite my entitled attitude, I knew the offence I was harbouring in my heart was wrong and not pleasing to God. Yet, no matter how much I prayed, the offence wouldn’t go away. I couldn’t get myself to say anything other than hello to the young lady. Which in turn made me feel terrible that I was not being a good ambassador of Christ. 

This tug-of-war ⏤ wanting to feel and act better, but instead holding on to the offence and being unable to speak to her ⏤ raged on and on. And doesn’t the Bible so aptly describe this struggle . . . 

“For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Romans 7:22 —25 (NIV)

But this Christmas season, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the anger was no longer there. I could actually speak to her without an inner struggle! My deliverance from God had come through without me even realising it! This deliverance is what I was thanking the Lord for this morning when this verse dropped into my heart . . .

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”
John 17:17 (NIV)

And it quickly dawned on me that one of the things that had happened as I spent more time in God’s Word was that He was sanctifying me. The offence had been cleaned out — swept away just like that! See how powerful God’s word is?

As we usher in the new year, I pray that in 2025 you would purpose to spend more time in God’s word, so He can sanctify you by His truth!  

Happy New Year and God bless you!  

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He Is . . .

What is your Bible reading routine? Of course I’m assuming you have one!

I use a plan on my Bible App. Usually, I pick one that takes me on a journey through all the books of the Bible. Most days I stay on track, but there are days here and there when I fall behind. Today is one of those days that I was able to get my reading done as planned. It was day one of the gospel according to John. As I read the first five verses of Chapter 1, I observed a few things that I hadn’t noticed before. And that’s what I’d like to share with you today . . .

What caught my attention from these verses is the description of Jesus. We are told that . . .

  1. He is the Word.
  2. He is with God.
  3. He is God.
  4. He is uncreated.
  5. He is the Creator.
  6. He is life.
  7. He is light.

Which made me ask myself – when we are told Jesus is the Word, does this mean that whenever I read any part of the Bible (which is God’s Word), I am reading about Jesus? Or getting to know Him? And conversely, when I don’t read the Bible, am I denying myself an opportunity to deepen my relationship with my Saviour?

What do you think?