Morning Musing: Proverbs 18:22

“A man who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”
— ‭‭(CSB – Read the chapter)

My bride and I have been watching a show lately about living in Alaska. It came out several years ago when shows featuring all things Alaskan were so popular. This one chronicles the lives and lifestyles of a collection of people who live near or north of the Arctic Circle. At least two of the ones who get the most attention are single. One is a woman who lives entirely on her own. The other is a guy who lives with only his dogsledding dogs. From the editing, they pretty much do everything for and by themselves. Watching it is a good reminder of another thing I’m thankful on this Thanksgiving day. Today I am thankful for not doing life alone.

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Morning Musing: Matthew 8:26

“He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Our weather yesterday was gross most of the day. Today’s not promising to be much better. It wasn’t particularly cold, which was nice, but it was rainy and windy and overcast all day. Then, yesterday afternoon it got foggy out of nowhere. It was the kind of thick pea soup fog you usually only see in the morning except it was at 3:00 in the afternoon. Driving toward on particular intersection, I couldn’t see the traffic signal until I was almost through the intersection itself. It reminded me of another thing in thankful for. Today I’m thankful for not being able to see tragic signals.

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Morning Musing: Acts 2:46

“Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts…” (CSB – Read the chapter)

It’s that time of year again. We are now fully into Thanksgiving week. My guess is that you are already planning your third or fourth trip to the grocery store. You’ve spent most of one paycheck on just the necessities and are working on a second. You’re busy, harried, and tried. And you’re doing all of that for the chance to sit and enjoy some time with family you might want to see…or maybe not. But you do it because tradition – not to mention nostalgia – demands it. Yet lost in the hustle and bustle of this week is often what the day is supposed to be about. Wise leaders of the past called on the country and even established this particular day as one to be set aside for giving our attention to matters of gratitude. That gratitude was specifically intended to be directed toward God, and it will perhaps come as no surprise that I think that’s the best direction for it, but gratitude of any kind is good for the soul. So, this week, instead of our regularly scheduled programming, we’re going to take a bit of time each day to do just that. And today, to get us started, I’m thankful for a noisy room.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 16:31-34

“The house of Israel named the substance manna. It resembled coriander seed, was white, and tasted like wafers made with honey. Moses said, ‘This is what the Lord has commanded: “Two quarts of it are to be preserved throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.”‘ Moses told Aaron, ‘Take a container and put two quarts of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be preserved throughout your generations.’ As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron placed it before the testimony to be preserved.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Around my house, I have a frustratingly well-developed reputation for forgetting things. I’m getting better. I didn’t used to be like that. Throughout seminary I used to amaze my classmates because I never used a calendar. I didn’t write down any assignments beyond what was already in the syllabi. I just remembered everything. Now, as much information as my brain retains, short-term things are worthless to me if I don’t write them down. And set reminders for them on my phone. We are a forgetful people. We always have been. Let’s talk today about God’s final instructions to Israel regarding the food He provided for them and why remembering is so important.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 16:24-30

“So they set it aside until morning as Moses commanded, and it didn’t stink or have maggots in it. ‘Eat it today,’ Moses said, ‘because today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you won’t find any in the field. For six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.’ Yet on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they did not find any. Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘How long will you refuse to keep my commands and instructions? Understand that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he will give you two days’ worth of bread. Each of you stay where you are; no one is to leave his place on the seventh day.’ So the people rested on the seventh day.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the most natural things in the world is for children to trust their parents. At some point they become more skeptical or even outright untrusting, but while this may be because their parents earned such suspicion (don’t ever lie to your kids, even in jest; that does far more damage to them than you could imagine), more often it is because sin has crept further into their hearts, leading them to a greater mistrust of everything. That’s one of the things sin does: it cultivates mistrust and doubt in our hearts. Because of this, trusting in God is not natural for us. As a result, God gives us things to help us learn to trust. Let’s talk about one of the most important ones He gave to Israel.

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