[Faith-talk] Good Night Message for Wednesday, November 28 2012

[Paul]

Hello and good day to you all.  Here in the mid-Atlantic states of the U.S. it's cold out there, as it is in other parts of our country and Canada, whereas in places south of us it's probably a bit warmer and of course it's a lot warmer in Australia and New Zealand.  Anyway hope that your day went well or that your Thursday is going well.

Frana Hamilton has returned with an article for us today entitled "Come Apart Or Fall Apart," rendered as follows:

Matthew 14:23 records that when Jesus "had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, He was there alone." This is one of many occasions when He went away by Himself to be alone with the Father.

Someone has rightly observed that if we do not come apart to spend time alone with God, we will be in danger of falling apart.

In "The Shepherd of Guadalupe," Zane Grey tells how long hours in the desert alone with the sheep had made the shepherd a thinker.  He goes on to explain, "Solitude and loneliness inspired the mind."  Noise, confusion and busyness keep us from quiet thinking.

Psalm 1, written by another shepherd, describes for us the man who walks with the Lord, delighting and meditating in His law.

"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper" (v3).

Jeremiah expands on that thought about the man who trusts in the Lord.  "He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit" (17:8).

Even in drought, we, the trees of the Lord, continue to bear fruit as our roots go deeper and deeper, tapping into the Living Water.

Paul had his desert experience of three silent years near Damascus before God used him so mightily to preach the gospel to the entire known world.

Moses spent forty years in the desert, alone with his God and his thoughts before the Lord used him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

In today's fast-paced, hectic culture we would do well to take time for quiet and solitude.

"It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord," Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations 3:26.

Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 2:2-3 "a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty ... is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour."

It is difficult to slow down and practice quietness, but it is better than being so busy that we are in danger of falling apart.

And there you have Sister Frana's article for today.  You know, I hate to say it, but our contemplative brothers and sisters who voluntarily cut themselves off from the world in monasteries or convents may have something here to teach us so-called moderns.  Now am I advocating that we do this? By no means.  After all we are in the world but not of the world, if you get my drift.

And now until tomorrow when, Lord willing another good night message will be presented, may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, throughout this night or day and especially in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian brother and friend, Paul