Flight Paths

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            I gave you an awful lot of information last week so I thought it would be helpful to show you an example of a word study and what it can do for you.

            In case you haven’t already figured this out, serious Bible study takes preparation.  You don’t just sit down, open the Bible and start reading.  A couple of years ago I decided to do a study on faith.  It took me weeks to complete the research and then a year or so afterward to actually finish the study.  But on the way I made some wonderful discoveries that have seriously changed my attitude and my life.  Follow along with the directions I gave you in last week’s post and watch how this developed.

            First I bought a large loose-leaf notebook and a brand new pack of notebook paper.  You cannot be a tree-hugger and study the Bible seriously.  You need paper and a lot of it.  I opened the concordance and wrote down every passage I could find containing the word “faith.”  I left room next to each passage for a later note, then wrote the next passage on the next line.  I did not write on the back of any sheet—you must be able to shuffle papers, lay them out, and look at them all at once, and you cannot do that if you are constantly turning them over.  You will inevitably forget to do so once and miss something, or you will check the same side twice and waste time.  In this case I did not want to delete any passages at all as I showed you how to do last week.  The study was too important, so I wrote them all down, and when I finished I had 20 sheets of paper.

            Next, I looked up and read every one of those passages, including a few surrounding verses, and wrote a short phrase from the pertinent verse to remind myself at a glance what it said.  That much alone—the writing down, looking up, and reading--took me three weeks.  I am talking about 6-8 hours a week, but tell me you don’t spend that much time either watching television or sitting at the computer.

            The next step was organization.  I looked over the phrases several times.  Do not try to do any of this with shortcuts.  The point is to study the scripture not to see if you can avoid reading it.  Eventually I came up with several categories.  Now it was time to get out more paper and write those categories down and the verses that fit in them, this time leaving more space after each word because I was getting really close to beginning the deep part of the study.  My categories included things like:

> Positive verbs associated with faith

> Negative verbs associated with faith

> Things that take more faith to handle

> Things that make faith grow

> What increasing faith can lead to

> Things that faith is NOT

> Synonyms and metaphors for faith

> Things that a person who has faith WILL do

            And that’s not even half of them.  I found other ways to organize the passages as well, like all those passages that include “O ye of little faith” and “such great faith.”  It became obvious that I would need to study some chapters as a whole, like Romans 4, James 2 and Hebrews 11—the word “faith” was sprinkled throughout them.  I also needed to study the life of Abraham and Sarah in depth, and I discovered that hope was so bound up in faith that it needed a quick study as well.  When I finished the sorting, about a month later, I had already learned more than I ever knew about faith, but then I was ready to really start digging on each individual verse or passage. 

            That’s where you do the meat of your work.  Don’t forget things like context and purpose.  Write down the obvious things the passage tells you.  Later, you will make common sense, “necessary” conclusions.  You may find connections between passages that show up best in a quickly scratched out chart.  Depending upon the word you are studying and the number of passages on your list, it could take as long as a year to finish this final part.

            Now write out a simple conclusion for each group of passages.  If you cannot do that, you did not learn anything from those passages.  Now you have completed your word study.

            You may have a special reason for the study you are doing.  Maybe you are just curious about something.  Maybe a friend has asked a question.  Maybe the preacher made a statement you didn’t understand.  My study eventually became a 15 lesson, 65 page workbook for our women’s Bible class, and going over it yet again to teach I learned more, grew more, and understood more about faith than ever before.  If ever you get a chance to share what you have discovered, the same thing will happen for you. 

            I hope this example has helped make sense of some of the things I have shown you in previous articles.  Next week: expository studies.

Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law, Psalm 119:18.

Dene Ward

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            When we describe our camping trips, people sigh and say things like, “That sounds heavenly.” 

            We cook over an open fire, the meat caramelized by the flames and flavored by the smoke.  At night we sit by a pile of crackling logs under a black sky of twinkling diamond stars and sip hot chocolate.  In the mornings we cuddle by a fire pulled together from the coals of the night before, and gaze on a view that ought to cost extra—mountain after mountain after green rolling mountain against a blue sky, or wrapped with frothy clouds like lacy boas, or peeking through a fine mist, or shining in the sun, covered with trees sporting all the fall colors along with a few dark evergreens.  We hike through wilderness forests unsullied by human rubbish, watching birds we seldom see flit from limb to limb, coons or deer or bears trundling off in the distance or standing stock still in shock staring at us, tiny rills splashing over rocks into larger brooks running to yet larger creeks and finally to the rivers in the valleys below.  We visit orchards and buy apples straight from the tree, not prettied up for the store, sporting a real blemish here and there, but full of flavor, juicy with a perfect texture.  That evening we peel and slice a skillet full, add butter, sugar and cinnamon, set them on a low flame on the propane camp stove and twenty minutes later eat the best dessert you ever had.

           Then we trot out the other side of camping to our friends:  a day long misty rain that, even inside the screen set up over the table, seeps into your clothes and leaves you shivering; carrying a loaded tote to the bathhouse a few hundred yards up or down a steep hill every time you want to brush your teeth or take a shower; stepping outside the tent in the morning to a thermometer that reads 27 degrees. 

            “I could never do that!” one says.  “I’d be headed for the first Holiday Inn!” another proclaims.  Unfortunately, you don’t get the good part without the bad part.  The good parts often happen after the day-trippers head for the hotel.  Their food doesn’t come close and they pay a whole lot more for it at a restaurant than we did at the grocery store the week before we left.  They see the view once, just for a few minutes before being jostled out of the way by the next person standing behind them at the overlook.  And most hotels would frown on a campfire in their rooms.

            Keith and I are snobs about our camping.  When we camp, we live outdoors.  We don’t hide when the weather turns cold, or even wet—we can’t in a tent.  So we just wrap up and tough it out.  Oh, so superior are we.  But we have our limits too.  You will never find us at a primitive campsite.  You certainly won’t find us at a pioneer campsite.  We want our water spigot and electricity.  How do you think we handle those nights in the 20s?  We handle them with a long outdoor extension cord snaking its way inside the tent zipper to an electric blanket stuffed in the double sleeping bag and a small $15 space heater that, amazingly, raises the tent temperature 20-30 degrees inside.

            So where am I when it comes to Christianity?  Am I sold on the health and wealth gospel?  As long as good things happen to me, I am perfectly willing to believe in God and be faithful to Him.  Do I recognize the need for a little bit of trouble to prove my faith, but NOT full scale persecution or trial?  Have I come through some tough tests and now think so well of myself that I can scream to God, “Enough!” as if I had the right to lay out the terms for my faithfulness?

            The rich young ruler thought he was pretty good.  He had kept the commandments.  But Jesus knew where this fellow drew the line—his wealth.  So that is precisely where Jesus led him. 

            Do we have a line we won’t cross?  Is it possessions, security, health, family stability, friendships, comfort?  Whatever it is, the Lord will make sure you come against that line some day in your life.  You may think you are fine—why I can stay in my tent when it’s 25 degrees out!  What if the thermometer hit zero?  What if it rained, not just one day, but every day?  What if I had no running water, no hot showers, no electric blanket?  Would I pack up and head for the hotel?  Or would I tough it out, knowing the reward was far greater than even the most torturous pain imaginable in this life?

            You can’t run to the hotel and hide when persecution strikes.  You can’t close the RV door and count on riding out the storms of life.  Sometimes God expects you to stay in the tent in the most primitive campsite available.  Sometimes he even takes away the tent.  But you will still have the best refuge anyone could hope for if you make use of it, and when the trial is over, you get to enjoy the good parts that everyone else missed.

And another also said, I will follow you, Lord; but first suffer me to bid farewell to them that are at my house. But Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God, Luke 9:61,62.

Dene  Ward

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            I remember folding diapers one day when Lucas was 2 and Nathan just a few weeks old.  I had not had a full night’s sleep in the three or four weeks since Nathan’s birth—an emergency C-section, which while routine, was still major surgery.  The garden was at its height, and laundry was a daily chore along with the usual cooking and cleaning. 

            During Nathan’s morning nap I gave Lucas as much attention as possible.  We were learning the alphabet, going through magazines to find pictures of things beginning with that week’s letter, practicing how to draw it, and finding it among the words of the book I read to him that day.  Our daily Bible lesson included a song I had composed if no ready-made one came to mind, and a dramatic re-creation, either by us or handy stuffed animals which assumed new identities at his command. 

            Lest anyone think Keith was not doing his share, he was preaching part-time as well as holding down two other part-time jobs and finishing up a degree at the university 20 miles down the road.  Then he came home and became Goliath or the “big fish” or whatever large character he needed to be as Lucas recounted his Bible lesson to Daddy.  He always gave Lucas his evening bath and watched Nathan while I cleaned up supper dishes.  After the babies were in bed, he studied.

            On that particular day I was making those intricate folds of bleached white cotton robotically.  Nathan was cooing and gurgling on a blanket in the floor, and Lucas was lining up his assorted toy cars and trucks on the other end of the sofa from my stack of diapers.  A wave of weariness hit with such force that I leaned my head over on the sofa arm for a second’s rest.

            Ten minutes later I woke up to little grunts from Nathan.  This meant I had approximately fifteen seconds to start nursing him before a full-blown howl erupted from that deceptively small set of lungs.  What amazed me, though, was that Lucas was in the middle of running a fire engine up my arm and parking it next to my head.  Was this what woke me?  Obviously not, for there were already five other vehicles parked by my nose.  It was my baby’s impending distress that woke me from such a deep slumber, not the arm traffic.

            That was not the only time exhaustion struck so strongly.  Young mothers, I believe, live in a perpetual state of weariness, at least the ones who understand their God-given duties and try to fulfill them.  There have been nights when falling into bed and relaxing actually hurt for a few seconds.

            There are other things that make me weary, not in body but in spirit.  A relative’s foolish words or actions can cause hurt and turmoil throughout the family.  Two supposedly mature brothers or sisters in the Lord who behave like three year olds; an argument over scripture that is punctuated not by “This is what the scriptures say,” but rather, “This is what I think, this is what I feel about it, this is what I am comfortable with;” people who take your much prayed about words and actions in the worst possible light, making petty comments that pierce your heart, and spreading their thoughts to others, who then bring them back to you.  Then there is the evening news.  These things make you throw up your hands in defeat and say along with the apostle John, “Lord, come quickly.”

            Rest—if there is anything about Heaven I look forward to more than anything else, it is rest—rest to my soul.

            God had promised his people rest when he took them out of Egypt.  All they had to do was trust him and obey him, but despite the great signs and wonders done before their eyes, they could not manage that.  So God said, As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest, Heb 4:3.  They did enter Canaan, but they did not enter The Rest.  They had troubles constantly, from within and without, simply because they did not have the faith it took to obey God.  There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 4:9, a rest like God’s rest.  The Hebrew writer is careful that we understand the difference.  God did not rest because he was tired; he rested because he had finished his work, 4:4. 

            And we have that promise.  If we can get past the times that cause us to throw up our hands and shake our heads, the people who make our burdens heavier instead of lighter; if we can manage to stay strong and finish the course, we can rest too.  Oh, what a wonderful promise!

For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day.  There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.  For he who has entered into his own rest has himself also rested from his work as God did from his.  Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no one fall after the same example of disobedience, Heb 4:8-11.  

Dene Ward

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            Nearly forty years ago, shortly after Keith and I became engaged, he took me to the premier restaurant in Tampa, Bern’s.  Bern’s is the kind of restaurant where your waiter is often dressed better than you are, and you hope your actions do not give you away as someone who is totally out of his element.  We splurged away a good chunk of Keith’s weekly salary on a chateaubriand for two--$40, counting beverages, dessert, tax, and tip.  In that day, gas had just risen to 65 cents a gallon, and $35 worth of groceries fed a family of four for a week.

            Our waiter, Tony, was an older gentleman with an accent, gray hair, and Old World manners as charming as the fairy tale Prince.  At Bern’s, diners are seated in various rooms, some larger than others.  Ours was small, mostly tables for two, and the three other couples there that night were well-spaced for privacy.  Tony was assigned to us and only one other couple. 

            After taking our order, he always brought each course precisely on time as we finished the one before it.  When it came time for the steak, he asked if Keith would like to carve it.  We had been holding hands across the table and let go at that question.  Immediately, Tony protested.  “No, no, no,” he said, putting our hands back together. “Tony will carve.”

            After dinner we had coffee and once, when I put down the half empty china cup at my right elbow and looked up to talk with Keith, I turned back a moment later to a full one.  I had never heard Tony even approach the table, much less refill the cup.  When I expressed amazement, Keith told me, “He’s been standing in that back corner keeping an eye on his two tables the whole time.”  Needless to say, Tony got an excellent tip, and we still remember him fondly to this day.

            I was studying Acts 2:42 the other day and made a discovery that reminded me of Tony.  And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching, and fellowship, breaking of bread and in prayers, Acts 2:42.  Since prayer was the actual subject of my study, I concentrated on that particular item.  What did it mean, I wondered, to “continue in prayer?”

            “Continue” is the same Greek word translated “wait on” in Mark 3:9, and he spoke to his disciples that a little boat should wait on him because of the crowd, lest they should throng him.  The multitude was pressing in on Jesus, and he wanted a boat handy should he need it, as he did at another time, teaching from the water while the crowd stood on the shore. 

            What really brought Tony to mind, though, was the use of this word in Acts 10:7, And when the angel… had departed, [Cornelius] called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of those who waited on him continuously.  Like Tony, those men stood to the side just in case they were needed.  And they must have been needed fairly often, or they would not have been so alert and close by.  That is how prayer is supposed to be.

            Is that how we treat this gift?  Is it something we keep handy and use at the drop of a hat, should some problem come our way?  God meant prayer to be there for us continuously.  Not that we pray continuously, but that at any moment we may use that gift; that we talk to him through the day, recognize our dependence upon him in all things and the incredible benefits of speaking to him.  Like Tony he will be there waiting for anything we need, sometimes even before we express that need. 

            For our 30th anniversary in 2004, our children gave us a gift certificate to Bern’s, the first time we had ever been back.  It was another memorable experience, but of course, Tony is no longer there.  But unlike Tony, God is still there and always will be.  

            Keep prayer handy, and use it often.  Don’t wait for some bedtime ritual if the need should arise in the middle of the day.  God wants to help us, and he will, if we but ask.

Out of my distress I called upon Jehovah; Jehovah answered me and set me in a large place. Jehovah is on my side; I will not fear;            What can man do unto me?  Psa 118: 5,6.

Dene Ward

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            Even non-musicians have a general concept of time signature, or meter--how many beats are in a measure.  Everyone taps their toes to music.  Musicians take that a step further—where is the pulse in a measure?

            Let’s see if I can make this sensible to non-musicians.  Every measure has beats of equal time, sometimes two, sometimes three, sometimes four or more—that’s what you tap your foot to.  But each beat is NOT equal in quality, in how strong it is.  The first beat of every measure, no matter what the meter, is the strongest.  In triple meter, it is the only strong beat, so we count 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, etc.  That means that while there may be three beats in the measure, there is only one strong pulse per measure.  We would never count 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3, with each beat receiving the same stress.  Just try counting the two different methods a couple of times and feel the difference.  

            Now imagine you are watching two couples doing a waltz, the quintessential triple meter composition.  The first couple, using the first method with only the first beat accented, will appear lighter than air, swirling around as that first (and only) strong beat propels them forward to the next measure and the next and the next all around the dance floor.  The second couple, using the every-beat-gets-a-push method might as well be marching, complete with army boots.  When one of my fellow students in choral directing either could not feel the difference himself, or could not get the choir (his fellow conducting students) to perform it properly, our professor would insist that he use a rolling beat pattern.  You “roll the gospel chariot” but with your right hand only, feeling beat number one at the bottom of each roll, in effect a one-beat pattern.  If the choir cannot see you beating out each beat in the measure, they are less likely to stomp on each beat, and more likely to sing with a forward motion—singing horizontally with a forward impetus toward the next measure and the next, instead of vertically, stomp, stomp, stomp on each word of the song.

            So now you have had your music lesson for the day, what of it?  Just this:  sometimes we go through our lives as Christians plodding downward with all our momentum lost on each step, instead of joyfully waltzing our way along the road to Heaven.  It becomes all about following the rules for the sake of following the rules, instead of becoming someone new, living a life with purpose and a destination in mind. 

            Do you know how fast to sing a song in triple meter?  You should be able to sing four measures in one breath without gasping at the end of those four measures.  Sometimes with our plodding along I forget the first word of the phrase before I even get to the last.  It isn’t about going faster; it’s about singing with understanding. When you sing with the proper accent in the proper place it’s much easier to pay attention to what you are singing and edify yourself and everyone else, the whole point to singing in the first place.

            And when we just plod through life we tend to lose purpose as well.  1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2. Would you even notice if you stopped in the middle of a measure?  And in life would you even notice if you lost sight of the goal?  Suddenly the point of it all slips away from you and all this plodding becomes more than you can bear.  When you keep rules just for the sake of keeping rules, or out of habit and tradition, you lose your sense of purpose, and hope and joy goes flying out the window along with any meaning you thought your life might have had.  If something does not change, you will eventually give up.

            Keep that lilt in your life.  Know why you are doing what you are doing.  Your faith must be your own, not something handed down through the generations.  Your worship must be real, not rote practice.  You must become someone else, not the same old person who just happens to sit somewhere special every Sunday morning.  That sense of direction will lighten your step and propel you to a place you want to be.  And you can enjoy the trip itself a whole lot more.  1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3…

I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore, Psa 16:8-11.

Dene Ward

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            I feel like I should have come up with a much more exciting title for this one, because what I am about to share with you is what changed my Bible study life all by itself.  I got “hooked” on Bible study when I saw what can be accomplished with this method.

            I think it all started when my husband Keith blew up one of my little bubbles, one of those arguments you hear all your life and repeat without even bothering to check out.  You know, the one that goes, “The word ‘reverend’ is only used once in the Bible, in Psalm 111:9, and it refers to God, so no one should be called ‘reverend.’”  While I believe that concept is true, the argument is false.  Let me show you why.

            In the back of your Young’s Analytical Concordance are the two things that make it different, and much more useful, than any other concordance.  Right after page 1090 is the Index-Lexicon to the Old Testament.  It runs 56 pages.  The Index-Lexicon to the New Testament follows that.  These two listings contain not only every word listed in the concordance, but also every English word or phrase each Hebrew or Greek word is translated by, and the number of times it is used that way.  The Old Testament Index-Lexicon will show you why the above argument is false. 

Look up “reverend” in the front of the concordance.  You will find it on page 814, and sure enough, there is only one scripture using that Hebrew word yare, Psa 111:9.  But wait a minute—that is the only place that Hebrew word is translated “reverend.”  That does not necessarily mean that is the only time yare is used.  Look in the back, in the Hebrew lexicon.  You will find yare on page 53 of that section, in the middle of the last column.  Look at all the ways that word is translated into English.  Next to each English word or phrase is the number of times it is used that way, including “be afraid” 76 times and “fear” 242 times.  If my math is correct, yare is not used just one time in the Bible, but a grand total of 375 times! 

But the argument might still work if all those verses only refer to God.  So I took turns going back to the front of the concordance, checking each English word or phrase that yare is translated by.  I looked down each list until I found yare, then started reading the passages.  I did not have to read all 375 before I found several that referred to men, including righteous men like David, who would not have allowed that word to be used of them if it were a sin.  Some of those verses were Deut 7:19; Josh 4:14; Judg 6:27; 2 Sam 12:18; 1 Kgs 1:50; 3:28.

            So the argument that “reverend” is only used once in the Bible is a spurious one.  It is an accident of the English language (and the King James version at that).  It simply would not work if you were a Hebrew reading it in your own language.  Any argument that depends solely upon the English language is an invalid one.  Now let me hasten to add, I do not believe it is correct to call men “reverend.”  But Jesus gives us a perfectly good statement in Matt 23:8,9 to take care of that.  But be not called Rabbi, for one is your Master, even Christ, and all of you are brethren.  And call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your Father, which is in Heaven.  Jesus’ statement is a concept.  It does not merely apply to “rabbi” or “father,” but to any title that separates a man above his brethren.  In fact, I might be bold enough to say, it can apply to the way some people use the term “Brother” (with a capital B), applying it only to our preaching brethren.  Jesus said not to elevate men in this way, and Paul echoed that in 1 Cor 4:6.  If one Christian is a brother, all are.  I do not need to misuse a scripture to take care of that situation or the “reverend” problem.  If I have been teaching my friends the old “reverend” argument, and they discover this error, my credibility is lost.  Will they ever listen to me again?  Paul says to “handle aright the word of Truth,” 2 Tim 2:15.  It is just as wrong to misuse scripture as it is to elevate a brother.

            So here is your assignment this week.  Choose a word from a reading you have been doing.  (If you can’t find one, try “ponder” in Luke 2:19.  It is an interesting study.)  Look it up in the front of the concordance.  Find the group containing your verse, then write down the Hebrew (OT) or Greek (NT) word.  Now look it up in the correct lexicon in the back.  Write down all the different ways that word is translated into English, leaving space under each.  Now turn back to the front and start looking up each English word or phrase, finding the correct Hebrew or Greek word group, and write down all the verses that contain that word, again leaving space.  Now get your Bible.  Go through each verse, making note of everything that verse tells you about that word, simply by how it is used--do not make comments or assumptions.  Now look over all of your notes and start compiling verses into categories.  Then organize your categories.  You will know more about how the Holy Spirit uses that word than any man could ever tell you in any dictionary.  Now you can make educated comments and assumptions.  In fact, you can probably write a whole lesson on the word!

            Here’s a helpful hint:  Sometimes there are too many passages, as in yare, where there are nearly 400.  If that is the case, using the verse snippets in the concordance, delete the repetitious passages.  If that still leaves too many, then try using every second or third passage at random.  You should still have enough to make a good word study.

            I can hear people saying now, how do you find time for this?  Answer:  I seldom watch TV.  I limit my pleasure reading to about a half hour in the evenings, and that not every evening.  If there is time for 6-8 hours of TV (or facebook) a week, there is time for 6-8 hours of Bible study a week—you simply have to make a choice.  And this is fun!  Once you get into it, you won’t even think of it as giving up something.  This will take its place, and do you a whole lot more good.

Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life, John 6:68.

Dene Ward

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            When I was a child, everyone used the King James Version. The preacher quoted numerous verses in his sermons and woe to him if he skipped a word or got one wrong—there would be a line waiting to tell him about his mistake.

            I think it is wonderful that we now have and use more translations than the old KJV. They shed light on the meanings of many passages and because they are easier to read, allow one to connect thoughts more readily throughout a lengthy passage.

            Yet I respect the old-timer’s insistence on getting it exactly right. I fear we have lost that, and this is a grave danger. God communicated to men in words, “These words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart” (Deut 6:6).  Just as no man can know the thoughts of another except through his words, men cannot know God except by the words He speaks.  This is so important that Jesus himself said that, “Not one jot or tittle” would pass away until all God’s word was fulfilled (these are equivalent to the dotting of an “i” or the crossing of a “t”.)

            If the words are changed, if the translators are careless or are concerned about supporting their own beliefs, we lose the WORD that God sent to save us, the words that tell us about Jesus. Our parents were right to insist on accuracy!  God sent Peter to Cornelius to tell him “WORDS whereby [he] would be saved” (Acts 11:14). Peter writes that “Ye should remember the WORDS which were spoken” (2 Pet 3:2). We need to adopt the attitude of concern for exactness with every word of God that our parents and grandparents had, while embracing the benefits of having many translations.

            How careful should we be?? When he rebuked the Sadducees who did not believe in a resurrection, Jesus based his argument on the tense of a verb (Mt22:31--33). He quoted Ex 3:6 where God told Moses, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” These three had been dead and buried hundreds of years at the time of Moses yet God spoke of them in the present tense. Now that is being precise, and is the only proof Jesus ever gave that there is a resurrection.

            “The pen is mightier than the sword” -- words have started wars, led to freedom, to discoveries and great deeds. But all these pale in comparison to the power of God’s word.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, Rom 1:16. 

For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart, Heb 4:12.

Keith Ward

 

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            When Lucas first gave me the birdsong book, I knew there was one bird I wanted to look up immediately.  For two years I had been hearing an owl every morning as I walked the trail around the property.  I think I noticed because I was so surprised to discover that they hooted in the daytime too.  But unlike the other large birds of prey I had seen, an eagle, an osprey, and the hawk, which still on occasion sits on a tree limb across the fence to talk with me, I had never seen this owl.  I had him pictured though—a nearly two foot mottled brown bird with two ear tufts and large yellow eyes that see in the dark.

            I found him in the book, a great horned owl, and quickly punched in his number.  Imagine my surprise when his call was not quite right.  So I checked all the other owls, a screech owl, snowy owl, barn owl, and finally one I had never heard of—a barred owl, slightly smaller, a bit more white streaked in his brown feathers with definite bars across his throat, and a large round head sporting no ear tufts at all.  But his sound was unmistakable.  This is what I had been listening to for two years, out in the woods beyond the creek.  I’ve still never seen him, but I know he’s there, and now I can picture him correctly.

            I think as children we develop a mental picture of God from things we have been taught.  Sometimes our pictures are mistaken, or at best, simplistic—God is, after all, not easy to explain to a child.  As we grow up and learn to study on our own, as we deal with the circumstances of life and meditate on the two together, our picture of God should become clearer, developing into a rich depth of comprehension. 

            When we rely only on what we have been told and the shallowness of our youthful perceptions fails to mature, our faith may falter in times of trial.  Suddenly we can no longer see a God who cares, a God who is powerful and whose plan goes far beyond this short, and to us, too important life.  Regardless of the evidence, we fail to see Him there in times of trouble, and what should be visible to us more than others becomes invisible.  If we are not careful we will become blind, totally unable to see Him ever again.  “I can’t believe in a God who would…” is a sign of stunted spiritual growth, not increased intellect.

            Open your eyes.  Examine your life through an overview of faith, not a miniscule sliver of circumstance.  Look at the big picture--the evidence is there.  I cannot see my owl, but I hear him hooting in the woods and believe.  As sure as he is out there, God is too, working in your life through providence, speaking to you in His word, perhaps at a depth you have never been to before.  Take the plunge and open your eyes. 

Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel, and he took counsel with his servants saying in such and such a place shall you camp.  And the man of God sent and told the king of Israel…and the king of Israel was saved not once but twice.  And the heart of the king of Syria was troubled…and one of his servants said, Oh king, Elisha the prophet is telling the king of Israel the words that you speak, even in your bedchamber.  And he said, Go and see where he is...and it was told him that he was in Dothan.  Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great host, and they came by night and surrounded the city...And Elisha’s servant said, Alas my lord, what shall we do?  And he answered, Fear not, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.  And Elisha prayed and said, Jehovah, I pray you, open his eyes that he may see.  And Jehovah opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha, I Kings 6:8-17.

Dene Ward

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            Keith grew up in an old farmhouse on a hill in the Ozarks--no running water, a light bulb dangling in each room, and for heat, a woodstove in the kitchen and a fireplace in the living room.  The kids slept in the unfinished (and un-insulated) attic.  In the winter they shoved the foot of each bed against the brick chimney that rose through the attic to the roof so they could get whatever warmth might seep out, and they always made sure they were comfortable before his mother laid on the quilts.  She piled so many on he couldn’t move from the weight of them afterward.  So he knows a lot more about getting the heat out of a fire than I do. 

            We had a fireplace once in our married life, three years which were also our worst financial span.  We used that fireplace as much for heat as beauty and atmosphere, and to keep the winter fuel bill down. 

            One especially cold evening he stood two large oak logs on end behind the fire, something he remembered from his childhood.  Immediately the heat began pouring into the room instead of shooting up the chimney, and within an hour those logs had coaled up on their fronts, radiating yet more warmth, like the coils of an electric heater.  Because they weren’t actually in the fire, they stood all night long without burning up, and we were much warmer than before.  Backlogs, he called them, reflectors of the heat in front of them, and eventually of the heat they had absorbed.

            We began using them when camping too, once the boys left home and we were no longer consigned to summer camping only.  In October the temperature can drop precipitously in the mountains and even in Florida in January.

            Paul says, Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4:6.  He and the other apostles reflected the glory of God to their listeners.  He called it “a treasure in our earthen vessels…of God and not from ourselves,” v 7.  God must have seen in those men a clean and shining surface to reflect His glory or He never would have chosen them.

            Earlier in the chapter Paul speaks about people who are so blinded by “the god of this world” that they cannot see the light.  Do you think God can be reflected in people who are materialistic and unspiritual?  Do you think His love will be emanated by those who are unkind and impatient, unforgiving and lacking in compassion?  Can we mirror His glory when we are tarnished by an impure lifestyle?

            The back logs we used did nothing in an empty fireplace or fire ring.  They only functioned when they stood behind the fire, soaking up its heat, turning the same colors as the coals themselves, and exuding their warmth from all they had absorbed.  We will never truly be “the image of God” if we are not standing next to Him, soaking up His word and the glory it reveals about Him. 

            We must become back logs, reflecting God’s glory just as those apostles did, realizing it is not we who shine, but He who shines forth from us.  Like those logs, we should eventually change, so that the reflection becomes truer and the image clearer in every word and every deed, and in every place.

 
But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit, 2 Corinthians 3:18.                                                                                          
Dene Ward

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            A male cardinal showed up one spring morning and tried out the bird feeder.  He had not eaten long before he left and came back with his mate.  He started eating while she sat on the side simply watching, but then he picked up another seed and hopped over to her, gently placing it in her mouth.  She ate and afterward continued to eat, the two of them side by side, enjoying a free and easy meal that she now knew was safe.

            A few weeks later I noticed that her figure was spreading.  Her round breast was more than round.  Too much bird seed, I wondered?  But no, all of a sudden one morning she was thinner again, and she and her mate came separately instead of together.  In fact, she came much less often, and he did a whole lot of back and forth commuting.

            Then they showed up with four other cardinals, young ones nearly full-grown, but thinner and with a scruffy plumage, even more muted than Mom’s.  One female would only sit on the edge of the feeder and quiver her wings so fast they seemed but a blur, leaning forward with her mouth open.  Daddy often fed her, one seed at a time, until she was full and flew away. After a week of that, Mom had had enough.  How was this one ever going to learn to feed herself?  So she often flew at the young one, nearly knocking her off the feeder.  Daddy got the message and stopped the “spoon feeding.”  Sometimes Daddy’s little girl tries it again, but Daddy makes her get her own now.  What will she do when he is gone if she never has taken care of herself before?

            In the evenings the whole family comes to the feeder together.  The young ones fly at one another playfully before settling down to eat.  Mom and Dad used to eat last, but more often now they jump right in with the “little ones,” some of whom are bigger than their parents.  The plumage on the males is starting to redden, and, what is more important, they come to eat even when their parents don’t.  They have learned to shell the seeds, and the flying debris often pings against the windows and out into the azaleas.  They have also learned to fend for themselves against the other birds, and when the big bad squirrel comes, they will either gang up on him, or if one is alone, that bird knows it is much better to simply run. 

            The cardinals have done well.  Did you know that those birds are monogamous for life?  And they have taught their children well.  They know how to take care of themselves.  They know when to fight and when to run.  They know where to come when they need nourishment, because mama and daddy brought them from the time they were able to fly there behind them.  If something ever happens to those parents, I know the young ones will still be visiting me every day.  And soon, they will bring their own. 

            By the way, this lesson is not for the birds. 

Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.  I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah, and his strength, and his wondrous works that he has done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, even the children that should be born; who should arise and tell them to their children, Psalm 78:1-6.

Dene Ward