Category Archives: Just Thoughts

It’s that time again! We get to set our clocks ahead one hour this Saturday night so we will start our day an hour earlier on Sunday. Now, you might not be as excited about this as I am, but I will tell you that at our house we start the weekly countdown right after Christmas. It goes something like this….. on January 2nd, Mark says, “I can tell the days are already getting longer.” or “Just think, if it were summer we would still be waiting for the temperature to cool down at 8 pm.” or “This time next month, the sun will still be high.” This goes on all through the winter months.

Why? Maybe because winters in Kansas get very long and cold and the time change is the first event that really marks spring for us — even if it is accompanied with snow and/or the blustery north wind which we now expect to greet us most everyday. Just the fact that the sun is high in the sky at 5:30 or 6:00 pm is encouraging. So, at our house, setting the clocks forward brings a celebration even if it does mean losing an hour of sleep. ……….Ready to celebrate?

This Sunday is also Discovery Reception which is an opportunity for getting acquainted with all the NewSpring ministries up close. We have a record breaking number registered — 53! The last Discovery was just six weeks ago and we had a large group then. It’s really amazing how God is bringing so many people to NewSpring and how excited they are to get involved. If you would like to attend Discovery, it’s not too late to register online — come join us!

Mary Alice

If you’re still reading along on our Odyssey 08 journey, you’ve just read about the dedication of the Tabernacle in the book of Numbers. At the end of the list of the special offerings brought on each day of the dedication ceremony there is a very short group of verses that really captured my attention.

 89 Whenever Moses went into the Tabernacle to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—that rests on the Ark of the Covenant. The Lord spoke to him from there.  Numbers 7:89 (NLT)

Do you find it fascinating that God chose to speak to Moses from this place? Before this, God had spoken to Moses from different places like the burning bush and the top of Mt Sinai, but now Moses goes into the Tabernacle and he hears God’s voice speaking to him from the place of atonement where the Ark of the Covenant is kept. There is way more significance and symbolism here than I would dare to try to list or explain, but what really intrigues me is that God, Who created and sustains the entire universe, chose to “house His presence” in this place. Certainly, God wasn’t looking for a place to stay. He didn’t need a tent to live in. The point is, He made Himself available, in a tangible way, to the people. It was about a relationship, not a religion.

As you read the Psalm passage today In Psalm 50, God refers to the sacrificial system when He says,

9 But I do not need the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens. 10 For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.  11 I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine. 12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and everything in it. (NLT)

He goes on to say,

 14 Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. 15 Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.” …………giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. Psalm 50:14-15; 23a (NLT)

Thankfulness can only happen within a relationship. For instance, I’m thankful for my car but I’m not thankful to my car. I’m thankful to my husband and to God for providing the car for me. Thankfulness requires a relationship and relationship is what God has always desired and made provision for with the people He created.

As you continue reading in the next few days, you’ll discover how thankful the people were during these days right after the dedication of the Tabernacle. Come back and tell me what you think.

Mary Alice

Along with my One Year Bible, I also like to read My Utmost for His Highest each day, which is a collection of writings by Oswald Chambers. (By the way, if you like to read biographies, his is really worth reading – Abandoned to God.) My particular copy of Utmost has lined margins so that I can journal different thoughts or events that might relate to the subject of the day. As I was reading today’s thoughts, I kept glancing back at yesterday — it was on prayer.

Prayer is so often misuderstood. Have you ever heard the saying, “I believe in the power of prayer.”? I think that would be a little like saying, “I believe in the power of the telephone.” Let me explain. Suppose you were stranded on a dark and lonely stretch of road with a flat tire and you used your phone to call for help. When your spouse, parent, friend, or towing service came and fixed your car, would you hold up your phone admiringly and say, “I believe in the power of this phone. It fixed my car.” No, probably not. You would be thankful for the phone which allowed you to contact the person who actually came to your rescue, but you would give credit and express appreciation to the person, not the phone. That is why I don’t like the phrase, “I believe in the power of prayer.” Prayer is the means God has given us to communicate with Him, but we sometimes worship “prayer” rather than the God Who answers.

So, that brings me back to Oswald Chambers. In yesterday’s excerpt, he is talking about disappointment in prayer and he states that sometimes we “demand an answer from God, instead of seeking God Who gives the answer.” He goes on to say, “The meaning of prayer is that we get hold of God, not of the answer.” The scripture passage he references is in Luke 24:21 where some disciples are explaining their disappointment that God had not fulfilled what they believed He had promised. This little vignette is full of irony — give it a read — but start back in verse 13. The people in this story missed the Who, looking for the what.