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Pinhole Glimpses of God
I love looking at NASA’s Hubble image of the day, and I’m drawn to any Pinterest image displaying views of outer space. My Astronomy board testifies to this obsession. But, I’m not a big Science Fiction reader, nor did I ever take a course in Astronomy.
I’m drawn to the heavens because I’m able to see the incredible beauty of God’s handiwork there. “The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above declares his handiwork.” Psalm 19:1.
Scientists tell us when we look at the heavens above our heads, even with the most powerful of telescopes, we’re only able to see a minuscule portion of the universe. Human beings can never fully grasp the vastness of the world our Creator has made all in order to display His glory.
I believe God intended it to be that way.
God created an incomprehensible universe because He is incomprehensible. The immense heavens reflect an immense God, giving us, at best, only the barest pinhole glimpses of a God of unlimited power.
Someone has suggested perhaps the Universe is just ONE of God’s thoughts. How mind-blowing is that?
Trying to comprehend the power behind a Being who can create the Universe is impossible for a finite human creature. It’s just as impossible to understand the grace of God in making provision through His Son for human beings to live with Him in His Universe forever and to enjoy a personal relationship with him.
Psalm 8:3-4 “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”
What to know more about the possibility of a personal relationship with God? Watch the video below.
What You Are NOT
During a recent interview about Titus Ray, the main character in my Christian fiction series, I was asked to describe some of his personality traits. By doing so, I came up with some attributes, which point out what Titus is not: He is not an extrovert. He is not a scholar. He is not a family man.
By pinpointing what a person is NOT, a picture emerges about what a person is. The apostle John does this in the Gospel of John. He says, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.” John 1:6-8.
Perhaps the most important attribute about John the Baptist was what he was NOT. He wasn’t the Messiah; He wasn’t the Light; He wasn’t our Savior. He had to reiterate this several times during his ministry. Every time he did so, he was able to tell people who he really was. He was a witness sent to point people to the real Savior, Jesus Christ.
There are other examples in Scripture of what people were NOT: Joseph was not an adulterous slave boy. David was not an intimidated shepherd. Daniel was not a cowered exile. Paul was not a timid follower of Christ.
How would you answer this question, “What are you NOT?”
How you answer that question will enable you to see what you are. The NOT realization of what he was helped John to know his role. He wasn’t the Light, but he was to tell about the Light. Perhaps you’re NOT a Sunday School teacher, but you can be a Sunday School member. Perhaps you’re NOT a teacher of the Bible, but you can read the Bible. Perhaps you’re NOT a prayer warrior, but you can pray.
John was sent by God. “There was a man sent from God.” John 1:6.
John was sent by God to be who he was; not someone he was NOT. Discover who you are NOT, and you’ll discover who you are.
Abounding–It’s Not About Basketball
I’m not a big fan of basketball—nor do I plan to become one. As it stands right now, I’m barely able to keep up with the game of football, which is the one sport I do love. However, I do know the basics of basketball and most of the terms used in the game.
In basketball, to rebound is to gain possession of the ball after it bounces off the backboard or after an unsuccessful shot. The player grabs the ball for himself and either takes a shot or passes it off to another player.
I thought of the word rebound the other day as I was reading Psalm 103:8: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
I’m aware the word “rebound” and “abound” don’t mean the same thing. In fact, they’re nearly opposite in meaning, and that’s why I thought of rebound when I read abound.
To abound is to have something in great abundance, to be richly supplied. So, to be “abounding in steadfast love” is to possess plenty of never-failing love. That’s how the Psalmist describes God’s love for us—there’s plenty of it, in fact, there’s a never-ending supply of it.
God’s love is always abounding and never rebounding. He never takes back His love, never takes it away from us to give it to someone else. That’ why His love is labeled a “steadfast love.”
There’s also a purpose in God’s abounding love and grace toward us. Paul explains it in 2 Corinthians 9:8: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”
God expects our love to be abounding toward others even as His love is abounding toward us And, like God’s love, it should always be abounding and never rebounding.
I Don’t Love You
The words, “I don’t love you,” have to be the most hurtful words ever spoken. As human beings, we are born with the desire to be loved. Whether it’s romantic love, family love, brotherly love or even self love, God gave us the desire to be loved and to love God, others, and ourselves.
Love comes from God. “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.” (1 John 4:7).
Because human love is so flawed by sin, none of us can ever love ourselves or another human being perfectly. In the same way, until we receive our glorified, perfected bodies, we can’t love God perfectly.
God has no such hindrances. He loves perfectly. On three different occasions, the prophet Daniel was told by the angel Gabriel that he was greatly loved by God. “I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved.” (Daniel 9:23). The same thought is expressed in Daniel 10: 11 and Daniel 10:19.
How sweet those words must have sounded to Daniel! How would you like to hear those words for yourself? Well, you can.
Paul says in Ephesians 2:4-5: “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses,made us alive together with Christ.”
God’s love is on display for us in Romans 5:8.“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Like Daniel, God sent word to us that we are greatly love. He sent His Word in the form of His Son who demonstrated how much he really loved us by paying the penalty for our sins by His death on the cross
Accept His love. Bask in His Love. Know His love for all eternity.
That’s Not How It Works
When an old woman from a small village won a washing machine in a contest, she was delighted. A few days after it was delivered, a friend visited her and was astonished to discover the old woman was still washing her clothes by hand, filling the tub with water and rubbing the wet clothes against the sides of it!
“That’s not how it works,” the friend explained, showing her how to let the machine do the work for her.
The old woman replied, “But if I do it that way, everyone will praise the machine and not me.”
As human beings we crave praise. Because we’re made in the image of God, that’s understandable. The desire for praise is an integral part of who God is. In Isaiah 48:11, God says He does everything in order to bring glory to Himself. “For my own sake, for my own sake I do it, my glory I will not give to another.”
However, as a result of our fallen, sinful nature, we reject the idea of giving praise to God and seek it for ourselves instead. Jesus warned his disciples about religious acts carried out in order to get praise from others. He gives an example of this in Matthew 6:1, where he pointed to the prayers of the religious leaders of the day. “When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.”
While not as obvious as praying in public in order to bring glory to oneself, to glorify oneself in private can be just as troublesome. Do you give yourself high marks for reading God’s Word, church attendance or tithing? What about being faithful to God? Do you find delight in your high moral standards?
To make sure all our praise is directed outward, to the one who deserves it most, His love for us needs to be at the forefront of our hearts and minds. The Psalmist says in Psalm 26:3, “For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.”
It’s the faithfulness of God that we walk in, not our own. It’s God’s love for us, not our love for God, that we’re depending on. It’s what God has done for us, not what we have done for God, that makes us able to spend eternity with Him.
For Him to get the praise, that’s how it works.
3 Things Make Life Better
I love the story of the little girl whose mother found her crying in the kitchen. When her mother asked her what was wrong, she said, “I’m in the kitchen, but I still don’t know how to cook.” Her mother put her up on a kitchen stool and proceeded to help her bake some cookies. Later, as they munched on the delicacies, the little girl observed, “If I let you do it, I can do anything.”
There are times when I’m standing in the middle of life, and I suddenly realize I don’t know how to live. That’s when I try to remember to do these three things. By doing so, I feel as if I can do anything.
1. Ask God to take over.
There’s a popular song entitled “Jesus Take The Wheel.” It’s almost comical to think of Jesus of Nazareth in a long white robe and dusty sandals sitting in the driver’s seat and tooling along the highway of life with me in the passenger seat. However, while the picture may be amusing, the concept is theologically sound. John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” You can have peace; He’s overcome all the obstacles. Trust Him.
2. Allow others to help you.
It’s an all-American ideal to “make it on our own” or to “act independently,” but, that’s not a Biblical concept. When Paul speaks of believers in Christ, he describes each one as part of a whole. In fact, he sees this whole as if it were a human body. He says in 1 Corinthians 12:14, “the body is not one member, but many.” When I ask help from a fellow believer, I’m functioning in the way God intended His Spiritual body on earth to function.
3. Accept the personality God gave you.
Are you an introvert? Then don’t expect to live as an extrovert. Do you enjoy talking? Then don’t expect to stay silent. God says in Psalm 17, “You are the apple of my eye,” and in Isaiah 44:2, “This is what the LORD says– he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you:” Perhaps the best passage for understanding the hand of God upon the life of every individual is Psalm 139. The message in these verses is that God made you the way you are, and you glorify Him when you accept this truth.
Ask God.
Allow Others.
Accept Yourself.
Remember this pyramid with God at the pinnacle. “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13.
Book 8 in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series, Click on cover
Book 5 in the Silas McKay Suspense Series, Click on cover
Book 11 in the Titus Ray Thriller Series. Click cover
Book 7 in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series on Amazon. Click cover.
Book 4 in the Silas McKay Suspense Series on Amazon. Click cover.
Book 10 in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click cover.
PREQUEL to the Mylas Grey Mystery Series on Amazon. Click cover
Book VI in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series on Amazon. Click cover
Book III in the Silas McKay Suspense Series on Amazon. Click cover
Book IX in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click cover
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Book II in the Silas McKay Suspense Series on Amazon. Click cover
Book I in the Silas McKay Suspense Series, Available in Winter Deceptions
Ben in Trouble follows Four Steps Missed in the Titus Ray Thriller Series
Book IV in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series on Amazon. Click cover
Book VIII in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click cover.
Ben in Charge, Follows Three Steps Away in the Titus Ray Thriller Series
Ben in Love, Follows Two Steps Forward in the Titus Ray Thriller Series
Two Days Taken:Book II in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series; Click cover.
Book VII in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click on book cover
One Day Gone: Book I in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series; Click on Cover
NEWEST BOOK: Available on Amazon. Click on Cover.
Prequel to the Titus Ray Thriller Series is $0.99 on Amazon. Click book cover
Book I in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click book cover
Book II in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click on book cover
Book III in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon: Click on book cover
Book IV in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click on book cover.
Book V in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click on book cover.
Book VI in the Titus Ray Thriller Series on Amazon. Click on book cover.
Books 1 & 2 in the Titus Ray Series Available on Amazon. Click on cover.
His Glory My Joy, a blog of Author Luana Ehrlich 
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