God Has Made Me Laugh

God Has Made Me Laugh

“And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, [so that] all that hear will laugh with me.” (Genesis 21:6)

What if you have suffered disappointment?

What if that disappointment has endured for twenty, thirty, and even forty years, and what if that disappointment is so deep you hardly have a name for it anymore?

Will the ache ever go away, and will you ever be able to laugh again?

Too many questions, I know, but I have one more for you” “Where has God been in all of this?”

I’ll tell you where. He has been right in the middle of it, working out His purposes, and fulfilling the promise he has made to all his faithful followers: And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to [His] purpose. (Romans 8:28 – NASB)

Sarah had waited till she was ninety years old for the fulfilment of the promise God had made to Abraham – that she would bring forth a son. As far as she could tell that promise would never be fulfilled. At ninety years old her hope for the fulfilment of that promise was almost dead – if not dead already. Better just learn to live with her disappointment.

It all seemed like an impossible dream, but ultimately, In God’s time, “And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, [so that] all that hear will laugh with me.” (Genesis 21:6)

We all suffer disappointments to varying degrees and for varying lengths of time. If you are a believer in Jesus, however, you don’t have to ask, “Where is God in all of this?” You can confidently declare, “God is right slap dab in the middle of it. The time will come when I will be able to laugh as Sarah laughed when God wiped away her disappointment and fulfilled her longing.”

God Has Made Me Laugh

© 2nd May 1992 – by Christophe Shennan)

God has made me laugh,

And half the things that brought me grief,

Have been God’s instruments

To bring me joy

Without alloy,

And show me that, at best,

This earthly pain is brief.

The other half of grief has been,

Unseen, a scalpel in God’s Hand –

To slice away the cankered growth,

Or remove

The groove,

In which my wilful thoughts do flow.

God has made me laugh

In spite of crushing loads

That I have borne, not always

With an eye

To lift God high,

Or walk with fortitude – His roads.

God has made me laugh,

By causing fruit to grow

When I had thought the branches

Dead and gone.

He brought me home,

And gave me more

Than heart and mind could know.

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Closeup portrait of a group of business people laughing by Richard Foster. Copyright. Used under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license. We have made no changes to this photo, except possible re-sizing.

Naked Before a Holy God

Naked Before a Holy God

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:25 – AKJV)

Nakedness before God was not a shameful thing before the Fall. Adam and Eve’s innocence saved them from taking something beautiful, and distorting it into lust and impurity.

After the Fall, the sinful state of humanity dictated we must be clothed. God slew animals (the first indication that blood had to be shed in order to deal with humanity’s sinful state) to cover the nakedness of our first parents. Henceforth it became a shamed to expose our nakedness, except in the holy bond of marriage.

I take this to be a figure, or parable of God’s purpose for us spiritually. Can we come to a place spiritually, like Adam and Eve were spiritually – naked, yet unashamed?

In fact we are all naked before God anyway, since He sees all and nothing can be hidden from His sight. In our natural state, however, whenever we discover some sin of debilitating habit in ourselves, we feel shame. We have even invented a phrase to describe someone who feels no shame at their own sinful behaviour – we call them “shameless.”

And yet we can, through God’s Grace, come to a place where we can consciously stand naked before our Holy God, and yet feel no shame.

How can this be? Is it not required that we should feel shame for our sinful condition?

We can be naked before a Holy God simply because Jesus carried our shame to the Cross, and shed His blood to cleanse us from all sin. That is why confession is required in order to become right with God.

Confession is the act of becoming naked before God and hiding nothing from Him. And what happens when we do this?

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; ⁷but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:5-9 – NASB)

The act of true confession renders us naked before our Holy God, prompting Him to grant us forgiveness and cleansing. Having been cleansed from all sin I can stand naked before God and feel no shame, simply because he has removed the cause of that shame. Only when we try to hide are sin can a sense of shame overwhelm us.

Nothing to Hide*

(© 23rd April 1992 – by Christopher Shennan)

Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even [c]remained alive here after seeing Him?” (Genesis 16:13 – NASB)

Lord, You are the God

Who sees me through and through;

My motives and ambitions,

Not only what I do.

You have a perfect record

Of the Secret plans I make:

What I think when I am sleeping,

And when I am awake.

You are the God Who sees me

Just as I really am;

What I think I will accomplish,

And What I really can.

You see the secret longings —

The hungers of the heart —

When I’m being foolish,

And when I’m being smart.

There is no point in hiding

From the God Who knows my all,

When I’m up and running swiftly

And when I take a fall.

It’s safer to take refuge

In God’s vast, Undying Love,

And know what e’er betides me

He’s watching from above.

These thoughts may be disturbing

To the men and woman who

Have something to conceal from

The point of Heaven’s view.

But to me it is great comfort

As I journey on my way:

‘Snot men, but God in Heaven,

Who has the final say.

“Adam and Eve” by Hendrik Goltzius. Copyright. Used under the CC BY 2.0 license. This image is a cameo from the original work.

How Willing is Jesus?

How Willing is Jesus?

” And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on [his] face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”(Luke 5:12 – AKJV)

Are there times in your life and mine when we doubt Jesus is willing to cleanse us, perhaps of a habit, a sin, or an addiction?

I am sure we do not doubt Jesus can cleanse us, but will He when we have sunk into the depths and failed Him multiple times?

The man in our text was full of leprosy. In other words, he was in an incurable state and had given up any hope the leprosy would pass away naturally. He had however, a glimmer of hope. He had faith Jesus could cleanse him from his leprosy. The only question was, would He? Was Jesus willing to cleanse him? So his approach to Jesus was tentative, but hopeful: “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”

I do not believe this incident is included in Scripture for lepers alone. I believe He wanted to give you and me a pattern to follow when somehow we have sunk so low cleansing appears as an impossible dream. We have failed Jesus so often, and we have been a slave to our passions for so long we doubt His willingness to cleanse us and set us free. Surely He has grown tired of our constant failures and will withdraw Himself from us? How could he not? We cannot forgive ourselves, how could He not feel the same?

I believe the leper’s experience was included in Scripture as an object lesson. Jesus wants us to follow the leper’s example and approach Him with sincerity and truth. He wants us to come to Him with the leper’s plea: ”Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”

And you know what? I believe His answer to you and me will be the same as the answer he gave to the leper: “I will: be thou clean… “

If You Are Willing, Lord!

If you are willing, Lord,

You can make me more clean,

In fact or in theory,

Than I have ever been.

Much more, indeed,

Than man conceives;

But wholly in line

With what he believes.

I have no doubt, Lord,

You can set free,

But I doubt you will

Have mercy on me.

For I seem so small

In the scheme of things;

And my guilt so real

That hope takes wings.

So I come to you, Lord,

With a plaintive cry;

Though I’m not worthy

Don’t pass me by.

I know you can cleanse

The filthiest kind:

In spirit and body,

As well as in mind.

You are willing, Lord,

You can make me whole;

In thinking, in attitude,

As well as in soul.

With no great effort

In word or deed,

You are able and willing

To meet my need.

“Healing of the Leper” by Niels Larsen Stevns. 1913. This image is in the public domain.

Winning Souls is Wise

Winning Souls is Wise

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:30 – KJV)

We all have to pursue the wisdom found in Christ alone:

But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God… (1 Corinthians 1:30 – NASB)

There is, however a wisdom all true followers of Christ ought to pursue almost more than any other – the wisdom involved in winning souls for Christ.

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:30 – KJV)

I knew such a man who possessed such wisdom. I have since lost contact with him, but, in the days of our youth he had a heart for evangelism such as I have seldom seen. His name is Colin Wylie, a pastor of a church in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Colin was in the habit of taking his youth group downtown to the Johannesburg City Hall. We were all gathered there one evening handing out tracts, and seeking to engage people in conversation. Most people simply shrugged and moved on.

Without warning Colin, taking up on something D.L. Moody had once done, laid his Bible down flat on the sidewalk and covered it with his jacket. That done he began walking circles around it, pointing dramatically at all the while shouting, “It’s alive! It’s alive!

Within moments a crowd began to gather around us, almost threatening to disrupt the traffic.

At that point Colin snatched his jacket away and held the Bible up for all to see, crying, “The Bible is alive! The message of the Bible can save you!”

He then, to a virtually captive audience, proceeded to give a brief but powerful Gospel message.

Call it foolish; call it reckless, but many people stood transfixed that day listening to the Gospel, who may never otherwise have heard it. Using every means at his disposal, Colin has since seen many people ushered into the Kingdom of God:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes… (Romans 1: 16 – NASB

The Wise Man

(© 13th July 1992 – by Christopher Shennan)

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:30 – KJV

He that winneth souls is wiser

Than all the wisdom known

And in the previous ages,

The winds of time have flown.

The wisdom of the ancients,

Well gathered over time,

Can’t approach the brilliance

Of a poor soul-winner’s mind.

For the simple soul that hungers

To do the Father’s will,

And seeks to bring lost sinners

To the foot of Calvary’s hill:

The Spirit of God grants insight

Into the ways of men

That far transcends the genius

Of the famed with brush or pen.

Now the wisdom of the ancients

May well accomplish much;

If applied with zeal and rigor,

Could achieve the expert’s touch.

But the man who’s set on serving

His Lord and also others,

Is a man who’s always making

His foes into his brothers.

Bring your prize if you’ve a mind to:

Won in the halls of fame,

Or in a great place of learning

Of prestigious name.

And I will bring a soul winner,

Whom the world will not applaud,

But who’s won the sweet approval

Of Jesus Christ his Lord.

Photo by Jesus Army. Copyright. Used under the CC BY-SA 2.5 license. No changes were made to this photo

Seeking Perfection

Seeking Perfection

We all agree absolute perfection is impossible in this life – but what about a perfect heart of devotion to God? And what about a heart made perfect in love, which the apostle John clearly declares is not only possible, but expected:

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (1 John 4:18 – NASB)

We carry about the “Nobody’d Perfect” mantra with such zeal and commitment that it paralyses us from striving after perfection. We have forgotten what our Lord said in the Beatitudes:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6 – NASB)

Satisfied with what? Why, satisfied with righteousness, of course! The King James version uses the word “filled.” Hungering and thirsting after righteousness will result in us being filled with righteousness.

Speaking of the discipline our fathers gave us, the writer to the Hebrews declares:

For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he [God disciplines us] for [our] profit, that [we] might be partakers of his holiness.

Whose holiness can we be partakers of? His (God’s) holiness. We are so convinced of our own inability to be holy we forget it is not our holiness God is expecting from us. He is expecting us to accept His discipline in our lives so we may partake of His holiness.

How Close?

(1992)

“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of [them] whose heart [is] perfect toward him . . .” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

How close can one get

To the likeness of God’s Son?

How close to His image,

The pure and Holy One?

How close can God mould me?

How close can He get

The perfect reflection

To shine from me yet?

Some say there’s no reason

To expect very much

For mankind’s so sinful,

And temptation such

That it’s hopeless to hunger,

To thirst for that prize:

The soul that is blameless

My website: www.christophershennan.ca
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Photo by Stefan Kuhn. Used Under The CC0 1.0 Universal License

Becoming a Refuge

Becoming a Refuge
The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of trouble. (Psalm 9:9 – AKJV)

Webster defines “refuge” as “a shelter from danger or distress.”

All followers of Christ have found refuge from the blight of sin, fear of death, and from the oppression the enemy has brought upon them:

…that by two immutable things, in which [it was] impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us…

It follows that, having found refuge ourselves, we have an obligation to offer it to others. Obligation, however, is never the bedrock upon which the Love of Christ operates; it is always a compelling necessity worked by the Holy Spirit in the heart of the true believer, and in the will of a follower of Christ. Love renders him incapable of responding in any other way than in love.

The best I can describe it is as an inn always open for business. After Jesus’s birth there was no room for Him in the inn, but there must always be room in our hearts for anyone suffering any kind of trouble or affliction. If they can find refuge nowhere else, they ought always to find it in the hearts of those professing to be followers of Jesus.

My Heart is an Inn

(1992)

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7)

My heart is an Inn on the highway of life,

To shelter the victims of hatred and strife.

It opens more widely than doors and iron gates

To the hungry and thirsty and sick reprobates.

For the rooms in my heart have been paid for and bought

By the love and the Grace my Saviour has wrought.

When He died on the Cross for the sins I have done,

I reserved all the rooms for His own use and some

Of the halt, the lame, and the wilfully blind —

And anyone else that my Saviour can find.

My heart is an Inn, a Haven, a Rest,

To the weary and even the ones I love best;

For nothing I do is of value, except,

In terms of a payment that’s due on a debt.

For I owe all I am, all I do, all I seek

To the One Who redeemed me even when I was weak.

He drank to the dregs the cup of my sin

To bring this loser an overwhelming win.

It’s no wonder then friend that my heart is aflame

To welcome all travellers in Jesus’ Name.

Tower of Refuge (Douglas, IOM) by Malost. Copyright. Used under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license. No changes were made to this photograph.

The Incredible Privilege of BEING LOVED by a Woman

Affectionate old couple with the wife holding on lovingly to the husband’s face. Focus on the husband’s eyes. Concept: Elderly love.

The Incredible Privilege of BEING LOVED by a Woman

You may have heard someone of a couple they know, “Those two are just made for each other.” Or a man says to the woman he loves, “We were just made for each other.”

You may scoff at such an idea as fantasy, but don’t laugh too loud. What they say just may be the truth. It certainly fits the patter the apostle Paul declared was God’s plan for men and women, and was intended as a picture of Christ’s union with His church.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:31-32 – NASB)

It was certainly true of Adam that Eve was made for Him, and I believe Godly men and women can find the spouse made for them. With prayer, and reliance upon God’s guidance, we can all find the one God intends us to love and cherish.

There is, however, one consideration we must not forget. Our situation is somewhat different from that of Adam. When God made Eve for Adam sin had not yet entered the world.

Once we have found the man or woman “made” for us, we have an obligation to follow the pattern of love God has laid out for us in the Scriptures.

A husband must bear the larger share of what it takes to have a happy marriage. If a husband will do what the following scripture’s asks, there is no telling what rewards he will reap in terms of a happy marriage and a loving wife.

If a man thinks he can treat his wife as anything less that God’s gift to him and still have a happy marriage, he is sadly deceived. A husband who loves his wife as Christ loved the church is almost guaranteed to have that love returned in double measure.

God has given women a unique brand of tenderness to bestow on the man she loves, but it needs to be drawn out by the love and understanding of that same man.

A Woman’s Love

(© 19^th September 2015 – by Christopher Shennan)

Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can the floods drown it:
if a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
it would utterly be contemned. (Song of Solomon 8:7 – AJKV)

The love a woman has to give

To the man who truly loves her,

Cannot be told by human art;

It is something God has shown her.

It’s hidden deep within her breast,

In a secret place of learning;

If triggered by a true man’s love,

It will burst forth bright and burning.

The only thing to hold it down,

And prevent this love’s appearing.

Is one who does not know her worth,

And ignores her inward yearning.

A woman’s love must be nurtured;

It does not grow among the weeds.

It flourishes with tenderness,

And on a true man’s love it feeds.

Old Couple In Love by Ian MacKenzie. Copyright. Used under the CC BY 2.0 license; please note the Disclaimer at this site. We made no changes to this photograph.

The Incredible Privilege of LOVING a Woman

The Incredible Privilege of LOVING a Woman

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her… (Ephesians 5:25 – NASB)

The implications of claiming to be a follower of Christ are numberless, not least of which has to do with the marriage bond. A man who does on love his wife cannot, at the same time, claim to be a follower of Christ.

How much we love our wives is measured, by how much we are loving our wives (see verses 26-32).

If we consider it a privilege to follow Christ, we should consider it an equal privilege to love our wives.

It is a privilege to love our wives SELFLESSLY

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church…

We are to love our wives just as (in the same manner as) Christ loved the church. How was that? He loved the church selflessly, and deliberately:

No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” (John 10:18 – NASB)

Loving our wives is not always based on feelings of love, but on a deliberate choice to override our own selfish desires in order to bestow a blessing on the one God has given us as our life partner.

It is a privilege to love our wives SACRIFICIALLY

…and gave Himself up for her…

In other words, Christ gave up His life for the church; He died for her. To love our wives as Christ loved the church means we have to consider them more valuable than our own life be willing to die for them. This kind of spouse-loving is only possible if, in following Christ we have already surrendered our lives to Him; once we have, sacrificing our lives for our wives will result as a natural (or supernatural) consequence.

It is a privilege to love our wives TENDERLY

So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself… (Ephesians 5:28 – NASB)

Consider how we treat our own bodies. It is only a mentally ill individual who would deliberately harm his own body. Men who harm their wives, either in word or deed, are spiritually and emotionally sick.

Tenderness toward our wives, no matter what conflict and struggles they are passing through, will reap rich rewards, and is the only reasonable behaviour in light of the forgiveness and mercy Christ has given us.

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32 – NASB)

It is a privilege to love our wives INTIMATELY

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. (Ephesians 5:31 – NASB)

Intimacy in marriage is according to God’s plan, but it is not primarily for the husband’s satisfaction. A real man will attend to his wife’s needs first, and then to his own. A large measure of his own satisfaction will be derived from knowing he has fulfilled his wife’s desires. There is a sad history of men failing in this area of the marriage bond – and out of it. A husband, however, who is a Christ follower will put his wife’s needs above his own.

Loving my wife

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her… (Ephesians 5:25 – NASB)

God gave me a woman to love as He

Has loved this poor, lost soul, of mine;

Sent her to me to nurture and care for –

With the gift of His love divine.

I am very conscious of the privilege,

He’s given in singling her out;

She is the one He has called me to love,

And that I don’t question about.

God wants me to love her more than myself,

In the way that He first loved me;

In the way that He was willing to die,

To deliver and set me free.

So, this is my calling; this is my quest:

To bestow all my love and care

On the woman God has given me –

And I tell you my friend – I dare.

Image by Liz McVoy. Used under the CC0 1.0 license.

The Incredible Privilege of BEING a Woman

The Incredible Privilege of BEING a Woman

I feel like I am treading on holy ground by addressing the subject of womanhood – for holy ground it certainly is. I feel like a privileged observer as God creates a masterpiece of life and limb to fulfill a unique and wondrous destiny.

Women were created to fill a VOID

The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. (Genesis 2:20-22 – NASB)

What a privilege it is for anyone to fill a void in the life of another human being. A woman, however is created with that special capacity to fill the void in the life of the one man God will bring into her life to be with till death parts them.

I vividly remember walking with my Dad to his place of work when I was no more than ten years old. “Son,” he said seriously, “women are God’s special gift to us men, and he has made us responsible to treat them with the love and respect they deserve. Your mother is God’s special gift to me, and to you. Don’t let me ever hear you disrespecting her in any way.”

Now I know that sin has caused a horrific abuse of women in our generation, and in many generations before. That however, does not take away from the incredible privilege every woman has of being able to fill the void of her husband, and as a mother, of the children God gives her.

Women were created to present a VISION

Every woman in the marriage bond has the privilege of presenting to the world a vision (a picture) of the relationship between Christ and his church. The apostle makes it very clear the relationship between a man and his wife is a depiction of the spiritual union between Christ and His church. (See Ephesian 5:25-29)

Women were created to be a VESSEL

One of Webster’s definitions of the word “vessel” is: “a person into whom some quality (as grace) is infused.”

Men and women are equal insofar as their value to God is concerned, but God infuses women (if they are fulfilling their destiny) with some unique capabilities, such as the love she can bestow on her husband, and upon her children.

Sure, these can be distorted, but a woman who loves the Lord will display these qualities in a unique and God-given manner.

Being a Woman

An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. (Proverbs 31:10 – NASB)

To be a woman is of such great worth,

As is seldom understood or conceived;

She is uniquely gifted from her birth,

With all of God’s blessings she has received.

If only a woman would realize

All that her God has designed her to be,

She’d gain just a glimpse of pure paradise,

And taste what it is like to be truly free.

God has not made women a lesser breed,

Though some men are sure to say it is so;

He has made them special to fill great need –

To go into places no man dare go.

A matchless grace all good women possess;

Being what they are, they have power to bless.

Image by unknown photographer. Used under the CC0 license.

Dried up Fountains

Dried up Fountains

I grew up on a gold mine in South Africa, with the yellow “mine dumps” outlined against the sky. The “dumps” were made up of the sand left after the processing of ore to extract the gold. Since cyanide was used in the gold extraction, the rain run-off into the lake below our “dump” (we called them dams) made the water decidedly undrinkable.

So, while we used the lake for canoeing and general relaxation (there was a trailer park along its shores), drinking its water was definitely not an option. No fish in those waters either.

We had two choices: either to drink the purified water provided by the town, or foolishly try to survive on the polluted lake water.

Spiritually speaking, we also have two choices: We can either try to find satisfaction with man-made solutions to life’s mysteries, or go to the very source of life itself – God.

People in Jeremiah’s day had the same to choices, and the made the wrong choice; they turned away from the only One Who could fulfil their every longing and took refuge in their own efforts.

“For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me,
The fountain of living waters,
To hew for themselves cisterns,
Broken cisterns
That can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13 – NASB)

You and I may not have dug any leaky cisterns today, but many of us have left God out of our lives. We think we can make it on our own. We imagine if we made more money, got a better job, became more successful, or pursued a life of fam – we would be able to fill that deep emptiness within us.

So what if we gained all those things? We would still be like a broken fountain that is unable to satisfy our thirst.

Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14 – NASB)

Fountain of Living Waters

Many try to fill their longings;

Their hunger for peace and true joy,

With the things that earth has fashioned,

And the arts the most men employ.

But the truth, quite plain and simple,

Is that nothing can fill the void

That sin has created in us,

But what Christ on the Cross employed.

He alone can fill your longings,

And bring the peace that will not end;

He alone has endless measures,

That your poor, broken heart, will mend.

Christ is the Fountain of Waters;

Living, and abundant, and free.

Christ fulfilled all of my longings –

He did it by dying for me.

Picture by Joanne Shennan – Used with permission)

Gems of Discovery – Nuggets of Truth

Bible Teaching for the Hungry Soul