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.

The Trembling Heart

The Trembling Heart

But to this one I will look,

To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.  (Isaiah 66:2b – NASB)

I read of a Scottish preacher during the Reformation period of the church who was about to be burned at the stake for his Biblical preaching.

Asked if he wanted to say a final word before the flame was lighted, he declared, “I stand here ready to give my life for Christ with far less fear than ever I had when mounting the pulpit to declare the Word of God.”

What was he saying? Was he being flippant in the face of death? Was his declaration an act of bravado denying he felt any fear at all?

No. He admitted to some fear of death; he just wanted his hearers to know he had a fear that was greater than the fear of death. He trembled at the possibility he may have taken God’s Word lightly, or that he had not treated it with the respect it deserved. He did not want to offend God by adding or taking away from it, or in misinterpreting it. He held it in such high regard as the message of a loving God to lost sinners, he was afraid to misrepresent it – a fear that overshadowed any fear of death he might have been feeling.

Would that more modern preachers approached God’s Word, the Bible, in that way. Would that the lukewarm climate of the present-day church would be invaded with this kind of Godly fear. We may yet see a revival before the awesome coming of our Lord.

The Trembling Heart

(1992)      

“But to this one I will look,

To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.  (Isaiah 66:2b – NASB)

Give me a heart that trembles

At the entrance of Thy Word;

Give me a life that follows

At the slightest whisper heard.

If there’s a doubt in reading

What the meaning of it is,

Give me the lips for pleading

To know what the answer is.

Give me a mind anointed;

Give me a heart on fire.

Give me the Spirit’s wooing

To keep my feet from mire.

Sometimes a fond persuasion

Takes root in the human mind;

If it differs from Thy thinking’

Grant that I be not blind.

Oh for a heart that trembles’

Oh for a heart that finds,

That the simplest word God’s spoken

Is above mere human minds.

Please visit My website: www.christophershennan.ca
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Photo of Portrait of an old woman reading by Gerrit Dou. This work is in the public domain  in the United States, and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or less.

The Magnetic Field

(Picture credits at end of post)

The Magnetic Field

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. (James 4:8a – NASB)

Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Return to Me,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I may return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 1:3 – MASB)

…for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. (1 Peter 5:5 – NASB)

Our Lord knew that our human minds would struggle to understand the things of the Spirit, so He wrote many of these spiritual laws into the physical universe.

For example, Jesus explained how the truth pf the Gospel enters the human heart by telling the story of a sewer sowing his seed in different kinds of soil. As the seed needs to be planted in good soil, so the Gospel needs to be planted in hearts prepared to receive it.

And then, God wrote into the nature of pigs and dogs certain characteristics so we could understand how human nature operates. He tells us in the book of Second Peter, referring to those who once followed the Truth, but have gone back into their sinful lifestyles:

But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “a dog returns to his own vomit, and a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.” 2 Peter 2:22 – NKJV)

This is true in just about every area of human, animal and plant life. Spiritual lessons are drawn from the natural laws that govern our existence.

And so we find that our text describes another spiritual law that can be demonstrated by going to the natural world for an example. I call it the “Magnetic” principle.  Our Lord declares this principle in two places in Scripture:

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. (James 4:8a – NKJV)

Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Return to Me,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I may return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 1:3 – NASB)

Magnets were first discovered, as far as we know, 2,500 years before Christ. In an ancient Greek city called Magnesia, hence the name ‘magnet.”

Those natural magnets were nothing more than rough, heavy black stones that would stick together. The ancient Greeks thought these peculiar rocks were magic, and called them “lodestones.”

When I put to magnets together, the negative matched to the positive and the positive to the negative, they are drawn by an invisible force to stick together. You can actually feel the power drawing them.

When you surrender your will to the will of God and draw near to Him, a powerful spiritual law is set in motion. Like the magnets coming together, God will draw near to your soul in the way that is unmistakable; you will actually be able to feel His Presence.

On the other hand, the poles of the magnet do not always attract; they also repel. If you match the positive pole to the positive, they will repel each other. There is no way you could get them to come together. And you can feel the power that separates them.

If you set your will against the will of God, the same thing will happen. You will feel alienated from God; you will be unable to reach Him, and He will be repelled by your stubborn will.

So the solution to any alienation we may be feeling between us and the Lord, is quite simple. All we have to do is to humble ourselves and stop resisting Him. Draw near God in sincerity and truth, and he will draw near to you.

It’s a Power You Can Feel

(© Tuesday 3oth December 2014 – by Christopher Shennan)

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. (James 4:8a – NASB)

…for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. (1 Peter 5:5c – NASB

It’s a power that you can feel,

When two magnets come together;

It’s a field that can push or pull

Either one way or the other.

It’s a force that can’t be denied,

Though, for sure, you cannot see it;

Just bring two magnets together –

You’ll declare that you can feel it.

To draw near to God it’s the same,

If your heart is humble and true;

No matter how bad you have been,

My God will still draw near to you.

You’ll feel it, though you can’t see it;

The power that’s setting you free

The blood that Christ shed will cleanse you –

He shed it for you and for me.

But don’t come in pride, dear brother,

Or the power felt will resist;

If you come to God with that mind,

Your hopes will melt away – like mist.

But humbly acknowledge He’s God,

And you are a creature of shame;

Draw nearer and He will draw closer,

And wash you from all sin and blame.

You’ll learn to walk in His Presence;

He’s not far away, he is near.

He is as close as your breathing;

He’ll wipe away every tear.

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Image by Geek3.​ Copyright. Used under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license; please note the Disclaimer at this link. No changes were made to the image. *

Image by Geek3.​ Copyright. Used under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license; please note the Disclaimer at this link. No changes were made to the image.