OzThoughts Friday 27th November 2009

As we think of our place before God and as his servants in the world, there must be many, many thoughts that course like a stream through our mind. There are some affirmations that we can make. With David the Psalmist we can say “The Lord is my shepherd”. We can declare with the chorus writers “God is still on his throne” and “He’s the same today as yesterday”. We can say with the song writer “Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing and ever blest”.

However Miriam Richards looks at a number of questions we can ask as a servant of God and then supplies a wonderful affirmation in the chorus. We can allow God to speak to us as we prayerfully meditate on these words. Can we shout “amen” and “hallelujah” to this affirmation?

[Listen: No recording of these words could be located on the internet]

What can I say to cheer a world of sorrow?
How bring back hope where men have sorely failed?
Just where I am I'll speak the word of comfort,
Tell how for me Christ's sacrifice availed.

Chorus
Just where he needs me, my Lord has placed me,
Just where he needs me, there would I be!
And since he found me, by love he's bound me
To serve him joyfully.

What can I do to ease life's heavy burdens?
What can I do to help mankind in need?
Just where I am I'll share my neighbour's hardship,
Lighten his load, and prove a friend indeed.

What can I do to justify my living?
What can I be to worthwhile?
I'll be a voice to call men to the Saviour,
Just where I am, and win my Father's smile.
Author: Miriam M. Richards
The Salvation Army Song Book: Song Number: 706

Hebrews 12:1-17 (The Message)

1-3Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
4-11In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don't feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children?

My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline,
but don't be crushed by it either.
It's the child he loves that he disciplines;
the child he embraces, he also corrects.
God is educating you; that's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as dear children. This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God's training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God's holy best. At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.
12-13So don't sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall, so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle. Help each other out. And run for it!
14-17Work at getting along with each other and with God. Otherwise you'll never get so much as a glimpse of God. Make sure no one gets left out of God's generosity. Keep a sharp eye out for weeds of bitter discontent. A thistle or two gone to seed can ruin a whole garden in no time. Watch out for the Esau syndrome: trading away God's lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite. You well know how Esau later regretted that impulsive act and wanted God's blessing—but by then it was too late, tears or no tears.

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