Certainty in Uncertainty

 

 

 

Get thee out of thy country

And from thy kindred

And from thy father’s house

To a land I will show thee.

 

To leave all he knows

For that he does not know

Causes the kind of uncertainty

That will no doubt show.

 

God’s first demand

To the patriarch Abraham

Was to leave family, father’s house

And his native land.

 

But God is in command

And therein is certainty

Even to a destination unknown

Full of uncertainty.

 

To leave his province

Was Abram’s first test,

Leaving the known for the unknown

Must have been stress.

 

 

But the certainty he had

Was that God had spoken

And what He had promised him

Was better than a token.

 

Better than the present

Or even the past

For while these were certain,

They could not last.

 

So, leaving he did,

Following God’s command

And by faith he journeyed

To the promised land.

 

You can read Abram’s call

In Genesis the 12^th chapter

Followed by the sacrifice of Isaac

Ten chapters after.

 

The first test was hard

But the second was tougher,

Why not the son of the bond woman

That he had hired?

 

No mistaking the son,

Therein was the certainty

But the challenge, I dear say,

Was that of uncertainty.

 

Genesis 22:2

 

Take now thy son,

Thine only son Isaac,

Whom thou lovest,

And get thee into the land of Moriah;

And offer him there for a burnt offering

 Upon one of the mountains

Which I will tell thee of.

 

First to a land unknown

Then to a mountain range,

To sacrifice his only son, he loved,

Seemed very strange.

 

 

But Abraham was certain

That God had spoken

And to perform this strange request

He obediently hastened.

 

Take now thy son,

Why, that could be Ishmael,

But God requires the very best;

The rest we could sell.

 

Thine only son-

“But God, I have two sons.”

Yes, but only one by the name Isaac;

From this he could not run.

 

Thine only son Isaac,

Whom thou lovest,

That God only takes the very best

Was Abraham’s sternest test.

 

Genesis 22 and verse 2

Speaks to a conversation,

How Abraham wanted to opt out

But such was not an option.

 

 

In the book of James, we read,

God temps no man

But in the book of beginnings

God did tempt Abraham.

 

The uncertainty is

When we don’t understand,

But the certainty that is reassuring

Is that God holds our hand.

 

Stewart Russell © October 22, 2024

 

What Is Worship?

 

 

First time seen in the Word

At Genesis 22:5,

Go there now and read

And see how it comes alive!

 

Just two human beings:

A father and his son

Having traveled a great way,

To worship they have come.

 

“Stay here,”

He had said to the party,

No one was to stop his worship

To his God the Almighty.

 

Is worship singing?

There was no singing there,

No singing and no music

Just reverential fear.

 

The epitome of worship

It can’t get better than this,

A father, his offering and God

Just three on this list.

 

No clapping, no shouting,

No keyboard or drumming,

No clarinets or saxophones,

No guitarists strumming.

 

 

A pile of rocks and wood

Prepared for the sacrifice

Of his son, his only son, Isaac-

This could not be nice.

 

His only son?

Did he not have another?

The son he ultimately loved?

Lord, this is a bother.

 

Why not Ishmael?

Ishmael was his son also,

Isaac was the son God wanted

The best must be on show.

 

Worship is giving up

All that we hold dear,

Nothing between us and Jesus:

No fret, no gift, no care.

 

 

Holding everything loosely

As Corrie ten Boom did say,

Worship is one and Jesus

Just the two at play.

 

Personal before corporate

Abraham offered his son,

Not a single petition was made,

Absolutely none!

 

While God stayed his hand

The act was as good as done,

Obedience was the heart of worship

God’s favour he had won.

 

One could just imagine

The burden that was lifted

In this precursor of Jesus Christ

To whom all was shifted.

 

 

The Lamb identified by John

To take away our sin,

God’s Son, God’s only Son!

Yes, we must worship him.

 

“When,” somebody asked,

“Did worship become singing?”

Worship is one’s walk with Christ

Expressed in one’s daily living.

 

A life of total surrender.

A life of childlike trust,

A life holding all things loosely

With Jesus as the must.

 

Must have Jesus

Must live by his word,

Must shine for him in word and deed

Must show him to the world.

 

Worship is not singing,

It is a given over heart

Consecrated to God our Saviour

Who loved us from the start.

 

 

A slaying of self as it were,

A putting off and a putting on,

No more the long night of darkness,

Step into the light of dawn!

 

Worship is walking in the light

In the light that is Christ,

In constant obedience to him

As a living sacrifice.

 

Stewart Russell © May 6, 2024

 

A Conflicting Conviction

 

 

Sounds confusing

You are probably saying

But read to the end

Before despairing.

 

He shall remain nameless

Until you work out his name,

This difficulty is not even close

To the actual claim.

 

Truthful it is

And I have no doubt

That any disputing

Will be finally thrown out.

 

He rose long before dawn

Maybe, he didn’t sleep,

His conflicting conviction

He intended to keep.

 

He prepared his mule

For the journey ahead

Knowing by the end of that day

His loved one would be dead.

 

The demand was ludicrous,

It didn’t make sense

But given his disposition

He took no offense.

 

It was not the first time

He was sent on a mission,

The very first time

He knew not the direction.

 

Back then it was his faith

That caused him to respond

And so on this occasion

He was up before dawn.

 

He called his son

And a few of his servants

And they set on the mission

Ignorant of the intent.

 

Had they known

They might have insisted

Their leader was mad

And probably resisted.

 

 

But he proceeded by faith

And they in obedience,

The burdened mule

His son and his servants.

 

It appears that his wife

Knew not of his plan

So in that case

She couldn’t tie his hands.

 

So early he set off

On his very strange journey,

A conflicting conviction

But he stuck to it firmly.

 

His only son

From his very old wife,

His child of promise

At the end of his life.

 

It didn’t make sense

Given the promise God made

But He gives and He takes,

Such are His ways.

 

A three days journey

Now at an end

So he said to his servants

It’s around the bend.

 

He instructed his servants,

“You remain at this point

While the boy and I worship

At a farther point.”

 

Taking the wood off the mule

He gave it to the lad.

“Where is the burnt offering?”

He later asked his dad.

  

God will provide

Was the father’s reply

Though he knew in few moments

His son would die.

 

I am sure you know

How this event did end,

With the benefit of history

We see around the bend.

 

 

But consider this father

For a moment or two,

He was not looking back

Like me or like you.

 

It happened in real time

As we would say today

And to understand it then

He had no way.

 

How was he to know

That this was only a test?

Obviously, if he had known

His mind would have been at rest.

 

He had no way of knowing

Yet he dared to obey

Where for many of us

We would have said, “No way.”

 

A conflicting conviction

Do you see what I mean?

Convinced it was God

But still a conflicting scene

 

A child of promise

Yet, the likelihood of his death

How could a father’s mind

Still be at rest?

 

We tend to forget

As we read the account,

It was not smooth going

All the way to the mount.

  

There must have been doubts

As he journeyed on,

He surely wasn’t eager

Because he left before dawn.

 

There are many similarities

I would not mention here

Between this father and God

That are certainly clear.

 

 

The wood and the cross

That both sons carried,

The locations on the mount...

They do not vary.

 

Both considered sacrifices:

One perceived, the other real,

One a demonstration of faith

The other rent the veil.

 

One a conflicting conviction

The second bought our redemption,

Faith need not understand

Just follow God’s direction.

 

The stalwarts of the Bible

As they underwent their tests

Were not often in the know

But obedience was their quest.

 

Conflicting convictions

But they learnt to trust God,

We must do the same

At home and abroad.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2019

 

Revelation and Reason

 

 

Revelation and reason

Which of the two came first?

Here I believe it is right

And not in the reverse.

 

Men change it around

So that reason comes first

But based on the Scriptures

Reason first is in reverse.

 

Humans reason about God

Without His Word,

Straight up as you can see

This is absurd.

 

Reason comes into play

Only because God has revealed

Some things about Himself

He chose not to conceal.

 

That which He has revealed

Is for our own understanding

And this is by no means

A result of our demanding.

 

Some believers will argue

They can command God

And they demand and declare

As though they were God.

 

 

 

However, it’s time we know

God cannot be wagged,

Neither does a tail wag a dog

As some will brag.

 

Revelation and reason-

Revelation came first,

God revealed himself to humans

Then came the curse.

 

Eve reasoned with the serpent

And she was deceived,

Satan was smarter than she

And got her to disbelieve.

 

It is not ours first to reason

But to believe what God reveals,

Anything less or anything more

And we will be deceived.

 

 

God’s revelation is truth

And His truth is Jesus Christ,

Satan’s truth is truly not truth at all

And is sugar coated to entice.

 

Jesus is the Living Word

And of him was the Word written,

Thus, all who believe in Jesus

Have their sins forgiven.

 

It is not ours first to reason

But ours first to believe,

Revelation precedes reasoning-

Reasoning does not reveal.

 

It matters not how brilliant

We cannot reason out God,

That Eve would become like God

Was created by King Fraud.

 

Her reasoning led to the Fall

And disinherited all mankind

But God in His mercy restored all-

A lamb was the first sign.

 

 

A ram was caught in a thicket

And the young Isaac was spared,

To the Lamb on that rugged cross

Of whom the Gospel is shared.

 

 

The Gospel of eternal salvation

Revealed to every man,

To the world and the whosoever

Sums up redemption’s plan.

 

For God so loved the world!

What a revelation!

That He gave His Son, Jesus!

What wonderful salvation!

 

Stewart Russell © August 16, 2023

Lies in the Bible

 

 

The Bible is full of lies

And this may be considered true,

But not truly full of lies

Is my considered view.

 

It would be wise to ask

What people mean, though,

By the Bible is full of lies

Whenever they say so.

 

Is it in its history?

Is it in promises unfulfilled?

Is it in its incredible claims?

Tell me if you feel so still.

 

Many a person says this:

The Bible is full of lies,

And often without explanation

They are apt to criticize.

 

In the very first line

I said that this is true,

That there are lies in the Bible

Is more than just my view.

 

As early as in Genesis

The biggest lie was told,

The serpent lied to Mother Eve-

Boy, wasn’t he bold?

 

 

He even implicated God

Saying that God also knew

And Eve was horribly deceived

Into accepting Satan’s view.

 

Abraham twice and Isaac

Lied because of fear,

Stalwarts they certainly were

But lies they also shared.

 

It surely ran in the family

For Sarah also lied,

When denying she had laughed

And unbelief was implied.

 

Jacob did also lie

Being a grandchild of Abraham,

His sons too, to cover their tracks,

Lying was their plan.

 

 

Laban, Jacob’s uncle,

Deceived the love-struck Jacob

Giving him Leah instead of Rachel

Whom Jacob had not loved.

 

Potifar’s wife had lied to him

And Joseph did implicate,

He had given her a resounding no

And she was full of hate.

 

Rahab misled her country men

To protect the Israelite spies,

As a result, her life would be saved;

What a blessing in disguise!

 

Saul had promised David

Merab, his daughter to wed

But recanted on his promised word

And gave her to another instead.

 

Also, the husband and wife

That lied to the apostle of God,

It was through the Holy Spirit

They were exposed as frauds.

 

 

They had lied to Peter

But weeks before Peter had lied,

When he said “I know not the man,”

It was Jesus he had denied.

 

There are lies in the Bible

As shown in the foregoing proof

And the very fact that there are,

Substantiates this truth.

 

Do note that people tell lies

And in the Bible people lied

But the saving truth that's in the Word

Should never be denied.

 

Yes, there is a greater truth:

Jesus is the Word of God,

He’s the Way, the Truth, the Life;

Go spread this truth abroad!

 

Stewart Russell © May 9, 2021