An Ebenezer in the Sky

July 15, 2025July 12, 2025Todd R 2 Comments

^{Photo by Stainless Images on Unsplash}

Ebenezer the squirrel, the blog’s mascot, represents memorials of God’s intervention in the world and in our lives. The times when He changes the course of events, and when the narrative is changed by the words “but God.” In the ESV Bible, this phrase appears 43 times, including:

“But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.” – Genesis 8:1

The phrase first was used in Genesis 3:3, when Eve says to the serpent, “but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” As we know, Adam and Eve fell to temptation, eating the fruit and therefore providing us a warning that we should live by God’s words, not just quote them.

However, the second time we see “but God” it is a reminder that God intervenes to save sinners. Sin started with one rejection of God’s word, but by Noah’s time, “the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.”[1] God had Noah build an ark for his family to escape the coming flood of judgement, and the last verse before Genesis 8:1 says, “the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.”[2] Even for Noah and his family, the ones God chose to save, 5 months alone in an ark may not have felt like salvation. “But God…made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.”

Today, if salvation seems far away, if the flood around us feels like it’s not going away, even if it’s been months since we’ve had a “good day”, God gave us an Ebenezer especially for this occasion: the rainbow. Genesis 9:14-16 says:

“When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

When you see a rainbow, in the sky or anywhere, remember it as a sign of God’s love for His people, for sinners who rejected Him, but who He chose to save anyway. He will deliver all of God’s children from the flood because His covenant is everlasting.

[1] Genesis 6:11-12
[2] Genesis 7:24

Things God Counts

July 9, 2025July 8, 2025Todd R 2 Comments

Fellow travelers,

Are you ever so fearful or anxious about something that you lose sleep about it? Are there things out of your control that you toss and turn over? Maybe it’s so bad that you even cry. If you’re like this, you’re definitely not alone, and in fact, King David struggled with this kind of anxiety.

In Psalm 56, David laments that his enemies are constantly out to get him, and then in verse 8, David wrote about God:

“You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?”

What David means is that God sees all of our anxiety and every detail about how it affects us. He counts every time we toss and turn at night. He counts every tear you cry, and keeps track of them all, because he cares.

This realization causes David to write in verses 10 and 11:

“In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?”

Prayer or any religious practice won’t always cure anxiety, but as long as we suffer, God knows and cares about it. We can trust Him to provide for us, sometime between now and eternity.

As Paul wrote about the glory of our salvation:

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”[1]

Amen

[1] Romans 8:31b-32

Remembering God in Our Affliction

June 28, 2025Todd R 1 Comment

Dear fellow travelers,

Psalm 119 is memorable in many ways, including that it is the longest chapter in the Bible, with 176 verses. But the Psalm was also designed to be memorized in Hebrew, with 22 stanzas, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In Hebrew, each stanza has 8 lines that each begin with the same letter.

It is also memorable for its topic: a lengthy meditation on God’s law and its positive, multi-faceted qualities. The Psalm uses 8 words to describe God’s law, and all 8 appear in 5 of the stanzas while every stanza has at least 6 of them. [1]

However, in addition to meditating on God’s law, at least 7 verses also refer to affliction and/or its benefits in one way or another:

“This is my comfort in my affliction,
that your promise gives me life.” (verse 50)

“Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I keep your word.” (verse 67)

“It is good for me that I was afflicted,
that I might learn your statutes.” (verse 71)

“I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.” (verse 75)

“If your law had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.” (verse 92)

“I am severely afflicted;
give me life, O LORD, according to your word!” (verse 107)

“Look on my affliction and deliver me,
for I do not forget your law.” (verse 153)

Why the repetition? By repeating the idea of affliction in this Psalm, the writer wants to make one more thing memorable: in our affliction, God is faithfully present, giving us life, teaching us, and reminding us of His goodness. His steadfast love remains, even when this broken world and our own sinful condition present endless difficulty.

The law cannot save us, and affliction in this world is difficult, but “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:28-29)

What God uses all things for, and what He has predestined, is that His people will be conformed to His holiness: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6). Even affliction, in God’s hands, contributes to our development in holiness.

As J.I. Packer sums up these verses from Psalm 119 in his book, Rediscovering Holiness, “God’s faithfulness consists in his unwillingness that his children should lose any of the depths of fellowship with himself that he has in store for them. So he afflicts us to make us lean harder on him, in order that his purpose of drawing us into closest fellowship with himself may be fulfilled.”[2]

Whatever our affliction, God will deliver us and bring us to glory. Amen.

[1] According to the Reformation Study Bible
[2] Packer, J.I. Rediscovering Holiness (1992), P. 268. I “miraculously” discovered this quote within ½ hour of posting this blog, then had to add it, and repost.

Let God Speak to Your Inner Wilderness

November 23, 2024Todd R 1 Comment

John the Baptist announced the coming of Jesus, baptized Him, and led the way for His ministry to begin. This John was identified with “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight’”[1] prophesied in Isaiah 40:3-5, which says:

“A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
            make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
            and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
            and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
            and all flesh shall see it together,
            for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.’”

Is Isaiah talking about a massive, miraculous geological event, creating an easier route for Jesus to take to His kingdom? Perhaps in the future something like this will happen, but I think Isaiah is saying that God’s power over nature is a symbol of His power to reform and perfect us into the character of His Son Jesus.

Before Jesus comes into our lives, we are a spiritual wilderness full of uneven ground and rough places. The path of our salvation begins in this wilderness, an unorganized chaos of thoughts and desires. We are like “children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” However, the power of the LORD enters our low valleys – our guilty secrets, shame and depression – which will be raised up. It progresses through our mountains and hills – areas of pride, self-sufficiency, and our desire for power – which will be made low. God, with the same power that created the universe, removes all obstacles to the coming of His kingdom to us, and to the world. He has given us His word, His Spirit, and fellow believers to strengthen us, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Ephesians 4:13-14)

John the Baptist called his followers to confession and repentance. In announcing the coming of the kingdom of God, John anticipated a time when our internal and external wildernesses will become a paradise. Until then, we each have different hills and valleys, different uneven and rough areas. Until then, the world remains full of false doctrine, cunning, craftiness and deceit.

Today, pray that the powerful voice of our LORD will reach into your wilderness and remove obstacles on the path to His kingdom. Pray that His word and His Spirit will reveal His glory. Pray that all believers will answer the call of “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” to build up His church.

Amen.

[1] Isaiah 40:3, quoted in Matthew 4:3.

On Spiritual Mood Swings

November 21, 2024November 20, 2024Todd R 2 Comments

Life is often a battle with inconsistency. We go from feeling good about our situations and God’s favor, to feeling like we are in a spiritual desert, and back again like a pendulum. Knowing this, God provides verses like Psalm 126:4-6, which says:

“Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
            like streams in the Negeb!
Those who sow in tears
            shall reap with shouts of joy!
He who goes out weeping,
            bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
            bringing his sheaves with him.”

The metaphor is a comparison to the south of Israel, which has a very dry climate, yet experiences flooding in a rainstorm. The Negeb also is mentioned in the story of Caleb and his daughter Achsah. Her inherited land was in the infertile Negeb, and she asks him also for springs of water, which he gives her.[1]

Like Achsah’s father Caleb, our Father God also provides for us in our seasons of trouble. Here, the Psalmist compares tears to seeds, reminding us that in the dry times as well as the times of overflowing blessing, God is with us, using those circumstances. Our current loss is future gain, and our current time of suffering is bound and measured by God’s will, like the Babylonian exile was measured at 70 years[2] and the year of Jubilee came after every 49 years[3]. After our time, we will enter His rest and rejoice eternally.

In this life we may experience spiritual and emotional extremes, like drought and flood in the desert. Don’t overreact to the pendulum swing but count your tears as seeds. Pray that He will restore your fortunes and thank Him that our seasons are in His hands.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” – Matthew 5:4

[1] Joshua 15:18-19
[2] Daniel 9:2, 9:24
[3] Leviticus 25:8

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