September 20, 2023
Leadership Notes
“Summer’s End”
The first Sunday of fall is soon upon us. As I have been out-and-about the past few days, nature has begun to reflect the seasonal changes on schedule. Here’s Psalm 96:11-13:
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.
There was a lot of singing throughout those drives.
Then there’s Job 37:14-24:
“Hear this, O Job;
stop and consider the wondrous works of God.
Do you know how God lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine? Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge, you whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind? Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a cast metal mirror? Teach us what we shall say to him; we cannot draw up our case because of darkness. Shall it be told him that I would speak? Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up?
“And now no one looks on the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them. Out of the north comes golden splendor; God is clothed with awesome majesty. The Almighty—we cannot find him; he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate. Therefore men fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.”
I love how some think we can control, direct, or change the weather on a grand scale. I’m quite content with these beautiful days of late summer/ early fall here in Michigan. God is, after all, in control.
Finally, there’s this from Romans 1:18-23:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their
unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about
God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his
invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine
world, in the things that have been made. So they are without
excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as
God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their
thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be
wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal
God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and
creeping things.
We see God’s glory reflected in His creation. There is symmetry… recognizable patters…predictability in seasons and cycles and events. There is a beauty and rhythm to nature that tells of our Creator. Not a day goes by when I don’t give God thanks and praise for the world in which He has placed us. He is Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer.
What will these next weeks bring to the rhythms of your life? Will you be doing any traveling, near or far? I know families with children still enjoy weekend get-a-ways this beautiful time of year. How about fall festivals? Have you already started trimming, pruning, clean-up, transplanting, or any other yard transitioning? Will you be decorating for fall? Inside? Outside? God is good all the time…
Feel free to share with me how you go with the flow of fall. However your flow goes, I can’t help but get carried away with this truth, as succinctly captured by English Bible teacher A.W. Pink:
“Contentment is the product of the heart that is resting in God.”
And now, your Moment of Spurgeon:
“The same God who guides the stars in their courses, who directs
the earth in its orbit, who feeds the burning furnace of the sun, and
keeps the stars perpetually burning with their fires - the same
God has promised to supply thy strength.”
Always Striving to be of Good Cheer,
Richard