Bits and Pieces – 163rd Edition – April 23, 2023

“Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord”  [Genesis 4:26]

     This is undoubtedly the age of instant communication.  In my lifetime, society has gone from the telephone as a domestic novelty to today’s indispensable ‘smart phones’ that seem to govern every moment of every day for many people.  World events can be transmitted verbally and graphically as they happen.

     As Solomon observed, “There is no new thing under the sun”  [Ecclesiastes 1:9].  Instant communication with a faraway place is nothing new.  When telephones first came into general use some preacher likened prayer to a telephone to heaven.

     Prayer to God predates by millennia today’s electronic gadgets and is vastly superior to them, for it does not need a huge system of cell towers and satellites to make it work.

     In the days of Seth, the son of Adam, men began “to call upon the name of the Lord.”  God made the world and He made us, but he did not leave us to muddle our way through life on our own.  Our Creator established a means of communicating with Himself for us.  We are mere infinitesimal creatures but we are hard wired to communicate with our Maker and Redeemer.

     But there are restrictions.  We are warned, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” [Psalm 66:18].  The sin problem must be cured to allow communication to pass freely between heaven and earth.  The death of Christ on the cross, attended by the rending of the veil in the temple, opened up the way of access to God for the Christian.

     Prayer is a priceless privilege and the source of our spiritual power.  The devil knows this and will do all in his power to hinder us.  With God, there are no busy signals or ‘select an option’ messages.  He hears.  He answers.  Start this day by calling on Him in prayer.  You will be glad you did.

    The bi-annual Ministers’ Week of Prayer will be held in the Toronto church May 8–12, 2023.

Prayer will be held each morning, and business sessions each afternoon.  Ministers, elders and some wives will be in attendance.  Revs. John Armstrong and John Greer will be representing the Ulster Presbytery.  Please pray that it may be a blessed time.

     Those who know Kathy Kalinich were shocked to hear of the tragic death of her son Chris.  Kathy brought three of her four sons to our Warden Avenue Church and Sunday school every Sunday.  Despite a difficult life, she was a faithful member for many years until she moved north to Lagoon City, and we lost touch with the family.  Chris was 49 when he died.  Our prayerful sympathy goes out to Kathy and her boys Ricky, Danny and Terry.

How good it is that God above has never gone on strike

Because He was not treated fair in things He didn’t like.

If only once He’d given up and said, “That’s it, I’m through!

I’ve had enough of those on earth, so this is what I’ll do.

 “I’ll give my orders to the Sun – cut off the heat supply!

And to the Moon – give no more light, and run the oceans dry.

Then just to make things really tough and put the pressure on,

Turn off the vital oxygen till every breath is gone.”

You know He would be justified, if fairness was the game,

For no one has been more abused, or met with more disdain,

Than God, and yet He carries on, supplying you and me

with all the favours of His grace, and everything for free.

Men say they want a better deal, and so on strike they go.

But what a deal we’ve given God to whom all things we owe.

We don’t care whom we hurt to gain the things we like. 

But what a mess we’d all be in, if God should go on strike.

[Anon.].

     The great hymn-writer, Fanny Crosby, was blind.  She said, “It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank Him for this dispensation …. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.”