Bits and Pieces – 209th Edition – September 22, 2024

     My computer has a screen saver that automatically appears. It is a video taken from the space station flying north to south down the length of Florida.  From a height of 250 miles you can see the shape of the state with it’s major lakes and inlets.

     What you cannot see are the cities like Tampa and Miami, or the buildings, or people of the state. The cameras are just too far away to show such detail.

     There are over 21 million people in Florida, and from a height of 250 miles you cannot see one person.  But God looks down from an infinitely greater place [Psalm 103:11] so that Hagar could say, “Thou God seest me” [Genesis 16:13].  One individual, and yet God saw her in her distress.

     The Lord also sees us personally.  He can look into our hearts and minds.  Our very thoughts and words are open to His all-seeing gaze. [Psalm 139:1ff.]. Nothing is hidden from the Lord, not even our secret sins.

     Therefore, we need to remember this, and make sure that there is nothing in our lives that would cause offence to God.

     The present world population is more than eight billion, and the Lord feeds them all. “The eyes of all wait upon thee; and Thou givest them their meat in due season” [Psalm 145:15].  Not only that but the world is full of other creatures, animals, birds and fish.  God feeds them all!  “Thou openest thine hand, and satisfieth the desire of every living thing” [Psalm 146:16].

     As we travel from Uxbridge to church we see the wonder of God’s creation.  In the spring the newly plowed fields are brown.  Then the farmer sows his seed which dies in the earth.  Shortly there after the fields take on a green haze as the seed begins to grow.

    Now there are thousands of fields with corn standing over six feet tall, and each one with several cobs, enough to feed millions of humans and animals.  Where does it all come from?  “The dust of the ground” [Genesis 2:7].  Adam and Eve were made of the “the dust of the ground” and so are we.  Let us, therefore, never forget our humble heritage, and daily thank the Lord for His kind providence. And think of the daily miracle of His provision for the whole world.

     Sometime ago I watched a spider at work.  On a bush near our picnic table he had stretched out his web; a four inch diameter skein of gossamer-like threads, almost invisible to the human eye; and interlaced in such a fashion that not even the tiniest insect could ever hope to pass, but surely be entangled in its sticky snare.

     Indeed, just before we arrived, a large fly had come to grief on the fatal trap, and the greedy spider was preparing to tuck in.

     A short time ago the fly was a free agent going where he liked; his buzzing wings carrying him along with amazing speed, to great heights and distant scenes.  But now he lies, the helpless victim of the cunning spider, trussed like a fowl for the oven, and doomed.

     This made me think of another desperate web, and the numerous victims caught in its viscous cords.  It is the web spread by Satan himself, to ensnare and destroy all those poor unfortunates who fall foul of it.

     What a net the devil spreads, and what a tragedy befalls those who are deceived by his subtle wiles.  There is no escape, humanly speaking, for the poor thus trapped.

     But there is a supernatural way of escape, through the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the power of God.  He says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee” [Psalm 50:15] and He does. [Rev. James McClelland]

     At first glance Ecclesiastes appears very difficult but after years of study it is one of my favourite Bible books.  If you want to have wisdom in this age, where common sense is not too common, study Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.  God will give it. [James 1:5].

     Solomon brings Ecclesiastes to a thrilling conclusion with these challenging words, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” [Ecclesiastes 12:13].