Our cozy little tree house Nehemiah and Mark built for the grandkids.
Last summer our son Nehemiah and Mark built a wonderful tree house in the woods on our property. Since then many little children (and some bigger ones) have scampered up the stairs and enjoyed a fun time in this place where imaginative play blossoms. One thing I particularly think of when I see this little place is the great carefree hearts of those who enjoy it. When did you last enjoy such freedom of care/worry?
While reading Jerry Bridges book “Respectable Sins” this week, particularly his chapter on worry, I found some thought provoking quotes. Consider this: Suppose someone you love were to say to you, “I don’t trust you. I don’t believe you love me and will care for me.” What an affront that would be to you! Yet that is what we are saying to God by our anxiety. Jerry Bridges Another quote from John Newton (the author of Amazing Grace) caught my heart. “ [One of the marks of Christian maturity which a believer should seek is] an acquiescence in the Lord’s will founded in a persuasion of his wisdom, holiness, sovereignty, and goodness. … So far as we attain to this, we are secure from disappointment. Our own limited views, and shortsighted purposes and desires, may be, and will be, often over-ruled; but then our main and leading desire, that the will of the Lord may be done, must be accomplished. How highly does it become us, both as creatures and as sinners, to submit to the appointments of our Maker! and how necessary is it to our peace! This great attainment is too often unthought of, and over-looked; we are prone to fix our attention upon the second causes and immediate instruments of events; forgetting that whatever befalls us is according to his purpose, and therefore must be right and seasonable in itself, and shall in the issue be productive of good. From hence arise impatience, resentment, and secret repinings [i.e., complainings], which are not only sinful, but tormenting; whereas, if all things are in his hand, if the very hairs of our head are numbered; if every event, great and small, is under the direction of his providence and purpose; and if he has a wise, holy, and gracious end in view, to which everything that happens is subordinate and subservient; — then we have nothing to do, but with patience and humility to follow as he leads, and cheerfully to expect a happy issue. … How happy are they who can resign all to him, see his hand in every dispensation, and believe that he chooses better for them than they possibly could for themselves!” John Newton
I cannot express well enough how excited I am to be starting a brand new class for the Ladies Bible Study this week on the subject of worry. Do we really know what it is and do we actually know what to do about it? We will be doing the first chapter in Juanita Purcell’s book “Worry-Free Living.” If you don’t have a book, let me know. Please note that this book gives us the structure for what we will be discussing each week, however, many wonderful resources exist beyond it. In particular my son’s book “What if…How to Kill Worry and Anxiety Before It Kills You” would be an excellent supplement for our study.
See you on Zoom (find us at discoverybaptist.org) Thursday morning at 9:30.