Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

This year, as it draws to a close, has seen it's share of troubles. Hardly one of us has been unaffected by things which happened in the past 52 weeks. We have seen businesses boom and then bust, we have seen good, solid banks run out of money, insurance companies and even automobile companies declaring bankruptcy. Certainly there have been many problems, but we have also all seen many, many answers to prayer. We have seen God's hand in action. Every day brings it's own troubles, trials, and blessings. Every day is special and every day is created by God. Every day is a new day.

We have been seeing and learning that God desires all of us to cast all our cares, all our burdens, all our sorrows, all our worries, all our anxieties, and all our thoughts on Him. Hopefully we have been able to do our best to let God take care of our problems. We know that every day has it's particular issues and that we won't know what issues we will be dealing with until they are there, so why should we waste sleep over it? We have but to give it over to the Lord. Our job instead is to live in all things to glorify and exemplify Christ in our lives. We work because that is a way to witness. We sing because that testifies of our Saviour. We mourn and glorify God to those around us. We endure and we encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Lord tells us to pray for what we need, believe that it will be supplied, and it will be supplied (Mark 11:24-25) It will be supplied daily. We also need to forgive those who hurt us. We live in the present, forgive the past, and pray for the future. What more need we worry about? If God is Almighty, then He is fully capable of taking care of every little problem we may have. God is the Creator, He is the Almighty, He is capable, and He is our wonderful provider. Therefore we should have complete confidence that God will keep His word and will provide for each of our needs (notice that we are not talking about our own desires and wants). God is capable.

Every day is a new day. Every day we are new. Every day we are renewed and every day we are made new to live in the new day. Every day is a new chance to give God all the glory and all of our worries and anxieties. This year is done, the next year is beginning. It is a new year, it will bring new chances and opportunities as well as new trials, troubles, and problems. Some of us will probably end up thinking and experiencing more problems this next year than in this past year, but God asks – no, He requires – us to give everything over to Him and let Him sort out anything that might cause us worry or anxiety. This new year is a new chance for us to turn everything to Him and to renew ourselves and our walk with Him. I pray that we find ourselves ever more in love with Him, ever more trusting Him, and ever more giving Him all our griefs and trials.

Father of life draw me closer
Lord, my heart is set on you
Let me run the race of time
With you life unfolding mine
And let the peace of God
Let it reign

Hosea 2:19-23 “And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.
"And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel [which means “God will sow”],
and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, 'You are my people';
and he shall say, 'You are my God.'"”

The cradle and the cross, the cross and the cradle. These two defining moments in world history fell within 33 years of each other. In the beginning man fell and was rent from fellowship with God, and in the end man will have fellowship again with God, but how will this be accomplished? The Almighty chose an innocent infant, but not any innocent infant. God himself chose to redeem us personally. How He would do that would challenge the very way we as fallen humans thought. God would redeem without pride, without hubris, without ceremony or pomposity. He would redeem with innocence and willingness, in humility and denigration, despised and hated. He would redeem us in such a way that the leader of the Jews and re-builder of the temple , King Herod, would scorn and reject Him, yet magi, Persian/Zoroastrian priests and perhaps astrologers from farther away would seek the world over for this newborn savior and ruler of mankind.

It all began with a cradle. In every society that I know, there is something precious or valuable given for a betrothal. In some cultures it is a dowry, in some, the bride price, in the US and western culture, it is the engagement ring. In all cases it is valuable and shows the worth of the betrothal to those involved. Christ chose to show our value to Him with the most precious thing He could give for our betrothal. He Himself voluntarily gave up Himself, and became nothing as we were. He came as an infant, innocent and innocuous. He came and was heralded to the outcasts and the poor, yet venerated by the wisest of seekers. He was announced to the world in the temple when He was circumcised, and He was the only one to ever fully obey and comply with the unforgiving and relentless laws that He had put in place. He followed the letter and the spirit of his own laws, showing us that it was done. When He died He cried out “It is Finished!” (John 19:30) He had paid it all, He had given it all, obeyed it all, loved it all, sacrificed it all, and saved us all. The Cross completed what the cradle began. The ascension finished the beginning started at the manger. The Betrothal was complete and what is left is the wait until the final ceremony, the great wedding day, the feasting and joy awaits, but for now, we count down the days and more importantly, we learn and love our Lord even more, day by day. Rejoice!

Bride of the Lamb, awake, awake!
Why sleep for sorrow now?
The hope of glory, Christ, is thine,
A child of glory thou.

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

How do you hide something big and noticeable? How would you hide an elephant? How about a tree? How about a barn? How? Really? To hide an elephant, you would put a lot of elephants around it. Trying to find a particular elephant in a herd is hard. A tree would be in a forest surrounded by many other similar trees and to hide a barn you would build more barns, all large and painted red and then you would hide all the road signs to get there.

How do you find an elephant in a herd? How do you find a particular tree in a forest? How do you find the correct barn when it is surrounded by other barns? First you need to know what you are looking for. You need a general idea of what it is. If you had never seen an elephant before and you were trying to find one, how would you know when you found it? You also need to know what differentiates it from all the other imitations out there. When you look for that special tree, you ignore all the trees of different types. Then you ignore all the trees whose branches fork differently or have different marks or knotholes in it. Eventually after ruling out every tree in the forest that it is not, you will find the right tree. You know what the barn looks like that you want to find, so you just ignore all the barns with the too-bright paint or the new tin roof. You pass by all the barns with the not-quite red paint until you get to the barn with the fading red (but not too faded) paint and the tin roof is beat up by the weather, but still structurally sound. You see the familiar wind-vane and you remember all the scraped paint on the doors. When you are at the right barn, you know it because it is right and meets all the requirements to be the right one.

How do you hide the real God? How do you find the real Jesus? You need to look and seek and search for Him. While everyone else is searching for the right clothes ,or good food, or the right gift for that special someone, you need to be searching for Jesus and His righteousness. Somehow clothes become less important and you will find them in your closet. Food becomes less needed and you will have enough to eat and to live. When God is first in our lives, while His desires become the foremost desires of our lives, when His kingdom is uttermost in our lives we begin to see our physical and spiritual needs met in such an amazing manner that it can not be anything but clearly God's work. When all our needs are met despite our not worrying about them our lives can not help but glorify God.

When we seek Christ and His kingdom to our uttermost, when we find it we will see -eventually – that He was always with us.

Dear Jesus, in whose life I see
all that I would, but fail to be,
let thy clear light forever shine,
to shame and guide this life of mine.

Though what I dream and what I do
in my weak days are always two,
help me, oppressed by things undone,
O thou whose deeds and dreams were one!

Matthew 6:32 “For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”

I have doing a lot of waiting in airports recently, in fact, with these long-haul transcontinental flights, I have also been spending a lot of time sitting next to perfect strangers in the airplanes I was waiting for in the airport! People are always talking too, in airports, in the airplanes, at work, in the bus, in the que for the ticket agent, in the line at the grocery store, etc. The noise of thousands of voices all talking and complaining and wishing at the same time is a tremendous din! Each and every one of these voices is an anxious voice, a worrying voice. The children are complaining about the trip and wanting it to be over, or begging their parents for “the most awesome new toy ever!” The adults are discussing their views on economics and politics, wondering if their savings account will hold up, if their job is secure, worrying that the politicians are going to somehow manage to destroy whatever smidgen of pride is left to the “common folk.” Some guys are worrying that they are getting out of shape and won't be able to attract “the babes” while some of the girls are complaining about the musclebound oafs that parade in front of them. No one is content, no one is still, no one seeks personal centered-ness and contentment with what they have already.

Jesus reminds us that no one is different, no one at all. Everyone has the same worries and same fears. Everyone questions His provision and worries about everything that they can't control. I know that I do. He reminds us of another important thing, however, besides how alike everyone is. Christ reminds us that our Heavenly Father knows already that we need them all. If God already knows everything I need, in totality, why should I worry? What fears do I have that are truly founded? God knows already and will meet each need in such time as He has set aside to meet it. God provides everything that is in our best interests as He sees it (which is usually contrary to what is in our best interest as we see it).

God knows already and has already planned and charted out exactly what He will do to meet our needs...but do we have the faith and the trust to ask Him and then leave everything in His hands while we forget about it? I hope and pray that someday you and I will be able to do so in everything.

O Lord, all glorious, Life of life!
To Thee we raise our grateful song;
Lift up our souls from thoughts of self
To Thee, to Whom all lives belong.

Below all depths Thy mercy lies,
Above all heights Thy love ascends;
Thy providence our path surrounds,
Thy watchful care each step attends.

From Thee all good desires proceed,
All holy thoughts we gain from Thee;
The good we do is Thine alone,
Thine shall our heart’s thanksgiving be.