A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Faith

Well, a poem

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Oh, I am running so late for doing my five minute Friday post. It’s late on Saturday night!   Can you believe it? I do have a good excuse, you see last night I was busy until quite late at night.  I was at the TEACH curriculum sale in Brantford.   I had so much fun.  

Well, a poem

I was delighted to be at a table next to Sarah Wall. She blogs over at Raising Royalty. She’s such a sweet lady and is force to be reckoned with.  She makes me feel capable and like I can do important things too!  🙂   She happily and easily helped me manage a large table of books.  Such a good natured, nice lady.   Anyways!  Enough.. I had so much fun.  I love talking books and selling books and just dealing with books, so going to curriculum sales is just a huge amount of fun for me. 

As I’m writing these words I’m thinking to myself, what does the word well mean to me?  What resonates within me at the word?

Well, a poem

Well
A hole deep in the ground
Water at the bottom?
Or maybe something else.
Youngsters be careful
Not to fall but
If your donkey falls in on Sunday
You help him get out.

Well
A thought or emotion
How do things go?
If things are well
It is good,
A move to the positive.
I wonder though
Would you admit if
you weren’t?

Well
A job finished
Completion
A good job
The thoroughness needed
For something to be done

Well
Are you well?
Is your health okay
Any concerns
Is a doctor needed?
Run that mile
Walk that block
Keep your heart
Going tick tock

Well
Exclamation
A shock you see
Something unexpected
Between you and me
I didn’t know
How can that be?
It’s a surprise!

Well can be
So many things
What is well with you?

Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne

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The hymn Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne leapt from the pages of hymnbook I was leafing through so I thought I should share it with you. 

Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne

 Written by Emily E. Elliott. It was first used in 1864 at St. Mark’s Church in Bright­on, Eng­land.  Elliot’s father was the preacher there.

Elliott was the editor of “The Church Missionary Juvenile Instructor.”  She wrote Thou Didst leave thy throme in 1870, but published it separately for children and choir of her Dad’s church.  She later wrote several hymns many of which were published. 

Elliot did a lot of work with rescue missions and children and wrote a book called “under the pillow” which contained several hymns. 

 Timothy Richard Matthews wrote a special tune for this song, called Margaret since it is written to irregular text. 

Lyrics

Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown,
When Thou camest to earth for me;
But in Bethlehem’s home was there found no room
For Thy holy nativity.

Refrain

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.

Heaven’s arches rang when the angels sang,
Proclaiming Thy royal degree;
But of lowly birth didst Thou come to earth,
And in great humility.

Refrain

The foxes found rest, and the birds their nest
In the shade of the forest tree;
But Thy couch was the sod, O Thou Son of God,
In the deserts of Galilee.

Refrain

Thou camest, O Lord, with the living Word,
That should set Thy people free;
But with mocking scorn and with crown of thorn,
They bore Thee to Calvary.

Refrain

When the heavens shall ring, and the angels sing,
At Thy coming to victory,
Let Thy voice call me home,
Saying Yet there is room,
There is room at My side for thee.

My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus,
When Thou comest and callest for me.

Covenant with Abraham

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Last week we covered the covenant with Noah, today we move on to Abraham.  My study is based on the book Learning about the Old Testament by Allan Harman. 

covenant with Abraham

Abraham’s relationship with God was covenant lived out over time.

Starting off in Ur and leading all the way to Canaan. Abram at first and then later Abraham.

Having his faith tested as he needed to believe

  • God would make him into a great nation. This was hard. They were childless a long time, he made alternative arrangements, and then God blessed them with a child.
  • The land of Canaan would be his home. The home he and his family (which would be a great nation) would need to live in. Believing that God could turn this into reality.
  • Through him, through his family, all nations of the world would be blessed. Stop and think about that a moment. How does one even grasp that idea? Would it be your whole family or just a part? How does one believe in that idea? It seems too big to grasp, yet God put it as part of his covenant with Abraham.

God repeated these three aspects of the covenant with Abraham’s offspring Isaac and Jacob.

Part of the seal of that covenant was circumcision for the boy children in Abraham’s family.

Throughout their relationship God revealed himself to Abraham, sometimes physically, but always in relationship. Abraham’s faith in God was deep and solid. His trust in God’s care and provision was overall steady. It wasn’t perfect, he made errors, he sinned, but in the end his love for God was real.

This is a foundation laid isn’t it?

Not What My Hands Have Done

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Do you remember the song I did last week?  It was also written by Horatius Bonar!   Wow!   So I guess I don’t have to write a whole about him eh?  Anyways, Not What My Hands Have Done reminds us that it’s God’s action not ours which is our salvation.

Not what my hands have done

Horatius Bonar was called Horace by his friends. A Scottish pastor who wrote many songs. He passed away in 1889. He preached with fervor, starting his ministry in Kelso and finishing his pastorate at the Chalmers Memorial Free Church.

Lyrics

Not what my hands have done
Can save my guilty soul;
Not what my toiling flesh has borne
Can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do
Can give me peace with God;
Not all my prayers and sighs and tears
Can bear my awful load.

Thy work alone, O Christ,
Can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
Can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God,
Not mine, O Lord, to Thee,
Can rid me of this dark unrest,
And set my spirit free.

Thy grace alone, O God,
To me can pardon speak;
Thy power alone, O Son of God,
Can this sore bondage break.
No other work, save Thine,
No meaner blood will do;
No strength, save that which is divine,
Can bear me safely through.

I bless the Christ of God;
I rest on love divine;
And with unfaltering lip and heart
I call this Savior mine.
His cross dispels each doubt;
I bury in His tomb
Each thought of unbelief and fear,
Each lingering shade of gloom.

I praise the God of grace;
I trust His truth and might;
He calls me His, I call Him mine,
My God, my joy and light.
In Him is only good,
In me is only ill;
My ill but draws His goodness forth,
And me He loveth still.

’Tis He who saveth me,
And freely pardon gives;
I love because He loveth me,
I live because He lives.
My life with Him is hid,
My death has passed away,
My clouds have melted into light,
My midnight into day.

Daughter of Jerusalem Rescued

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I know it’s been a while, honestly my thoughts have been elsewhere.  Gardens, schooling, and more.  I’ve been busy and rather tired and falling asleep in the evening when I would normally be blogging.  Last time we might we discussed The Mountain of the Lord. 

In that day, declares the Lord,
    I will assemble the lame
and gather those who have been driven away
    and those whom I have afflicted;
7 and the lame I will make the remnant,
    and those who were cast off, a strong nation;
and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion
    from this time forth and forevermore.

8 And you, O tower of the flock,
    hill of the daughter of Zion,
to you shall it come,
    the former dominion shall come,
    kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.

9 Now why do you cry aloud?
    Is there no king in you?
Has your counselor perished,
    that pain seized you like a woman in labor?
10 Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion,
    like a woman in labor,
for now you shall go out from the city
    and dwell in the open country;
    you shall go to Babylon.
There you shall be rescued;
    there the Lord will redeem you
    from the hand of your enemies.

11 Now many nations
    are assembled against you,
saying, “Let her be defiled,
    and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”
12 But they do not know
    the thoughts of the Lord;
they do not understand his plan,
    that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.
13 Arise and thresh,
    O daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn iron,
    and I will make your hoofs bronze;
you shall beat in pieces many peoples;
    and shall devote their gain to the Lord,
    their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.

Micah 4:6-13

Scripture Speaks

 

Look at the people The Lord God will gather together: the lame, the driven away, and the afflicted.    God will make the lame a remnant and the cast off into a strong nation. 

In that day, declares the Lord,
    I will assemble the lame
and gather those who have been driven away
    and those whom I have afflicted;
7 and the lame I will make the remnant,
    and those who were cast off, a strong nation;

Not only that, the Lord God will reign over in Zion for ever. 

and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion
    from this time forth and forevermore.

Tower of Flock

There is some discussion about what tower of flock means.  Some thinks it means Jerusalem, some think it’s an actual tower, and yet others think it’s a gateway that Christ will come through.  But whomever it is, whatever the tower of the flock is, kingship will come.  It doesn’t make sense that it is Jerusalem, but she can’t be her own daughter. Figurative language not withstanding. 🙂

8 And you, O tower of the flock,
    hill of the daughter of Zion,
to you shall it come,
    the former dominion shall come,
    kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.

The questions come:

9 Now why do you cry aloud?

    Is there no king in you?
Has your counselor perished,
    that pain seized you like a woman in labor?

With no answers given to the questions, the daughter of Zion that rescue is coming.  But rescue will come after struggle.  Struggle as if in labour pains, leave the city, dwell in the open, go down to Babylon and wait.  Rescue happens in Babylon.  Rescue by the Lord, the one who redeems her from the enemies. 
10 Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion,
    like a woman in labor,
for now you shall go out from the city
    and dwell in the open country;
    you shall go to Babylon.
There you shall be rescued;
    there the Lord will redeem you
    from the hand of your enemies.

Rescue will happen

In Babylon the daughter waits, the nations around mock. 

Now many nations
    are assembled against you,
saying, “Let her be defiled,
    and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”

But you know what?  These nations don’t understand the thoughts of God.  They have no clue what he plan is. 
12 But they do not know
    the thoughts of the Lord;
they do not understand his plan,

These nations don’t know that they are about to be put to the threshing floor.  They will be beaten and the goods gathered from them, devoted to God. 
   
you shall beat in pieces many peoples;
    and shall devote their gain to the Lord,
    their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.

Micah 4:6-13

Thinking a bit

I think about those words “they do not know
    the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan”

Ruminating on those words one can find comfort.  Comfort that the enemy of the Lord doesn’t know God’s plans. He doesn’t know the end run.  He see the long term goals.  For all he knows, what he sees is the immediate and thinks a winning hand is there. 

I recall how they mocked the daughter of Jerusalem, showing no pity, but wanting her to be defiled.   They only saw her struggle, they didn’t see the end that God had in store.  

Isn’t it just like it is in our lives?   So easy to kick the person that is down, or helpless, or in a hard place.  The daughter of Jerusalem was in a hard place and had no one coming to her aid.   Imagine being alone in childbirth and how hard that would be.   So hard and alone eh?

But they don’t know.  They don’t.  Rescue is on the way and God told the daughter of Jerusalem that it would be so.  She knows better, but her nay-sayers don’t.  I do hope she listens!

 

Divergent Culture

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It’s another five minute Friday word prompt! Do join in won’t you? Miss Kate has chosen the word Culture this week.

Divergent Culture

Day by Day I see it
The people walking by
Day by day I read it
The stories, oh they fly.

Right now it seems that Facebook
Is full of anger see
My thought is right, Yours is wrong
Why can’t you let it be!

Trump is horrid
Trump is good
Trudeau is silly
Trudeau does what he could.

Pro-choice is the only way
Women’s lives to meet.
Pro-life is what is good and right
It’s what makes life so sweet!

Christians are bad
Their mindset is wrong
Care for the orphans
OH they cannot belong!

Their faith a reason
The orphans to care
Sometimes the rejection
Seems too much to bear.

Opinions run rampant
In this culture you see
Divergent opinions
Disagreements must be.

How do we meet
Is there a middle ground
I really don’t think there is
There isn’t one to be found.

So how do we show grace to those
Who fervently can’t see
That God indeed has a better plan
Which he can guarantee.

There’s not an easy way I know
When so easy tempers flare
Digging in “mine’s the way!”
Many do not see the care.

But try we must to show
That there’s another way
To hold our faith, and steadfast be
And face another day.


Covenant with Noah

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We have talked about covenant of creation, and God’s covenants.  Today we talk about the covenant with Noah.  Sin had kept increasing in the world, to the point of murder.  People were still calling upon the name of the Lord, so the worship of God was still happening.   But more and more, as the generations passed, people were doing their own thing and boasting about their sinfulness. 

Then there is Noah.  We are told that he is a righteous man, in Genesis 6:9 “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.”  He had that kind of relationship with God, a close personal relationship where it can be said that he walked with God.

covenant with Noah

God comes to Noah, tells him his plan.  Gives Noah a commission.  Build me a boat, a big boat.   And Noah, being the man that he was, a faithful righteous man, accepted that commission and stood by it.  Nay-sayers, mockers and all, he kept his word to the Lord and built it. 

This commission was a covenant between Noah and God.  God made his promises…he would save the animals of the world and Noah and his whole family. Noah in response, would build the ark, working to complete it before it was needed. 

At the end of the flood, God remembered the people, opened up the ark and let them out.  Noah offered a sacrifice “And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.“

God promises not to do this again because… man’s heart is evil from his youth.   You know something, I KNOW the story of Noah but this verse is a revelation to me tonight.  God destroyed the people because of their evil hearts, but it didn’t work you know?  Man’s heart continues to be evil so God knows another way must be found to turn men’s hearts away from evil.   He knows it, so using a flood to enact judgement isn’t the answer. 

In Genesis 9 we learn the following from God

  • Man is made in God’s image and therefore is precious.
  • Mankind is to procreate, to fill the earth.
  • God won’t destroy mankind like this again. In fact he built in ways for them to be fed and sustained.

Then we get the rainbow, a highly recognizable promise from God.  We see it and remember God’s promise.  God sees it and remembers his covenant with us. 

covenant with Noah