Dr H Reflections

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I’m always losing something

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. – Luke 19:10

Luke 15:4-6

 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?”

 5 “And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.”

 6 “When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’”

I ran into one of my friends the other day. She was wearing a lanyard around her neck with her cell phone on it and a little sign that said, “I’m a loser.” In order not to misplace her cell phone she kept it on the lanyard. It seems that are we always misplacing or losing stuff: car keys, credit cardholders, our cell phones, even various pieces of clothing such as caps and coats. But in our modern technological world, there is an answer.

Enter the digital world of “Find Tiles.” Little flat tiles are used to tag things that always seem to be running off and hiding from us. They can be attached to or hidden in your cell phone, keys, credit cardholder, a purse, even a loved one or pet. They are battery-operated and send out a signal. To find what is missing and tagged with a “Find Tile,” simply ask Alexa or Google, or use a computer or cell phone.

The Father has a similar tracking system. In eternity past, each of His sheep was lovingly and individually named and tagged.

Isaiah 49:16 See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.

This obvious anthropomorphism is intended to illustrate that the Father, not only knows our names but has “written” them on the palms of His hands. It is intentionally graphic and intended to demonstrate that the Father will never forget us.

We are all born into this life lost. The Good Shepherd seeks His own until they are found and He calls them to Himself.

A good shepherd is willing to go to any length to find, care for, and protect his sheep. In the first century A.D., each shepherd would have a distinctive call that only his sheep knew. When his sheep heard his call, they would come to him. Other sheep would not.

When shepherds wanted to go into a town or village, they would place their sheep in a common fold with other sheep. To retrieve his sheep from the flock, the shepherd had only to make his distinctive call. Only his sheep would come forward to him, the rest would stay in the flock.

John 10:2-5

 2 But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.

 5 They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

This is the back story of a remarkable and beautiful promise that the Lord Jesus Christ made.

John 10:27-29

 27 My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, and

 29 for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. In an

What is the call of the Good Shepherd? It is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. When His sheep hear the gospel, it has a deep impact and they are drawn to the message. Ultimately, they come to Him and are given eternal life

It is wonderful to know and remember, because of the Father’s great love for us, the Lord Jesus Christ never stops looking until we are found. He will pursue us until He “finds” us.

REFLECT & PRAY

The Father and the Son will always pursue those that belong to them until they are found.

Father I readily acknowledge that once I was lost, a very lost sheep. One day I heard Your voice calling me and I came to You. But sadly, even now I tend to wander off. And again, and again You come looking for me, swoop be up in Your loving arms and bring me home.

INSIGHT

When the Father created sheep, it may well have been right after He created owls. Perhaps the wisdom jug and was a bit depleted. Apparently, sheep got the leftovers. Although some modern research challenges this idea. In general, those who take care of sheep and find them to be, “not just stupid but mind-numbingly stupid.”

Even though we have come to the Good Shepherd and have been given eternal life as our present possession, never to be lost, we still have the temperament of sheep. We tend to wander off. In the words of Robert Robinson, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love” (1757).

Isaiah 53:6 All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on his own path,

We are continuously in desperate need of a shepherd to care for us, protect us, and find us when we wander off. The Father is our loving Shepherd. When we stray, we can be certain He will come looking for us. When He finds us, He is excited and joyful. He tells everyone, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!” (Luke 15:6)

Each time the Father finds us, He offers us a new beginning.

Many would say that the best part of the journey, is not the places we go and see, but rather returning home. There is a poignant, pleasant joy to being where we belong, that is, being home.

For the children of the King, heaven is their permanent home. Although we have never been there, we know He has prepared a place for us. It is a place of joy and gladness. It is a happy place. It is the ultimate safe place. And we will dwell there forever our loving Shepherd King.

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Money does stupid and wacky things

Hebrews 13:5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”

Psalms 119:35-40

 35 Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found.

 36 Give me an eagerness for your laws rather than a love for money!

 37 Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word.

 38 Reassure me of your promise, made to those who fear you.

 39 Help me abandon my shameful ways; for your regulations are good.

 40 I long to obey your commandments! Renew my life with your goodness.

One of the unexpected side effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic was an accumulation of large sums of money in the bank accounts of those people who kept their jobs and had nothing to spend it on. Apparently, money can be very much like highly energetic people. It prefers to be very active and involved rather than just lay around and gather interest. What would all this money do? “The money has nowhere to go so it’s doing stupid things” (Howard Lindzon). Money learned to do stupid tricks (Erin Griffith).

A buying frenzy erupted. In March 2021, a Tom Brady trading card sold for a record $1.3 million. A piece of digital artwork, by a previously almost unknown artist known as Beeple, sold it Christie’s for $69.3 million after bids started at just $100. Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, topped $1 trillion in value.

Of course, money learned or did nothing. Money is not alive and sentient. Rather, the people who possess it are the culprits. Bored, sheltered at home people finally burst out. Investment manias of all types, many unheard of, exploded. People’s hearts follow their treasures. But what do these people treasure the most?

Solomon had this worked out 3000 years ago. He provided great insight and wisdom for all to absorb and consider.

Ecclesiastes 5:10-15

 10 Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!

 11 The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth – except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!

 12 People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep.

 13 There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver.

 14 Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children.

 15 We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us.

REFLECT & PRAY

“Money in itself is neither good nor bad, but the love of it may lead to evil. With it, people may selfishly serve their own desires . . .. Money is not itself an evil, but it is a great responsibility. It has power for good and power for evil” (Barclay).

Father, help me to be wise with my priorities. Encourage me to treasure what You treasure. Help me to align my heart so that my greatest treasure is my love for You and Your precious Word.

INSIGHT

Treasuring money, wealth, and material things puts us at odds with the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ laid out an immutable principle. It informs all that we do.

Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

A remnant of children of the King has an obvious heartfelt love for the Word of God. This is the natural byproduct of having a heartfelt love and close intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

When our treasure is not in accord with what the Father wants us to treasure, how do we repurpose our hearts? Where does it all begin?

When a new child of the King asked this question, he was advised to spend time in the Word of God every day and pray that he would fall in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. Remarkably and wonderfully after several months, this began to happen.

Most all of us know what it is like to be in love with another person. Our heart leaps as we think of them. We can hardly wait to be with them. We often get emotional and tear up. Our overflowing joy cannot be contained.

What is it like to be in love, truly in love with the Lord Jesus Christ? Imagine the sheer joy and thrill. And wonder of wonders, every child of the King can fall in love with Him.

Have you ever considered or imagined what it would be like to have a passion and a heartfelt love for the Word of God itself? This is more than a desire for the pure milk or the delight of tasting and consuming it. It is so much more than that. It is the thrill, the sheer pleasure of being in love with the Father’s precious Word.

1 Peter 2:2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk . . .. Cry out for this nourishment,

Psalms 119:103 How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey.

Consider honey for a moment. Honey is marvelously manufactured solely by industrious honeybees from raw nectar. Besides its sweetness, it has many remarkable qualities, some of which have only been discovered by modern nutritionists. Honey contains an array of antioxidants and antibacterial and antifungal properties. Honey is healing and soothing. It boosts immunity to destructive elements present in the natural world.

The Word of God far exceeds honey in all of these areas and so much more.

We always have a choice as to what we treasure. But in other terms, we control our priorities. For now, it is best to reconsider our priorities and ask the Father to search our hearts to reveal our hidden sins lurking there. The downside is clearly spelled out.

1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true and with many sorrows.

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Satisfying routine monotony ∙

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is to fear God and keep His commandments because this applies to every person. – Ecclesiastes 12:13

Hebrews 12:1-3

 1 Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Two rather lethargic high school dullards stumbled into their classroom before the other students arrived. There written on the blackboard was one word: A P A T H Y.

One turned to the other and said, “what does that mean?”

The other answered, “who cares?”

The times in which we live are filled with great concern for the future and the well-being of our families and society. Yet, at the same time, there is excessive withdrawal, isolation, and apathy.

The Father in His wisdom and foresight, led Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, to write Ecclesiastes. It examines the futility of life, despair, and apathy. It is depressive yet ends with great optimism presenting the Father’s blueprint for experiencing ultimate meaning and purpose. “Thus, the dominant mood of the book is pessimism, but the author, Solomon, was no pessimist, cynic, or skeptic as some critics have claimed” (Glenn). His search succeeds. He reveals the answer he discovered in the final chapter. Solomon expresses his faith and confidence in the Father. 

Because of the largely pessimistic tone of the book, Ecclesiastes is often passed over and neglected. What a tragic mistake!

It does not present Truth, in a traditional sense. Rather it presents the search for truth. It is a mental journey. To get to the truth requires contemplation, patience, and a bit of reverse engineering. It is not about simply believing and accepting Solomon’s thoughts and conclusions. Rather, to glean Solomon’s wisdom requires recognizing and identifying with Solomon’s stream of consciousness and thought process. He invites the reader to enter into his thought process and follow along.

Ecclesiastes chronicles Solomon’s blind, yet systematic search for meaning and purpose in the world and culture in which he lived. He experiments with everything he can get his hands on to no avail. “Ecclesiastes could be accurately described as a report on the failed quest for eternal life” (Garrett). Solomon demonstrates the futility of “all human effort to provide any real meaning, value, or significance to their lives ‘under the sun’ and to drive them to trust in God alone” (Glenn). Nothing on earth satisfies the deep hunger and thirst of his soul, spirit, and mind. No created thing provides what he was seeking. That is Solomon’s intent.

Life without the Father just does not “work,” even if one can manage to accumulate wealth, fame, popularity, and power (Stanley).

However, after years of wandering in the wilderness of despair, confusion, and disillusionment, applying due diligence and contemplation, Solomon finally discovers what brings meaning and purpose to life on planet Earth. He emerges triumphantly confident. He expresses his credo regarding the purpose of life as follows.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 When all is said and done, here is my final conclusion: revere God and observe his commands, this is everyone’s duty.

REFLECT & PRAY

Ecclesiastes speaks volumes to our increasingly secular, pagan society and the negative miasmas of our times.

Father, it is so easy to be discouraged, encourage me to persevere knowing that the final destination is to revere You and follow Your instructions.

INSIGHT

Ecclesiastes is one man’s journey seeking meaning and satisfaction. But Solomon’s search for understanding goes on chapter after chapter as though he is an atheist. His search does not include or take advantage of the knowledge provided by the Father. His efforts demonstrate that without the Father and His perspective, life has no meaning. His frequent refrain is “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).

Other translations put it like this:

“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” (NLT).

“Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher, “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!” (NET).

Solomon’s search to find satisfaction in life ended magnificently. Ecclesiastes reconstructs his quest from the vantage point of one who finally found the answers! The search itself chronicles frustration, contradiction, and a jumble of dead ends. Ecclesiastes recreates his agonizing and exasperating journey with all of the angst involved. Is it sad, conflicted, and often contradictory.

His approach is to present his ideas and musings in such a way to allow others to identify with him. The book is intentionally gritty and keeps the reader on edge.

The Ecclesiastes opens with the writer complaining about the endless cycles of daily human life as futile and meaningless.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.

Life is full of tasks, that once done are never really done. They have to be repeated over and over again. Some are routine and simple; others are sheer drudgery and distasteful. It only takes a bit of visualization and imagination to recall to mind onerous repetitive tasks one has endured.

Is there any beauty or fulfillment to be found in mundane, monotonous routines? Consider Paul’s words to the Colossians.

Colossians 3:23-24

 23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather for people.

 24 Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.

To realize this in our lives requires a perspective transformation. While the apostle Paul is talking about the first-century servants in a traditional sense, the principles apply to present-day employees. As children of the King, we should strive to be the best workers in our companies. We should follow guidelines and not argue. We do not simply serve our boss, but also the Lord Jesus Christ. Our ultimate reward comes not from our earthly boss but rather from the Lord Jesus Christ (Wiersbe).  

Ecclesiastes 12:14 God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

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About time to act ∙

God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He saw the people of Israel and knew it was time to act. – Exodus 2:24-25

Galatians 4:4-5

 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,

 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology showed that the things we remember get better with age. How is that exactly? It is known that older individuals tend to regulate their emotions more effectively than those who are younger.

The participants were divided into three groups by age: 18-29, 41-53, and 65-80. In the study, they were shown three sets of images: positive, negative, and neutral. Then they tested the participants on their recall and recognition of the images.

Older adults recalled and recognized fewer negative images relative to positive and neutral ones. Although both the younger and older participants spent more time viewing the negative images, however only the younger group remembered them better. The conclusion reached was that while negative things happen to older adults, they don’t dwell on them (Psychology Today, Anne Becker).

When the Father remembers something, what does the word remember mean?

When the Old Testament says that the Father remembers someone or He remembers His promise to someone, it has a totally different connotation than what we might think.

The Father knows all things all the time, He never learns anything, and He never forgets anything. He has not been unaware, forgetful, or unconcerned. He is not suddenly overcome by forgetfulness. Nor does the Father respond impulsively or rashly.

When the Father “remembers” it’s not about the recollection of something temporarily forgotten, but rather simply recalling it to mind. When He remembers something or someone, He puts it on center stage and focuses on it.

But there’s more!

When the Father remembers someone, it’s not merely a mental activity. He remembers so that He might act on behalf of those remembered. Thus, embedded in the action of remembering is getting ready to act. He is preparing to fulfill His commitments and promises to those remembered.

The Hebrew verb translated remember is zakar. Zakar is typically translated remember and has the sense to recall knowledge from memory or have a recollection. However, it has a special significance when used regarding the Father. He does not merely remember, but remembering implies that He will take the appropriate action. “God’s remembrance of his covenant results in delivering his people (Exodus 2:24) or in preserving them (Leviticus 26:44-45)” (TWOT).

The Scriptures provide a record of the activity of the Father in human history. The Father intervenes at various times to carry out His purposes.

The sequence which is revealed is quite straightforward. The Father promises and then the Father waits. At the appropriate time, the Father remembers and acts.

Regarding the events of the Exodus, the Father waited for the proper time and now He is about to take action. He is ready to fulfill His promises.

He spent 80 years preparing Moses for service. “Moses was 40 years in Egypt learning something; he was 40 years in the desert learning to be nothing, and he was 40 years in the wilderness proving God to be everything” (Ryken and Hughes).

Among other things, the Father enrolled Moses in a special anger management program. His classmates were sheep. Graduation day came when Moses saw the burning bush on the mountain. On Mount Sinai, Moses met the Father, and the rest was history.

REFLECT & PRAY

The Father is never in a hurry, but He is always on time.

Father, it seems that I am frequently in a hurry and rarely on time. This needs to change. Help me to recognize that You are controlling all of the events in my life. You have both a plan and a timetable.

INSIGHT

The Father promises then waits. The fabric of His plan is complex and filled with multitudes of people, places, and circumstances that all must be in place to set the stage for His irruption into the timeline of human history.

Galatians 4:4 When the right time came, God sent his Son

Before the foundation of the world, the Father had appointed a time and a place for His Son to come into the world. At just the right time, the fullness of time, the appointed time the Lord Jesus Christ came. It could not have come a moment sooner.

During the first century, the Roman Empire controlled the known world. It brought relative peace (Pax Romana) and stability. Greek had become an international language. An extensive “interstate highway system” had been developed, the Roman Way. It provided safe and rapid travel. Travel by water via the Mediterranean Sea added another layer of the rapid, relatively safe movement of people and information.

As a result, when the gospel was proclaimed, it spread rapidly throughout the known world and beyond. This was not a coincidence. It was planned.

“From the historical point of view, the Roman Empire itself helped prepare the world for the birth of the Savior. Roads connected city with city, and all cities ultimately with Rome. Roman laws protected the rights of citizens, and Roman soldiers guarded the peace. Thanks to both the Greek and Roman conquests, Latin and Greek were known across the empire. Christ’s birth at Bethlehem was not an accident; it was an appointment: Jesus came in ‘the fullness of the time.’ (And, it is worth noting, that He will come again when the time is ready)” (Wiersbe).

God is at work all the time. All the time God is at work. Perhaps it is once again about time for the Father to act.

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Junk food

Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food. – Isaiah 55:2

1 Peter 2:2-3

 2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment,

 3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.

A typical American diet is chock-full of unhealthy foods high in calories from sugar or fat. Such foods have little dietary fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, or other nutritional elements. These items have been labeled as junk food. A synonymous term is HFSS foods (high in fat, salt, and sugar).

Junk food has no precise definition and things change over time. Most junk food is highly processed food. Even high-protein foods, like meat or fish when prepared with saturated fat, may be considered junk food. Fast food or fast-food restaurants are often seen as the poster child for junk food.

There are many concerns regarding the negative health effects of consuming junk food, particularly obesity and diabetes, memory and learning problems, even depression. Many public health awareness campaigns and restrictions on advertising are part of a national effort to improve the health of the American people.

But what about spiritual junk food? So often this is overlooked by children of the King. We consume it without thinking.

“It is no secret that Christ’s Church is not at all in good health in many places of the world. She has been languishing because she has been fed, as the current line has it, ‘junk food;’ all kinds of artificial preservatives and all sorts of unnatural substitutes have been served up to her” (Walter Kaiser).

As a result, Kaiser notes that theological and biblical malnutrition has “afflicted the very generation that has taken such giant steps to make sure its physical health is not damaged by using foods or products that are carcinogenic or otherwise harmful to their bodies.” How ironic!

We spend money on food that does not provide strength or benefit. Our paltry spiritual food also is also of little value. We must seek to raise the bar and reject junk food. We start by craving the pure milk of the word. The pure unadulterated milk of the word is the antithesis of spiritual junk food. Each child of the King should intensely desire it.

The Greek word translated crave, yearn, or long is epipotheo. Epipotheo literally means to “long for.” It expresses an intense, passionate, strong desire for something. Thus it has the sense, “to be thirsty always for spiritual milk, in the same way that newborn babies are always thirsty for their mother’s milk” (UBS).

Take away: as newborn babes cry for milk, every child of the King should long for the word of God (Black & Black).

REFLECT & PRAY

The pure milk of the word is not just for babies. All children of the King, young or old in the faith should thirst for the Word of God in the same way that infants cry for milk.

Father, I pray that I will continually crave the pure milk of Your Word and settle for nothing less.

INSIGHT

When we consume spiritual junk food, it leaves us weak and spiritually flabby. Our hearts and souls suffer from malnutrition and spiritual malaise. We become spiritually dull. We can hear but we do not seem to listen and cannot take in solid food.

Hebrews 5:11-14

 11 . . . And you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.

 12 You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.

 13 For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right.

 14 Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

Just as there is a normal pattern for early childhood development, so there is a normal pattern for spiritual development. The children of the King to whom the Book of Hebrews was written were suffering from a tragic case of arrested development. “As a result, they were now ‘dull of hearing;’ that is, unable to listen to the Word, receive it, and act on it” (Wiersbe).

Because their spiritual diet was inadequate, they were not properly nourished. Although enough time has passed, they never got past the basics. They were unable to make progress toward maturity. Further, there was additional collateral damage. They slipped back. They had forgotten what they had learned. Instead of being teachers of the truth, they needed teachers of the truth to come and teach them all over again.

Spiritual health is analogous to physical health. For muscles to perform properly, they have to be exercised. When they are, they stay strong, flexible, and functional. But without exercise, muscles atrophy and become weak, and lack muscle tone. When our spirit is not properly exercised, it becomes feeble.

Chronologically they were no longer baby believers. But they retrogressed and now they were functioning like infants. They could no longer eat solid food and had to return to milk.

Spiritual junk food has the same deleterious effect on almost anyone who consumes it.

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