He will wipe every tear from your eyes.

The bible says “The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable” I would contend that the lips of the righteous know what God has in store. Today at work I was speaking to one of my coworkers about a tribe in Africa that when someone experiences a lost the whole tribe  circumscribes her or him and cries with them; their pain becomes part of the community, and everyone works to help them through their struggles, help them cry right through their pain.

Oh how powerful it is to know that someone is there for you crying not because of their personal suffering, but because of your suffering, in anguish because  you are in anguish, hurting because of your lost.
When I got home from work I signed on to FaceBook  and one of my new friends had posted how difficult it was dealing with the lost of a significant other. I just like him have a hard time dealing with the lost of someone I care for. However even though it seams I’m never one for a lost of words, I knew there were no words that would make the pain go away.

 This evening after church I got a phone call, the son of one of our members was in a tragic accident. I could not wait to get home because I know this was one of those times when God himself All Mighty wanted me to pray. However just moments later I got a second call, he was dead.

 My mind wandered back to the earlier conversation about the tribe in Africa which boar the pains of its members and I began to think of our Lord Jesus Christ who willing boar our punishment of our sins. And because my Master Christ Jesus took it upon himself to be wounded for my transgression, bruised for my iniquities the weight of my sins are not as heavy.

Oh how wonderful it would be if I could cry the family through their pain on the strength of my prayers. If I could just pray to the point of tears for someone else not just rehearse a quadrangle of spiritual gibber jabber but really be moved by my own prayers for them. What value are my prayers if I am not moved by them, how do I expect God to move because of my prayers?  So with clouded eyes I pray;

Oh heavenly Father,

In the name of my Master Christ Jesus I come to you in prayer, that you may comfort this family in this time of bereavement. Lord Jesus, You stood and the door of the grave and cried when Lazarus died, so I know you know the sorrow and I know you know the pain that this family is going through. Wrap them in the bosom of your peace, strengthen them by the power of Your Holy Spirit; Comfort them in their time of need. 

Now Father if there is anything that You would have me to do for them, if there is anyone that You would send in their time of pain, than I am here, send me.

In my life I can not imagine the pain that a mother has when she hears her child has died, nor the sorrow of a father to see his son die in his own arms.  what pain for a new mother that has to tell her children "Daddy is never coming home"I know that all things You work for the good of those who love You, But I just don’t understand why the pain has to come, why the tears, why the sorrow and death. 

I pray Heavenly Father that you will strengthen the whole family in their faith, let not this bereavement cause them to wander from the hope of Your Salvation. Give them the strength to know that his is just a moment is Your plan. Give them the confidence to know  That you have set a time when You will wipe all their tears from their eyes, that there will be no more death, no more mourning no more crying no more pain because these thing of the past are gone forever.

In the Name of Him who is able to wipe away my tears
Jesus Christ I pray, Amen

Your Brother In Christ

Soli Deo Gloria 

The Immutability of God

Man seldom sees the need to ponder, meditate, or contemplate on the Immutability of God. This attribute of God is if nothing else the most difficult for man to understand because for the most part man measures God's Immutability with His relationships with man. However this very act is foolish because That which is Eternally Infinite can not be subjected to that which is mutable and limited. 

When we think of The Immutability of God what goes through most people mind is that God never changes. This prima-facie  thought, though limited is absolutely true. However, there exist within the concept of immutability much more then that. 

When we say that God never changes ( is immutable) what we mean is that God never changes in His Essence, God never changes in His Attributes, and God never changes in His counsel.  However changing and mutability is not necessarily the same thing. For instant a change can occur in an individual without that individual ever  Himself changing.

For instant a man can be a father, then without ever doing anything himself he can become a grandfather. Amazingly when this type of change occurs, even though he became a grandfather, at the same time he remains a father, this is why we say that God does not change in his essence, or his attributes, or his counsel or will. Those things that make up who He is, what He looks like or what is his will.  lets take a minute to look at these three.

1. The Essence of God's Immutability The essence of God is the same it has always been, God did not at some time improve, mature or grow, God is what He has always been and always will be. Mal 3:6 says "I am the Lord I change not" When Moses asked God his name so that he might tell the Children of Jacob. God simply affirmed his eternal-self-ness (I coined that expression myself) and answered Hayah Asher Hayah (I am that I am) which is all the limited mind of Moses (or any of us for that matter, could comprehend. 
   
2. The Attributes of God’s Immutability The very qualities that God had when He fashioned all that there is,( the universe) are precisely the same qualities as they are right now and tomorrow.  God's Power is unabated (unrelenting, unyielding, without losing any original force or violence) God's wisdom is undiminished (not reduced or lessened, plenary, thorough ), God's holiness is untainted (not tarnished, contaminated, or polluted, immaculate, impeccable, pure ) and His mercy endureth forever (Psalm 100:5)
   
   
3. The Counsel of God’s Immutability So you will say “Don’t start with me, what about Genesis 6:6?” I could argue with Numbers 23:19 or even 1 Samuel 15:29 or even Romans 11:29 which seems in complete contrast to Genesis 6:6. So are the scriptures contradicting themselves? God forbid! Genesis 6:6 addresses God's action in relationship to the corruption of man, the other addresses God actions in relationship to the righteous desire of man toward God. No this is not a play with words let me try to explain.
   
   Genesis 6:6 is an anthropomorphism, in this case it is a way man explains an action of God by using the limited understanding of man.  For instant 38 times the Bible uses the expression "the hand of the Lord" but everyone of us understand this anthropomorphism to mean not God's physical hand but his spiritual covering.  the other passages listed all fall in line with a God whose will ( counsel)  is immutable.

  Why God must be Immutable?

1. In order for something to change there must be a time when it was one way and a different point in time when it was not, however God lives outside of time there was never a point when God was not, nor any time to come when God will not be ( Read the Eternalness of God) therefore God is Immutable on the strength of His eternalness



2. In order for there to be a change a thing (the object of the change) must be added to, or something taken from it, that object of change must get better or it must get worst. But God is Perfect and Complete without Blemish having nothing which can be added to God nor can anything which can be taken from God. Therefore God is Immutable on the strength of His self-sufficiency



3. When something or someone changes his or her mind it is because there is some new information which resulted from a situation that was not known before. But God is Omniscient (All Knowing) there is no new situation which God does not already know the outcome. So when the Bible speaks of God changing His mind (Genesis 6:6) we must remember it is not God which changes but the situation that changes or better yet man which deviates from the intent of God's will. However, God lives outside of time, space, and matter, knowing all that is and all that is to come has already accounted for all the possibilities of man's fall and therefore remains constant in his intent. in this we see that God is immutable on the strength of Omniscience.

Your Brother In Christ

Soli Deo Gloria

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