A Father to orphans

1Hope4Africa-Mission Team and Muphamuzi Baby Home Opening!

The above links to a vimeo of the Muphamuzi Baby Home in South Africa that my friends Donovan & Heather Drew will soon be heading up. They've recently left Crossway Churh and Lancaster and will be traveling there in a few short months to lead this ministry to orphans in Donovan's home country.

What a privilege to watch God at work, and what amazing grace that he has saved us and allows us to participate in his work in this world.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."
(John 14:18 ESV)

The Word Became Flesh

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.... And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

- John 1:14-17

From A.W. Tozer's chapter on "The Love of God" in The Knowledge of the Holy:

God is love and God is sovereign. His love disposes Him to desire our everlasting welfare and His sovereignty enables Him to secure it.

The Goodness of God

The Knowledge of the Holy, pages 83-84:

The whole outlook of mankind might be changed if we could all believe that we dwell under a friendly sky and that the God of heaven, though exalted in power and majesty, is eager to be friends with us. 

But sin has made us timid and self-conscious, as well it might. Years of rebellion against God have bred in us a fear that cannot be overcome in a day. The captured rebel does not enter willingly the presence of the king he has so long fought unsuccessfully to overthrow. But if he is truly penitent he may come, trusting only in the loving-kindness of his Lord, and the past will not be held against him. . . .

From [Jesus] we learn how God acts toward people. The hypocritical, the basically insincere, will find Him cold and aloof, as they once found Jesus; but the penitent will find Him merciful; the self-condemned will find Him generous and kind. To the frightened He is friendly, to the poor in spirit He is forgiving, to the ignorant, considerate; to the weak, gentle; to the stranger, hospitable. . . .

The greatness of God rouses fear within us, but His goodness encourages us not to be afraid of Him. To fear and not be afraid - that is the paradox of faith. 

photo: Adam & Linda's wedding 5/17/09 

(sorry - small file)

Thankful In Suffering

Even as Thanksgiving approaches, today my heart was heavy with the suffering of others. The Lord gently reminded me and firmly grounded me through these words of A.W. Tozer (pg. 61-62):

But there is hope in all our tears. When the hour of Christ's triumph arrives, the suffering world will be brought out into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. . . . In the meantime we rest our hope in the only wise God, our Saviour, and wait with patience the slow development of His benign purposes. In spite of tears and pain and death we believe that the God who made us all is infinitely wise and good. . . . We rest in what God is. 

Come seizures, cancer, or old age, nothing can take away our sure hope in Christ. Even if our worse fear is realized, we can be thankful to the God who is infinitely wise and good in his dealings with us.

photo: Crossway Church property, November 7, 2010

He Knows All

From Tozer's chapter on "The Divine Omniscience", pg 57:

And to us who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us in the gospel, how unutterably sweet is the knowledge that our Heavenly Father knows us completely. No talebearer can inform on us, no enemy can make an accusation stick; no forgotten skeleton can come tumbling out of some hidden closet to abash us and expose our past; no unsuspected weakness in our characters can come to light to turn God away from us, since He knew us utterly before we knew Him and called us to Himself in the full knowledge of everything that was against us. "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee."

Our Father in heaven knows our frame and remembers that we are dust. He knew our inborn treachery, and for His own sake engaged to save us (Isa. 48:8-11). His only begotten Son, when He walked among us, felt our pains in their naked intensity of anguish. His knowledge of our afflictions and adversities is more than theoretic; it is personal, warm, and compassionate. Whatever may befall us, God knows and cares as no one else can.

Oh how wonderful! God knows the depths of my sin even more than I might ever know, and he still chose to love me. Knowing God more makes the gospel more and more precious and strengthens my faith for life.
I really appreciate that about reading this little book of Tozer's. He leads you in studying God and then often uncovers such rich gospel connections.

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? - Romans 8:33-35

photo: Sensenig Grandparents home, Thanksgiving 2007

He Never Changes

A.W. Tozer on the Immutability of God, (pages 53-54 of The Knowledge of the Holy):

What peace it brings to the Christian's heart to realize that our Heavenly Father never differs from Himself. In coming to Him at any time we need not wonder whether we shall find Him in a receptive mood. He is always receptive to misery and need, as well as to love and faith. He does not keep office hours nor set aside periods when He will see no one. Neither does He change His mind about anything. Today, this moment, He feels toward His creatures, toward babies, toward the sick. the fallen, the sinful, exactly as He did when He sent His only-begotten Son into the world to die for mankind. 

God never changes moods or cools off in His affections or loses enthusiasm. His attitude toward sin is now the same as it was when He drove out the sinful man from the eastward garden, and His attitude toward the sinner the same as when He stretched forth His hands and cried, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."   

Fountain of being! Source of Good!

Immutable Thou dost remain!

Nor can the shadow of a change

Obscure the glories of Thy reign.

Earth may with all her powers dissolve,

If such the great Creator will;

But Thou for ever art the same,

I AM is Thy memorial still.

From Walker's Collection

photo: the sky right after I got home from work today - 

these fall colors are amazing, but they elude the camera

God's Infinitude

Last night I read the following in a chapter called "God's Infinitude" in A.W. Tozer's The Knowledge of the Holy.

Because God's nature is infinite, everything that flows out of it is infinite also. We poor human creatures are constantly being frustrated by limitations imposed upon us from without and within. The days of the years of our lives are few, and swifter than a weaver's shuttle. Life is a short and fevered rehearsal for a concert we cannot stay to give. Just when we appear to have attained some proficiency we are forced to lay our instruments down. There is simply not time enough to think, to become, to perform what the constitution of our nature indicates we are capable of.
How completely satisfying to turn from our limitations to a God who has none.
. . .His love is measureless. It is more; it is boundless. It has no bounds because it is not a thing but a facet of the essential nature of God. His love is something he is, and because He is infinite that love can enfold the whole created world in itself and have room for ten thousand times ten thousand worlds beside.

This, this is the God we adore,

Our faithful, unchangeable Friend,

Whose love is as great as His power,

And neither knows measure nor end.

'Tis Jesus, the first and the last,

Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home;

We'll praise Him for all that is past,

And trust Him for all that's to come.

-Joseph Hart

Then this morning, I read the following in Philippians 4:5-7:

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

These are familiar verses, but the first five words really jumped out at me. They make all the difference! "The Lord is at hand!" The infinite God, who is beyond comprehension or measurement and has infinite love for me as well, he is at hand. He is the answer to the question, "why not be anxious?" The following sentences about not being anxious, praying, thanksgiving, peace beyond understanding, a heart and mind guarded in Christ, these are all the more powerful and encouraging precisely because "the Lord is at hand." What wonderful truth to be grounded in at the beginning of the day. Thank you, Father.

photo: Baltic Sea near Hamburg, Germany 2007