Good News!

The Good News! declares good news surrounds us! When your entire face wears a question mark and you look astonished, I respond, 

"Yeah, I'm just now discerning what the New Testament describes throughout its 27 New books. 

Really," you query?

"While I realize my assertion sometimes defies belief, it's still true," I insist.

"Are we talking about the same Book, the Holy Bible?"

"Yes! In fact, Good News wends and weaves its way through the 39 books of the Old Testament, also, creating a tapestry of what the old deacons in my childhood church would call "an uninterrupted Jubilee."

"No, sir! Really?!"

The only way you can deny this truth can only be because you haven't read it!"

"Well..."

 "Before I sound like a know-it-all blowhard, I'll admit; I haven't read them all, either."

"Whew! That's a relief, so why did you claim something you haven't done yourself?"

"Well, I did spend my formative years in my parent's church where I had to attend Sunday school; sit through Sunday morning worship services; participate in "Special Days" children's programs; attend vacation Bible school, and serve as an usher because I couldn't make the cut for junior choir membership.  Oh, and daddy served as Sunday school superintendent.  You know, stuff like that.  A little knowledge was bound to rub off!"

"I guess, but you sounded so certain."

"Oh, that? That pronouncement came from the "School of Hard Knocks," where I excelled.  I boast several degrees in Life 101, advanced studies in Tomfoolery and Wasted Time, and even as a professor emerita in life-altering venues.  Nothing was sustained, however, until I accidentally remembered a song we learned decades ago.

"Oh?

"In Sunday school or perhaps vacation Bible school, we memorized and sang,

"Count your blessings name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done."

"Oh, really? How's that?"

One of the first things I had to be willing to do was to acknowledge "my place."

"Your place? What do you mean?

"I had to tuck tail and admit my ignorance: I am not God, not the great "I Am!" I am not the Creator of Heaven and Earth.  I am merely His creation.  After all, of Adam it was written, "You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor" (Genesis 8:5, ESV). Which ain't too shabby!

"How difficult an admission was that to make?"

"If I hadn't been so ignorant and arrogant, it would have taken only a fraction of the decades it actually took." 

"What do you mean?"

Any good dictionary will define ignorance as a "Lack of knowledge." I wore ignorance well, not knowing how much I didn't know! Ignorance spawns gullibility and impoverishes the mind.  Maybe that's why the gift of discernment took ages to acquire.  Discernment came only with the father's advice in Proverbs (4:1 tPt), "Let discernment enter your heart and you will grow with the understanding I impart." 

One of my grandsons would opine, "You just believed your own publicity, Grandmother!"

Wisdom sojourned with me only after the same father advised, "So make wisdom your quest---search for it.  Stick with wisdom and she will stick with you" (tPt, v. 5,6).  Revelation knowledge came only after I finally realized I must ask God for it!

Arrogance, in contrast, becomes ugly and tiresome after ignorance skulks off. By then, though, it'd become a habit, nastier than smoking cigarettes. Not easily removed, arrogance reminds me of Lady Macbeth's lament, "Out, damned spot! Out, I say! Will all great Neptune's ocean wash the blood clean from my hand? No, this hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green red."

Acting as a 1-2 wallop, ignorance, and arrogance attracted a chorus of other untoward habits and resulted in the dominance of "Easing God Out," or the nefarious ego.  I remained unaware of the damage my ego wreaked for long stretches of time. I'd get glimpses of light, quickly shrouded in a smug "I-Know-What's-Best-Itis."  attitude. Until the Jehovah of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whom numerous Sunday school teachers introduced and reintroduced to me, came alive in my mind, soul, and spirit!

"That must've been powerful!"

I saw it as more humbling than masterful, and I still do.  Once I recognized and humbled myself under the sovereignty of God, my life made sense.  I no longer expected to handle everything that happened or to orchestrate outcomes!

"You don't have to worry and don't you be afraid
Joy comes in the morning,  troubles they don't last always
For there's a friend in Jesus, who will wipe your tears away
And if your heart is broken, just lift your hands and say,
I know that I can make it
I know that I can stand
No matter what may come my way
My life is in Your hands." 

g