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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“This is what the Lord says to His
anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of. I am the Lord, and there
is no other; apart from Me there is no God, so that from the rising of the sun to
the place of its setting people may know there is none besides Me. I am the
Lord, and there is no other.”
Isaiah 45:1a,
5a, 6
This ends this
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
An annoying e-mail popped into my
personal e-mail account the other day. You know the kind of e-mail I am talking
about right? Those e-mails from no one you know about a topic that you have no
interest in. We even have a name for these kinds of worthless inbox intrusions.
We call them spam.
Ok, back to the story. This e-mail
was in my inbox and instead of a person name in the “From” block, it simply
said this:
“FREE TAROT READING”
There were just a few words showing
that served as a review of the text attached to the e-mail without me having to
open it. And of course, those words basically said I had been selected to
receive a free tarot card reading, something I had absolutely no interest in as
you would imagine.
Have you ever heard of tarot card
reading? I’ve never done one but I did some research and basically, the cards
are supposed to help someone get in touch with their “higher self”. Readings
take one of two forms. One type is when you have a specific question you want
the answer to or some decision you are trying to make in which case the cards are
supposed to help guide you to find answers to your question or make the “right”
choice. The other type is open ended as the person is looking for information
about their life, possibly seeking direction on a job or marriage or starting a
family. The cards are supposed to help one gain insight into the way they
should go.
Of course, tarot cards aren’t the
only mechanisms many people use to try and understand what they should do or
what their future holds. There are fortune tellers, psychics, and horoscopes
that are options for people to choose from. Just as in anything else in life,
the world has a whole menu of offerings to help us figure things out.
Too bad that none of them are
legitimate.
You see, nothing outside of the
Lord matters. He is the Maker and Creator of all things, and it is He and He
alone who ordains matters in life. There is no other god before Him and
certainly no human being or any writing or card set can do what He can do. The
Lord stands alone and He told us as much. Look at our scripture today in this
fifth devotion on things that the Lord has said:
“This is what the Lord says to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand
I take hold of. I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from Me there is no
God, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may
know there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:1a, 5a, 6
As we have seen in the four
devotions prior to this, the Lord is primarily focusing His words on King Cyrus
of Persia who He selected to overthrow the Babylonian empire and facilitate the
return of the Israelites, God’s chosen people, to Judah and Jerusalem to
rebuild. However, when the Lord speaks, He is speaking loudly to us as well,
revealing things about Himself and His relationship with us that we would be
foolish to overlook. In today’s passage, the message from the Lord is loud and
clear.
“I am the Lord and there is no other.”
There is no one we should rely on
except the Lord and the Lord alone. He is the divine Provider of all wisdom and
guidance, a wisdom and guidance that is perfect and without error. When we need
to make a decision, we only need to turn to the Lord and He will; tell us what
to do. Why do we need a deck of cards or a human being or a writing based on
our Zodiac sign? And when it comes to what direction our life needs to go in,
we only need to seek the Lord’s will and way. When we ask, He will reply and
all we need do is respond in obedience. The Lord will always lead you to the
place He wants you to be and put things in motion in your life so that His
purposes are achieved and He is glorified and magnified as a result.
You see, in the matter of all these
worldly, hocus-pocus offerings, the object of interest is the person seeking
guidance. It’s all about themselves. But when we turn to the only legitimate
source of help we have, the Lord God Almighty, then the object becomes Him. He
is our focus. We respond and react in accordance to His wishes and desires, not
our own. And frankly, that’s the way it should be. He is the Lord and we are
not. Our only proper response to Him is one of humble submission and absolute
trust.
Friends, it’s time we fully placed
our faith and hope where it belongs, in the one and only Lord, the One who can
do all things, the One who keeps every promise perfectly, the One who is the
sole source of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. All we need do is turn to
Him in times of need for when we do, we do so with the assurance that He is
always there and ready to answer our call.
We don’t need an e-mail to know
that.
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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