Isaiah 54:4-10

The Message paraphrases it like this:

Don't be afraid—you're not going to be embarrassed. 
   Don't hold back—you're not going to come up short.
You'll forget all about the humiliations of your youth, 
   and the indignities of being a widow will fade from memory.
For your Maker is your bridegroom, 
   his name, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
Your Redeemer is The Holy of Israel, 
   known as God of the whole earth.
You were like an abandoned wife, devastated with grief, 
   and God welcomed you back,
Like a woman married young 
   and then left," says your God. 

 Your Redeemer God says:

   "I left you, but only for a moment.
   Now, with enormous compassion, I'm bringing you back.
In an outburst of anger I turned my back on you—
   but only for a moment.
It's with lasting love
   that I'm tenderly caring for you.

 "This exile is just like the days of Noah for me:
   I promised then that the waters of Noah
   would never again flood the earth.
I'm promising now no more anger,
   no more dressing you down.
For even if the mountains walk away
   and the hills fall to pieces,
My love won't walk away from you,
   my covenant commitment of peace won't fall apart."
   The God who has compassion on you says so.

I serve a God who has so faithfully served me, even when I do not deserve it!

And He made the stars also... (Gen 1:16) Hubble's 21st B-Day

Hubble Telescope Pictures

It is apparently the Hubble Telescope's 21st anniversary.  It has been taking pictures of God's artistic craftsmanship now for 21 years.  I was blown away when I looked at these eleven pictures and really wanted to share them and some Bible passages that coincide with their beauty.

Psalm 8:3-4

 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
         The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 
    What is man that You take thought of him,
         And the son of man that You care for him?

Psalm 136:8-9

The sun to rule by day,
         For His lovingkindness is everlasting, 
    The moon and stars to rule by night,
         For His lovingkindness is everlasting. 

Psalm 147:3-5

He heals the brokenhearted
         And binds up their wounds.
    He counts the number of the stars;
         He gives names to all of them.
    Great is our Lord and abundant in strength;
         His understanding is infinite.

Psalm 148:2-4

Praise Him, all His angels;
         Praise Him, all His hosts! 
    Praise Him, sun and moon;
         Praise Him, all stars of light! 
    Praise Him, highest heavens,
         And the waters that are above the heavens!

Isaiah 40:25-27

 "To whom then will you liken Me

         That I would be his equal?" says the Holy One. 
    Lift up your eyes on high
         And see who has created these stars,
         The One who leads forth their host by number,
         He calls them all by name;
         Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,
         ^(F)Not one of them is missing. 
    Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel,
         "My way is hidden from the LORD,
         And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God"?

Isaiah 31:35

Thus says the LORD,
         Who gives the sun for light by day
         And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
         Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar;
         The LORD of hosts is His name: 

Luke 21:25

There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves...

D. L. Moody and His Simple/Profoundness pt. 1

I wrote "part one" in the title because I am just now discovering how simple and wise this man was, and suppose I'll be writing more of him in the future.  He was nothing but a shoe salesman until God captured him.  Google this guy.  The Moody Bible Institute is a great school, but Dwight did much more than found MBI.  He did much more greater things.  It was under Dwight's preaching when he traveled to England that Oswald Chambers felt the Gospel call.  Here is an excerpt from D. L. Moody's sermon entitled "Shall We Meet Our Loved Ones Again?"

We shall not sink into annihilation. Christ rose from the dead to give us a pledge of our own rising. The resurrection is the great antidote for death. Nothing else can take its place. Riches, genius, worldly pleasures or pursuits, none can bring us consolation in the dying hour.

"All my possessions for a moment of time," cried Queen Elizabeth when dying.

"I have provided in the course of my life for everything except death, and now, alas! I am to die unprepared" were the last words of Cardinal Borgia.

Compare with these the last words of one of the early disciples: "I am weary. I will now go to sleep. Good night!" He had the sure hope of awaking in a brighter land.

At the Battle of Inkerman a soldier was just able to crawl to his tent after he was struck down. When found, he was lying upon his face, his open Bible before him, his hand glued fast to the page by his life blood which covered it.

When his hand was lifted, the letters of the printed page were clearly traced upon it; and with the ever-living promise in and on his hand, they laid him in a soldier's grave. The words were: "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."

I want a religion that can comfort even in death, that can unite me with my loved ones. Oh, what gloom and darkness would settle upon this world if it were not for the glorious doctrine of the resurrection! Thank God, the glorious morning will soon break. For a little while God asks us to be the watchtower, faithful to Him and waiting for the summons. Soon our Lord will come to receive His own, whether they be living or dead.