I HAVE MY EYE ON YOU!

March 28, 2017 | lindamowles

I love going to the orchard and shopping at the farm store – getting apples directly from the orchard is wonderful. I always bring home a wide variety of apples, with all the differences in flavors and textures that await the first bite!

Carvers orchard 10-2016 - 3 — Carver’s Orchard – Tree loaded with apples!

I thought it would be fun to make applesauce. So, one day when my young grandson was at the house, I enlisted his help in preparing the apples. He used the peeler/corer/slicer, turning the handle while the apple rotated through the various blades that accomplished their purpose – this resulted in making the apple ready for the pot much faster than if we had done it by hand with a paring knife.

When one of the apples was completed, and it had stayed in one sliced piece – similar to a slinky – he took it and peered through the center hole saying: “Grammy, I have my eye on you.” I responded “I see you too!”

Apple - helper saying I have my eye on you — Looking through the slinky apple!

That little exchange reminded me of many scriptures in which God speaks of seeing us and, also its inverse, where we are reminded to look and see that which God has done. The Israelites were reminded that they had seen God’s work on their behalf and they should remember that and follow God with all their heart, mind and soul:

“For your eyes have seen all the great work of the LORD that he did.”

Deuteronomy 11:7 ESV

Then there are times when those of faith have asked that God would open other’s eyes. When Elisha and his servant were in the hills, surrounded by the enemy, the servant was fearful.

“Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

2 Kings 6:17 ESV. Elisha had faith because He knew God. He knew that there was no reason to be fearful because God had His angels surrounding them, protecting them, securing them for further work for His kingdom. After the servant’s eyes were opened, he too saw the protection and no longer feared as before. The servant could have said that which David said in the psalms:

“But my eyes are toward you, O GOD, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless!”

Psalm 141:8 ESV

The security referenced by David is not limited to the Old Testament times. Our security in the Lord is reaffirmed in the New Testament when we are reminded that God sees His children and responds to their prayers.

“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

1 Peter 3:12 ESV

Of course, we also have the scripture telling us about Jesus’ healing the blind as He went through the villages and cities during His ministry. See Matthew 20:30-34, for an example.

The same God who saw what was going on in the Old Testament, who sees what is happening with His children, who walked through the streets giving sight to those who asked of Him, that very same God is watching us today, in 2017. He sees what we are doing, He knows what we think before we take any action on those thoughts, in fact He knows what we are going to say before we even give utterance to those thoughts. Psalm 139:1-4. God is intimately involved with His children, on a level that is so deep and so personal that we cannot imagine it.

Today, let this be a comfort to you. Let this permeate your heart, mind and soul. God – the Almighty, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent Creator of the Universe – sees you and He wants to open your eyes so that you will see Him as He works His plan in and through you.

“Grammy, I have my eye on you!”

“Linda, I have MY eye on you!”

Oh, may I live and move this day in the full realization and assurance that God has His eye on me. May you do so as well.

Father, I praise Your name and thank You for Your watchfulness, Your protection, Your mercy and Your grace. I thank You for being with me even when I am unaware of Your presence. Open my eyes today so that I would see You and Your Hand working in my life and in others, for Your glory and honor.

THE FARMERS’ MARKET

March 10, 2017March 7, 2017 | lindamowles

I love going to a farmers’ market to see the cornucopia of produce available to us for consumption. The profusion of apples, tomatoes, squashes, green vegetables … there is no end to the bounty that is available to us from the farmers’ fields.

Several years ago we were in Abingdon, Virginia and went to the Farmers’ Market there. Here is a sample of the goodies that they had (some of which we purchased).

Abingdon farmers market 2 — Farmer’s market in Abingdon, Virginia.

While we were in Abingdon, we also went to another vendor of fine edibles, the Abingdon vineyard and winery. It was in October, so the vines were dormant and they were certainly not a picture of lush green vines. But the prospect of fine wine in the future was evident by the care and tending of the vines, even in the winter.

Abingdon winery outside 5 — Vineyard during the October rest in winter, tended and cared for by the vinedresser.

But, all was not gray at the winery! God’s beauty was evident in the colors that graced the surrounding landscape.

Abingdon winery outside 7 — Shrubs in their colorful finery at Abingdon Winery during October.

However, back to the farmers’ market. Knoxville has a large farmers’ market that is in multiple locations around town. While I enjoy going to see what is available, another market that I enjoy visiting is the farm store at Carver’s Orchard in Newport, Tennessee.

Carvers orchard 10-2016 - even more apples — Wide variety of apples at Carver’s Orchard in Newport, Tennessee.

Bushel baskets of apples adorn the floors and tables of one side of the farm store, with pickles, jams, jellies, butters, honey, ciders and all sorts of other goodies in jars are along the walls. The orchard is huge and the number and type of apples available is staggering. They even have a chart of various apples showing when they will be harvested.

Carvers orchard 10-2016 - apple chart — Apple chart at Carver’s Orchard showing the type of apple and the timing of harvest.

If you turn to look at the other side of the farm store, you will find a variety of other produce some of which is grown at their farm while the rest is from other local farmers. For example, there will be tomatoes, Vidalia onions, pumpkins, potatoes (both white and sweet), gourds, etc.

Carvers orchard 10-2016 - tomatoes — Bounteous tomatoes available at the orchard farm store.

This is not meant to be an advertisement for any specific company or place. Rather, these pictures and comments are intended to shake us out of our apathy, out of our whining about inconveniences and problems, out of our misguided belief that the universe revolves around us or that all we see around us is the result of our work alone.

I fervently pray that the pictures will reawaken our gratitude to God for His great bounty bestowed upon our country. And I pray that we will remember the source of the bounty that farmers present on market day.

“You [God] cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart.”

Psalm 104:14-15 ESV

I pray that we will honor the One who is the source of our very breath, who gives our bodies the strength for each heartbeat, who gives us the opportunity and ability to do our work, and who is the Lover of our souls.

“These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.”

Psalm 104:27-29 ESV

God’s blessings have been showered on our country for hundreds of years, and for a great many of those years we remembered that He is the source of the harvest. However, in more recent times, it appears that we have forgotten, both as a country and as individuals, that God is the One who provides His bounty for us.

When He is ignored, when we claim that all this came from our own labor, when we take the glory that is rightfully His and claim it for ourselves, we have replaced Him with idols of our own making. This, my beloved, is sin. It is rank disobedience and God will not continue blessing us if we continue in unrepentant sin.

The problem is that God is holy and He WILL NOT share worship with other gods. This is a problem that is as old as … well all the way back thousands of years when Israel would copy worship of the peoples around them, while still saying that they worshiped God. They were taken as captives and moved away from their land, and this was said about the experience:

“And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods…”

2 Kings 17:7 ESV

Scripture continues:

“The LORD made a covenant with them and commanded them, ‘You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them, but you shall fear the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods, but you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.’ “

2 Kings 17:35-39 ESV. But, the next verse makes an extraordinarily sad pronouncement:

“However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.”

2 Kings 17:40 ESV

Fearing [reverencing], worshiping, and honoring God is neither a suggestion nor an option on the multiple choice test of life. It is a commandment, and it is a commandment that God takes very seriously.

Let us all examine ourselves and see if there is any sin in us;

if we have refused to give God the honor due His Name,
if we have ignored God’s commandments and have flaunted our freedom so that we have trampled on His Word,
if we, in our pride, have claimed to be the creator of our own abundance,
if we have refused to repent when the Spirit has convicted us of our sin,
if we have given lip service to the worship of God while we, at the same time, worship other gods such as money, fame, family, position, ___you fill in the blank____!

Scripture tells us that there is a remedy to this situation – there is hope that God will continue to bless us. In Second Chronicles we read:

“if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

It is not too late – if we as His people will humble ourselves in prayer and repent and seek Him while we turn from sin and look to Him alone, God will hear us and will save us and heal both us and our land.

Father, enable us to see ourselves as You see us … then let us flee to the cross of Your Son and repent of our sin so that His righteousness can be imputed to us and we can live in the light of Your grace. Then, I pray that you would heal our land.

GOD’S ARTISTRY – A TESTIMONY TO HIS CHARACTER

November 11, 2016November 10, 2016 | lindamowles

Throughout the Southeast United States we have been experiencing record-breaking heat at a time where the calendar would suggest that we should be having much cooler temperatures. And we need rain!

fall-colors-in-east-tennessee — Fall colors in the mountains of East Tennessee.

However, while the need for rain is certainly significant, there is a blessing side of the situation. The leaf-bearing shrubs, trees and vegetation are so colorful that they create a scene that exceeds any picture that an artist’s pallet would create. Because we have not had rain or wind, the leaves have remained on the trees and the colors have retained their brilliance much longer than in recent years.

east-tennessee-vista-with-colorful-leaves — Fall colors along the roadway.

East Tennessee is always beautiful with the mountains and the gentle rolling hills … the majority of which are covered in a wide variety of trees. Now, however, God’s pallet of colors is on vivid display in the hills and valleys of the area.

neighborhood-fall-leaves — Neighborhood trees on colorful display.

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Romans 1:20

Paul in Romans is noting that the human race has no excuse for denying God’s power because it is so clearly on display in His creation. Simply put, creation evidences God’s attributes that are invisible to us, His eternal power and His divine nature, His goodness and His beauty.

In fact, Scripture has much to say about the beauty of God and we find that beauty is one of His attributes, an attribute that is evidenced not only by His creation but also by His directives regarding worship due to Him.

When God’s people were in the wilderness, we read that God directed the design of the tabernacle, the place where He was going to be with His people. It was to be made with gold, with purple cloth, with all assortments of gems, jewels and craftsmanship. It would be dazzling in the sun and would reflect God’s beauty and glory to all who looked at it. In fact, God directed that this beauty extended even to the clothing that the priests were to wear:

And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. … “For Aaron’s sons you shall make coats and sashes and caps. You shall make them for glory and beauty.

Exodus 28:2, 40.

David, in the Psalms, speaks of the “beauty of the Lord” in a number of places, but here are two examples:

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

Psalm 27:4

Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

Psalm 96:6

But there is beauty in God’s creation not only on a panoramic scale but on a small scale as well, and not just when the leaves turn colors. Think about the the beauty and variety of apples.

carvers-orchard-10-2016-apple-basked — A bushel of apples from the orchard.

Consider too the variety of winged gourds.

carvers-orchard-10-2016-winged-gourds — Winged gourds directly from the farm!

We won’t even begin to think about the variety of flowers, trees, animals, fish … people!

For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!

Zechariah 9:17a.

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love [goodness] endures forever! Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble … Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love [goodness], for his wondrous works to the children of man!

Psalm 107:1-2, 8

“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!” Tell others of your relationship with this wonderful, loving, God of creation Who is the very definition of goodness and Who has extended His unspeakable grace and love in sending Jesus Christ, His only Son, to be our Savior and Lord.

When you look at the beauty of creation this autumn, let it remind you of the glory of our God and of our Lord Jesus.

Let it remind you of the beauty of our omniscient and omnipresent God who love you and who sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the atoning sacrificial Lamb so we could have life eternal through His name. John 20:31.

Let it speak to your heart and soul and mind, and let your mouth sing praise to Him for His goodness to the children of men.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!

Here is John Rutter’s beautiful arrangement of the hymn “For the Beauty of the Earth” as sung by The Cambridge Singers.

Father, forgive me when I get so focused on the issues in the news, the distress of others, the materialistic culture around me … that I forget that You are my Father and I have no reason to quake. Forgive me when I look at the beautiful colors in your creation and only see dead leaves on the walkway. Forgive me when I see only sinful people when I should be looking at people with your eyes of love and compassion. Forgive me when I fail to tell others of your steadfast love and wondrous works to the children of men. Give me strength, dear Father, to following your commands through my Lord and Savior, your Son, Jesus Christ.