But God Was

           In the beginning

 the earth we stand on was not 

 

but God was!

The light that shines on us was not 

but God was!

No mountains, no valleys, no oceans, no streams,

no sunshine, no moonlight, no trees and no dreams.

God Only 

Almighty

Eternal

The One

not made nor created, God, Spirit and Son

from the beginning – beginning of time

before minutes and hours only God 

The Divine

No form yet detected, emptiness – night

water hung in the darkness 

awaiting the light

The Spirit then floated, hovering still

as our world saw its birthing, awaiting God’s will.

And GOD said

“Let there be light,” and there was light. 

He spoke and it was!  

It had not been.  

But know this with certainty 

God Always Was!

Psalm 90:1-2 (CJB)

Adonai, you have been our dwelling place
in every generation.

Before the mountains were born,

before you had formed the earth and the world,

from eternity past to eternity future you are God

Psalm 108:1-5

Psalm 108:1-5 
I wonder if David woke up with a smile on his face the morning he wrote these words. 

He says, “My heart, O God, is steadfast.”   David was full of confidence, trusting - maybe even feeling secure in God’s love and in his own relationship with God – the Almighty.

Next David makes a commitment to “sing and make music with all my soul.”  In other words, when he sings, when he makes that music, he promises that it will come from his heart and deep in his soul.  He speaks as if his musical instruments are almost alive.  He says, “Awake harp and lyre.  I will awaken the dawn.”

Maybe he said, harp and lyre help me praise.  Help me make music so special that it will even make the sun come up over the horizon.   

“I will praise you Lord among the nations.  I will sing of you among the people.”  David was convicting me that my own singing, my own life, my own writing should be all about praising God.

Telling people of His glory, His majesty, His might and His love - that’s praising Him.  Praising Him is also telling God Himself that I love Him; telling Him that I know - I believe - that He is wonderful! 

The word, “wonderful” is often used carelessly.  But “a wonder” refers to something that is almost impossible to fathom - inexplicable.  That’s the wonder that David felt about the God of the universe.

David talks about God’s love being higher than the heavens.  He says, “Your faithfulness reaches to the sky.”  David can’t describe in words something he can’t see, or hear, or feel.  We’re like that as well.  The most expansive word David seems to use for something beyond his comprehension is the heavens – the sky.  So David says that God’s faithfulness reaches to the skies.

Isn’t it exciting to you that when we finally see God in all His splendor, majesty and might, we may even be able to describe Him?

When David praises God for His “faithfulness” it seems that is a word our current world doesn’t seem to understand.

Faithfulness - God IS faithful – committed and trustworthy.  He will never let us down.  He will never be torn away from his care for us.  We can go our own way; God does allow us free will.  But He never turns his back on us.  He is always at the door, ready to say, “Welcome home child.”  He is the Father.  He is the Savior.  He is the comforter.  He is a very perfect faithful God.

David finally says in verse 5, “Be exalted O God above the heavens.  Let your glory be over all the earth!”  All the first portion of Psalm 108 leads us to this!  

My heart, O God, is steadfast; 

I will sing and make music with all my soul. 

Awake, harp and lyre! 

I will awaken the dawn. 
 

I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; 

I will sing of you among the peoples. 

For great is your love, higher than the heavens; 

your faithfulness reaches to the skies. 

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; 

let your glory be over all the earth. 

Psalm 108:1-5 (NIV)

Pilgrimage

 The dictionary definition of a pilgrimage is basically a journey.  Sometimes it's a journey for personal growth and exploration that may or may not have a spiritual focus.  

Or could it possibly be a pathway that leads to an encounter with God?

Jesus said

“I have come that they might have life and have it abundantly.”  John 10:10 (ESV)

We are each on a Pilgrimage, on a journey through life.  On this journey we can, if we choose, grow closer to the one who created and sustains all of life.  God created us to glorify His name; To give Him glory; To let people know just how awesome He is.

“. .  bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”  Isaiah 43:6b-7 (KJV)

Our journey continues.  It doesn’t stop!  We keep moving, even when we don't think we are.  As long as we live, we’re on that journey.

On that journey we follow a pathway, a road, a trail.  Life goes on and on and on.  No matter how often you’d like to get off that pathway, sit down by the side of life and quit, or run ahead on the pathway to see what’s around the next corner. There is no way, you still go, step by step, by step.  Sometimes you take those steps alone and sometimes you are carried. 

When you were just a tiny baby the pathway was bright and noisy.  But you didn’t have to worry about anything, those around you provided what was needed.  You didn’t look ahead because you didn’t know anything but your own place on that pathway – the place was called NOW. 

As you grew and took your first steps you learned just how hard that pathway was, you fell and weren't always picked up.  You cried and weren’t always comforted.  But during that time you still knew there was One who had watched over you from the day you were conceived.  You fell asleep knowing that He would still watch over you.  Truly, you knew it in your heart.  You may not remember that, but God was there all the time. And as you grew you learned just who it was that carried and watched over you.

Psalm 139:7-12 (NIV)

Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee
from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far
side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light
become night around me,” even the darkness will
not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, 
for darkness is as light to you. 

For you created my inmost being, you knit me together
in my mother’s womb.

When we are on the journey through life, we can rejoice or resist, grieve or grow, compare our path to our neighbor’s path, or be contented with the road we’re traveling on.  We can take a detour around our ambitions, or stubbornly go our own way.  We can walk with God and with other Christians or try to “go it alone.”  We can try to circle back, speed up, slow down or even crumble. But we cannot stop!  You are still on that journey.  That sounds so tiring, doesn’t it?  

But here’s the blessing.  God has made us so that we can rest. We can sleep.  Sleep is like the rest in the middle of a musical piece.  It gives us a chance to breathe, and the rest gives the music an added dimension, an added atmosphere.

When I wake from my slumber I see in my window
a mantle of light 
softly touching the morn.

When the black sky recedes
from my wakening sight, 
and the sun’s mighty radiance erases the night,
I reach for my Savior.  I call on His Name,
and the strength to go on
is reborn.

May your day and your night be filled with the blessing of knowing who watches over you as you travel this path of life.

Diane

Why, God?

How many times do we ask “Why” in our daily lives?  We see hate and crime.  We see a heartbreaking news headline.  We see a child mistreated.  We see disasters.  We see people pushing grocery carts in the street, and we ask “Why?”

Why, God?  Why do you not “fix” it all?  Why, God?  Why do you not make life easier?  Why God?  Why?

Do you listen for the answer?  Or do you prefer to question in a tone that sounds like you’re telling God that He’s not measuring up to your expectations?

My husband and I just finished reading the book of Job in the Bible.  Job was really facing a heartbreaking, painful time, and he and his “friends” all questioned why.  The friends seemed to think they knew the answer, but God didn’t see it that way at all.

I sometimes like to think that, if I ask God, He will straighten me out – straighten it all out - straighten the world out.  But God knows me, He knows what I need.  He knows what the world needs and much of the time the answer is not rescue from the hardships.  

Many times, the hardships are what we need to drive us in the direction of His arms.  But dear friends, your hardships may not be sent to drive just you in that direction; instead they may be used to drive others to the arms of our Father.  You, my friend, may have a major role to play in bringing others to the knowledge of God’s love through your own pain and hardships.

If I ask “Why” when skies are black and clouds spill tears

If I ask “Why” infirmities grow constant with the years

If I ask “Why” this world is up-side-down

If I ask “Why” I see not smiles, just frowns

If I ask “why” but don’t discern God’s presence in the pain,
I’ll never understand the answers
or know God’s power and majesty will reign.

Am I a Pilgrim?

Am I a pilgrim?  A pilgrim is one who is journeying – not at home. 

The dictionary defines a pilgrim as “possibly a person who is traveling to a sacred place-a better place.”


Have you heard the saying, “Home is where the heart is?"  Do you believe that? 

If I am a pilgrim - someone searching for a better place, my heart must be telling me that I am not at home.  If my home is within the arms of Jesus, then that’s where my heart will be, that’s where I will feel at home.  

 Deuteronomy 33:27 

The eternal God is your dwelling place,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

We are living in a world of fear and anxiety.  Could it be that we're not sure where we really belong?  Could it be that we feel lost – or that we don’t recognize our own true home?

Perhaps it’s because it’s been too long since we’ve spent any time there.  Or perhaps what we thought was home - what we pictured in our mind, was not real, but "photoshopped."  That idea of “home” conformed not to God's design, but to the picture we see in the world. 

But if we look at the verse in Deuteronomy 33, we see that God is our home.  He is our dwelling place and His everlasting arms  will never fail us.

My home is in the arms,
the mighty arms of Jesus,

those arms that held my sins upon the tree.

My home is in the arms,
the gentle arms of Jesus,

arms that reach to comfort and to free.

My home is in the arms, the steady arms of Jesus,

who changes not and will forever be.

My home is where God's heart is,

the heart that broke with His great love for me.

See you at home, my friends.

He Caught Me.

Dear Friends, this is something I wrote quite a few years ago, but sometimes, even in our old age, we continue to feel that we're on a carousel.

Sometimes feelings of inadequacy, and of regrets for the times we've hurt others continue to dwell in our thoughts.  But, I want each of us all to remember the very last line of this poem.  He said, "I caught you my child, when I died."  

Jesus is still all powerful.  He is the one who cares. He cares so much that He died on a cross and took all of those sins, regrets, and hurts on His body.  He caught us when He died and rose again, and He continues each day to hold us tight!

“Catch me God,” I cry

from this carousel I’m on." 

The nights and the seasons, stampeding, go by.

Dark pains and dark pleasures about me all fly, 

and I cry, 

“Catch me please, God – before I die.”

“Catch me God,” I cry,

as the black in my heart edges in.

My life and my actions increasingly grey - 

the good and the perfect are further away,

and I cry,

“Catch me please God – before I die.”

“Catch me God,” I cry,

The carousel mirror cries back at me

It tells of a life full of sin beyond measure -

a self-centered life hurting those I should treasure

and I cry,

“Catch me please God – before I die.”

At once, the carousel is still.

My world has crashed.

I’ve lost the will 

to run,

I've lost the strength to hide. 

And no excuses will abide 

since the mirror has shown me what’s inside.

Then I found that

playing the game of catch-me-if-you-can

is not something our Father will do.

I had to stop running, reach out,  

take His hand. 

and listen to Him - then I knew

that He was there all along seeing my plight.
He answered each time I prayed in the night.
He hurt when I hurt and He said when I cried

“I caught you my child, -- 

when I died.”

Diane Gruchow

A letter to God

 

Psalm 51:6-13 (NKLV)

You desire truth in the inward parts, 
and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me hear joy and gladness, . . .

Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

Friends, have you ever read Psalm 51 as if it was a personal letter to God from you?  Have you ever felt the strong desire to bathe in the love and forgiveness of our Father?  

As I read Psalm 51 this morning, I thought, not of the bold, overt sins that I’ve committed, but of the hidden part.  This Psalm speaks to me of that part within my heart that harbors unforgiveness, that harbors the pain of past hurts.  It speaks of resentment that I continue to hold on to.  It tells me that God wants me to recognize that truth and to know wisdom.  

So I ask Him to purge those thoughts and feelings from my soul - from my mind. and help me to feel, and to hear the joy of His salvation, of His forgiveness.

And I trust Him, as I have for all these years, to restore that joy into my heart and uphold me, because He is generous and loving.

Love, Diane