Saturday Words

Good Saturday morning! Cold and snow outside, it looks like our winter has arrived at last. I have left Saturdays alone for some time now, because I thought that few would read the Saturday devotional due to various trips and such. Is that a good excuse though? How do I know that no one is listening when I speak? I mean other than the cats ignoring me that is. Perhaps that is not a good example. There is seldom any other person in my house, but in the land of e-mails and blogs, someone is always awake and moving about. The good Lord gave us six days to work and one to rest. This does not mean that I am advocating a six-day work week in the corporate world. Many of you probably do something along those lines already, perhaps even part of all seven days. We seem to have a problem with one rest day each week. Some of you might have trouble recalling the last time you took one day in a week to rest and worship God. Nothing else, no trips out of town, no chores, no meals to cook and clean, just rest and worship for one full day. Does the mind spin? Is it easier to remember the many Sunday evenings spent preparing for Monday?

The base temptations in the world are the same as the centuries that came before us, but, oh my, has the world sped up in these times. Some claim otherwise, but all of us I think are overwhelmed by the speed of everything in the end times. We get regular updates from missions to far countries when just a century ago a missionary might vanish into the bush, jungle, or desert for years at a time. From a desktop in Nebraska, I can send out a message of encouragement to much of the world every day. Six days, six messages, what can I say to shake up the world each day. For words have power and each day it becomes easier to speak in foreign tongues without meaning to. Old languages die out as national borders expand and communication with everyone is desired by all. Microsoft sends out 35 optional language packs for their operating system. Those languages probably cover 75% or more of the earth in terms of communicating with someone on another computer. English is learned in many lands simply to get on the Internet.

Words spread over the globe must be weighted with the wisdom of God. Not all words translate well and puns made in my American English idiom might be lost entirely or cause much confusion. Nations do get in the way at times. Comments from China stopped suddenly more than a year ago. Censored? Perhaps. I have no way to know. Did I write the wrong thing? Maybe. Again I don't know for sure. Prayer is my first defense. I pray for the wisdom of God or even that God would simply speak through my little typing fingers each day. Yes, you can argue whether my fingers should be described as 'little' or not, but I was comparing them to God's great and marvelous hands at work in this world. I have always thought that our God has big hands. And not just big hands as we see them, but God-sized hands that do great things in this world. Surely then He can make my words say the things that He needs to have said in this devotional. Looks like my word of the year has come up once more. Trust in God, and leave the translating to Him.

I pray that you remember God's love for you today,
Bucky