I mentioned that Teresa brought some grapes for Carla to process.  They were full of juice, sweet – no need for sugar, even.  Carla made the juice in her juicer.

It is a steam juicer.  It comes in three pieces, plus the lid.  The bottom is used to place water in and then this goes on the stove to heat up and boil.  The top piece is large and the fruit is placed in it.  It does not have a solid base, it has small holes to allow steam to come in and as a result the fruit releases its juices into the center piece. 

The center piece goes on top of the bottom one, and under the top one.  It has a cone in the middle with holes in the top – it allows the steam from the bottom pan to go into the top one.  The rest of the center is solid – except for a small nipple that leads outside the pan and a piece of plastic hose is attached so the juice can be removed from the pan while the fruit continues in the steam.

Canned 14 quarts, plus a saved a bit out to make some syrup for waffles tonight.  Eggs from Deed, grapes from Teresa, nice to have kids that share their wealth.  

Hebrews 6:18-19 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

¹⁹ Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

God has promised us many things, and He will deliver as He has promised. 

So, why does God Repent?

Jeremiah 18:8   If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

God’s promises almost always carry with it a responsibility of the people who are given the promise.  Which is that we look to Him as the One True God and give Him the Honor He deserves. 

The promises are to people that believe, others don’t understand nor do they care – and it is not to them.  They use what appear to be contrary verse as we have quoted as ‘proof’ that God is inconsistent.  Without a relationship with God, the truth is hidden from them, by satan – who has done this since tempting Eve in the garden.

John 12:39-41 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,

⁴⁰ He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

⁴¹ These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.

On the contrary God is very consistent.  We but have to read the Old Testament to see the proof of that.  God loves His people, He has formed covenants with them and He promises to keep them.

He also disciplines those that break away from Him.  His desire is for them to come back to Him so that He can fulfill the promises He has made.  His discipline can be very hard, it has resulted in the destruction of many people, yet, that is what it finally took to get the attention of those that had turned from Him.

Often times His repentance – so termed – is because the people have realized their sins and THEY repented of them.  What He was doing was telling them – as He did to the people of Nineveh, through Jonah – I will do these things to punish you, UNLESS you come to me with a heart that is sorrowful for your sins against me.  When that happens, as it did in Nineveh, He chooses to love them and forgive them.  He is so predictable that Jonah tried to hide from Him because He didn’t want to preach to Nineveh, have them repent and God forgive them as Jonah knew He would.

His ‘repentance’ is the same that we use when we discipline our children.  They know how they are to behave.  When they do not, as caring parents, we discipline them to make them aware of the consequences of their bad behavior – it is our desire that they stop the bad behavior. 

Part of that discipline may be that we have told them if they continue in the behavior we will withhold something from them – it is a promise of discipline if the behavior continues.  If they stop, they receive the promise of the good behavior, (we ‘repented’ from the discipline) if they do not, the promise is withdrawn – and a harsher discipline is used to reaffirm the behavior is not appropriate.

I can remember one lady who never disciplined her son, she was a widow and the child was by her first husband.  She did not allow her new husband to discipline her son either.  She made many statements that she didn’t discipline her son, she gave him love instead.  She was quite proud of that.

It didn’t work.  He spent a great deal of his late teens and early adulthood behind bars – the state had to do what she refused to do.  It may very well have been different if she had disciplined her son in the first place – and she never understood nor accepted that fact.

Obviously God is much more complicated that these examples, but He loves us as a Father that wants the best for His children.  If He allows the behavior to continue then the results are going to be a falling away from the good things God provides, and into the abyss of satan’s realm.  The ultimate result is not time behind bars, but an eternity in hell.

Well, what about this one then:

Psalm 71:2-4   Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.

³ Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.

⁴ Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

Man points to the plight of the Jewish people through the years, especially to those that were tortured and killed by the Nazis.  They point to the Jews and Christians being persecuted daily by governments and people all over the world and they ask why, if God’s promise is to keep you safe this is being done.

These are/were people that truly love Him, that believe His promises and have served Him diligently, yet, they suffer and many are killed, why?

We do not live in a world that is perfect.  God has allowed satan to be in charge, for a while, since man fell from God’s grace due to Adam’s sins.  Because we live in an imperfect world and sin abounds, we have what we have in the world today, mass actions against the people of God and against the Word and commandments He has laid down for us.  This destruction, of course, also spills over to the unbeliever.

Mathew 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

As men we look at the promises of God and we desire them, right now!  But as the Word of God shows those promises may not be fulfilled for hundreds or even thousands of years.  It doesn’t mean that they won’t be fulfilled it just means, ‘not yet.’

Christ was humiliated, tortured and died on a cross for us.  It was a promise fulfilled as written in the Old Testament.  It was a promise given to Adam and Eve after they had sinned.  THAT was a long time in coming.

Part of the reason for the actions against Christians is quite simply because we are followers of Christ; against the Jews, because they are the chosen people.  Satan and the world do not want to be reminded that God is the Creator, God is God and deserves our love and obedience.

Christ was obedient unto death – and He told us that we should not expect better treatment than He was given.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

AND

John 15:19-21 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

²⁰ Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

²¹ But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.

The whole basis of Christianity is faith in God.  Belief in what He has told us through His Word and confirmed by His Holy Spirit as we accepted Christ into our hearts; and continued confirmation as we live our life for Him.  We have faith in God and His promises because He IS God.

Hebrews 11:   By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

¹⁸ Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

¹⁹ Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

While it is troubling for the mind to see the world in the state it is in right now – and we are quite aware it will be getting worse; our heart knows we have the assurance that God is God and as He has kept His promises to His people in the past, so He will keep His promises to His people, like us, today.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again