I sit here with bright sunlight coming in the windows and clouds forming all around our valley, but not over it.  Can’t see the mountains but they are getting the much needed snow.

Josh was going to go hunting yesterday, but stayed home to help Deed deal with all the snow on their driveway – well over a foot deep by now.

Carla has all her gift baskets done and is distributing them as I write – before she has to hit the floor at work. 

We will have a quiet Christmas Eve with just the two of us, it has been almost five decades since that has happened.  We will have Christmas dinner with Ian the only one being able to join us, but we will enjoy ourselves.

Geneses 12:2-3 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

³ And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

As I read through the Bible I am struck with the immensity of what is written there.

History of the Creation, the start of God’s chosen people, the thousands of years of conflict between God’s people and those that would destroy them, the ups and downs of God’s people and the leaders of His people as they prove their devotion to Him AND, unfortunately, their denial of Him.

God’s promises are written throughout His Word, many are just applicable to the Jewish nation and/or individuals – but the basis of those promises give us the knowledge of Who God is and how He operates.  And since we understand His commands and promises through those verses, we, as Christians, can also ask for similar promises for ourselves and our nation.

There are, however, many promises that are applicable to everyone who believes on Him and accepts His Son Jesus.  He promised Abraham that sometime in the future he would bring even the Gentiles into His family and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

And that blessing was given to US as well as the Jews when Christ was born.

Luke 1:71-73 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;

⁷² To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;

⁷³ The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,

We are so blessed in that we have so much information that neither the Jews or early Christians had.  The Epistles were written to specific people, who did not have those writings before.  We now are privileged to read them.

The Gospels that outline the ministry of Jesus and His sacrifices are there for all of us to read and gain more understanding of our walk with Him.

The early history, telling us how God moved among the early Christians are at our finger tips in Acts and other books.

It is all available to us; we see how God fulfilled the promises to the Jews and the rest of us in black and white.

From this we can learn to better appreciate some of the difficulties the early Christians and the Jews had in understanding all God had to offer, how they were to act as Christians and how their Jewish beliefs were confirmed by the coming of Christ – and how they were no longer held to the same laws that they had been because of His death and resurrection.

They had to figure all that out; they had to share the information verbally and in writings, limited to just a few who were to share it with their congregations – we but have to open the book. 

We need to remember that the majority of the converts to Christianity were Jews, until the early Christians – Jews - were dispersed throughout the world and the Apostles began their missionary work with the Gentiles.

There are times I struggle with my faith, I know God wants to do what is best for me, but I don’t always understand what that is and I can get frustrated.

But, when I read His Word it puts into perspective that God works on His time and not ours.  The fulfillment of His promises may be months, years or even decades away concerning us as individuals. 

The important thing to understand is that He does keep His promises; we must learn to be patient and work with His Holy Spirit as we wait for the fulfillment of those promises – the most important of which is life with Him after the body dies.

In the case of the Jewish nation, the fulfillment was over 4000 years of a Savior was coming – from generation to generation, from century to century from millennium to millennium they awaited, believed in and prayed for the Christ that would provide a path to heaven.

Later, Art :-)  

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