Look to the hills.  They are quiet.  The storms sweep over them and are gone, and most of man’s troubles pass the same way.  Whenever you feel that things are getting too much for you, go to the mountains or the desert—it smooths out the wrinkles in your mind.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Brionne)

    “In that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. Water will fill the streambeds of Judah, and a fountain will burst forth from the Lord’s Temple, watering the arid valley of acacias.”
              –Joel 3:18 (NLT)
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There is just something about being out in God’s Great Cathedral.  I know some refer to it as “Mother Nature,” but I never have.  It is the work of the word of God.  He speaks and the mountains were created.  He speaks and the sea began to roar.  He speaks and there is life.
    There can be a danger in nature.  No, I am not speaking of animals or pitfalls or obstacles.  Throughout time men have become so caught up in nature that they have begun to worship it.  The ancients did it, and there are millions today, New Agers or if you prefer, Cosmic Humanists, that worship God.  Some worship the object, some are pantheists.
    However, God uses nature to refresh our souls or to build our character or to find Him.  Moses spent years and years in the wilderness.  Jesus, after His baptism, was sent to the desert regions.  Spending several days along a high country mountain stream can bring refreshing; others like to be on a beach, alone and away from people.  God revives, God speaks, God show us who we are and Who He is.
    Look now at the second portion of Psalm 42.  When we ask or are asked, “Where is your God?”  Perhaps that is a sign that we should go to nature to spend some time with Him.

    6 – I am deeply depressed; therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
    7 – Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and Your billows have swept over me.
    8 – The Lord will send His faithful love by day; His song will be with me in the night—a prayer to the God of my life.
    9 – I will say to God, my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?  Why must I go about in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”
   10 – My adversaries taunt me, as if crushing my bones, while all day long they say to me, “Where is your God?”
   11 – Why am I so depressed?  Why this turmoil within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him, my Savior and my God. (HCSB)

    Notice, verse 5 from last week’s study is the same as verse 11.  When the soul is distressed, when there are questions in life that is the time to remember to go to God and offer His praise.  It is not the mountain, or the canyons, or the waves of the sea breaking that will bring you out of your distress.  Your relief comes when you think of the greatness of the One who created the majesty that is seen in nature.  We should let the wonders of creation bring us back to God.  We need to get to Him, place our trust in Him, and then we will be more ready and able to face our trouble.
    One of my favorite quotations is the one I used above.  When in doubt, when faced with problems go to nature–it “will smooth out the wrinkles in your mind.”  You may not be able to get out, you may just have to sit on the back deck, or the patio, but get in touch and in tune with God.  That begins by praising Him.

           “Why restless, why cast down, my soul?
            Trust God, and thou shalt sing
            His praise again, and find him still
            Thy health’s eternal spring.”
                   –Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady

You’ve gone against your conscience and your God.  That’s a bad place to be holed up.”
              –Jim Burnett  (The Bible and the Badge)

    “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.”
              –1 Timothy 4:1-2 (NKJV)
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I’m tired of seeing the news.  I’m tired of the left-wing agenda of the media.  Hate the President, everything is racism, political correctness is a must, the attempt to rid this country of its history, the out and out looting and destruction that is taking place using a false view of the Constitution–I’m tired of it.  So today, I will borrow from the words of Charles Spurgeon.  
    I have been doing part of my morning devotions going through the Book of Matthew, reading the thoughts from some of our great Christian leaders of the past.  Yesterday was Charles H. Spurgeon and he wrote of Matthew 13:7,22.

         “Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants…the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” (NIV)

         “In this case, the seed fell not only on the ground but also into it, so that it began to grow.  The stalk has struggled up through the thorns until you can see its head and are led to expect grain.  But go to that apparent grain–ear and feel it:  There is nothing in it.  You have all the makings of an ear of grain, but it will yield no grain.  The grain is so overshadowed with a thicket of thorns and is so choked that it comes to nothing.
         “Note well that thorns are natural to the soil and were already established there.  Any evil that hinders faith is natural to our fallen natures, and the roots of sin run throughout, grasping with marvelous tenacity.  They will not give way to the Holy Spirit or to the new life or to the influences of divine grace without a desperate struggle.  The roots of the thorns must first be uprooted; the great plow of conviction of sin must tear deep into the soul.  Plows that scratch the surface will never do.  Let God plow your soul so that His Word can be sown without thorns.
         “‘The worries of this life’ speak to those who are anxious and mistrustful about temporal things–whether it is to simply have enough to survive or how to get more.  It is not a care for God, but it is a care for some vanity or another, such as the ambition to keep up with your fellows, to be respectable, and to keep up appearances.  Take heed to anxiety; it will eat the heart out of your faith if you let it.
         “‘The deceitfulness of wealth’ speaks to those who have been charmed by the almighty dollar.  Riches are evermore deceitful, tricking people who hug them into loving them.  I would awake you to the fact that riches worm themselves into a man’s heart before he is well aware of it.
         “Take a good look at your spiritual life.  Thorns may not pull the seed up, but they can choke it to death.  It may be time to get out the plow and root out the thorns.”

    Watch out, therefore, for the thorns!  The evil in the world in which we live is seeking to choke out the truth, not only of God’s Word, but of the history of our country.

Identifying all the old landmarks, it came back to him now how completely his life had been formed by the peaks and ridges and draws that lay before him, flushed with the first rose light of day.”
               –Ernest Haycox  (Return of a Fighter)

        “Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set.”
               –Proverbs 22:28 (NKJV)
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I read a caption the other day that went like this:  “The most exercise I get today is that of shaking my head.”  Now, ain’t that the truth?  I wonder what people are thinking, then it comes to me plain as day–they aren’t thinking, they have forgotten how to think.
     Why tear down statues of a nation’s history?  It would behoove them to think of why the statue was erected in the first place.  I see where they want to set up autonomous zones for “people of color.”  Isn’t that segregation?  I thought we wanted to do away with that.  AOC, that flap-jaw from NYC says that people of color must be judged for what they are.  Wait a minute, I was taught to judge people by who they are individually, by their character, by their work ethic, not by their color.  What is color anyway?  Do they, those like AOC, want special privileges?  I just don’t understand.
     Many are pulling down history regarding those involved with the indigenous people of America.  But, wait a minute, there were no indigenous people here.  The “Indians” as we know them took the land from those that went before them, “the ancient ones,” and those people were not native here for they came from Asia.  Get rid of all representation of Jesus Christ for they represent white supremacy as He was a person of color.  I thought He was Jewish.  In fact, Jesus showed us in His trip to Samaria that prejudice should be overcome by His Words and actions.  Remember, the ground is level at the foot of the cross.
Oh, and here is a dilemma for the “racists.”  Do they tear down the stature of the Buffalo Soldiers (black soldiers who fought in the West) because they fought to put down the natives?
     And there is more, but what is the cause?  Is it because there is so much hatred for President Trump and this is an election year?  That’s some of it, but it has been festering for years.  The Postmodernists have been waiting for a time such as this.  I have written many times of the evils associated with Postmodernism.  Their goal is to deconstruct everything and they began with the language.  We have to be politically correct with our speech, and it has even gone so far as to remove cartoon characters and emblems off syrup bottles.  Ah, but it’s all okay, “tearing down of statues is a healthy display of anger.”  My mercy!
     But there is still a deeper agenda that is using the Postmodernist and that is the agenda of the devil.  Destroy, destroy, do what you have to but destroy.  When we see the lies fly through the air, remember that they are of their father–the devil.  When we see confusion abound remember that confusion comes from the devil.  God has been calling this nation to repentance, but I wonder how many hear the voice of the “prophets.”

          “So will I choose their delusions, And bring their fears on them; Because, when I called, no one answered, When I spoke they did not hear; But they did evil before My eyes, And chose that in which I do not delight.”
            –Isaiah 66:4 (NKJV)

Delusion–is it not coming; it is upon us.  And it will get worse as we are coming to the end of the Church Age.  Soon, the man of lawlessness will appear and God will send a great delusion (2 Thessalonians 2:11).  Folks do not be deceived, God will be mocked only so long.  He will do what He has promised, but first the coming of His Son for those who look for His appearing.  Put your hands to your ears–listen–the trumpet will so be sounding.
 

He cared vastly more, he discovered, for what he considered honor and integrity than he did for life.”
              –Zane Grey  (The Lone Star Ranger)

    “For what is the hope of the hypocrite, Though he may gain much, If God takes away his life?”
              –Job 27:8 (NKJV)
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    He took one more look outside while standing at the top of the ramp.  There was the noise of a mob rising in the town not far away, loud enough that he could hear it.  The cooking fire was still burning, but he made no move to put it out as it was now sprinkling.  Water coming from the skies.  The Lord said it would rain, now it is beginning to fall.  
    One more check through the ark.  “Shem, where is Shem?” he began to shout.  “Shem!  Shem!”  Rushing through the ark he looked for his son.  Stopping to ask Ham, “Have you seen Shem?” to only receive an negative nod.  He rushed to the ramp again, “Was Shem outside?”  There was a groaning noise.  The ramp was closing, “No, Shem, Shem!”
    No, it didn’t happen that way.  The Scripture declares, “On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark” (Genesis 7:13, NKJV).  But what if?  Let me ask a question:  Are all your children safely in the ark?  There are snares everywhere to hinder our children from being safe, hindering them from entering the ark of safety.  Listen, friend, this is not a time to be worried about “corona”, or making money, or material possessions.  This is the time to make sure that your children and grandchildren are ready for the coming storm and for the trumpet of the Lord to sound. What would have been Noah’s feelings if indeed, Shem did not make it into the ark?
    Nietzsche said that he gloried in chaos.  What else could be expected from a madman?  However, he also said that out of the chaos would rise the superman.  Could he have been right?  Will the rider of the White Horse appear in the midst of all the chaos that is happening in the world?  Listen, it is not only happening in our country, but there is chaos, outrage, mayhem happening throughout the world.  Will it usher in the true man of chaos, the man of lawlessness?
    There is a song and chorus that have been running through my mind the past week or so, written by J.B. Vaughn.  Let me leave you with the second verse and chorus:

         “Are you ready should the Savior call today?
          Would Jesus say, ‘Well done,’ or ‘Go away’?
          My home is for the pure, the vile can never stay,
          We shall see the King when He comes.

                            We shall see the King, We shall see the King,
                            We shall see the King when He comes;
                            He is coming in pow’r, we’ll hail the blessed hour,
                            We shall see the King when He comes.”

    The storms of evil are raging and they will continue to develop until one day the Father will cry, “That’s enough!” and send His Son for those who are ready.  The trumpet shall sound and we will go to meet Him in the air to be forever with Him in heaven.  Are you ready?  Are your children ready?