Gossip

Quite a bit has been said about gossip recently.
I have noticed how much information gets passed on "in your best interests to know" or "in strictest confidentiality" or "just for prayer of course".
This does incline me not to talk about some things 'cos I do not want the whole world knowing.

I know someone who is very confidential about things that have been shared with them. Even to the extent of not confirming that a word of knowledge about the situation is correct.

Someone else gave the illustration of lions in Africa which were being poisoned. The problem was traced to a herbicide the farmers were using on the grass, which the deers ate but were not affected by the chemicals, and then when the lions ate those deers the herbicide was poisonous to the lions.
The herbicide is like information that is not intended for us. It might not harm the person who passes it on to us, but it will harm us.
It might cause us to form an opinion which is not helpful. It might undermine what we think of a third person. It might tempt us to sin. It might make us aware of something we are better not knowing about.

I need to be careful what I do and do not say. Even if something is true I do not always need to say it. And so what if people will find out anyway... they don't have to find out because I have gossipped.

a rotten plant

Our room is quite dark, so I have to be careful when I water my plants 'cos if they do not get enough light the water just sits there and they go rotten. That has happened to a couple of plants I had.

On Sunday evening in the meeting I felg God speaking to me about that.
It was like He was pointing out that if we receive the water of the Holy Spirit we need to walk in the light and draw on that water to make us grow.
If we are watered and then sit and do nothing, or go back to things of the darkness, then the water will be like rotteness within us and we will die.

One of the plants that went rotten was a cactus. It would have been quite happy not to have been watered- it is meant to be able to cope with dryness. That kind of said to me that it is better not to receive the Holy Spirit than to be fake about it. If we are real and say "God, I am dry, I need you" then He can work in us and we will drink up the water of the Holy Spirit. If we are not bothered, but think we better go through the motions, then we end up stagnant and that is worse than being dry.

Lord of Glory

This is a poem/prayer from the book "Glory of Light" by David Adam which someone bought for me:

Lord of glory and holiness
I bow in wonder before you
I cannot capture the sunrise
How can I contain you?
I am unable to grasp the wind
How can I hold on to you?
Nowhere near touching the stars
How can I reach out to you?
God of deep mystery
Beyond our imagining
You reach out to us
You touch our lives
Still my mind and heart
That I may reflect your glory

I like this because it puts us into perspective. God is awesome and vast and way out of our reach. Yet He reaches out to relate to mankind, and though we are like lumps of clay He is able to display His glory through us.

It reminds me of the end of the book of Job.
There are chapters and chapters of philosophy and counselling and arguments and counter argument between Job and his friends who claim to speak for God. Then God shows up.
God speaks out of the storm and points out how He created everything, and controls the weather. God says "If you know as much as me, then you can question me about what is right or just". "If you can answer my questions, then I will agree with you that my justice and judgements are wrong and will let you be saved by your own efforts"
Jobs answer to God is full of humility, he realises that Gods plans and ways are far above human understanding, and he repents of having challenged God.

Our lives are so full of works for God sometimes, we are used to the Holy Spirit and presume we can speak for God. It is good to pause, to be humbled by God's awesomeness and to listen.