Can You See the Big Picture of Salvation?

Introduction

Sometimes we get too close to our problems and fail to see the larger framework that God is working out in history.

The Judeo-Christian bible teaches us that history is moving toward a divinely appointed goal, and it helps if we step back and look at it from a big picture perspective.  This approach is like looking at the top of a puzzle box to see how the puzzle pieces fit together to form a picture.

How Great Thou Art - Acapella Arrangement

Shenandoah

I Will Rise - Chris Tomlin

Yahweh - The Hoppers

Lord Jesus I Need You

Lord Jesus, I need your salvation

To rescue me from my sins.

Lamb of God take away my transgressions

Please cleanse me and wash me again.

Lord Jesus, I need a physician

Who knows how to heal broken bones.

Disappointments and failures compounded

Have wounded and taken their toll.

Lord Jesus, I need strength to press on

Weak knees are collapsed, arms hang low.

Help me rise once again to the battle

To live holy, to conquer my foes.

Lord Jesus, I need rain from heaven

Flow over the withering vine.

Restore and renew deep within me

Let my voice sing again songs of Zion.

Lord Jesus, I need your direction

To show me the way I should go.

Time is short, and I want to be faithful

You're the shepherd, your voice help me follow.

Lord Jesus, I need you above all

Who else can compare, there is none.

Please finish in me what you started

Stay close by me 'til my work is done.

Ed Taylor, October 2012

Call unto Me and I will answer thee

God Who made heaven, earth and sea,

What can He not do for thee?

When He speaks, the work is done,

Trust Him then, beloved one.

God will answer though the sea

Roars and rages, making thee

Only see the billow’s height;

God will speak His word of might.

God will answer when to thee,

Not a possibility

Of deliverance seems near;

It is then, He will appear.

God will answer when you pray;

Yea, though mountains block thy way,

At His word, a way will be

E’en through mountains, made for thee.

God Who still divides the sea,

Willingly will work for thee;

God, before whom mountains fall,

Promises to hear thy call.

(Jeremiah 33:2-3)

A poem by Margaret E. Barber (1866 - 1930)
British missionary who worked in China

Forgive Us, O God

A poem by Derek Brown, posted on his website here.

Saints and Sinners

When somebody yields to temptation

    And breaks one of man’s or God’s laws,

We look for no good in his make-up,

    But oh! how we look for the flaws!

No one cares about how he was tempted,

    Nor praises the battles he’s fought;

His name becomes food for the jackals --

    For us who have never been caught.

“He has sinned!” we shout from the house-tops,

    We forget the good deeds he has done,

We focus on that one lost battle,

    And forget all the times he has won.

“Come, gaze at the sinner!” we thunder,

    “And by his example be taught

That his footsteps lead to destruction!”

    Cry we who have never been caught.

I’m a sinner, O Lord, and I know it,

    I’m weak, I blunder, I fail.

I’m tossed on life’s stormy ocean

    Like ships embroiled in a gale.

I’m willing to trust in Thy mercy,

    To keep the commandments Thou’st taught,

But deliver me, Lord, from the judgement

    Of saints who have never been caught!

Anonymous

Have You Got The Whole Story

Mike Cain's article "Have You Got The Whole Story?" (click to view) is a really good overview of the story line of the Bible.

If you are having trouble seeing the big picture, this essay will help you.

It has a few British idioms in it so I've given the American "translations" below:

• "chocolate digestive biscuits" - a semi-sweet cracker, something like a Graham cracker with a milk-chocolate covering on top; frequently eaten with tea or coffee. 
• "Sainsbury bag" - a plastic shopping bag. Sainsbury is a large supermarket chain in the UK, probably like one of our Super Walmart stores.
• "sticking plaster" - a band-aid.
• "a bed-sit in Balham" - a one-room apartment in a neighborhood in south London.
• "holidays in Bognor" - Bognor is a seaside resort town on the south coast of England.

Two of my favorite quotes from the article:

Living for him is not shackles, it is freedom. And it is fun. Life with the one who made the stars and dragonflies is not long-faced and "bible black." The body is not a prison from which to escape. He made our bodies for us to enjoy. So he didn't give us fuel to stick in our sides, he gave us food to taste: he gave us pineapples, grilled sea bass, potato salad, chocolate fudge cake and raspberries

The Bible says God looked at what he made and called it, "very good."

When God expels Adam and Eve from the Garden, He also makes a promise. He promises that someone descended from this woman will come to put things right and restore us to life with God again. And the story of the bible turns out to be the story of God keeping that promise.