The Greatest Worker Makes The Least Noise
Don't we usually connect loud noise with work? What a racket our great machines make! Perhaps you've seen highways being built. Great earthmovers, concrete mixers, power shovels, and ditch diggers with their big diesel motors make a terrific rattle, clackety, clack, rumble, and groaning. And when rock is blasted to make way for the highway, what a big boom or go in a busy factory. In some you can't hear yourself talk. Or stand by a busy street crossing when all the cars and trucks start up as the light turns green. The very earth shakes with the racket. So we might easily believe that work and noise must always go together. But the world's greatest worker does most of the world's work in complete silence or with very little noise. We are so busy listening to man-made noises we don't take time to think that all about us God is causing great changes right under our noses and with absolutely no sound whatever or with very little. Consider the important ways His work is done.
The grass under our feet, in the cow pastures, on the prairies of the West and the plains of Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America—this grass that covers millions of square miles—is the food for all grazing animals. Without it we wouldn't have milk on the table. All this grass grows without a sound. So do the other crops on which human life depends grow—tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, beans, squash, peaches, apples, and the hundreds of other crops that give us life. The work our human minds perform—how silent that is! The brain sends signals to our muscles, telling them what to do or not to do. And without the faintest whisper of noise, God works through our brains. I could go on to list the silent works done by man, too, and show how most of our best work is done silently. But let's save that for another time. So don't mistake noise for power or work. Don't mistake man's noise for God's voice. For he speaks and works quietly, And we should stop and listen more often. Now stand here quietly before the Lord as I remind you of all the great things the Lord has done for you and your ancestors. 1Samuel 12:7.
Don't we usually connect loud noise with work? What a racket our great machines make! Perhaps you've seen highways being built. Great earthmovers, concrete mixers, power shovels, and ditch diggers with their big diesel motors make a terrific rattle, clackety, clack, rumble, and groaning. And when rock is blasted to make way for the highway, what a big boom or go in a busy factory. In some you can't hear yourself talk. Or stand by a busy street crossing when all the cars and trucks start up as the light turns green. The very earth shakes with the racket. So we might easily believe that work and noise must always go together. But the world's greatest worker does most of the world's work in complete silence or with very little noise. We are so busy listening to man-made noises we don't take time to think that all about us God is causing great changes right under our noses and with absolutely no sound whatever or with very little. Consider the important ways His work is done.
The grass under our feet, in the cow pastures, on the prairies of the West and the plains of Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America—this grass that covers millions of square miles—is the food for all grazing animals. Without it we wouldn't have milk on the table. All this grass grows without a sound. So do the other crops on which human life depends grow—tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, beans, squash, peaches, apples, and the hundreds of other crops that give us life. The work our human minds perform—how silent that is! The brain sends signals to our muscles, telling them what to do or not to do. And without the faintest whisper of noise, God works through our brains. I could go on to list the silent works done by man, too, and show how most of our best work is done silently. But let's save that for another time. So don't mistake noise for power or work. Don't mistake man's noise for God's voice. For he speaks and works quietly, And we should stop and listen more often. Now stand here quietly before the Lord as I remind you of all the great things the Lord has done for you and your ancestors. 1Samuel 12:7.
Daily Smile:
What do you call witches that live together ?
Broom-mates
In The News:
No Arrests Made in Beating of Pastor, Family in India
An Indian evangelical pastor is recovering from injuries after he and his family were beaten by anti-Christian Hindu extremists near New Delhi, International Christian Concern reports. Lal Mani Prasad of the Immanuel Believers Fellowship congregation was reportedly beaten October 14 at his home while he was getting ready for his church's Sunday service. At least two men entered the house and used "a steel water bucket" to hit his head until he was unconscious, according to his son, who suffered a broken hand. His wife, son and daughter were also badly bruised with rods, and the beatings were encouraged by nearly a dozen other Hindu radicals who had earlier hurled stones and other materials at the pastor's home. Prasad, who required 18 stitches on his head, was taken to the local hospital, treated and released, but after a few days he was readmitted with internal bleeding. Local Christians said the attack came after the family was told this year by "extremist Hindus" that they would kill the pastor if he continued with his Christian activities. So far, no arrests have been reported in the case.
University Bans Christian Group for Requiring Leaders to Adhere to 'Basic Biblical Truths'
Tufts University in Medford, Mass., has banned a Christian group from campus over the group's requirement that its student leaders adhere to "basic biblical truths of Christianity," the Weekly Standard reports. The decision to ban the Tufts Christian Fellowship -- the Tufts chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA -- was made by members of the university's student government, specifically the Tufts Community Union Judiciary. The group "will lose the right to use the Tufts name in its title or at any activities, schedule events or reserve university space through the Office for Campus Life," the Tufts Daily reported, and it will also be unable to receive money from a pool students are required to pay into that is specifically set aside for campus group funding. According to the Tufts Daily, "the group had been operating in a state of suspended recognition after the Judiciary found that the group's constitution excluded students from applying to leadership positions based on their beliefs. The clauses in question require that any TCF member who wishes to apply for a leadership role must adhere to a series of tenets called a Basis of Faith, or eight 'basic biblical truths of Christianity.'" The group is planning to appeal the student board's decision.
Egyptian Christian Youth Unite to Pray for Their Nation
Earlier this month, some 10,000 Egyptian Christian youth gathered for an urgent time of prayer and fasting, seeking God's protection from the rising influence of Islam on Egyptian society, CBN News reports. The massive prayer rally was called One Thing, and the youth gathered each day from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. for praise, prayer and worship. Some traveled hundreds of miles from across Egypt to attend, and an additional estimated two million people around the world watched the event online.
Scottish Church Leader: Don't Force Church on Children
The moderator of the Church of Scotland has warned parents not to "force" church on their children, WORLD News Service reports. According to the newspaper The Scotsman, the Rt. Rev. Albert Bogle "believes it may be counter-productive for the iPod generation to have to sit on pews and be made to listen to ministers 'rabbiting on.'" It’s no surprise that the 63-year-old minister’s stand won praise from the National Secular Society. On the other hand, Rev. David Robertson, of St. Peter's Free Church in Dundee, said the problem in Scotland is not ministers "rabbiting on," but a "famine" in preaching and hearing "the word of the Lord." The Church of Scotland, once dominant in Scottish life, now claims less than 10 percent of the population as adherents and regular attenders. Officially, membership stands at about a half-million, down by more than half since the 1960s.
An Indian evangelical pastor is recovering from injuries after he and his family were beaten by anti-Christian Hindu extremists near New Delhi, International Christian Concern reports. Lal Mani Prasad of the Immanuel Believers Fellowship congregation was reportedly beaten October 14 at his home while he was getting ready for his church's Sunday service. At least two men entered the house and used "a steel water bucket" to hit his head until he was unconscious, according to his son, who suffered a broken hand. His wife, son and daughter were also badly bruised with rods, and the beatings were encouraged by nearly a dozen other Hindu radicals who had earlier hurled stones and other materials at the pastor's home. Prasad, who required 18 stitches on his head, was taken to the local hospital, treated and released, but after a few days he was readmitted with internal bleeding. Local Christians said the attack came after the family was told this year by "extremist Hindus" that they would kill the pastor if he continued with his Christian activities. So far, no arrests have been reported in the case.
University Bans Christian Group for Requiring Leaders to Adhere to 'Basic Biblical Truths'
Tufts University in Medford, Mass., has banned a Christian group from campus over the group's requirement that its student leaders adhere to "basic biblical truths of Christianity," the Weekly Standard reports. The decision to ban the Tufts Christian Fellowship -- the Tufts chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA -- was made by members of the university's student government, specifically the Tufts Community Union Judiciary. The group "will lose the right to use the Tufts name in its title or at any activities, schedule events or reserve university space through the Office for Campus Life," the Tufts Daily reported, and it will also be unable to receive money from a pool students are required to pay into that is specifically set aside for campus group funding. According to the Tufts Daily, "the group had been operating in a state of suspended recognition after the Judiciary found that the group's constitution excluded students from applying to leadership positions based on their beliefs. The clauses in question require that any TCF member who wishes to apply for a leadership role must adhere to a series of tenets called a Basis of Faith, or eight 'basic biblical truths of Christianity.'" The group is planning to appeal the student board's decision.
Egyptian Christian Youth Unite to Pray for Their Nation
Earlier this month, some 10,000 Egyptian Christian youth gathered for an urgent time of prayer and fasting, seeking God's protection from the rising influence of Islam on Egyptian society, CBN News reports. The massive prayer rally was called One Thing, and the youth gathered each day from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. for praise, prayer and worship. Some traveled hundreds of miles from across Egypt to attend, and an additional estimated two million people around the world watched the event online.
Scottish Church Leader: Don't Force Church on Children
The moderator of the Church of Scotland has warned parents not to "force" church on their children, WORLD News Service reports. According to the newspaper The Scotsman, the Rt. Rev. Albert Bogle "believes it may be counter-productive for the iPod generation to have to sit on pews and be made to listen to ministers 'rabbiting on.'" It’s no surprise that the 63-year-old minister’s stand won praise from the National Secular Society. On the other hand, Rev. David Robertson, of St. Peter's Free Church in Dundee, said the problem in Scotland is not ministers "rabbiting on," but a "famine" in preaching and hearing "the word of the Lord." The Church of Scotland, once dominant in Scottish life, now claims less than 10 percent of the population as adherents and regular attenders. Officially, membership stands at about a half-million, down by more than half since the 1960s.
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