Spiritual Treasure
A
t the time of my writing, it
seems that the extreme dry
weather is over. It’s not often
that we classify rain as good
weather, but this summer has changed
our perspective.
During the dry spell, my thoughts
were led to God’s words recorded in 2
Chronicles 7:13-14, “When I shut up the
heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send
a plague among my people, if my people,
who are called by name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn
from their wicked ways, then I will hear
from heaven and will forgive their sins
and will heal their land.”
There are those who believe
extreme circumstances are God’s
judgment, some that they are there
to redirect us from the wrong path,
or simply to make us grateful for all
by Lyn Stutzman, Pastor at Community Fellowship Church
things. There are examples where all
of these things are true, but one thing
that is consistent is that ultimately
they are all meant to lead us back to
the Father. “Pray; seek; turn from,”
these all refer to our relationship with
Him. We, for the most part, understand this. We need to pray to Him,
seek His face, and turn from our path
away from Him. We are told, however,
that we must first humble ourselves. I
have wondered do we really know what
it is to be humble.
I believe contemporary society,
would say, it’s the “awe shucks” approach to life and achievement. Kind
of like the guy who was notified that
he was invited to a ceremony where he
would be honored with an award for
being the most humble person alive.
The award was promptly taken away
because he showed up to claim it.
I don’t believe that true humility
is denying achievement or success, but
is more a lack of arrogance. It’s an accurate assessment of who I am before
God, who is sovereign over all that is.
It’s the recognition that all things come
from Him, and are given by Him.
During a dry spell it is arrogant of
us to question God’s job performance,
and/or imply that we could do it better. A man who is considered humble
by the world, but stands outside and
curses the skies for lack of rain, is not
humble before God.
In Job 38, God questions man in
his arrogance, and demands an answer to His questions, in verses 25-28
He asks, “Who cuts a channel for the
torrents of rain, and a path for the
thunderstorm, to water a land where
no man lives, a desert with no one in
it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and
make it sprout with grass? Does the
rain have a father? Who fathers the
drops of dew?” The only answer is God
Almighty creator and controller of
all things, and we must humbly pray
to Him, seek His face, and turn from
our wickedness and back toward Him,
knowing He’s in control during all of
life’s dry spells.
New Debit Card Scam
Farmers State Bank has learned
of a text-messaging scam involving
debit cards. Individuals receive a text
message stating that MasterCard is
having issues with their cards. The text
instructs that the card holder verify
their card information by texting back
their card number, expiration date,
and PIN. Be advised, this is a scam;
MasterCard is not sending out this
text. You should never email or text
your personal information. For more
information, call the 800 number on
the back of your card.
The Hometown Treasure · September ‘12 · pg 35