India

 For your prayers I visit India from tomorrow for over two weeks to be with believers on the Lord Jesus there.  I'll be in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Mumbai and Coimbatore.

Grace be with you

David

JACOB

 More than a mother's love,

A divine secret,

Moved Rebecca to discern

Jacob was loveable.

"What was torn I have not

Brought to thee", Jacob attested,

The words of a man

Who did justly.

Renamed, after his wrestling,

And his maiming

He, Israel, could walk as one

Of God's nobility.

To approach God's house

- "Put away the strange gods ...

And cleanse yourselves" -

Demanded purity.

After the byways, 

Skewed routes, now

Leaning on his staff,

A true worshipper.

Seat by the shore: what you can see from it is below.  All near Callanish.

BETHEL

 

Genesis 28 & 37

The place made Jacob's flesh recoil
In face of things which were divine;
Yet, if he first poured only oil
Returning he poured oil and wine.

The Spirit graciously portrays
Himself as substance to deploy
To honour God and as God's ways
Adjust our souls we give God joy.

And substance whereby God anoints
The saints He chooses to refine
To fill the places He appoints,
Whose hearts are glad, and faces shine.

The standing stones of Callanish

JACOB AT BETHEL by Lucy Hutchinson

Order and Disorder 19 from line 65:

 

Such in his desolate lodging Jacob found

Who sees the ladder standing on the ground,

The  top up to high heaven advanced, from whence

The angels waiting on God's providence

Perpetually in thick troops made descent

And back to heaven by the same steps went:

To heaven where his penetrating sight

Beheld the glorious uncreated light

Where are the ladder's top Jehovah stood

And thus His lasting promises renewed:

'I am that God whom Abraham did before,

And since, thy father Isaac did adore.

The land on which thou liest, I have decreed

To give unto thee and thy blessed seed

Which I will make as numerous as the sands,

Dilate to the east, west, north, and southern lands.

Blessings unto the whole earth's families

From thee and thy successors shall arise.

Lo, I am with thee and in every place

Where'er thou goest will be thy guard; my grace

Shall thee in all thy wandering sustain

And to this land conduct thee back again.

Till all my promises accomplished be

I will in no distress abandon thee.'

O PRAISE THE SAVIOUR FOR HIS LOVE V

O praise the Saviour for His love –
But what is love? Touching the sick,
Weeping with the bereaved, feeding the hungry,
Washing the disciples’ feet; submitting
To swords and bonds; going alone
To face the cross. And going alone
To the Father’s house to prepare a dwelling
For us. And desiring the presence of His own.
What is love? All that the Saviour
Showed to us, and shows us still.
 

O PRAISE THE SAVIOUR FOR HIS LOVE IV

 

O praise the Saviour
For His love ...

Is a husbandly love
Pleading with his unfaithful spouse;

Is a fatherly love
Gently taking my hand to help me walk;

Is an observant love
Rejoicing to see fruit ripen;

Is an alluring love
That speaks from His heart to ours.

O PRAISE THE SAVIOUR FOR HIS LOVE III

 III

O praise the Saviour for His love
That has displayed heaven’s fulness.
Bless Him since He has descended
To demonstrate the heart of God.
He came into the world to die
And He came to fulfil God’s will.
How love shone at Golgotha’s cross!
How love shines in His present care!

O praise the Savior for His love (II)

 Triolet

O praise the Saviour for His love
That took Him to a world of strife
Where humans elbow, kick and shove.
O praise the Saviour for His love
That came from peaceful scenes above
And caused Him to lay down His life.
O praise the Saviour for His love
That took Him to a world of strife.