French seascapes: Étretat, Normandy

The Needle, chalky cliff of Normandy: Brexit in geological time: Dover must have broken off this point, I suppose-b
Size: 50×40 watercolor

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Goldfishes: pastel

Reprinted from an earlier post.

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Illustration for the week- end story: A Childs Play

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Hawksbill Turtle /sketch-pen and ink

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Sketches :under the Haute Garonne skies, France

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Still- Life- chestnuts

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Moses: an assessment

(Originally posted in Guide to His Word/-heroes of Faith of 24 July,2018)

In the transfiguration of Jesus Christ we have a clue as to the state of our bodies after death. Jesus took his disciples Peter James and John apart, and at the mount occurred an event that Jesus wanted them to keep to themselves “Tell this vision unto no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead(v.9).” God had refused Moses to enter the Promised Land, right? But after death he is deputed with a delicate task by God. It is the point we shall try to understand.
So our present purpose our focus is on Moses and we read thus:“Behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him (v.3 ) Matt.17:1-8. In short Moses after death was pressed into service. Does this not inform us that Christian Living in essence is service whether we are in physical or spiritual body? The Parable of the Rich man and Lazarus also gives us a clue: the rich man in agony asking Abraham to let Lazarus cool his tormented soul (Lk.16:24) would indicate that there is life after life.
Our topic here is to show from the life of Moses how faith grades entire life experience of a child of God, both seemingly unfortunate and fortunate events consistent about it. Christian Life similarly is about faith holding spiritual blessings in body and spiritual bodies find match in the Body.
Our lives about faith, which was invisible as Spirit so we may speak with conviction our spiritual discernment leading step by step to Christ owes to the spirit of faith, a gift from the Creator God. In the life of Moses we shall see this very clearly from scriptural passages in the Old and New. Spiritual discernment of Moses persuaded him to suffer affliction with the people of God than enjoy pleasure his pomp and circumstance allowed. In order to become a hero of faith he had to be trained in the way God had in mind. In submitting to them he became a hero of faith.

When God called him out by the burning bush that did not consume itself Moses was nervous first, but God had to make his faith grow. He asked Moses to cast his stick on the ground. He did and it became a snake. He ran in fright (Ex.4:3). God insisted that he took back his rod and he did. Having given him an idea of faith that overcame his natural nervousness God sent him to cause ten plagues on the whole land of Egypt. As commanded of God he obeyed him. On one occasion he stretched forth his rod and the Lord sent an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. It was the wind and God who made the locusts fill the land. “Before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after…(Ex.10:14).” In a manner of speaking His rod was extension of his faith and he in turn was figuratively faith of God. Remember the expression finger of God? It is how Jesus qualified his healing(Lk.11:20). This is how it is while we are on the earth. Our lives are extension of God in faith.

So what is Christian Living? Is it not our spiritual body within glory of God? When our faith radiates the holy city of New Jerusalem shall be lit with glory. In short this glory connects with Christ Jesus the Head and the glorious Church, his Body.
Moses was a hero of faith that made him spokesman for his people. “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face. (Deut.34:10;Ex.33:11;Nu:12:8).
ii
Let us apply the law of gradation to distinguish peaks and lows of his life. Due to lack of space we shall merely limit to a few instances
Alienation.
Baby Moses was plucked from the bosom of his mother and cast down along the river. Moses when came of age must have been aware of the circumstances of his infancy and probably sublimated hatred of the nation against his race. On an impulse he came between a private quarrel between an Egyptian and a Hebrew. He killed the Egyptian. Next day it was a quarrel between two Hebrews. His attempt to make peace was brutally rebuffed by his country man and his sense of alienation needed no further proof. He did not belong to the race of man. All that leisurely study and scholarship of his mature period was a waste. Against this let us place his self-imposed exile for forty years. While he tended the flock of sheep for his father-in-law at Midian what made him survive but the sense of alienation? He must have realized he belonged neither to his own nation who rejected him and to the adopted nation for their prejudice. Seething anger and a family to take care must have kept him going. Psychologically his alienation allowed him to come to terms with his exile.
When God chooses anyone for service He makes the many earlier vicissitudes and blessings come to terms with one other. Law of Gradation shall always make room for faith to fill in the gaps of emotional and psychological scars and work complete healing.
Benny

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