Author name: Tom Stuart

Why God plays Hide and Seek

3 Comments / Relationship with God /

Why are children so easily entertained playing peekaboo and hide and seek? Developmental psychologists tell us that it has to do with the concept of object permanence. Wikipedia defines object permanence as “the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard or touched.” Children gradually develop this understanding up through about age 2.
As spiritual children, it is critical in our spiritual development that we understand His object permanence in our lives as well. There is a very important parallel here between the way in which children relate to the ones they love and the way in which we relate to our heavenly Father. It does not take much reading of the Scriptures to notice that at times God also plays hide and seek with us.

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Testimony of a modern day Rip Van Winkle

Answers to Prayer! /

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

It was the morning of September 11, 2001. Startling news reports were coming from the World Trade Center in New York. That is one of the last things Jules Volk remembers as his wife Sylvia rushed him to the hospital. Everything in his life was about to change. He would spend the next few days on the brink of death as he battled herpes encephalitis. Except for a few isolated incidences, the next month of hospitalization would be totally lost to his memory.

As his pastor of his church I was notified of his hospitalization and made my way up to the hospital. When I came into his room a very unusual thing happened. Although Jules was not conscious he heard a voice behind him saying “Jules they’re calling your name.” And, when he hesitated, the voice urged “Go!” The next thing Jules remembers is my voice saying “Jules I am here to anoint you with oil in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” And then, he recounts seeing a huge thumb “almost as big as my face” coming down and anointing him

That angelic voice calling Jules out of the blackness of unconsciousness coupled with our prayers proved to be the miraculous intervention of God that saved Jules life.

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Shut in to faith

1 Comment / Prayer, Relationship with God /

“Then the Lord shut him in.” Genesis 7:16

Imagine what is must have been like for Noah and his family to finally board the ark. It was like moving into a barn chocked full of animals. There was nothing exotic about it at all. It was a three story, windowless monstrosity. It’s only source of natural light and fresh air was an eighteen inch gap at the very top just under the eaves of the roof that extended all around the perimeter of the ark.

And the ark had not been constructed to sit placidly on a plain. It was built to weather a natural catastrophe and the storm of the ages. Within hours of God’s all-aboard call, the underground waters would erupt from the depths of the earth and mighty torrents of rain would be loosed from the heavens. The Bible tells us that God himself closed the door in the side of the ark after everyone was on board. And with that He literally shut Noah and his family in to faith.

Do you know what being shut in to faith is like? Remember the last time you went on a scary ride at the amusement park? How did you feel when the attendant closed the door and cinched the safety bar across your lap? That was the point of no return and like it or not, you were shut in to faith. Within seconds you were about to be whisked away on the ride of your life. And there was nothing you could do but trust God that those maintaining the mechanics and operation of everything were doing their jobs.

Being shut in to faith is both exhilarating and terrifying. When God shut the door of the ark and all hell broke loose outside, what must have been going through the minds of Noah and company.

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Jesus needs you

Growth & Development, Relationship with God /

“Without God man cannot, without man God will not.” Augustine
We all know the story of Jonah and the extraordinary measures God used to get him to carry His message of repentance to the city Nineveh. And most people know the story of the man in Jesus’ parable of the talents, who buried his instead of investing it. Although Jonah, in running from God, was much more cantankerous than the one talent guy who simply refused to use his talent, they both were very much alike. Neither one of them thought God really needed them to do His work.

Both offered the same excuse for their stubbornness in not doing what God had asked them to do. Both rationalized that God in His might and sovereignty could do what he bid them to do without them, so why should they bother. (Jonah 4:2 & Matthew 25:24)

What they failed to understand about God is that He has chosen to delight Himself in working through the agency of man.

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3 lessons I wish I had learned earlier in life

3 Comments / Life Balance, Window into my Soul /

“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

Some lessons I wish I had learned earlier in life. It’s been said that experience is the best teacher. Unfortunately that is not necessarily the case. Actually the best teacher is evaluated experience. Only those who seek to learn from bad experiences are destined not to repeat them. Evaluated experience leads to wisdom. And there is no better source of wisdom than perspective that comes from God inspired evaluation.

That is what this short prayer from Psalm 90 is all about. It is a prayer that I now pray frequently and have adopted as one of my life verses. It is noteworthy that Moses is the author of this Psalm. There is probably no one better qualified than him to pray so authoritatively for wisdom. After spending forty years exile in the wilderness evaluating his deadly misjudgments in Egypt he knew what it meant to number his days aright. And the heart of wisdom God imparted to him during that time positioned him at age eighty to begin a forty year run as one of the greatest leaders of all time.

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