Those who meditate much on heaven and all it holds are the happiest people on earth. With their focus on God their heart is filled with wonder and excitement. As James Meikle (1730-1799) wrote: “Meditation, like the spies sent from Israel in the wilderness, returns with a good account of the good land, presents some of the fruits of paradise, and produces refreshing grapes pulled from the true VINE. Here the weary soul retires to rest in the bosom of the promise, in the love of God, in spite of all surrounding troubles; and drinks at the river before the throne, which makes her forget her miseries, as waters that flow away. O the high estate of the sons of God in meditation! They walk in the fields of glory, associate with the angels of light, and hold communion with God Himself! Thus, their face shines, and their mind seems as if in heaven, nobly opposing the base practices of the men of the world.”

The Psalmist said, ” My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.”(Psalms 104:34). So shall it be with all who follow his example. You can’t stand in the sun for a long period of time without being affected by it and you can’t bask in the splendor of heaven without being changed as a result. Let us then resist the temptation to rush through the day, never taking the time to reflect upon the glories of our heavenly home. Get alone with God, open His Word, read His promises, and meditate deeply upon them. You will be glad you did!

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.——that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God.”—Romans 12:1-2

There are many, very many Christians who are afraid of making an unreserved surrender to God. They are afraid that God will ask some hard thing of them, or some absurd thing. They fear sometimes that it will upset all their life-plans. In a word, they are afraid to surrender unreservedly to the will of God, for Him to do all He wished to for them and whatsoever He wills with them. Friends, the will of God concerning us is not only the wisest and best thing in the world; it is also the tenderest and sweetest. God’s will for us is not only more loving than a father’s; it is more tender than a mother’s. It is true that God does oftentimes revolutionize utterly our life plans when we surrender ourselves to His will. It is true that He does require of us things that to others seem hard. But when the will is once surrendered, the revolutionized life plans become just the plans that are most pleasant, and the things that to others seem hard are just the things that are easiest and most delightful. Do not let Satan deceive you into being afraid of God’s plans for your life.(R.A. Torrey)

” And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”–Exodus 16:2-3

In all honesty, we have nothing about which we can complain.

What do you do when the coffee’s too hot, the line’s too long, or things aren’t what they seemed? Most people complain about anything that does not go according to their plan. We have become a self-centered society that has the “it’s my way or the highway” mentality.

But let’s think about the situation more. You have money to pay for the coffee, you have the ability to stand in that line, and clothes are always at your disposal. Many places in the world do not have these luxuries. And yet we complain when one little thing goes wrong.

The Israelites had been delivered from bondage in Egypt through God’s miraculous parting of the Red Sea. They had been given freedom, a new land, and many of Egypt’s riches; yet they complained. How much more selfish could they have been? Yet we are equally as guilty in our lives.

Once saved, we have a home in Heaven, riches unspeakable, and a God who loves us more than words can describe. And we complain about coffee? We have been blessed with more than most people have! But if salvation had been the only thing God had given us, it would be far greater than anything else in life.

Do you ever find yourself complaining over petty things? We have all gotten frustrated and complained about things that went wrong. Ask God to forgive you for complaining. Today, promise God that you will try not to complain. Every time you catch yourself murmuring, thank God for something He has given you. Try to go the entire day without complaining. Because honestly, we have nothing about which we can complain. (By Dr. Paul Chappell)

“Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me; for all is vanity and vexation of the spirit.”( Ecclesiastes 2:17)

Chuck Swindoll writes:

In this ragged-edged reality called earthly existence, life is somewhere between sad and bad. All it takes is a quick look around to discover why we line up to watch fantasies that take us to galaxies far, far away. Who wouldn’t want to escape from an existence as boring and painful as ours? For many, it’s downright horrid. It’s drug abuse. It’s sleepless nights. It’s headaches. It’s heartaches. It’s hate, rape, assault, jail sentences. It’s sickness and sorrow. It’s broken lives. It’s distorted minds. Mainly, as Solomon discovered long ago, it’s empty. There’s nothing down here under the sun that will give you and me a sense of lasting satisfaction. It is planned that way! How else would we realize our need for the living God?

I don’t care how good your professional practice is, much of it is boring. I don’t care how big your house is or how exciting your future is. I don’t care how hard you work or how large your paycheck or how sincere your efforts, when you boil life down to the nubbies . . . when the lights are turned off at night, you’re back to reality–its boring and horribly empty. To quote Solomon the realist, it is like chasing the wind.

You work so that you can make money, so that you can spend it, so that you can work and make more money, so that you can spend it, so that you can get more, which will mean you spend more, and you work harder to make more. So goes this endless cycle called ‘striving after wind.’

That explains why people will line up by the millions to view a fantasy on film and sit in silent amazement at someone’s imaginary world of imaginary characters who do imaginary things–because life under the sun is so dreadfully, unchangingly boring.

To put it bluntly, life on planet Earth without God is the pits. And if I may repeat my point (Solomon does numerous times), that’s the way God designed it. He made it like that. He placed within us that God-shaped vacuum that only He can fill. Until He is there, nothing satisfies

Have you ever tried to picture what life would be like without the U. S. military? A few words come to mind: insecurity, vulnerability, fear. The fact is that we would not survive as a nation without our military men and women because no matter how sincere some leaders are in their efforts to deal peaceably with the enemy, there will always be another country ready to bring a fight to our front door. We cannot rid the world of enemies simply by avoiding them; we must have a defense in place.

The same is true of our Christian faith; we must be prepared for opposition from our enemy, Satan, because he is ready to wage war on us at any given moment, especially when God is really working in our lives. And just as our brave men and women in uniform are trained and ready to meet this country’s opposition head on, we must spend time training in the Word, learning how to defend and protect ourselves against the wiles of the Devil.

It’s like the Roman strategist, Flavius Vegetius, said, “Let him who desires peace prepare for war.” So, put on the armor of God and gear up!   —–From Turning Point