Wednesday, January 4, 2012

HOW  DOES GOD WORK? 




Quote for Today  - January 4, 2012

"God tempers the wind ... to the shorn lamb."

Laurence Sterne [1713-1768], A Sentimental Journey [1768]

The full line, without the ... is, "God tempers the wind, said Maria, to the shorn lamb."

Painting on top: "Shearing the Rams" [1896] by the Australian Impressionistic painter Tom Roberts.


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P.S. I always wonder about this saying - because it says so much. I would think a discussion group would say much - if this saying was brought up as a discussion topic. It has some of the sense of one of my favorite quotes from Marian Evans Cross [1819-1880] - a.k.a. George Eliot, "If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is on the other side of silence." [Middlemarch 1871-1872, Chapter 22.]

The following texts might help such a discussion.

In  Matthew 10: 26 to 31 we read that Jesus said, "Do not be afraid of them therefore. For everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops. Do not be afraid of  those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows."

In John 3: 8 we read that Jesus said, "The wind blows wherever it pleases; you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes or where it is going."

In Mark 4: 35-41 we read the following scene, "With the coming of evening that same day, he said to them: 'Let us cross over to the other side.'  And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him.  Then it began to blow a gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped.  But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep.  They woke him and said, 'Master, do you not care? We are going down!'  And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Quiet now! Be calm!'  And the wind dropped, and all was calm again.  Then he said to them, 'Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?'  They were filled with awe and said to one another, 'Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.'"

Also read Luke 15:4-7; John 10: 1-21; Ezekiel 34; Jeremiah 23:1-4; Isaiah 56:11.

Rereading the opening quote, "God tempers the wind, said Maria, to the shorn lamb" here are 3 questions:

1) Does God go, "Ouch!" when someone smashes a mosquito dead when it's about to bore into one's arm? 2) Does God go, "Ouch!" when a fly is hit by a car and a wing is damaged? 3) Is God aware of each hair on each spider's head?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. I love this quote. To me, it sums up God's mercy perfectly. I wrote it down in my book of special stuff when you posted it before, and I have it under my blotter for frequent reference. Thank you for posting it again.