Uncloistered

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  “She gazed ahead through a long reach of future days strung together like pearls in a rosary, every one like the others, and all smooth and flawless and innocent, and her heart went up in thankfulness. Outside was the fervid summer afternoon; the air was filled with the sounds of the busy harvest of men and birds and bees; there were halloos, metallic clatterings, sweet calls, and long hummings. Louisa sat, prayerfully numbering her days, like an uncloistered nun.” A New England Nun By Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852–1930)

Does God Protect His Word (part 6)?

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Isaiah 40:7-8, "The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever."

There is no accident that "tsîyts" (or "tsits"), which is translated "flower," can also be used of "glistening," specifically, of a polished metal plate or plate metal. This could read, "the green lawn dries up and the glittering/glistening fails." Polished metal must be kept polished or else it will tarnish. In a figurative sense "nabel" (translated here as "fadeth") could mean "made wicked" or "be despised."

In an earlier post we saw how God speaks and breathes and creates and the everlasting quality of that which He brings into being. Now we see God's breath and God's word causing the wilting of men against his forever-standing word. Not even gold plates given by visionary angels to young men on grassy knolls or forests can keep their lustre against His unchanging, ever-protected word.

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