April Newsletter, 2021 Rick McPherson
Sitting by a wood fire is a good place to think. After a late winter snow and ice storm, we had accumulated a sizeable amount of limbs and branches that needed to be burned. Watching the flames and holding my coffee cup I took advantage of the time to say some prayers and listen. I wasn’t expecting an immediate response, but I got one. A verse of Scripture popped in my head and I was captured.
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Micah 6:8
So, I asked myself the question, “What does God want from me?” What in the world can I say or do, that will make a difference? Anything? Something? Actually, yes. And, it’s contained in this verse. It’s simple, straightforward and direct.
ActiveChristianity says this: “This verse shows what God requires. Other than this, He doesn’t require anything; it is very simple. But this verse encompasses a great deal. His desire is that His children should be like Him, have the same mind, the same thoughts, and the same life, and the same godly sorrow over unrighteousness in our hearts. The same honesty and straightforwardness, when it concerns both themselves, and when it concerns others.”
With that truth in mind, I reviewed our work with Pacific NW Outreach and asked how we measure up? Are we doing and saying the same thing? After all, hypocrisy is saying one thing and doing another. The children of Israel that the prophet was talking to were in fact guilty. Micah was speaking to the fact that spiritual blindness had led them to offer everything except the one thing God wanted…a spiritual commitment of the heart from which right behavior would ensue.
Our ministry is dependent on the simplicity and honesty of just doing the physical and spiritual work that will help the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest. As people say, “It’s not rocket science!” Helping those who are hungry, thirsty, sick, naked or imprisoned is in fact, a Scriptural mandate. And, people like you who help us are a big part of fulfilling that ministry.
Thank you! Thank you, for your faithful and generous support of this ministry helping Native Americans. None of us can do everything, but all of us can do something. God bless you abundantly for what you are doing.
Now, I think I’ll head back to the fire and see what I can hear.
*****