elizabethprata

At the gates

Posted on August 1, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The Proverbs 31 wife has a husband at the gates, Her husband is known in the gates, When he sits among the elders of the land. (Proverbs 31:23).

The famous Ishtar Gate, before 4BC. now in Pergamon Berlin Museum. Note the scale, compare the people to the gate. Photo By Rictor Norton – CC BY 2.0. Nebuchadnezzar II inscribed the gate and gave credit to ‘Marduk, lord of the gods’. He will learn later Marduk does not exist.

Gates. I never thought much about ’em until I moved to rural Georgia. My first apartment here in the south had a horse gate. I had to stop my car and get out, unlock and push open the gate, drive through, then repeat the procedure in reverse. Many farm driveways have a cattle gate. Same with a lot of homes that have animals of one kind of another. Big gates, small gates. Gates.

What does this mean, ‘sitting at the gates’?

In Bible times the cities were walled and you could only enter by a gate. The bigger the city, the bigger the wall. Nineveh with a population of 120,000 and three days’ walking breadth had walls so wide a chariot could run along the top.

The system of gates at the fortress Acrocorinth near Corinth, Greece. Nicolas von Kospoth. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acrocorinth_Gateway.jpg. CC

At the gates of cities courts of justice were frequently held, and hence “judges of the gate” are spoken of (Deut. 16:18; 17:8; 21:19; 25:6, 7, etc.). At the gates prophets also frequently delivered their messages (Prov. 1:21; 8:3; Isa. 29:21; Jer. 17:19, 20; 26:10). Criminals were punished without the gates (1 Kings 21:13; Acts 7:59). Source, Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Easton, M. G. (1893).

The gate wasn’t like what we may think of with a wall, an open gate, then voila, you’re in. Since the gate was the most vulnerable part of the city’s defensive system, there was a gate, then some chambers, or barriers. Or, more gates.

“During the Iron Age, the period of Israelite monarchy, two-, four-, and six-chamber gates are found. … Undoubtedly, the development of new weapons, including more effective battering rams, required new defensive strategies. Among such innovations were the introduction of inner and outer gate structures. Such double-gate structures may well have been intended to strengthen defenses. Assaulting an outer-gate structure would not give access into the city proper; it would only lead through a narrow passage (where an invading army would be under continual assault by defenders on the walls above) to an inner-gate structure, likewise well defended. Sites with inner- and outer-gate structures include Tel Dan, Megiddo, and Lachish.” Source- Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Typically, the city’s market or bazaar would be close to the gate, so merchants would not have to drive their animals through the whole the city. Since there was so much activity coming and going at the gate, this is where the elders sat to judge, mediate, and consider city business.

Below we see a photo of the inside of a city gate, a four-chambered one. Photo and caption by Ian Scott:

“This is one of the four chambers that line the gate complex of Iron Age Gerar. Note the well-preserved bench running around the inside of the chamber. This is where soldiers might prepare to repel invaders who penetrated the outer gate. It is also in such gate chambers that the town elders would pass hot days, hear complaints, and adjudicate disputes.”

Gate-chamber at Gerar. CC BY-SA 2.0,https://www.flickr.com/photos/38000818@N06/5794307714

Lot had a position at the gate. This means he was an elder of the city of Sodom. Genesis 19:1 says, “Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom.”

Boaz was an elder at the gate, too. Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the redeemer of whom Boaz spoke was passing by, so he said, “Come over here, friend, sit down here.” And he came over and sat down.” (Ruth 4:1).

Eli was at the gate. When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy. And so he judged Israel for forty years. (1 Samuel 4:18).

Gates where were a triumph was proclaimed, or prisoners of war displayed. A conquering King and his men would stand at the gate to show their victory, because the gate was considered the place of authority, economy, justice, and was actually the all-in-all life-blood of the city.

Much is made of Deborah’s position as Judge and Prophetess in the Bible. People who wish to imbue women with more authority than the Bible gives often revert to Deborah as the model and example. No. Further, it is interesting to see that Deborah did not sit “at the gate” as was customary. She was not located in a city. She judged under a palm tree in the hills of Ephraim. (Judges 4:5).

So perhaps that is more than you wanted to know about gates and elders sitting at the gate, but I thought it was interesting architecturally and theologically.

Further Resources

Deborah: The Exception, not the Rule

What is the significance of a city gate in the Bible?

About God and earthquakes

Posted on July 31, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Some time ago there was an earthquake in an area of the US that does not usually have quakes. It was a startling geological event. Thousands poured out into the streets in shock and surprise. The author of the news about it went on to state that, “Any assumption that the region is seismically serene was corrected at 1:51 p.m…”

People are intensely interested in earthquakes, and they know instinctively that quakes somehow relate to God.

If a person is not a believer then they will try to convince themselves that earthquakes are natural happenings based in science where strike-slip quakes or thrust quakes have logical scientific meaning and occur in places where underlying geology supports their particular kind of quake stress relief. And in some sense, quakes are ‘natural’. They are a result of the Fall and the Flood when God rearranged the earth’s continent into separate continents as plates.

Though, scientists cannot and have never been able to figure out why a certain type of quake called deep-focus quakes occur. These are quakes that happen in places where scientifically, none should occur. Note that-

Most earthquakes are shallow. They are concentrated no deeper than 20-25 kilometers down. However, a few extremely deep quakes rumble at depths of about 600 kilometers. Geophysicists are really not certain what causes the very deep quakes, because at 640 kilometers rocks are so hot that they flow rather than snap under geological stresses. The more common, shallow earthquakes are generally created when rocks snap and fracture. source

Anyway, Bible Believers love science but know that God is not beholden to science. If He wants to cause an earthquake, He will. There is no place that is ‘seismically serene.’ There is no place that is ‘aseismic’. I thought it was ironic and amusing when the Powers that Be decided to build a seed vault to store seeds in case of a cataclysm. They spent millions to search for and then build a perfect place that was remote, could be protected, and was safe from earthquakes. They chose Svalbard Norway, atop a tiny rock atop a tiny island in the remote north Atlantic, above the Arctic Circle. Vault scientists and builders looked long and hard for a place where no quakes happen, so the seeds (which they call and ark!) are protected from any future apocalypse). It was supposed to be a “seismically free” zone. The day they opened the vault and had their bigwig ribbon cutting party, there was a huge earthquake. It was the largest in Norway’s history, a 6.2.

Svalbard Global Seed Vault:

“This location was chosen for the express reason that seismic activity rarely if ever occurs there. Earthquakes occur hundreds of miles away on the Norwegian mainland, but they are low in magnitude. The largest one on the mainland [1200 miles away] was 5.4 in 1904 and most eq’s on mainland Norway are less than 4.0. The quake occurred even though the vault’s feasibility study assured that “there is no volcanic or significant seismic activity” in the area.” (source). [underline mine. Source is deleted now and isn’t in the Internet Archive.]

God can cause an earthquake anywhere, any time, of any magnitude. Satan does not cause earthquakes. Nature does not cause earthquakes. There is nothing that happens on the earth that God does not permit. Nothing. There is nothing happening on earth that He does not know about. We read in Luke 12:6-7, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

Earthquakes vary in kind. Some as mentioned are the mysterious deep-focus kind of quakes. There was a deep-focus quake some years ago, in the Philippines. As a matter of fact, there were three high-magnitude deep-focus quakes in fast succession.

Another kind of strange quake was the quake in Florida USA.

Remember the mysterious kind of quake that happened with Korah?

“Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that The Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then The Lord has not sent me. But if The Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have treated The Lord with contempt.”

“As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah’s men and all their possessions. They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!” (Numbers 16:28-34).

This kind of earth opening then closing is reminiscent of an incident that will take place in the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. It is described in Revelation 12:13-16–

“When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.”

Jesus said that there would be earthquakes in diverse places in the Tribulation (Matthew 24:7).

As we see, Jesus has and will continue to cause earthquakes in any location as is suits His plan. He uses them for warnings and as judgments.

In the Tribulation, there will be many earthquakes. They will kill millions. Billions even. A third of the population dies almost immediately and then another third of the remainder are killed by the various judgments. (Not only earthquakes but pestilence, beast, famine, and sword (His for sore judgments; Ezekiel 14:21).

Here are scriptures that show He is in control, He holds the earth with gentle hands as gently as holding a sparrow, knowing even the numbers of hairs on your head, but also showing that He will shake the earth violently to show His displeasure in sin and rebellion against Him. After I read all these I came away with a sense of awe and humility in seeing without a doubt how much He is in control. And yet He loves us. He wants us to dwell with Him in heaven…please repent so that you will be there. Confess to Him that you are a sinner and ask Him to forgive the wrongdoing you’ve engaged in over your lifetime. He will forgive you. He died so that it would be possible. Now He is risen and waiting to hear your confession. Meanwhile, please enjoy these awesome verses illustrating His power on the earth:

GENERAL SCRIPTURES ABOUT QUAKES
Job 9:6
He shakes the earth from its place and makes its pillars tremble.

Psalm 18:7
The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry.

Psalm 46:2
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

Psalm 46:3
though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

Psalm 104:32
he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

Nahum 1:5
The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it.

VERSES ABOUT QUAKES AS PROPHESIES

Matthew 24
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

Revelation 6:12
[The Sixth Seal—Terror ] I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;

Revelation 8:5
Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

Revelation 11:13
And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Revelation 11:19
And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

Revelation 16:18
And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.

Ezekiel 38:18-20
This is what will happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign LORD. 19 In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground.

Zechariah 14:4
On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.

VERSES OF QUAKES AS JUDGMENTS

Psalm 18:15
The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

Psalm 60:2
You have shaken the land and torn it open; mend its fractures, for it is quaking.

Isaiah 13:13
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.

Isaiah 24:19
The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is violently shaken.

Isaiah 24:20
The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls—never to rise again.

Isaiah 29:6
the LORD Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.

Nahum 1

1 A prophecy concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
The LORD’s Anger Against Nineveh
The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger but great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and dries it up; he makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither and the blossoms of Lebanon fade. The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it. Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him.

I am glad I stand as His friend and not His enemy. How about you? Are you friend or foe of God?

creator, evolution

Our wonderful Creator

Posted on July 30, 2024July 30, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Regular readers of this blog know that I love nature. I love the intricacies of how God created it all for His good and His glory. I love the macro. These are the large items in nature and the large complex systems- the sunsets and meteors and aurora borealis, the green flash, gravity, earthquakes, and black holes. I love the micro. These are the small systems- atoms and their electrons, mollusks, insect anatomy, rocks and the minerals they contain.

Regular readers also know that as a I adhere to the Bible’s presentation of the creation in Genesis. It happened by the Word of God, over six days, and that’s that. And since God created the world, He created all its intricacies. The plants, insects, animals and humans and their complex interactions, whether symbiotic or parasitic.

Here are some examples of the intricacies I especially enjoy. These could not have evolved, but were made by the Ancient of Days who called them into being. In this first example of His creativity, I note that though the headline says the secret is unveiled the article actually says that ‘scientists are one step closer to unlocking the secret’:

Source Of Spider Silk’s Extreme Strength Unveiled
“The strength of spider dragline silk exceeds that of any material produced in laboratories, by far. All attempts to manufacture threads of similar strength have failed thus far,” explains Professor Horst Kessler, Carl von Linde Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at the TU Muenchen (TUM-IAS). In collaboration with the workgroup of Prof. Thomas Scheibel, who was a researcher at the TU Muenchen until 2007 and who now holds a chair of the Institute of Biomaterials at the Universitaet Bayreuth, Professor Kessler’s team has been researching for years to unveil the secret of spider silk.” … “How do spiders manage to first store the silk proteins in the silk gland and to then assemble them in the spinning passage in a split second to form threads with these extraordinary characteristics? And what exactly gives the threads their tremendous tensile strength?”

The scientists explain what happens inside a spider when it is not spinning its web:

“Spider threads consist of long chains of thousands of repeating sequences of protein molecules. These silk proteins are stored in the silk gland in a highly concentrated form until they are needed. The long chains with their repeating sequences of protein molecules are initially unordered and must not get too close to each other as they would immediately clump up. Only in the spinning passage, just before being used, are the threads oriented parallel to each other and form so-called micro crystallites that are, in turn, assembled to stable threads with cross links.”

Right. Like that evolved. How did the spider evolve its proteins in such a way that it could tell them to order themselves into a spinning passage in perfect harmony and tensile strength that escapes anything humans can reproduce? What a great God we have to create a universe that has a perfectly ordered and functioning system in all things, in everything, including the silk spider!

Here is a snippet of the symbiosis that occurs between a moth and a moth mite:

“In one particular symbiotic relationship between mites and moths, mites of the genus Dicrocheles infest one “ear” of a moth. The moth’s ear has three chambers, one of which is separated from the other two by the eardrum. The mites crawl into the moth’s ear to lay their eggs, and in the process puncture the delicate eardrum, leaving the moth deaf in that ear. However, the mites are careful to colonize only one ear, because if they were to colonize both ears, the moth would be fully deaf and would be unable to hear approaching bats. The bat would eat the mites along with the moth.”

Though the mites didn’t know of the danger of infesting both moth’s ears, they avoid it completely and universally by only infesting one ear. How did that come about? Not by evolution. God is wonderful indeed.

Consider the pesky barnacle. It adheres to a boat’s hull and when enough of them accumulate, they slow the craft to through the water. This is called drag. When we scraped the barnacles off our sailboat, the average speed over ground increased by a knot and a half. Then again, if you ever scraped barnacles, you know how hard they are to get off. Their cement is legendary.

BARNACLE
“Barnacle cement, the substance the animals use to glue themselves to ships’ bottoms and to rocks, has attracted the interest of doctors. A layer of this cement three tenthousandths of an inch thick over one square inch will support a weight of 7000 pounds. It is even stronger than epoxy cement. At temperatures above 6000°F the glue will soften but not melt, and at 380°F the cement will not crack. It does not dissolve in most strong acids, alkalies, organic solvents, or water. If man could learn to manufacture this cement, which barnacles have been using for millions of years, it could be used to mend broken bones and hold fillings in teeth.”

The Journal of Biological Chemistry says that for the barnacle “To adhere effectively, the cement needs to accomplish several functions such as coagulation, displacement of water from the substratum, establishment of interfacial contact, and molecular attraction between dissimilar materials.“

JPK Industries in the UK writes,

Right. Like that evolved.

I always have loved the beauty of shells. They are stunning in their delicacy and colorful beauty. Did you know that when a mollusk is born, its apex part of the shell is born with it? This starter part of the shell is called the protoconch.

It is a photo of the Ass’s Ear Abalone, and this is what a mature shell looks like:

As the animal inside the shell grows the animal secretes exactly enough calcium (in beautiful patterns too) that he will need to live at the upcoming size in the chamber. Like this Turritella-

So this has been an interlude of praise for a Creator of extreme intelligence, creativity, beauty, and love. he created this world for humans to populate in order that we might worship Him, and once sin is vanquished (Daniel 9:24) He will restore all to its perfect glory. And blessedly, our current state of imperfect worship and praise that I am exhibiting even now, will become perfect toward Him. As it should be.

theology

Cut to the Chase discernment: Avoid Jen Wilkin

Posted on July 29, 2024March 15, 2025 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

About the series: I have written discernment essays critiquing various teachers. In articles like that, I include sources, explain the teacher’s errors thoroughly, and provide examples. All this make the essays longer. Nowadays however, people like to read less lengthy material. So I cut to the chase and made shorter essays showing why these folks are false. In the Cut to the Chase I include links at the end if you care to go to my longer essays and/or other resources.

Why should we avoid Jen Wilkin?

1. Poor hermeneutic. Wilkin’s emphasis on gender and pushing for opportunities for women to teach (no focus on exercising the other gifts, solely teach, preach, or be hired leader-staff) is starting to twist her hermeneutics. I saw this in each of the messages I watched, including a Bible teaching from 2014 supposedly expositing Joshua, the Rahab segment of that speech. Her teaching is off. I would not trust it and sadly do not recommend Jen Wilkin’s Bible studies. Some have called her recent teachings ‘gynocentric’ which I think is apt.

2. Discernment. Jen is partnering with and promoting questionable/false teachers. She is increasingly speaking with Kelly Minter, Christine Caine, Priscilla Shirer, and Beth Moore. Also Jackie Hill Perry. See one example here. Another is the Lifeway Women’s Leadership conference in February 2020. More recently Jen spoke at an Oklahoma Women’s Retreat alongside Whitney Capps, who is part of false teacher Lysa TerKeurst’s Proverbs 31 Ministries and Lifeway Women…and The Gospel Coalition Women with Muslim Isa-dreams believer David Platt.

3. Egalitarian. In one famous example, Wilkin based her entire talk on the biology of men and women, avoiding the biblical/spiritual foundation. When she does refer to the Bible it was to present a different interpretation of the creation of humans in Genesis 2.

In that speech, Wilkin explained to the attending male pastors and church planters, that it’s important to understand the biology of men and women when you’re planting a church, and so you can use women in “visible leadership”. You hear this phrase from Wilkin a lot … “visible leadership”. She is big on women in visible leadership. As opposed to “hidden leadership”? Wilkin tries to make the case that men and women are interchangeable and therefore their roles are too. She does not preach the beauty of an Abigail, Anna, Lydia, Mary, Dorcas. Her sole focus of late is women who leading, and often mentions Deborah and Huldah. She is against the concept of complementarian helpmeet, which is why she needs to reinterpret Genesis 2.

3. Attitude. Titus 2:3a says, Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior
Wilkin is on record as being angry and being snarky. Greear said in his introduction about her that he’d first heard of her as ‘The Bible Girl’ and talked with her, testing her for her biblical knowledge, and “she’d always give back a snarky answer, to let me know that she knew a whole lot more than I did about whatever I was asking about, so I learned to be very respectful around her…”

Unknowingly Greear made Proverbs 27:15-16 come to life-

A constant dripping on a day of steady rain
And a contentious woman are alike;
He who would restrain her restrains the wind,
And grasps oil with his right hand.

Wilkin sometimes demonstrates a barely suppressed anger, a vitriol that in one case clearly came through. She actually called one noted and credible theologian “a pervert”. It was uncharitable in the extreme. In another case of an author of a commentary writing that Rahab was a prostitute, she said to her audience, “If I ever meet him I’ll probably sock him in the face.” Maybe her anger is not so suppressed after all.

Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. (Titus 2:7-8).

4. Omissions. Wilkin does not teach the role of women as submissive learners, content in her God-designed role to serve at home and humbly in the church. She does not teach women mentoring other women. She does not teach positively about the women who submitted to their biblical roles, like Lydia, Eunice and Lois, Anna. Jen speaks of “the gifts” but restricts ‘the gifts’ to teaching and not the other gifts such as administration, hospitality, support, etc. She focuses on the teaching and positions of women in “visible leadership.” Omissions are harder to detect but once you realize Jen gives only part of the story of our roles and joys, you can’t forget it. She is unduly entranced with gender politics and it’s affected her teaching and her own walk.

Further discernment essays from The End Time critiquing Jen Wilkin-

I went back and re-edited the following two series. They are slightly shorter now.

“If I ever meet him I’ll probably sock him in the face” said Jen Wilkin, Redefining Rahab, part 1

“If I ever meet him I’ll probably sock him in the face” said Jen Wilkin, Redefining Rahab, part 2

“If I ever meet him I’ll probably sock him in the face” said Jen Wilkin, Redefining Rahab, part 3

Slippery Slopes: A discerning look at Jen Wilkin, part 1

Slippery Slopes: A discerning look at Jen Wilkin, part 2

Slippery Slopes: A discerning look at Jen Wilkin, part 3

end time, perilous times shall come, prophecy

Sin is more easily learned from others than holiness

Posted on July 27, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The world is corrupt. We know this. We read our Bibles. All we have to do is look around. If we watch TV for any length of time (a minute?) we see how depraved the world is. But then the Lord peels back a layer and we see, no, it’s WORSE.

Haggai 2:10-14 – “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Ask now the priests for a ruling: ‘If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and touches bread with this fold, or cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?'” And the priests answered, “No.” Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?” And the priests answered, “It will become unclean.” Then Haggai said, ” ‘So is this people. And so is this nation before Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.”

What does this mean? Matthew Henry explains it well. “Many spoiled this good work, by going about it with unholy hearts and hands, and were likely to gain no advantage by it. The sum of these two rules of the law is, that sin is more easily learned from others than holiness. The impurity of their hearts and lives shall make the work of their hands, and all their offerings, unclean before God. The case is the same with us. When employed in any good work, we should watch over ourselves, lest we render it unclean by our corruptions.” –End Matthew Henry

In other words, if you drop a white glove in the mud, the mud doesn’t get glovey.

In this, the end time, we are warned repeatedly to avoid being deceived. Deception is the watchword of the day, along with its brothers, false teaching/prophets, and apostasy. The only sure antidote for being deceived is to stay strong in the basic foundations of our faith: daily prayer, daily Bible study, daily worship- seeking His face by remaining receptive to the Holy Spirit.

The Haggai chapters also contain a phrase the LORD uses several times:

“Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways” (1:7).

The word consider is used repeatedly in chapter 2. In the NIV it is “give careful thought.” Considering our ways is always a good thing to do. Falling away always starts subtly, and why not? “For the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.” (Genesis 3:1) He’s not going to grab you and drag you screaming behind the bushes. He’ll start subtly.

Do you have some creeping corruptions that are rendering you unclean? A little mud splatter? A peek at today’s horoscope, perhaps. Hanging with friends who swear, drink, or sleep around. Have you been unable to resist passing along that great piece of gossip? That’s how it starts. And before you know it, your work is unclean. And the more we fail to “give careful thought”, the more we become unclean.

Our uncleanness, (our sin) rubs off on people very easily. The more we fail to ask Jesus to reveal our unholiness to us the more the crafty serpent subtly creeps in, telling us that our unclenness isn’t that much, or isn’t that bad.

Don’t kid yourself that you are persisting with these friends because it’s a chance to witness. The consecrated meat does not consecrate the cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food. Rather, the uncleanness prevails, every time. If you drop a white glove into the mud…the glove does not make the mud white.

Christian, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” (II Timothy 3:1) Give careful thought to your ways, and stay clean in these perilous times!

theology

God cares for us

Posted on July 26, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The ultimate care for us is that God sent His Son, Jesus, to live a sinless life, die on the cross shedding His blood as the sacrifice required, be buried, be resurrected and ascend to the place of honor next to the Father. This process opened the door for humans to repent of sin and go to heaven through Jesus as the door, be justified from our sin, declared righteous. The Father sees a repentant human as having Jesus’ righteousness.

Now I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, in which you also stand, 2 by which you also are saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

3 For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as [e]to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. (1 Corinthians 15:1-8).

This is the Gospel.

God could have wiped out Adam and Eve when they sinned, but He did not, instead shepherding His lambs throughout the eons of history to culminate in the cross. What grace! What love! What care!

My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (John 10:29).

This care is permanent. It is eternal. Who can’t take us from Jesus after we repent and are justified? Who is greater than Jesus to be able to do that? Is there a strong man who can do this? No! This care is not only available, but it is eternal.

Examples of God’s care throughout these eons:

He took care of all the earth’s animals of their kinds, and took care of Noah and his family before, during, and after the terrible deluge.

But God remembered Noah and all the animals and all the livestock that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. (Genesis 8:1).

Short devotional explaining that God remembering does not mean that God forgot then came to mind. God Remembered Noah

When the Hebrews were wandering in the wilderness, their sandals and clothes didn’t wear out! His care extends from the sustaining of the universe so we can live within it, to the eternality of our souls, down to the minute details of life!

And I have led you in the wilderness for forty years; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. (Deuteronomy 29:5).

The fresh manna appeared every day except Sunday for 40 years. And meat, too.

At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. (Exodus 16:12b)

He feeds the birds.

Look at the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather crops into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more important than they? (Matthew 6:26).

Pau’s thorn was a care! God was guarding Paul from becoming conceited.

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (2 Corinthians 12:9).

If your circumstances are dire, if you are anxious for the near future, just remember no matter the external conditions, your soul is safe, even your daily care down to the smallest detail is in the Father’s hand. Trust Him.

theology

“Without blame” – Of Epitaphs and Headstones

Posted on July 25, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

When a person dies, the eulogy tends to be flowery, and usually leaves out the negative characteristics of a person, and focuses on the positive. We want a dearly departed loved one to be remembered well. We erect gravestones, some larger or more ornate than others. Some of these have simple born-died facts, others have a life verse, motto, or even a flowery description.

“Seventeenth and eighteenth-century stones generally had solemn epitaphs which prompted passers-by to contemplate mortality and the fleeting nature of life on earth.” (Source).

These epitaphs or selected Bible verses on headstones were meant to demonstrate both how the person shepherded his or her life, and to cause those reading the gravestone to think about their own life after death.

Many early New England epitaphs contained this poem, which this blogger calls “The Classic”–

“Behold And See As You pass By, As You Are Now So once Was I, As I Am Now So You Must be, Therefore Prepare To Follow Me.”

EPrata photo. “Resting in hope of a glorious resurrection”

An inscription probably from 5th century found in Sicily, reads in translation:

“Here lies Marinna who lived honorably and without blame, and left this world to go to the Lord at the age of 37 years, paying her debt on December 24, but she loved God.” source The Catacombs by Paul Carus.

Many early Christians’ graves were marked simply “without blame.” If you ponder that for a second you realize just how beautiful that is. To be a Christian is to be a person whom God sees as without blame (or spot or blemish- meaning, sin).

Catharine Wilcox, Jan 29, 1824 was laid to rest in Mt. Zion Presbyterian Cemetery. The Inscription and Notes read as follows, “Age 25. w/o Cyprian Wilcox. “She was a Christian” : “In that solemn hour when the last enemy appears, what conquering power like this I know my sins forgiven.” (Source).

In fact, if you look up the word ‘blameless’, you see it is often used in both the Old Testament and the New.

What does it mean to be without blame?

but now He reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— Colossians 1:22

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. (Ephesians 1:4)

God said Job was blameless. (Job 1:1). Noah, too. (Genesis 6:9).

It doesn’t mean that they were without sin. Only Christ is without sin. It means, “not absolute or faultless perfection (compare Job 9:20; Ec 7:20), but integrity, sincerity, and consistency on the whole, in all relations of life (Ge 6:9; 17:1; Pr 10:9; Mt 5:48). It was the fear of God that kept Job from evil (Pr 8:13).” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary).

It means that Noah and Job always chose to do good in God’s name, had integrity, and their character was faultless in their constant pursuit of holiness. Satan attributed Job’s character to his prosperity but it was the fear of God that kept Job blameless.

We have the gift of the Holy Spirit to aid us now, so anyone who has repented of sin and is in Jesus is seen by the Father through His Son as blameless, perfectly righteous.

What an incredible shepherding of life to have written on stone that the Christian was blameless in living. They must have borne much fruit to be seen so. Of course the true epitaph occurs in heaven, when we eagerly stand before Jesus upon our arrival and hope to hear those golden words, honey to our hearts,

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’ (Matthew 25:21).

How incredible to be ushered into eternal joy, spotless, blameless, all because of the sacrifice of Jesus. He laid down His life, shed His blood as God’s lamb, and was buried. Rising again and ascending to the Father, Christ is and was and always will be blameless. He is the true origin of blamelessness, and we are grateful He ordained His elect to be so, after Him and through Him.

If you’re interested, as I am, lol, in historic cemeteries and gravestones and epitaphs, here are some links that have more information.

A Guide to Reading Early Epitaphs

Cemetery Epitaphs Through Time

Gravestones and Epitaphs

Epitaphs Tell Tales in New England’s Graveyards, New England Historical Society

The Stranger of Gray. Confederate soldier buried in northern New England, grave Maintained by Ladies of the Gray Historical Society. More here

doubt, IF:Gathering, rob bell, satan, schemes, skeptic

Sincere doubt versus dishonest skepticism

Posted on July 24, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ —Matthew 4:3

Did satan not know Jesus is the Son of God? Of course satan knew. We see that he and his demons knew this in Luke 4:41,

And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

And we see that the demons knew that Jesus is the Son of God in Mark 5:7,

And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”

And James 2:19 says even the demons believe, and shudder!

Throughout scripture we read that satan knows full well who Jesus is. So why would satan begin his temptation by saying, “IF you are the Son of God…”?

Because he wanted to get Jesus to doubt. Ergo, satan’s is a deceptive skepticism.

Satan himself has no doubt whatsoever that Jesus is the Son of God. However, satan’s issue is that he thinks he can beat Jesus in a contest of wills. Satan believes he can usurp Jesus from His position as King of KINGS and Lord of LORDS. We know satan knows that God is highest, and we read satan’s conviction that God won’t be God on his throne forever, that satan himself will usurp Him. These are the five “I wills” of satan in Isaiah 14:13-15. Satan doesn’t doubt a thing.

Satan isn’t skeptical of God’s existence nor is satan skeptical of who God is. Satan’s scheme is to get US to doubt.

Scripture warns us repeatedly about deception-

fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock… (Acts 20:29)

We picture a fierce wolf with fur standing up and fangs bared. But that is how they are inwardly. If we saw the fierceness in the wolf, we would know he was a wolf. What we see in false teachers is a pleasant demeanor, smiles, apparently helpful and meek. A Joel Osteen, not a Hulk Hogan. The false ones are disguised.

false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:13)

What they bring, however, is philosophy and empty deceit (Colossians 2:8)

Their disguise and pleasant demeanor hides a purposeful destruction-

false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies (2 Peter 2:1).

We see the philosophy and empty deceit in the tactic satan used with Christ, “IF you are the Son of God…”

Sowing doubt is an age-old tactic of satan, and why not? It works. However there has been a shift from false sowers who sow doubt about God’s word, (like Rob Bell) to those who claim to be Christian but sow doubt about God’s existence. (Like the IF:Gathering). It is a significant shift.

Ten years ago Rob Bell made headlines. He was a self-proclaimed ‘Evangelical’ who sowed doubt about the inerrancy of scripture as God’s perfect word. Bell was the perfect ‘Hath God said?’ guy. His method was to ask questions under the guise of sincerely seeking truth but what he was doing was actually sowing doubt and using dishonest skepticism to do it. The following are actual Rob Bell questions from his book Velvet Elvis-

What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and…

“But what if, as you study the origin of the word ‘virgin’ you discover that the word ‘virgin’ in the gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find out that in the Hebrew language at that time, the word ‘virgin’ could mean several things. And what if you discover that in the first century being ‘born of a virgin’ also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had intercourse?”

And these questions are from his book doubting the existence of hell, Love Wins,

What if heaven is open to all, rather than a select few?

What if hell doesn’t exist at all?

The women of the IF:Gathering, a subject on which I’ve written a three-part series, questions the existence of God. No, these women are not atheists. They are not Wiccans believing in goddess power. They claim to be Christians, and claim to study God’s word, IF He exists, that is. This screen shot is from the latest bible study:

Doubt in a believer happens occasionally. Doubting one’s salvation temporarily is natural. Doubting an interpretation of a doctrine is all right. Doubting that Jesus is the Christ was something even John the Baptist pondered. John the Baptist didn’t doubt the scriptures’ promise that Messiah will come. He doubted for a moment that Jesus was the promised Messiah that had arrived. There is a difference.

No, this is the ignoble doubt of God’s existence. Ignoble because God has shown Himself to all people and those who fail to accept His existence are suppressing that truth in unrighteousness. (Romans 1:18-19)

There is nothing noble about that. It is satan’s assault on our own faith and the baseline truth it rests on: God is One and there is no other. He is real. Believers don’t doubt God’s existence. If you doubt He is real, you’re not a believer. It is not a faith question, then, but a problem of deliberate suppression of the truth that brings wrath.

Believers are held responsible even for sincere or temporary doubts. Elderly Zechariah was rendered mute because of the doubt he voiced when the angel foretold that he and Elizabeth would bear a son. (Luke 1:18-20). And Zechariah was just doubting a one-time prophecy, not God’s existence entirely.

Jesus rebukes us for our doubts, even when they are honest, sincere, and soul-searching. Either harshly as in Matthew 14:31 to Peter, or gently, as in John 20:27-29 to Thomas.

We are told that when we ask for wisdom,

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. (James 1:6)

We must not doubt. (Mark 11:23, James 5:15, 1 John 5:14-16).

Dishonest skepticism is not doubt. Don’t confuse the two. Dishonest skepticism emanates from a false worker of iniquity. It is a satanic tactic designed to get you to doubt what you know and thus diminish your faith. Learn the difference and avoid any person, teacher, or organization that institutionalizes either skepticism or doubt.

theology

Mrs. Wallis, the nobody behind the nobodies

Posted on July 23, 2024August 3, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Today in these times, there are a lot of women ‘teachers’ claiming that the best or only way to show women you value them in church is if they can lead and preach. The two biggest issues with alleged Bible teachers who go false, are that these women either claim direct revelation, or promote usurpation into a pulpit. Those are the two biggies.

History remembers. Revelation’s Jezebel was directly rebuked by the same Jesus she was allegedly hearing from in her false prophecies. I hope that threw cold water onto her sinful prophecies! Anne Hutchinson of the 1600s usurped and brought chaos to the Puritan colony. Beth Moore and Aimee Byrd stirred division in their respective entire denominations (Baptist and Presbyterian) with their prancing and their complaining. When women remain in their roles all goes well. When they don’t, chaos reigns.

There are so many wonderful examples of named women in the Bible who did submit to their roles and as a result the orderly workings of God’s plan proceeded apace, with many souls saved or many brethren edified. Isn’t this what we aim for in life? To glorify God by obeying Him and to love one another as ourselves? Yes!

Was Lydia’s or Martha’s hospitality for nothing? Was Dorcas’ sewing for naught? Was Susannah’s financial support for nothing? Did Anna waste her widowhood? Of course not!

Providentially, I learned of another woman who is engraved on the hearts of many in Baptist history. Martha Wallis of Kettering, England.

Beeby and Martha Wallis were staunch supporters of traveling evangelists, local preachers, and churches. They did all they could to help, including opening their home in Kettering. The Wallis’ were so well known for their hospitality, their home was fondly nicknamed The Gospel Inn. They were faithful members of Andrew Fuller’s church where Mr Beeby was a deacon for 24 years. Mrs Wallis was fully on board with her husband, helping for the last 20 years of hospitable service to those brethren who knocked at their door. Sadly, Mr Beeby departed this life on April 24, 1792.

Widowhood in the 1700s was no easy path. Even though she was still mourning, Mrs. Wallis continued the tradition of opening her home to the brethren for lodging, meetings, and support.

In October of 1792 there was one particular meeting of a local group of pastors that we know the details of to this day. At the prompting of William Carey, 12 pastors, one deacon, and one student, 14 in all, gathered at Wallis home AKA ‘The Gospel Inn’, and were served humbly by Mrs. Wallis, just as she had done these 20 years past for many others.

The group was to discuss how to catalyze the local ministers to support missions abroad. The Carey story is one that books and books written could not finish the glorious story. When William started out, circulating the idea that the Matthew 28 commission was a duty to fulfill in those 1700s times, he was called a “miserable enthusiast”. His group was thought of as “nobodies from nowhere”. Why?

Most of the men assembled led churches of fewer than 25 souls. Their congregations, indeed, the local area itself, was impoverished, illiterate, and ill-equipped to launch a global missions concept. Yet these men were undeterred by their congregation’s circumstances.

Mrs Wallis was undeterred as well, despite the loss of her beloved husband. By that standard, Mrs Wallis was as far as possible from what Jen Wilkin calls “visible leadership”, hosting then retreating so the men could discuss. Joseph Timms, who was a wool-stapler, had just been elected to fill Mr. Wallis’ place as a deacon, and Timms acted in Mrs. Wallis’ stead as official host. Martha Wallis was a nobody behind the nobodies!

Here we read from Carey’s great-grandson Pearce Carey,

“For the evening fellowship and bounty and business the ministers were welcomed, as so often before, into the hospitable home of the Wallis’s, the home that they used to call ‘ Gospel Inn,’ so many preachers having been guests there through the twenty years of its standing. Deacon Beeby Wallis himself had died just a while before : nonetheless his widow gathered them to her table, arranging, it would seem, with Joseph Timms (a wool-stapler) who had just been elected to fill her husband’s place on the Kettering diaconate, to act in her stead as nominal host.”

And what was the fruit of that propitious meeting? Global Missions! It was here the first churches decided to send, here that the organization that became The Baptist Mission Society was born. Here was the desire for faraway souls burst into flames. Here was the commitment to pursue the Great Commission. In a hospitable widow’s living room.

“After this fellowship and bounty they adjourned for the day’s chief business into the cosy lean-to back-parlour. The fire was lit within him, [William Staughton] always said, in Widow Wallis’s back- parlour. So American as-well as British Baptist Missions were in the womb of Kettering that night.” (Source “William Carey“)

How beautiful for a woman to provide a place where matters could be discussed, organized, cemented in the bosoms of men who go forth in loving honor for the Lord!

Mrs. Beeby Wallis continued her support and her hospitality until her death at about 1812. Her will bequeathed £400 to the minister and deacons of the Particular Baptist Congregation; as to £2 10s. to the minister for preaching occasionally in neighbouring villages, £2 10s. in Bibles and hymn books for poor of congregation, £5 to poor of congregation, £4 10s. in repair of Meeting House and residue for minister. (Source). She continued to take care of her people even after death.

The historic Wallis House is now the “Carey Mission House.” A featured attraction is the “Martha Wallis Court,” now a residential facility of the elderly. The room in which fourteen men met, on October 2, 1792, to form the Baptist Missionary Society, still contains the table and chairs they used.

That hospitable house, the Gospel Inn, is a place of honor today, to which many come to view, to see the spot where God moved momentously.

“There gathered thousands in 1842 to hold the first jubilee of modern missions, when commemorative medals were struck. There in 1892 the centenary witnessed a still vaster assemblage.” (Source)

“The little parlor which witnessed the birth of this society was the most honored room in the British Islands, or in any part of Christendom; in it was formed the first society of modern times for spreading the gospel among the heathen, the parent of all the great Protestant missionary societies in existence.” (Source)

engraving of Carey House scanned from ‘The Sunday at Home A Family Magazine for Sabbath Reading” dated 1862

There is a plaque in front. It reads:

“In this house on Octr. 2nd 1792, a meeting was held to form a society for propagating the Gospel among the heathen and £13.2s.6d was contributed for that purpose. Andrew Fuller was elected Secretary and Reynold Hogg Treasurer. William Carey to whose sermon at Nottingham in May of the same year, the movement was due, embarked for India on June 13th 1793. This meeting marks the founding of the Baptist Missionary Society and the inauguration of modern foreign missions.“

Yet millions of single women, (Gladys Aylward), widows (Anna, Martha Wallis), married couples (Prisca and Aquila, Katy and Martin Luther, Susie and Charles Spurgeon), and mothers (Mary, Monica) have helped shape Christianity on this side of the veil and have honored the Lord on the other side. We don’t serve in order to receive a plaque and to be remembered, but the LORD allows honor due those with whom He is pleased in His Son’s name. Mrs Wallis is one of those, her ‘simple’ service celebrated and respected to this day.

No service for the Lord is simple. No service is hidden. No service is lowly. Spiritual strumpets like Beth Moore, Jen Wilkin, Aimee Byrd and others prance around the pulpit stage, demanding to be installed in places where God has not intended, rejecting as useless and lowly the honorable biblical service God set before them. These women forget that on his knees, Jesus washed feet.

theology

God is not hindered

Posted on July 22, 2024 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Paul wrote 4 epistles while he was in jail, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. Paul was in chains but he exulted that the Gospel was not chained.

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, (Philippians 1:12).

God is not hindered by the circumstance of Paul’s imprisonment. In fact, God causes or allows everything to occur on the earth, so Paul being in chains was part of His plan. Paul knew the Gospel well enough to know this, and he exulted in Jesus and His Gospel and was humbly confident in the Lord he could be used. Paul’s confidence spread to others,

and that most of the brothers and sisters, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. (Philippians 1:14).

The Gospel goes out to whomever the Lord determines it to go out to, whether an individual or a group, tribe, or nation.

What else is God not hindered by?

God is not hindered by someone’s lack of eloquence. 2 Corinthians 11:6, Exodus 4:10.

God is not hindered by someone’s imprisonment. Acts 12:10, Philippians 1:14.

God is not hindered by distances. Paul’s letters reached their destinations whether close by or far afield. (Romans 16:1). So did John’s Revelation even though he was exiled on an island rock.

God is not hindered by poverty. Paul commended the severely impoverished Macedonian church for giving liberally out of their extreme poverty. 2 Corinthians 8:1-4.

God is not hindered by lack of education. Acts 4:13

No matter where you are, who you are, how rich or poor, educated or uneducated, God can and will use you. Pray to Him and ask to be used. It doesn’t matter if it is a great way like Moses and Paul, or a small way invisible or unknown- God knows. His glory is our chief end, and to enjoy Him. What a privilege to be used by God for His glory! Us! Meager and pitiful humans, stumbling along, yet used to further His plan and purpose!

Paul’s amazement and joy over this fairly leaps off the pages of the Bible. Asking to be used, and being used, glorifies God.

Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.
1 Cor. 10:31; Rom. 11:36; Ps. 73:25-28.

HOW do we enjoy God? See these two paragraphs from this church blog

Norman Maclean, in his autobiographical work, A River Runs Through It, shared a memory of his childhood as it pertained to this question. “In between on Sunday afternoons we had to study The Westminster Shorter Catechism for an hour and then recite before we could walk the hills with my father while he unwound between services. But he never asked us more than the first question in the catechism, “What is the chief end of man?” And we answered together so one of us could carry on if the other forgot, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” This always seemed to satisfy him, as indeed such a beautiful answer should have.”

Indeed, it is a beautiful statement. It reminds us of what we were created to do, and that there is true enjoyment in doing it. God, the author and creator of life, created us to worship him, to glorify him in all things! But there is more here. By glorifying God, we find that we actually enjoy him. We find fellowship and communion with our heavenly Father that is eternal in scope. This is our true contentment! Being created to glorify God doesn’t just benefit God (not that God could be enriched or benefit from us!). No, rather, we find that we, the created finite beings, are the ones who benefit infinitely.

http://proclamationpca.com/blog/2015/1/9/westminster-shorter-catechism-qa-1

God is not hindered. Have full confidence in Him, even if you do not have full confidence in yourself!