There is No God Like Our God

I was reading in Deuteronomy this past week and came across these particular verses in chapter 4 – 7 For what other nation [people], great or small, has God among them, as the Lord our God is here among us whenever we call upon him? (TLB) and verse 39 This is your wonderful thought for the day: Jehovah is God both in heaven and down here upon the earth; and there is no God other than him! (TLB).

There has been a lot of talk of ‘privilege’ in the media. Most often the term is used in a pejorative way and we can understand why. But then I re-read verse 7 and am again reminded of what our privilege really is: God is here among us! I don’t know of anything that can really compete with that privilege. God is here…where we are…right now. That means that when we consider we have been in isolation, God is present with us in our isolation. When we are on the road, God is with us in the vehicle. And when we go shopping for what we need, God is in the aisle right beside us. Regardless of our physical location, God is with us (and far more accurate than any GPS).

Not only is God here where we are, He answers us when we call on Him! We can approach Him at any time in prayer and bring forth our praises as well as our complaints; our rejoicing as well as our mourning. he will listen and then bring us back to Him. It reminds me, sort of, to the training we are going through with our new puppy. We want her to respond to our voice. We will wait until she is busy doing something and will then call her. We reward her for listening and responding. What is really entertaining for us is to listen to the yips and growls (and whimpers) as she grabs and shakes her various toys. God is like that with us. He, too, calls our name and desires us to look at Him and respond to Him. He, too, listens to our praises, growls and whimpers, and requests and then responds to them. How wonderful it is to know that God responds to us when we call on Him.

Finally, it is a wonderful thought each and every day: God is here, He listens to us, and He is in control. He is the God of heaven, and we can’t dispute that, but He is also the God on earth, and we sometimes forget that. Regardless of how bleak (or positive) the news is, God is in control. Not everything is in His sovereign will; some things are in His permissive will. That is, God allows certain events to happen to us so that we will draw closer to Him and be refined (Rom. 8:28). At other times, He plans that events will happen to us (just look at the prophecies of the Old Testament regarding His Son; the cross was planned as was the resurrection). Regardless of whether or not the events we go through are permitted by God or planned by God, He is still in control. And that is good news for us. And that is why Moses says that this is our wonderful thought for the day: God is (and always will be) in control. Amen.

Where are we at now?

Here we are, several weeks after the October 28 meeting where we found out that the associate school agreement with SPSD would be terminated as of June 30, 2020.

So, what do we know? We know that we will no longer have an association with SPSD next year. We know that we are not closing our doors. We know that we will offer a full range of K-12 courses for next year. We know that we are talking to other school divisions about forming an association. We know that we still have to wait to find out what the next step will be. We know that becoming a Qualified Independent School is still a possibility. We also know that waiting is frustrating.

What do we not know? We don’t know why SPSD made the decision they did. We can speculate, but anything that has been said is speculation. We don’t know which school division we will associated with in September. We don’t know if we will be a Qualified Independent School in September. We don’t know what the divisions’ reactions to our proposal will be. We don’t know what September will look like. Actually, there is actually very little that we do know. (But we know the One who knows; let’s ask Him!).

What should we do? Pray – for our board; pray – for our administrators; pray – for our staff; pray – for our students; pray – for the decisions that will need to be made. Wait. Trust. Be patient. Plan to return for September.

What should we not do? Please, do not speculate. Please, do not talk to others about why this happened. Do not plan to change schools. Do not worry. Please, do not take this to social media. Please, do not contact the media or SPSD to complain.

Next steps: read the next SCS board update (and all the ones following). Attend the Town Hall meeting on December 10 to ask questions of the SCS board members. Pray. Wait. Be there to vote on a decision when the time comes. Pray some more. Remember our school verse for the year: Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matt. 5:16). We have an opportunity to react in a way that leads others to glorify God. Let us not respond as our emotions could dictate; rather, let ‘the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, … guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus’ (Php. 4:7).