Welcome to the “Wonderful World of Oz”

“Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, nether be thou dismayed; for the Lord is with thee wherever thou goest.” (Jos. 1:9)

I am certain that most, if not all of you, are familiar with the old movie, “The Wizard of OZ”, in which a young girl, in a dream journey, accompanies three other characters to find the fabled Wizard in order to help them with certain deficiencies that hampered them and caused them great concern. The Tinman was looking for a brain, the Scarecrow was searching for a heart, and the Cowardly Lion was hoping to find his courage. In today’s confused world, this same scenario is not some isolated occurrence but is an ongoing phenomenon!

Millions of people, both Secular and Christian, are trying to cope with the problems of life that they face day in and day out through psychotic drugs and psychiatry. They are going to the Wizard, who is a fake, instead of going to the Lord in whom they will find all the answers. So, let us travel with the characters in their quest for answers. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; …. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.”(Gen. 1:26,27) Thus, when God created mankind in His own mage, He gave man the thing that the animal world lacked, namely He gave man a mind, He gave Man a brain with which to think and to reason. Now, how we use that brain is mostly up to each individual, for in that brain of ours is our mind, in which God implemented the ability of free thought, of free will. We can turn our mind to either good or evil, to right or wrong, to worship Him who made us or let us turn to idols; all those things will determine who or what we are. The consequences of our choices are ours and ours alone. Just because we have a brain does not mean of necessity that we are wise, for wisdom is often gained through the lumps and bruises we acquire because of the decisions we make during life’s journey.

“A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” (Eze. 36:26). The heart that we are talking about here is not that organ that since our birth has pumped life’s blood through our veins to sustain life, but rather it is referring to who and what we are, the inner man. This is not a question of thought, but of emotion, we cannot rationalize emotion, it is that inner force that makes us what we are, we are either compassionate or callus, we are either benevolent or selfish, either loving or standoffish. We either love God or love self. All these things depict our character, there is no thought involved, it is what we are. When we realize that and stop fighting with ourselves, we become a complete person. The mind wants to rationalize, but the heart will compromise, but with prayer and meditation the heart will win more often than not.

“Wait on the Lord; be of good courage and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.” (Psa. 27:14). Courage, what is courage? Courage is that inner drive that enables us to perform certain tasks, that without this inner drive, we would be hesitant to perform or completely shy away from. In the opening verse, we read that the Lord told Joshua to be of good courage and not to be afraid, because the Lord said He would be with Him. But when the situation calls for some courageous action on our part it is well for us to show respect and even some apprehension for the adversary or repercussion for our actions. If we do not practise caution our courage will become nothing less that recklessness. If, for instance, Joshua had stormed Jericho instead of marching around that city blowing the trumpet, Jericho would not have fallen and Joshua would have failed. The motto here is, take caution before you act, and when you act be sure that the cause is valid and it is the Lord’s will for me to act thus, and when at times action is required at the spur of the moment let your conscience be your guide, your heart which has God’s Law inscribed on it will not let you down. God will always lead us right, He will not let us down, for He has promised to be with us always. In all things in life let the Lord be your guide and when we do that we do not need a wizard. A wizard is a fake, a sorcerer, that will only lead us astray, yet many are they that rely on a wizard of some sort. Some rely on government as some sort of wizard for their total wellbeing, others will rely on their banker for complete security, while yet others think that their doctor is nigh unto God, and there are those that rely on (fake) media for all their information, even when it is in total opposition to God’s Word. Man, in general, is fickle and is in need of a crutch and he will invariably look for it anywhere but God’s Word.

Now God has given us a brain to think with and a heart to feel with and through faith He gives us courage. Use these gifts to the best of your ability and you will never go wrong.

God be with you always.