Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

1 Samuel 8. “And the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.’ So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who asked him for a king. And he said, ‘This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work.  He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day'” (Verses 7, 10-18). Ever read the side affects of a prescription? Often times it makes you wonder if it isn’t better to just stay sick and let your body heal itself. These verses read to me like medicinal side affects. Israel cries out for a king, which seems silly since God was their ruler. Why would you forsake the maker of the earth, of you, for someone as limited as yourself? God surmises, that they had rejected Him. God relents, but then tells Samuel let the people know exactly what they are signing up for. He tells them this: basically the king will take the best of their things for himself, and not really give them anything on return. Uhmmm… that doesn’t sound like a fair exchange. Your are leaving, God, that gives you everything freely, for an earthly king that will take everything? Here’s the thing with medicinal products the side affects happens to less than one percent of the population that use the product, therefore the benefits outweigh the risks. However, when Samuel informed the people about the ways of the king, the behavior was not a one percent change, it was a FACT. The king WOULD do everything God prophesied. Here the risks outweighed the benefits by A LOT. Be careful what you ask for, anything over God is just not worth it. The side affect: “The Lord will NOT hear you.”

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

1 Samuel 1. “Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, one ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young. Then they slaughtered a bull, and brought the child to Eli. And she said, ‘O my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the Lord.  For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him.  Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord.’ So they worshiped the Lord there” (Verses 24-28). I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it must have been for Hannah to give up the one thing she had always wanted, a child. She was married, loved, but her inability to give birth left her feeling incomplete. She prays and asks God to open her womb and He does, she makes a promise to give the child to God. Here’s the amazing part, she really does it. She keeps her promise. She gives her one and only son to the Lord. I have made promises to the Lord, way less traumatizing than this, and still have had trouble following through with what I promised. I have even been known to make compromises to the promise in order for the impact to be less stunning to me. Hannah, GAVE her child to God. She did not add an amendment to the promise, she didn’t say, “Okay Lord, lets wait till he is an adult.” She kept her promise and God blessed her. However the blessing did not just stop there it spread, to all of Israel and to us as well. How? Samuel appointed David to be king of Israel. David is the forefather of Jesus. Through whom our sins are forgiven. Obedience, the gift that keeps on giving. Strive to be a Hannah. 

DAY 181 (2014)

God is the DIRECTOR of my path.

Isn’t weird, that even when we are aware we’re are making the right decision, change is still incredible stressful. I am finally make a step toward my future, stepping out and trusting God to do what He promised. He has closed doors and narrowed avenues in my current situation leaving me in a state of in-between (seeing where I want to be, but with no possibility of arriving there…from here). He is directing me to different waters, waters where “feet may fail”. This is where the stress comes in. I hate failure it is painful and depressing and it makes you feel all shades of inadequate. The problem however, is that in order to not experience failure we end up not experiencing ANYTHING at all. Which to me is much, much , worse.  Today as I continued reading, Take The Risk, by Dr. Ben Carson. He talked about the idea of taking “self” out of the equation. Our fear is pride… self pride. We don’t move because we are fearful of how we will look, how we will be perceived. If we take ourselves out of the picture, then we can see the picture for what it really is a chance for change. A chance for a deeper faith and relationship with God. A chance to fulfill our call. Today I am stressed, not gonna lie. I feel it in my body and in my mind. But I a trusting God, because I know He said, “Go.” So I am making a conscious choice to NOT fear, and to trust the One who has promised to go before me.

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3).

So what’s the plan? Go where God is.

DAY 151 (2014)

It’s not that God’s not talking. It’s that we are NOT listening.

So as you all know (those of you keeping track). I am having a a hard time with a decision that I am making. Technically it has already been decided I am just diligently looking for ways to get out of it. Which is odd because normally when God says jump, I jump (I don’t even ask how high because once I jump He’ll get me as high as I need to be). This particular journey has me a little stumped because there is so, so, so much risk involved. If the risks only involved me I’d still be apprehensive, but less so because, well, it just affects me. But this risk involves my family. So I have questioned and re-questioned God. In fact recently I realized that my desire to find a way of escape has caused me to kind of ignore God, maybe ignore is not right; more like dodge God. You know that proverbial walk in the other direction when you see “that” person coming. Well, that’s what I have been doing to God. But despite it all God has been talking and not subtly at all. For you to get the full effect of just how much God will continue to talk even when we are trying NOT to listen I am going to take you back a couple of days. On Friday, I made plans to meet up with my friend Jackie at Barnes and Noble. I needed godly advice (translation: I wanted her to say, “Don’t do it… she didn’t do what I wanted 😥 ). I got there before her so I decided to peruse the books (I LOVE the feel, and smell of REAL books). I stumbled on a book that peaked my interest, my area of study is neurological in nature and as such the author was what caught my eye. The author, Dr. Ben Carson, world famous neurosurgeon and humble man of God. I started reading the back it looked interesting so I carried the book with me to our meeting spot and sat to talk with my friend. She did not sugarcoat anything (one of the reasons I adore her), she told me straight out, “All I hear out of your mouth right now is me, me, me, and I, I, I, What about God, God, God?” (she makes me itch…). We wrapped up our “conference” that’s what we call our get togethers. I purchased the book and went home. Today I picked up the book, turned over the cover and this is what I read: TAKE THE RISK. HAHAHA! God’s got jokes, the title of the book is, “Take The Risk.” It is NOT a question. It is a statement of action. Here’s a simply truth: God is always communicating, always talking. He is not trying to hide His will from us the bible says so. We are just not listening (uhmm, the bible also says that).  So today I made a decision to listen. Why? I’ll let Dr. Carson answer that question. “No risk, pay the cost. Know risk, reap the reward.” I’d rather reap than pay (I’m stingy like that 😀 ).

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–His eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

So what’s my plan? Take the risk 😀