When To Interpret and When Not To

1 Samuel 15:1-3(NKJV)

1Samuel also said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. 

2Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 

3Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

Wow, I'd say those are pretty detailed and explicit instructions.  First God tells Samuel why He wants it done this way.  God is using the Israelites to inflict punishment on Amalek.  So in the instance, the Israelites are literally the hand of God.

But look at the instructions that God gives.  He basically says kill every living things to teach them a lesson.  That seems kind of harsh doesn't it?  I mean we go to extreme lengths today to minimize collateral damage and injury or death to civilians, etc.  But here God said Kill them all. 

Which brings up a question.  When do you interpret the Word of God and when do you just follow those directions as given?  As I wrote yesterday, this can sometimes be hard because even God seems to deviate from His own standards occasionally.  But I think I have come up with a general rule that will work in many cases.

The more specific God's instructions are, the more you need to follow those instructions in detail.  Why do I say that?  Well because in most of the cases God deals pretty severely with those who don't follow the instructions in detail.  Let's look at what happens in this case.
 

1 Samuel 15:22-23(NKJV)

22So Samuel said:      “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,     As in obeying the voice of the Lord?     Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,     And to heed than the fat of rams.

23    For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,     And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.     Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,      He also has rejected you from being king.”

Because Saul didn't follow God's detailed instructions he lost his kingdom!

So as you live your faith walk just keep in mind this thought, "If God when to the trouble of providing me detailed instructions it must be important to Him.  And if it is important to God, that makes it important that I listen!" and do it God's way, in detail!

God Can Seem Awfully Persnickety Sometimes

This is one of the things about God, at least in the Old Testament, that I just don't get.  He seems to get a bit persnickety sometimes.  That makes it hard to know how to proceed in certain situations because of the lack of consistency in God's reactions.  Here is what I am talking about.

1 Samuel 13:7-14(NKJV)

7And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. 

8Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. 

9So Saul said, “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering. 

10Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.

11And Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, 

12then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.”

13And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 

14But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

Here is why I find this odd.  Saul's Chief Priest and Judge Samuel didn't arrive when he said he would.  The Israelites are about to be attacked by the Philistines.  Saul wants to make the proper offerings and inquire of God.  It's not like he is going off on his own, he is seeking God.  He knows the Priest is the one who should do this but the Priest isn't there so Saul, with no evil or malicious intent does the Priest's job.

And God hammers him for it.  It reminds me of the time with Moses and Aaron were getting water out of a rock.  Moses actually touched the stick to the rock when he was only supposed to point at it.  After all Moses did following God's directions  he doesn't get to go into the Promised Land because of that one little infraction. 

Now contrast that with David.  He is being pursued.  He and his men are hungry.  They go into the temple and eat the consecrated bread.  For some reason God let's that slide while hammering Moses and Saul.  It just doesn’t make sense to me.

It's one of those things I look forward to asking God about when I get to Heaven some day!

Let the Spirit Lead Baby!!!

What a great day!  Let the Spirit lead!!! 

The last couple of days I have been fighting a bug.  Now I don't have time for getting sick so I seldom do but I can tell when my body is fighting something off.  Today started off good but I soon developed a headache that got worse as the day progressed. 

Being a type A personality, that really gets in the way.  I had certain things that I expected to accomplish today and I was struggling to do so.  This is where that sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit comes in.  Through a series of circumstances I found myself watching a Newsboys video of their concert tour We Are Go. 

I don't know about you but music can really reach me and touch me.  As I was watching the video it brought back such great memories because I had taken by daughter to that particular tour.  In addition I have always loved the lyrics of many of the Newsboys songs.  I found myself singing along and feeling a bit better.

Next thing I know I am out of my chair and putting my running stuff on and hitting the treadmill.  I've got the Newsboys jamming in my headphones and I spend the next 20-25 minutes running, singing, and praising God.  Wow, that felt great!!!

Who would have thought that was what I needed.  Certainly not me.  Running was the last thing I had on my mind.  I had work to do, things to accomplish.  But you know what?  I let the Holy Spirit lead and I feel so much better for it!

When is the last time you let the Holy Spirit interrupt your day and lead you in a direction you didn't expect?  Next time it happens, go with the flow and I believe you will be truly blessed.

And if you'd like to be blessed by some great music check this out!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc53REzniCs

The Lord Had Told Samuel In His Ear

1 Samuel 9:15-16(NKJV)

15Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came, saying, 

16“Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him commander over My people Israel, that he may save My people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to Me.”

Has God ever spoken in your ear?  I'm not talking about getting a feeling from God or getting an intuition.  I'm talking about actually hearing God speaking to you?

"Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear" for me indicates a couple of things.  First it tells me that God will often times communicate with us directly and that.  Secondly the phrase "in his ear" indicates to me at least that sometimes we will actually hear the voice of God talking to us.

Ray Lewis, retiring middle linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens tells about how early in his career he was in a situation in Atlanta where he found himself in trouble and in jail.  He tells of feeling the presence of God in that cell and of God leaning down and whispering in his ear, "Can you hear me now Ray?".  (Sounds like a Verizon commercial doesn't it?)
 

Now I know that many may be skeptical but I have actually experienced this twice in my life.  The first time it ever happened it was the weirdest thing.  But at the same time it left no doubt in my mind that it was God speaking directly to me and it left no doubt as to the message He was giving me.

Would you like to have that type of relationship with God?  It all starts with accepting Jesus.  Just start the conversation.  He will take it from there.  "Dear Jesus…."

If We Go, What Shall We Bring the Man?

1 Samuel 9:7(NKJV)

7Then Saul said to his servant, “But look, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread in our vessels is all gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?”

Way back in the day you didn't go to inquire of God without bringing a present, an offering.  It was common courtesy.  You were coming to ask a favor of God so shouldn't you offer something of value as well? 

Many people today are afraid to approach and inquire of God because they feel that they have nothing of value to offer.  They've led a sinful life.  God couldn't possibly want to have anything to do with them, etc.  Many of us know what that is like.  We've been there.

Well here is the cool thing.  Do you want to know what the single best gift or offering you can give God is?  YOU!  That's right.  The single best gift you can offer God is your life.  God is the supreme judge of value and He values you!

So if you've been reading this blog for a while you know that I talk a lot about accepting Jesus.  Have you done that yet? 

For those that haven't, is it a sense of guilt or lack of worth that stops you?  Is it that "what would God want with me thing" that is stopping you?  Let me ask you this.  When you see that question, is there an internal battle that you can feel?  Is there a little voice deep inside telling you to do it?  And is there another voice in there telling you all the reasons why you shouldn't?  

Please understand that that is God fighting for your soul.  He values you that much that He will keep fighting for you until you make a decision.  Why not make that decision today.  If God thinks that highly of you, why not present yourself as that gift to Him? 

It's easy to do.  You start by asking Jesus, God's son, to come into your life and lead you.  Just start a simple conversation with Jesus.  "Dear Jesus…."

That's Just Good Parenting!

I wrote not that long ago about how sometimes in guiding my kids, if they ignored my advice I would just let them struggle doing it their way.  As an example, if they were doing a car repair I might see that they forgot to put a part back in.  If they didn't want to listen I would let them put the whole thing back together  and then have to tear it all back apart again to put in the missing part.

I never realized that was Biblical.

Take a look at this.

1 Samuel 8:4-9(NKJV)

4Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 

5and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

6But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. 

7And 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. 

8According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. 

9Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them.”

1 Samuel 8:19-22(NKJV)

19Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, 

20that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

21And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. 

22So the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and make them a king.” And Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Every man go to his city.”

What lesson can we learn from this?  That God is a good parent.  He wants nothing more than to help us and guide us.  To lead us in a very satisfying life.  We all have to learn life lessons and God is willing to teach them to us if we will listen.

But God also gives us free will.  God is perfectly willing to let us go out and learn things the hard way if that is what we choose.  The key to understand here is that it is a choice and it is always our choice.  And if we chose to do it our way then God will let us do it our way but He will also let us pay the consequences of our choices.  Sounds fair to me!

Are You Kidding Me?

 

1 Samuel 7:7(NKJV)

7Now when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel had gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 

Are you kidding me?  How quickly they forget.  Here's what I am talking about.  As you can see in the above verse, the Philistines are going up against the Israelites. 

Here is why I find that so incredible.  It had only been 20 years since God had put a whoopin on the Philistines.  The Israelites had gone against the Philistines 20 years earlier without inquiring of God first, and the Philistines not only whipped the Israelites but they also to the Ark of the Covenant back to their country with them. 

That's when things started going downhill for the Philistines.  So much bad stuff happened to the Philistines that they voluntarily gave back the Ark to the Israelites.  Now how bad do things have to be for you as a warrior nation to voluntarily give back the spoils of battle?

But yet just 20 years later they are back attacking the Israelites.  Just one generation was all it took to forget the lessons that they had learned.

I find that amazing, until I look at my own life and realize how many lessons I have to learn over and over and over again.  That's part of human nature I guess.

But here is the biggest difference.  What happened to the Philistines when they had to relearn a lesson?  Thousands died.

What happens when we need to relearn a lesson?  We can simply go to Jesus, confess our sins and have the slate wiped clean.  We get a fresh start.

Would you like to experience that fresh start?  Then just simply ask Jesus to come into your life and take over.  Just have an honest conversation with Jesus.  All you have to do is start the conversation, He'll take it from there.  "Dear Jesus…." 

No Peeking Now!

I continue to be struck by the difference in the relationship that people had with God in the Old Testament and the relationship we are invited to have in the New Testament.  I was reading in 1 Samuel today.

1 Samuel 6:19(NKJV)

19Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. £He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter.

Many have heard the saying "curiosity killed the cat."  Well I don't know if it did or didn't but it looks like curiosity killed over 50,000 Israelites.  Here is what had happened. 

The Israelites had done something dumb and the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant.  Well that brought all kinds of catastrophe on the Philistines so they sent the Ark back.  The Ark is only supposed to be handled by the Levites and even they aren't supposed to look into the Ark. 

When the Israelites got the Ark back some of them looked inside.  Now did they have any wicked or evil intent?  I doubt it.  In fact one could make the case that they needed to look inside to make sure the Philistines had not put something in there.  Maybe it was just curiosity.  Regardless, God saw fit to kill over 50,000 of them as punishment.

Now contrast that to today.  God has given us His Word for all to read.  He invites us to get to know Him.  In fact, the more we strive to know Him the better.  No matter how curious you are about God, you are never going to die for it like in the Old Testament.

And for those who would like to know God better, what is the best way to do that?  Well first and foremost we do that by accepting Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of our lives.  By accepting Jesus we then get the Holy Spirit to guide us.  That is like having our own personal tour guide as we begin our journey in God's Word, the Bible. 

Have you accepted Jesus yet?  It's as simple as having a conversation with Him.  "Dear Jesus…."

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At the Time!

 

1 Samuel 4:2-3(NKJV)

2Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field. 

3And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies.”

Here is another example of people doing what they thought was the right thing with good intentions and yet having it turn out wrong.  They are demonstrating their faith in God by wanting to bring Him to help in their battle.  Got it.  There are plenty of other examples of God intervening on their behalf in battles to make this seem like a reasonable thing for them to do.

However it seems to me that there was one little thing that they forgot.  They forgot to check with God first.  I don't see any mention of them going to God in prayer over their idea before implementing it.  Something as simple as "Hey God, we are thinking of doing X.  What do you think?".  If they had they might not have taken that action.

One of the hardest things for us to do as humans is to remember to check with God.  We want to serve Him but in our zeal to do so we do things without checking with Him first.  I for one am going to try and be more conscious of that in the coming year!

The Word of the Lord Was Rare

1 Samuel 3:1(NKJV)

1Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. 

One of the most common laments as people age is a longing for the good old days.  Well here is one example where I am glad it's not the good old days.  Can you imagine not hearing from God very often?  Can you imagine goings days and weeks and months and maybe even years without hearing from God? 

What's that?  You don't hear from God now?  Would you like to?  Would you like to have a direct connection to God so that you hear from Him every day?  Would you like to have God whispering to your heart?  Equipping and guiding you to fulfill the great life He has planned for you?

Then why don't you?  It's totally in your control.  God is sitting right there waiting for you.  The only thing lacking is you initiating that connection.  God won't force it on you.  He will only give it to those who ask.  How do you ask?

Easy.  It starts with accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.  Once you've done that then the channel is open.  You'll hear from God as often as you want.  Hearing from God will never be rare.  It will be the norm.

Just have a simple conversation with Jesus.  Ask Him to come into your life and guide you.  Something like this.  "Dear Jesus…."

"...because the Lord desired to kill them." Say What?

1 Samuel 2:22-25(NKJV)

22Now Eli was very old; and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, £and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 

23So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. 

24No, my sons! For it is not a good report that I hear. You make the Lord’S people transgress. 

25If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him?” Nevertheless they did not heed the voice of their father, because the Lord desired to kill them.

Just to fill this out a bit, Eli was a direct descendant of Aaron and as a result was the High Priest and Judge of Israel.  Eli's sons were very corrupt.  Eli wasn't a very strong man and so while he would chide his sons to do better he wouldn't force the issue. 

Here is what I find interesting.  We so often hear about how God is all love etc. and I believe that is true.  But today it seems that churches teach us that God will love us all completely and unquestioningly forever, no matter what.  Well according to this Scripture that isn't true. 

In this case Eli's kids ticked God off to the point that "the Lord desired to kill them".  I find the use of the word "desire" here to be an interesting choice.  God didn't just want to kill them, He "desired" to kill them.  Desire is described as a wish, a longing, a craving.  It's more than just wanting to.  It says very clearly that because He was so ticked off, He made sure the kids wouldn't listen to Eli ( which I find a little weird because it calls into question the whole free will thing but we'll leave that for another time). 

So in essence, God wrote those kids off.  Enough is enough.  Apparently you can go to far even for God.  That isn't the picture most of us have of God but there it is. 

So here's a question.  How do we know God hasn't written us off?  Well have you accepted Jesus yet?  If you have then you already know the answer to that question.  But what if you haven't accepted Jesus yet.  How do you know if God has written you off or not?

Here is the answer.  Are you ready?  You know that little voice deep inside that is leading you to seek answers and read blogs like this?  You know that longing that you have deep inside?  That felling that there is more out there?  That longing to connect?

Where do you think that is coming from?  If God didn't still want you He wouldn't be trying to lead you to Him.  However the next step is up to you.  Are you ready?  All you need to do is respond by accepting Jesus.  Just have a conversation with Jesus and ask Him to come into your life.  Something like this.  "Dear Jesus…."

Out of the Abundance of Your Complaint or Gratitude of Your Heart?

1 Samuel 1:16(NKJV)

16Do not consider your maidservant a wicked£ woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.”

In this passage Hannah, one of the wives of Eli, is troubled because she has never been able to conceive.  The reason this troubles her is that Eli's other wife has given him many children and uses that fact to torment Hannah. 

Because of this Hannah is always praying to God "out of the abundance of her complaint and grief." 

Isn't that how many of us initially come to the Lord?  We've hit upon hard times.  We've hit a low point in our lives and we are drawn to God looking for help.  Those of us that have accepted Jesus understand just how great that help can be. 

Well God heard Hannah's distress and answered her prayer.  The answer to her prayer was the birth of Samuel.  The answer to her prayer was a faith builder for her.  Take a look at this next verse.

1 Samuel 2:1(NKJV)

1And Hannah prayed and said:      “My heart rejoices in the Lord;     My £horn is exalted in the Lord.     I smile at my enemies,     Because I rejoice in Your salvation.

Her prayers are now filled with an attitude of gratitude. 

I would like to offer this up as a reminder to all of us who have accepted Christ to always go to Him with gratitude in your heart.  Still let him know what you need.  But don't let Him know "out of your abundance of complaint", let Him know with a positive expectation the He is on it and it is being taken care of as I wrote about the other day.

By doing it that way you are demonstrating to Jesus your growing faith in His willingness to directly intervene and guide your life!  

So What Is Your Lineage?

Have you ever noticed that lineage is a big deal, especially in the Old Testament? 

Ruth 4:18-22(NKJV)

18Now this is the genealogy of Perez: Perez begot Hezron; 

19Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab; 

20Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon;£ 

21Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed; 

22Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.

There seems to be an awful lot begetting and begotting going on.  But why is it a big deal? 

I think there are a couple of reasons.  One of them is that it helps show where prophesy is fulfilled.  The Root of Jessie and all that.  The other thing about lineage though is that the blessings of the previous generations tend to flow through the lineage in the form of inheritance.   When you inherit something from a previous generation you are said to be one of the heirs. 

So that leads me to the next question.  What is your lineage?  Who's heir are you? 

Romans 8:14-17(NKJV)

14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 

15For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 

16The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 

17and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

We are God's heirs.  And we are joint heirs with Jesus.  I had never thought of it this way before but with God being the father and us being joint heirs with Jesus, that makes Jesus our big brother.  How cool is that?  

Now what does it mean to be an heir with Christ?  Well you know all of those blessings that God has planned for his son Jesus?  Well he has most them planned for us as well.

Now does everyone get to claim that lineage?  Nope!  Only those that have accepted Jesus.   Have you done that yet?  Have you asked Jesus to come into your life?  Would you like to experience all of the love and blessing that God has for Jesus?  Sure you would!  So why not get started right now.

Just ask Jesus to come into your life and take over and guide you.  Just start a heartfelt conversation  with Jesus and he'll take it from there.

"Dear Jesus…."

Are You Willing To Wait at the Master's Feet?

I don't know about you but I think they sure had some weird ways of saying and doing things back in the Old Testament.  Check this out.

Ruth 3:1-4(NKJV)

1Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you? 

2Now Boaz, whose young women you were with, is he not our relative? In fact, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. 

3Therefore wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 

4Then it shall be, when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies; and you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down; and he will tell you what you should do.”

Huh?  LOL.  It is just odd phrasing for me.  But I believe there is a lesson that we can learn from this.  As you can see, this is from the Book of Ruth.  On Monday you may recall I wrote For Where You Go, I Will Go!.  In that post I wrote the following:

"Here is a question.  As a follower of Christ, do you have that same loyalty and faith?  Are you willing to follow Jesus ANYWHERE He leads you?  Are you willing to leave all that you know for Him?"

I was comparing the loyalty and faith that Ruth had to her mother in law Naomi to the loyalty and faith that we should have to Jesus.  Well today I would like to draw another example from their relationship.

As many of you know, one of the goals of my blog is to give you some of the real world, here and now benefits of being a Christian.  To answer that question "of what practical use is it to be a Christian today?".  I have written many times about how cool it is to watch God work in our lives.  How He can guide us and provide so many blessing in our lives.

But how many have noticed that it doesn't always happen in the time frame we would like?  And what is the first explanation we jump to when it doesn't happen in our time frame?  What did we do wrong?  How did we sin?  What did we do to offend God so that He isn't listening to us any long? 

And while at some point I am sure that those are valid questions to ask, why is that the first place we go?  Think about it.  What is Satan's easiest line of attack?  Guilt.  Isn't it amazing where our mind goes first?

I'd like to offer a different approach based on Naomi's instructions to Ruth. 

Ruth 3:4(NKJV)

4Then it shall be, when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies; and you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down; and he will tell you what you should do.”

Ruth 3:12-13(NKJV)

12Now it is true that I am a close relative; however, there is a relative closer than I. 

13Stay this night, and in the morning it shall be that if he will perform the duty of a close relative for you—good; let him do it. But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you, as the Lord lives! Lie down until morning.”

Ruth 3:18(NKJV)

18Then she said, “Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out; for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day.”

 OK, let me tie this all together and wrap up.  In the story above Ruth is told to uncover Boaz's feet, and then wait and Boaz would tell her what to do.  Then Boaz tells her He will help her but there are a couple of other things that have to be put in place first.  Then Naomi tells Ruth to just chill and be patient, Boaz is on the matter and he WILL take care of it.

So the next time things aren't happening as quickly as you may want, just think of the story of Ruth.  Just sit patiently at Jesus' feet.  He is on it!  Don't assume you've done something wrong.  Maybe just as Boaz, Jesus has some other things that He needs to put into place before you can proceed.  Just chill, continue to thank Jesus for being on the case and working things out.  He WILL concluded the matter, you can count on it!

God will ALWAYS Prepare You

Whether you realize it at the time or not, God is always preparing you.  In big things and small, if He called you to do it, He will ALWAYS prepare and equip you to complete the task on His behalf successfully.

Let me share an example from my life the last couple of days.  Our church has a satellite church and so some stuff has to be prerecorded.  I am one of the camera operators but I don't normally do this.  Last week I received an email asking if I could fill in on camera for the pre-recording this morning.  I said sure, no problem and didn't really give it anymore thought other than making a note of when to show up.  I didn't really think about how long and if I would be sitting or standing or whatever.

Now let me switch gears.  My profession is pretty sedentary.  About 8 months ago I got a stand where I could set my computer and work standing up.  My doctor suggested it.  Well I did it for a while but then got out of the habit. 
 

This past weekend my oldest son and my daughter in law were over and we were talking about fitness issues.  Somehow the subject of standing while working came up.  (I say that somewhat facetiously because I don't believe it somehow just came up.  I believe this is a simple example of God subtly directing our lives as He prepares us for a task) 

Well talking about it reminded me about what a great idea it was and that I should start doing that again.  That was on Sunday.  Monday I sat and worked all day.  Tuesday I sat and worked the first half of the day but all morning long I was extremely aware of the stand that I could be working from.  It was one of those things I just couldn't ignore. 

I have been walking past that stand for months and not giving it a thought.  Well yesterday I could not ignore it and so about noon I started working standing up.  I ended up working standing up for about 3+ hours.  It felt really good!

All right I'm sure your saying "get to the point already"!  Well here it is.  When I showed up for the pre-recording I found that the camera I was on was on an elevated platform.  So not only was I going to be standing for about 30-45 minutes but I was going to have to be extremely still so that I didn't shake the platform when I moved. 

Isn't it cool how God gave me a little training the day before to prepare me for the task He had in store for me today?!

Have you ever experienced God intervening and preparing you in your life like that?  Would you like to?  It isn't hard.  It is simply one of the many blessing of having accepted Jesus into your life as your Lord and Savior.  Have you done that yet?  If not why not do it right now?  Just have a simple conversation with Jesus.  Ask Him to come into your life and guide you.  "Dear Jesus…."      

We Just Never Know

 

Ruth 2:10-12(NKJV)

10So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”

11And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. 

12The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”

Folks, it's a small world out there and it is shrinking by the minute.  I have run into people all across this country that I know when I travel.  I once ran into people I knew at a rest stop in Iowa as I was hitchhiking to California.  I have run into people from my home town when I was traveling in Europe.  I have some friends that ran into someone they knew in Nairobi, Kenya of all places.  It's truly a small, small world!

You're probably wondering, is this leading to a Disney song?  All together now:  It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all…….:)

Notice how Ruth is surprised that she is even noticed because she isn't from around there.  How would Boaz even know of her?  But what does Boaz say?  "It has been fully reported to me…". 

Never underestimate the effect your words and actions have on others, even those who you would never expect to be affected.  As Christians we represent Christ here on earth. 

Matthew 25:40(NKJV)

40And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

And always remember that even if no one else sees, God sees.  Don't worry about getting credit for the good things that you do here on earth.  Sometimes you will and sometimes you won't.  Just rest assured that God sees all that we do on His behalf and he takes note.  We will be rewarded for it.  Both in this lifetime and beyond!

For wherever you go, I will go!

Ruth 1:16(NKJV)

16But Ruth said:      “Entreat me not to leave you,     Or to turn back from following after you;     For wherever you go, I will go; …

This comes from the book of Ruth.  Ruth was very loyal to her mother-in-law Naomi.  After her husband and both of her children died, Naomi decided to go back home to her people.  Ruth, who was married to one of Naomi's sons decided to go with her even though she would be leaving all she knew to follow Naomi.

Here is a question.  As a follower of Christ, do you have that same loyalty and faith?  Are you willing to follow Jesus ANYWHERE He leads you?  Are you willing to leave all that you know for Him? 

The reason I ask is that I believe anything short of that and you are depriving yourself of what could be the most exciting journey of your life. 

It doesn't mean that you'll lose your salvation or anything if you aren't.  It just means that you are telling Jesus that you only want part of the blessings that He has in store for you.  Why would you do that? 
 

When Should You Seek God's Help?

Before or after things get really ugly?  I think the logical answer is before, don't you?  Unfortunately when do most of us actually do it?  After!

After we have tried to handle things all on our own.  And God being the good parent that he is, will attempt to give us guidance before hand, but is more than willing to step aside and let us screw up on our own if that is the way we need to learn the lessons.

When I was first out of high school I worked for a car dealership reconditioning used cars.  Now I was not raised in a very mechanical family so I didn't have a lot of skills coming into that job.  I remember many times working my tail off for an hour or more on a project.  Then after I was done, one of the mechanics would walk over and ask "Did you ever think of doing it like this?" and he would show me a much simpler way I could have done whatever it was I was working on.

That used to really tick me off but looking back it did teach me an important lesson.  So when I had kids I tried to follow that model.  I would try to tell them the easy or better way to do something.  If they listened to me great.  If not I had fun watching them struggle and do it the hard way.    

Now I can be pretty hard headed so it may not be a surprise that my kids can be that way sometimes also.  So many times the listened but sometimes they did not. 

Where am I going with this?  I've just finished reading Judges 20 and 21.  What a mess.  We have a situation where the Israelites develop a war plan and then only afterwards ask for God's direction.  And while they ultimately get victory, they pay a much bigger price than they probably had to if they had only gone to God first, instead of after the fact.

Great lesson to learn.  Harder lesson to implement.  Let's try to focus on doing it in the correct order this year!

Everyone Did What Was Right In His Own Eyes

Judges 17:5-6(NKJV)

5The man Micah had a shrine, and made an ephod and household£ idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. 

6In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

See how easy it is to go astray when we all "do what is right in our own eyes"?  Micah seems to have been a spiritual man.  I don't get the sense that he was evil or had evil intent.  But what did he do?  He made images to worship.  He replaced God with his own gods.  You may have noticed from previous writings that this is one thing that really seems to tick God off.

How many times are we guilty of that?  Substituting our judgment for God's.  Deciding how to allocate our time, money, talents, and resources as we see fit instead of as God sees fit?

As we move forward into 2013 let's all make an effort to stay focused on God. 

May you all have a highly favored and prosperous New Year!

We Don't Have To Keep It Secret!

Judges 16:18-20(NKJV)

18When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 

19Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then £she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 

20And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

In the story of Samson and Delilah, as you know, Delilah keeps trying to get Samson to tell her where his power comes from.  And he keeps toying with her.  Telling her one thing that isn't really it and then telling her another thing that isn't really it.

Finally she wears him down and he tells her where his power comes from.  Well for whatever reason, God isn't pleased that Samson has revealed where His power comes from and so God departs from Samson.

Isn't it great that we don't have to keep secret where our power comes from?  In fact we are told to go out and spread that news.   What am I talking about?  Why the power of Jesus Christ of course! 

When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we get to tap into the incredible power of God.  How would you like to start off the New Year with God's power on your side?  It's real simple.  All you have to do is ask Jesus to take over your life and guide you.  Just have a simple conversation with Jesus.  "Dear Jesus….".