January 31: Exodus 32-34

January 31: Exodus 32-34

 

~Exodus 33:18-23~
Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory."
And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.
Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."

~Matthew 7:7-8~
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

~Exodus 34:29~
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD.  

 

~2 Corinthians 5:17~
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Two things that stood out to me in today's reading:
(1) If we sincerely ask God to reveal Himself to us, He will.

(2) Once we encounter God, we will never be the same.

There have been times in my life where I felt like God was far away from me. I wondered where He was and if He cared about me. The truth is that God never moves away from us. If He feels distant, it's because we did the moving. God desires to reveal Himself to us. He wants us to know Him and share all of ourselves with Him. Moses wanted nothing more than to see God's glory. The fact that no one could see God's face and live did not hinder him at all. We can certainly learn from Moses on how to have a deeper relationship with God: all you have to do is ask.

 

After Moses's experience with God, he was visibly changed. The Israelites noticed immediately that his face had become radiant. When we encounter God, we are not physically changed, but we do become different people. When we share our lives with Him and invite Him to live in our hearts, we are new creations that are drastically different from our former selves.

 

God wants to show Himself to us and He wants to make us new creations in Him. If you feel like God is far away or if you feel like the same old person you were before, I encourage you to ask Him to show you His glory and to change you for the better. I guarantee that He will.

Monday January 30th Exodus 30:17-21

I am sorry that this took so long to send.  I knew what I wanted to write I just couldn't figure out how to write it.  I hope you find this helpful.  God bless.

1 Peter 2:9  "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

Did you know you were a priest?  Well you are and if you don't believe me reread the verse above.  What does it mean to be a priest, a part of the royal priesthood?  It means that you have been set apart to serve the Lord.  You have been called to help lead others to the redemption of their hearts through the sacrifice of Christ on the altar of the cross. You do that by declaring the praises of God who lead you out of darkness and into the light of truth.

What does this have to do with today's reading? In Exodus 30:17-21 we read about how a bronze basin was to be made to hold clean water so that the priests could wash their hands and feet each day before they began their service to the Lord.  The reason they only had to wash their hands and feet were because in Exodus 29 we see that the priest were already consecrated to the Lord, made pure through the sacrifices offered on their behalf.  Their bodies were clean but each day they had to clean off the dirt that stuck to their feet over the course of the past 24 hours so that they could serve the Lord without hindrance or blemish.

In John 13 we read about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.  His royal priesthood.  Do you remember what Peter (the one who wrote the above opening verse) said in response to Christ's actions?  
"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." (verse 8).  Christ responded, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." 
Christ was trying to help them meet the requirements (Ex. 30) of the priesthood, as he knew that the disciples were about to be sent out as servants to share the news of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. 
Peter then said to Christ, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"  Christ again had to correct Peter and tell him that, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean."
Christ is our bronze basin, our fountain or spring of living water (Zech 13:1, Jer 17:13).  His blood redeemed us from our sins and opened up the pathway to our God.  But we still live in a sinful body that dwells in a sinful world.  Every day as we take steps along our path of life we can't help but step into sin and dirty our clean hearts.  It can be an impure thought, an unrighteous action, a moment of pride or selfishness.  We are forgiven and the price was already paid on the cross for our sins.  This washing is not that.  This is a reminder for us that even though we are no longer a slave to sin we are not immune from its effects on our lives.  If we do not daily check our hearts to make sure that they are cleaned from the effects of the sins we encounter each day they will build up and become a blemish in our service to the Lord.  It will affect our ability to declare the praises of him who brought us out of darkness and into the wonderful light.  If you do not think you need to go to Christ and check your heart each day then he says you have no part in his ministry.

So as a member of God's royal priesthood, don't forget the importance of going to the fountain of living water, Jesus Christ each and every day and asking him to help rid you of whatever impurities have attached themselves to your heart.  Ask him to make you aware of the sins that tend to attach themselves to you so that you can be more aware and more prepared to counter them as you walk your path each day.

You are God's vessel.  I don't like using dirty dishes when serving people who have come into my house looking to be fed; I don't think God does either.

January 29th

January 29th Exodus 25-31

The Tabernacle

Today we read about the blueprints God gave Moses for His tabernacle. The tabernacle was like a visual of God's presence among the people, His presence indicated by the cloud of smoke. The tabernacle was a kind of tent, separated into two parts: the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. The whole thing was about 150 feet by 75 feet. The brazen altar was placed right inside, then after was the laver, where the priest would wash their hand and feet before going into the Holy Place. Upon entering the Holy Place, the priest would find the menorah, a lampstand hammered out of one piece of gold, which I'm guessing would make it pretty small. He would also find the table of showbread, which was a table covered with gold, on the right side, across from the menorah. Then in front of the curtain that separates the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies was the golden alter of incense, which was smaller than the brazen alter, covered with gold, and had four horns on the corners. After passing the golden alter of incense, there was a curtain of blues and purples. Only the high priest could go in there and only on one day of the year. The Holy of Holies was a perfect cube, filled with smoke, that would funnel out to form the cloud. The smoke also served as a veil for the high priest when he went in, because no one can see the face of God. In all the smoke there was a piece of furniture called the Ark of the Covenant, and on top of it the mercy seat, or atonement cover, which was a chair like piece of furnature. The mercy seat was made of a piece of gold, and the Ark was made of the same acacia wood as the rest of the furniture and also plated in gold, inside and out. Inside the Ark, God told Moses to put three things: the tablets with the 10 commandments on them, a golden pot of manna, and Aaron's staff. God then chose priests- Aaron and his four sons. Aaron was the first high priest, followed by his descendants. They were the ones to go into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement and seek forgiveness of their people's sins. Keeping in mind that a priest is someone who is kind of a mediator between God and man, this role of high priesthood foreshadowed Christ, because he was our connection to God, and He atoned for our sins. 

God gave Moses a very in-depth set of instructions for how He wanted worship to go. As the summary before the passage said, this shows that "no detail of man's worship of God is too small for God's concern."

Have a wonderful Sunday :)

Gina

January 28

January 28, 2012    Exodus 19-24   The Law   

 In September of 2011, David Brooks of The New York Times wrote a column on the nearly complete lack of a moral vocabulary among most American young people.

 Here are few quotes from his article:

"When asked to describe a moral dilemma they had faced, two-thirds of the young people either couldn't answer the question or described problems that are not moral at all…"

"Moral thinking didn't enter the picture, even when considering things like drunken driving, cheating in school or cheating on a partner..."

"The default position, which most of them came back to again and again, is that moral choices are just a matter of individual taste ..."

"As one put it, 'l mean, I guess what makes something right is how I feel about it. But different people feel different ways, so I couldn't speak on behalf of anyone else as to what's right and wrong ...' "

"Morality was once revealed, inherited and shared, but now it's thought of as something that emerges in the privacy of your own heart."

 This study has just confirmed what I have seen over the past 30 years.  Moral standards have been replaced by feelings. Good and evil are now defined by the standards of "yummy" or "yucky."  They are simply a matter of personal preference.

 Today we see the antidote to the moral slide. The Law of God takes us above "yummy and yucky." The purpose of the Law is to provide and protect us by giving us a glimpse of the nature of God. We cannot know the heart of God unless he reveals it to us. We see his holiness, his character and his will. The Law showed the Israelites and it shows us what sin is and that we can never be holy enough to make it to heaven on our keeping of that Law. It teaches us that we need a Savior. It is like a medical thermometer; it shows us that we are sick and in need of a doctor. 

In addition, when we live by the principles of the law we find that life makes sense. Did you see the phrase,  "but showing love to a thousand generations to those who love me and keep my commandments?"  Living by the 10 commandments gives us the best possible life in a fallen world.

The law protects us from the dead ends of life. If you want to ship wreck your life, disobey the law of God. I can fill Boyle stadium in Stamford with people who have crashed their lives by disobeying the 10 Commandments but I have never, ever heard someone say, "I lived by the 10 Commandments and God has ruined my life."

An illustration from the Book The Country of the Pointed Firs.

Sara Jewett describes a woman writer on the pathway leading to the home of a retired sea captain named Elijah Tilley.  On the way, the woman notes a number of wooden stakes randomly scattered about the property, with no discernible order. Each is painted white and trimmed in yellow, like the captains house. Curious, she asks Captain Tilley what they mean. When he first plowed the ground, he says, his plow snagged on many large rocks just beneath the surface. So he set out the stakes where the rocks lay in order to avoid them in the future.  In a sense, this is what God has done with the 10 commandments. He said "These are the trouble spots in life. Avoid them and you won't snag your plow."

January 27, 2012: Exodus Chapter 15:22 - Chapter 18

Friday, January 27, 2012
Exodus Chapter 15:22 - Chapter 18

The bulk of today's reading focuses on the physiological (food and
water) and spiritual needs of the Israelites as they travel from the
Red Sea to Mount Sinai (where in tomorrow's reading, Moses will give
the Ten Commandments). Certainly meeting the physiological needs for
180,000 people in the middle of the desert seems impossible, but not
with God.

The Israelites in their humanism doubted God's ability to sustain
them in the desert. Early in our reading, we see this doubt quickly
turn into "grumbling" on behalf of the Israelites towards Moses and
ultimately towards God. In their hunger, the Israelites said to Moses,
"If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around
pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us
out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death." It's
amazing how quick the Israelites forget about the miracles God had
already performed in their lives. He had just delivered them from 400
years of slavery and divided a sea in two for their escape from the
Egyptians. Surely He can supply food!! In the midst of trials, do you
have faith in God's ability to provide just what you need?

In Matthew 6:31-33, Jesus says, "So do not worry, saying, 'What
shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For
the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows
that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well." God knows exactly
what we need. He just wants us to believe in his ability to provide.
This was perhaps the Israelites greatest battle in the desert; their
fight for belief in God's promises. Nonetheless, God remained
faithful. God endowed quail and manna (bread) to appease the hunger of
His people. God supplied water from a rock to quench their thirst.
Physically, their needs felt met. God's greater plan however, was for
his people to know he could provide no matter the circumstances. Every
morning (six out of seven days a week) for forty years, God
miraculously made Manna appear on the ground. Bread provided in this
fashion was meant to increase the faith of the Israelites. Water
brought forth through a rock was another sign meant to build the trust
of the Israelites.

Both the "Manna" and the "water from the rock" portray Christ as
we know from the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 10:3-4, the apostle
Paul says, "They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same
spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that
accompanied them, and that rock was Christ." It was Christ that kept
the Israelites alive in the desert. If God had the Israelites drink
from the rock of Christ to sustain them, then shouldn't we drink from
that same rock?

In John 6:35, Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to
me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be
thirsty." Those that are in Jesus Christ are forever blessed. For in
Christ, we have the bread from heaven and the water that will always
quench our thirsts. Let's seek spiritual nourishment today by faith in
Jesus Christ.

You're Blessed,
Anthony

January 26: Exodus 13:17-15:21

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2012

Exodus 13:17–15:21

We read today about God’s parting the Red Sea so that the Israelites may continue their exodus from Egypt.  In the process, God demonstrates His power and provision in guiding the Israelites according to His path and vanquishing the oncoming Egyptians.  We catch the first glimpse of the Israelites’ wavering hearts and proclivity towards fear and complaining.  As the Lord’s selected prophet, Moses speaks His truth in order to encourage and direct the people.  (While a prophet’s ministry may involve foretelling, in the strictest sense, a prophet merely passes along that which God has revealed to him for the edification of others.)

 

We receive great encouragement in reading about God’s leading of the Israelites through the cloud and fire.  At first glance, we might feel some envy for such a tangible display of God’s provision or grow judgmental of the Israelites, whose faith wavers so frequently, despite this evidence of God’s presence.  The Israelites express their grievances to Moses:  “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?  What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?” (Exodus 14:11)  Yet, Moses reassures the people:  “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”  (v. 14)  Immediately thereafter, God calls the people to start moving and bring the plan to fruition:  “Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.  I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them.  And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.  The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” (vv. 16–18)

 

We may understand the awesome miracles in today’s text as part of God’s ongoing efforts to reveal His glory.  God’s protecting the Israelites from the Egyptians and His parting of the Red Sea and leading the Israelites on dry ground would become an indelible stamp on the nation’s history.  The Israelites could rightly proclaim, along with Moses:  “Who is like you–/ majestic in holiness,/ awesome in glory,/ working wonders?” (Exodus 15:11b)  God has created us for this very purpose:  to see and delight in His glory.  Any glory of earth pales in comparison (or merely reflects) His eternal and magnificent glory.

 

On a personal level, we may read promises in the Scriptures as examples of His revelation – for example, John 17:3:  “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”  From eternity, God has taken great steps to reveal Himself to every person of every nation, and Jesus has called His followers to join with Him in this effort (Matthew 28:18–20).  One powerful means through which God has portrayed His glory lies in His creation:

 

“The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language

where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 19:1–4)

 

 

Yet, how do we wrestle with the question of how the destruction of the Egyptians brought forth God’s glory?  We have previously encountered the terrifying display of God’s judgment in the flood, but God promised with the rainbow that He would no longer destroy the whole earth, even though:  “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” (Genesis 6:5)  With the Egyptians, they had clearly witnessed God’s hand in the plagues, leading even Pharaoh’s magicians to acknowledge God’s sovereign power.  We read that “the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.” (Exodus 10:20)

 

With the Egyptians, we view a clear interplay of divine sovereignty and human responsibility.  God did direct the situation to bring about a greater revelation of His glory.  Indeed, He caused the Egyptians to have a favorable impression of the Israelites, allowing the Israelites to “plunder” the Egyptians upon their exit.  Each actor, and especially Pharaoh, participated willingly in shaping the story.  Pharaoh’s heart had an inclination to fear and later hate the Israelites.  As Pastor Scott noted, Pharaoh’s reliance on magical arts suggests a demonic attachment and therefore spiritual opposition to Moses’s plea to allow the Israelites to worship the true and living God.  Furthermore, we understand from Romans that God provided the Egyptians, and every individual throughout history, sufficient revelation to reach out to Him:  “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  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 men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18–20)

 

This reading elicits another practical consideration about our own wavering hearts.  Like the Israelites, we know of God’s faithfulness in the past, both through Scripture and through personal experience and family history.  We have the additional blessing of the testimony of the New Testament, which gives a blueprint for Christ’s returning to reign over the new heavens and new earth.  Despite knowing what has transpired and what resolution God will ultimately bring, we worry in this moment, for today, or for the immediate or more distant future.  We must approach Him humbly, recognizing that we are without resources to control even a moment and calling out to Him for His strength.  As we seek Him, He will provide grace for this moment; He delights in our continuous pursuit and growing knowledge of Him.  Like the Israelites, we remain “still” in trusting Him, but, spurred on by His moment-by-moment grace, we take action according to His direction.  Proverbs 3:5,6 guides us perfectly:

 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.”

 

QUESTIONS

1. In what ways may you serve as a prophet to those in whose path God has placed you?  What can you share about His revelation?
2. How do you struggle to trust Him in this moment?

________________________________________
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January 25: Exodus 11-12 (ish)

January 25: Exodus 11-12 (ish)

 

So you know, I have actually read this text a few times over the last couple days and I've been talking to God, debating what we should discuss today.  As always, thick chapters…sermons and sermons.  I have been sitting on my couch, procrastinating a little, watching American Idol, starting a few sentences here and there, erased them, and now starting over.  Been struggling with what to write, trying to focus on a few paragraphs and not a thesis J  <sigh.>  God blessed me today, I hope you have spent time with Him too.  Here we go…

I was fortunate to teach first grade Sunday school for many years in New Mexico.  All year we learned the ABC's of God: His attributes.  I know we are not 6 or 7 years old, but at times we can be like little children, coming to our Abba, and in these readings we need to keep in mind He is the main character.  Let's look at what we can learn about God…

A – ALMIGHTY.  God is all-powerful.  10 plagues were sent to Egypt.  In today's readings we see the 9^th and 10^th.  Darkness and the death of the first born.  He is so strong and powerful.  There is nothing God cannot do, and will not do in order to show His glory and make His name known.  Pharaoh had so many chances to let the Hebrews go, but his heart was stone.  In God's wisdom, he caused everything to work for His will and set the instructions for Passover, as a way to show His power to all of Egypt.  Many times in chapter 11 and 12 we hear the voice of God, speaking to Moses and He leads with "I will," revealing His power and might. 

The next letter we can see about God is O – OMNIPRESENT.  God is everywhere all the time, doing different things, but all fir His glory.  The 10^th plague – the death of all the firstborn, was a quiet night.  The Bible says not even a dog barked.  He was with the Israelites in their homes, and He was pouring His wrath out on Egypt.  God gave the Hebrews specific, specific instructions for this pass-over.  A process that would involve the way they ate, prepared, and this obedience and faith would mean life or death.  God said He would pass through the night, but in the end it would be a "memorial" that would last for generation to generation.  It is today. 

I leave you with a couple verses from Jeremiah that my first graders would have as memory verses that remind us of these two letters.

Jeremiah 32: 18b – 19a " The Mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts.  You are the great counsel and mighty in work."

Jeremiah 23: 24 "Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?'  says the LORD; 'Do I not fill heaven and earth?' says the LORD"     

January 24 : Exodus 9-11

January 24 : Exodus 9-11

"When we want to be something other than the thing that God wants us to be, we must be wanting what, in fact, will not make us happy...whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want. Once more, we are embarrassed by the intolerable compliment, by too much love, not too little."

~ C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

I am amazed at how stubborn and hard-hearted Pharaoh was. He was told by Moses and Aaron to let the Israelites worship in the desert, but he refused. He was warned that there would be consequences for not complying to God's command, but he still refused. So God sent 10 plagues (we have read about 9 so far) to show not only Pharaoh, but all the Egyptians and Hebrews that He is God Almighty. 

It's so easy for me to look at someone else and judge them for their actions. Why did it take so long for Pharaoh to see that he could not win a fight against God? Even when his own magicians were unable to replicate the plagues after the first two, he still endured eight more before he surrendered. How much suffering could have been avoided if he had just done the right thing first? 

Then it hits me: There are times in my life (more than I'd care to admit) where I am just as stubborn and hard-hearted as Pharaoh. How much needless worry and suffering have I put myself through because I was too stubborn to do things God's way? Why does it take me so long to see that I cannot win a fight against God?

I read The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis when I was in high school and I honestly don't remember much of it. But as I was reading today's chapters and reflecting on Pharaoh's stubbornness, I remembered a quote that I had written down in a journal about 13 years ago. "When we want something other than the thing that God wants us to be, we must be wanting what, in fact, will not make us happy." I will go so far as to say that all of us are guilty (at one time or another) of assuming that we are better than God at knowing what is best for us. We wrongly assume that we can make ourselves happy on our own. We are all guilty of being stubborn like Pharaoh. The story of the 10 plagues is not only a demonstration of God's mighty power. It is also a warning to those who do not surrender fully to God's will. God will always know exactly what we need and He will always provide for us. But if we think we know better than God and fight Him for something we think will make us happy (but actually won't), then we are headed for nothing but suffering. 

The good news is it is never too late to surrender to Him. No matter how much suffering we have endured because of our hard hearts, He will always be there to accept us back and to provide us with everything He knows we need. Living in complete surrender to Him will make us happier than we could ever attempt to make ourselves. Because He knows what we need and He wants to be the One to provide it for us.

What are you holding on to that is stopping you from living the happy life that God wants you to have?

January 23rd reading

Today's reading was about a very familiar story: The plagues sent upon Egypt.  But why send the plagues? Why didn't God just soften Pharaoh's heart and free His people from their slavery?  He saw the suffering of His people before He sent Moses and He saw how much greater it became after He sent Moses.  So why allow them to suffer a greater injustice and have to endure the plagues along with the Egyptian people instead of just setting them free?

Who were the plagues meant to teach?  I often times feel as if we think the plagues were meant to punish the Egyptians and teach them who God is. To a degree they were.  God definitely wanted to make sure that the Egyptians knew He was God.  But, I think they were meant to teach His people even more.  To teach and show them about the great, loving, just, and gracious God they were called to serve.

What would have happened had God just sent Moses to a softhearted Pharaoh?  Who would the people have attributed their freedom to?  Pharaoh?  Moses? Maybe even Aaron?  God had to make sure that His children knew the full extent of their bondage and that only a loving and gracious God could set them free.  He needed to make sure that they knew their God was able to see them through their journey before they even took one step of it.

(I'm jumping ahead here a bit) What happened after the Israelites were finally set free? They faced an impassable sea in front of them with a fierce Nation pursing behind them.  They feared and saw no way out.  They felt abandoned by their leader and their God at the base of Mount Sinai and felt they needed to create a new God to help them.  They complained about not having any food and when God provided they complained that it was the same thing every day.  They complained about not having any water.  They faced illness and death.  They faced a "giant" enemy as they prepared to enter the promise land and feared their God was not big enough to conquer them.

Let me ask you a question; How much worse would their attitudes along the journey have been had God just simply "set them free" and not showed them how powerful He was and what He was capable of through the plagues?   How much more would they have complained if they had just thought that it was Pharaoh who let them go and not the all-powerful God who loved them dearly?  They would have been worse!

Let me ask you another question; How is your attitude as you go through your journey called life?  Do you forget the glory of God that has been displayed in so many different ways in your life and the lives of others?  How much more would you complain had God sheltered you from suffering and not allowed you to endure some hardships so that you could know the God who loves you and would do anything, including giving up his life for you?

We all have to endure "plagues" in our lives, situations where we and sometimes those around us are suffering.  We all to often think of these situations as "punishments" for being a sinful people.  But I want to challenge your thinking during your times of struggle.  Perhaps it is because you have a God who loves you so dearly and desire for you to know Him in ways you never dreamed possible.  But, if He simply "lets you go" you would miss out on experiencing the awesome power of God.  He can part your Red Sea, send you the manna from heaven according to whatever he knows your need to be, He can defeat the giants in your life and lead you to a peace and joy that you did not know existed. 

It comes down to focus.  Are your only smelling the stench of blood soaked water?  Are you only seeing frogs, gnats and flies?  Look deeper and what you will find is a God who is letting you know that He is capable of meeting your every need if you just learn to trust what He is doing and remember that He loves you so very much.

Jan 21 devotional

January 21, 2012

Good morning and welcome to the first snow fall of winter....   a good day to catch up, if you have missed any days.

We continue with the life of Joseph in Genesis 48-50 and discover the "Pathway of Forgiveness."

Someone is going to hurt you next week. They will unintentionally or deliberately pull back their verbal bow and shoot an arrow right into your heart. Joseph knew about these arrows. He had many of them shot into his heart. Betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery by his own flesh and blood, he knows about relational pain. He also knows about the pathway of forgiveness.

A quick list of dead ends that are cheap imitations of forgiveness:

a. Forgetting.  People who try to forget find they can't. People think that time heals all wounds. This is not true, and if you are relying on forgetting it will only lead to a dead end.

b. Tolerating. Pretend you are a doormat and allow people to wipe their feet all over you. Becoming passive is not forgiveness.

c. Thinking of your favorite things. Singing the song of Mary Poppins will not bring you to the pathway of forgiveness.

 Joseph shows us the only pathway through his life.

a. Feeling the pain.  Some of you have been terribly hurt by mean spirited people. Parents, siblings, family members have done unspeakable things to you. Your pain might even exceed Joseph's. Feeling this pain is the first step towards healing, because this pain will become the fuel that drives you to Jesus.

b. Experience God's vertical forgiveness. Because each of us has sinned we have a million dollar debt with God.  The vertical problem if left unresolved will mean we will live eternally separated from God. But God in his mercy has sent his son to take the death penalty we deserved. Now God requires us to forgive the 100 dollar horizontal debts with people, because of the million dollar vertical forgiveness we have experienced.

c. Assume the cost of the injury.  Forgiveness is agreeing to live with the consequences of another person's sin. Forgiveness is costly. You pay the price of the evil you forgive. You're going to live with those consequences whether you want to or not; your only choice is whether you will do so in the bitterness of unforgiveness or the freedom of forgiveness. Remember Jesus' love for us caused him to assume our cost.

d. Make the courageous choice. Forgiveness is a choice, a crisis of the will. Since God requires us to forgive, it is something we can do. Don't wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving, you might never get there. Feelings take time to heal. We need to make the choice to forgive. What will be gained is freedom, not a feeling.

e. Finally releasing all bitterness. Choose to release all bitterness and anger and ask God to heal your damaged emotions. This is the pathway Joseph traveled down. This is God's pathway towards freedom. Walk on his pathway today.