The midwest that I drove through was starting to recover it seemed from the ice and snow that blew through this week. I'm very thankful God protected me on the drive home.
Today was titled How Could Someone Be So Ignorant (from My Upmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers).
God has spoken to me before. Not in the burning bush, booming voice from the heavens, the bright light on the road to Damascas or the talking donkey. He has spoken to me as Chambers writes "not through your ears, but through your circumstance."
How then having been so close to God and seeing His hand move can I find myself so far from His will and His purpose and His prescence. God never changes and He is always faithful. Thus it must be I that has moved and changed.
I say the right things. I think I'm doing what I should. Suddenly my eyes open and I realize that I have been disobedient and omitting much of what I should be doing. I have not persecuted Jesus through eagerness. I have pulled back from involvement, from service, from leadership. I have several good excuses, but ultimately it all leads back to self satisfaction and a spirit of pride.
1 Cor 13 was a good read after this. How do I measure up to God's standards for loving others? Where can I improve?
Leviticus 26 is a good read. It's the blessings and punishments the Lord details to the Isrealites for obeying or disobeying the decrees and laws handed down at Mt. Sinai. First God lays out the blessings and they are wonderful. Abundant crops, peace, victory over enemies, God dwelling and walking among the people...the first 13 verses are brimming with promises of rewards for obeying God's decress and law. Then, dude, there's a lot of punishments. And yes, they are terrible. The consequences of disobeying God are numerous and destructive and, quite frankly, depressing. Four times, in verses 18, 21, 24 & 28, God says that He will punish their sins 7x over. That's heavy. But all this despair is not without hope. Starting in verse 40 God shows the way out of disobedience and wrath....confess their (the Isrealites) sins, humble their uncircumcised hearts and pay for their sins (by the sin offering set up earlier in the Law). THEN God says He will not reject them,...
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