Genesis 50:20

 As you've traveled this life have you ever felt like another person has treated you unfairly? Maybe you've even felt targeted in your treatment. Well there is a lot we can learn from the life of Joseph.

You see I'm one of those people who hates change. I'll hang in no matter the circumstances or treatment because the alternative is change.

For a person who hates change, the last three years have been nothing but change. God has given us a snapshot of how our circumstances are filtered by God's hand in the story of Joseph. Samuel Emadi wrote, "Within Reformed circles, preachers often use Joseph merely to illustrate how divine sovereignty and human responsibility intersect..."

Emadi goes on to say, "God’s sovereignty figures largely in the Joseph story because God wants us to see how he puts himself in impossible situations and yet finds a way to keep his covenant promises."

If you know me you know I filter all of life through God's sovereign plan for me. I can't even begin to tell you how this helps me face each day.

The last three years have been nothing but change. I've changed jobs, churches, and my diet, and one thing I can bank on is I'm going to continue changing.

Friend, we all pray, "God use me." We heroically sing the words of Isaiah, "Here am I send me," but secretly add "just don't make it painful."

So you may ask, "What caused this reflective moment?" The answer - an eye exam.

Seriously, I felt like the lyrics in a Johnny Nash song,

"I can see clearly now, the rain is gone

I can see all obstacles in my way

Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind..."

Don't get me wrong I know hard days will come, but I also know that the same God who has allowed the hard days in the past three years will be there using them for my good.

Philippians 1:6

 There is an old Southern gospel song, "I Wouldn't Take Nothing for my Journey Now." This morning while studying the life of Elijah a deeper meaning came forth.

"All of his life set the stage for the life God had planned for him." (Shirer, p. 35) That was so deep and I had to read it twice. See I learned a lot about God in my 26 years in Oklahoma. My formattable years.

Carter County, Oklahoma is where I'm from.

Carter County, Oklahoma is where my heart was formed.

Carter County, Oklahoma is where my own personal set of trials and difficulties became a start a process, a process of living and thinking and navigating my journey by faith. (adapted from Shirer p. 37)

Wow! Just WOW! God prepared me for this journey in those early years. Shirer says, "Elijah's whole life was about to become a clear, bold declaration of God's power and provision. And so is yours."

So me...I'll just be over here thanking God for my journey this far and trusting that He is using every part of this journey to form me into His image!

Quote - Beggs

 

Psalm 4:3

 Yesterday, this verse literally jumped out of the Bible at me! I know the Lord hears our prayers, but some how as I read this it just hit hard!

If I could get one thing across to those I encounter it would be this, "the Lord will hear when I call unto Him." What an incredible promise!

I assigned faith building novels as summer reading this year. Why? Because we all need to be AMAZED by grace. We need to know that in our darkest hour we are not alone - there is a Redeemer.

My prayer was that it these novels were read as a family. To encourage everyone. Both novels include mighty works of God for ordinary people. And this is where I may be crazy, I believe He still does this today.

I don't think Corrie ten Boom or Brother Andrew would say they were super Christians. I think they are just ordinary people who believed God was who He says He is.

Friend, if you've been set apart by God as His own, then He hears you. And that is a game changer.

Psalm 17:6

 "...hear my prayer." A quick Google search says there are 450 instances of this phrase in the Bible. My quick search Sunday gave me 24.

The Hebrew word for God who hears is El Shama. "Though ‘El Shama’ is not an official name of God, it refers to the fact that God hears…He listens." (Elizabeth Prata)

Matthew Henry wrote of this verse, "Those who would proceed and persevere in the ways of God, must, by faith prayer, get daily fresh supplies of grace and strength from him. Show thy marvelous loving-kindness, distinguishing favors, not common mercies, but be gracious to me; do as thou used to do to those who love thy name."

Friend, I don't know about you, but there is something humbling that happens when I realize the God of the Universe hears ME! He cares for me personally enough to listen.

There is a Latin term, Coram Deo, which means “before the face of God” or “in the presence of God.” The writer at gotquestions.com states, "To live one’s life “before God” (coram Deo) is a scriptural concept, as the Lord is omnipresent and perceives our every action and thought."

If we just for a moment could comprehend the meaning of this. We are quick to throw around "I'll pray for you"; however, do we really comprehend the magnitude of what we are saying. I hope so.

Have a terrific day and remember Coram Deo. You are in his presence and He hears you!

Ecclesiastes 12:1

 I am one of those unique individuals who trouble came in my youth. At 14, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, by 18 she was dead. Mine was not a typical youth; however, I was taught from birth that there is a God who made me for His purpose and His plan for my life.

So whether good times or bad the one thing we can count on young or old is time flies by. Erma Bombeck said, "Time, it hangs heavy for the bored, eludes the busy, flies by for the young, and runs out for the aged.” Most of us understand the brevity of life.

Of course we all know, that no matter our age, time is passing. Now in the sunset of life I sometimes contemplate my earlier days and decisions. The Teacher is telling us, "Beware of allowing the best years of your life to pass while you’re waiting for them to begin."

I was so guilty of this in my 20's and 30's. Sometimes I look back and think, "I wish I'd of enjoyed this or that more."

But Begg's says of this verse we are being called to know God more. He says it like this,, "Okay. “Remember your Creator.” Know him, love him, serve him as your highest joy."

It is wise then for us to number our days. The psalmist, in Psalm 90, says, “Teach us to number our days aright, [so] that we might gain a heart of wisdom.”

Then, my friend, we have circled back to the age old question, "What are you going to do with Jesus?" All of scripture points to Him. Without Him our lives are as the Teacher says, "Meaningless." And that might be the saddest end of all.

Psalm 28:6-7

 Today I've pondered why the Psalms are full of reminders that God hears us? My quick search found 11 in the Psalms alone.

In verses 6 notice the word because. David's praise to God had a reason. Spurgeon said, “Real praise is established upon sufficient and constraining reasons; it is not irrational emotion, but rises, like a pure spring, from the deeps of experience.”

You might want to read that twice. We are so busy trying to work up emotions in order to praise God, when there is enough to praise Him for in our daily living.

As a young girl when my mom got sick I asked my Grandmother, "Why us?" Why had cancer come to our house? Hadn't we prayed? Her answer was classic Alice and has stuck with me all my life, "Why not us?"

I spent a good five years running from God instead of to Him. As the old saying goes, "I couldn't see the forest for the trees." And only when I, like David, cried out to Him, acknowledging who He is did I find Him to be my strength and shield.

Friend, He is either God of all things or God of nothing. And as the Psalm goes, "My heart trusted in Him and I was helped."