Monday, January 7, 2008
Monday change
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No, I'm not able to switch the days of the week around, but wouldn't that be fun?? I'm changing the title of my Monday post to Merciful Monday...... So it will no longer be "Moanin'"on Mondays, but counting the many mercies of God....with an occasional "MERCY, ME", lighter reflection. Just thought the other sounded like too much complaining and looking back....it really was. I believe as believers and followers of Christ, we need to focus on the positive side of things. Even in the gloom and negativity and darkness. OR, we'll just end up like the people of the world, who have no hope.....and God never intended His people to live that way. We are commanded to be DIFFERENT. I had been convicted on that point several times lately. And you know what else amazes me? How each time you read something in the Bible, it can speak something different to your heart. Two things I've re-discovered in my journey thru the Bible from Gen. to Rev. this year. The first, and I may have already mentioned it, but it was brought up again in SS yesterday....how much we as humans want our own way!! And will bargain, cajole and even justify to a sovereign God what we did!!! How stupid is THAT?? Like the God of the Universe is 'fooled' by our duplicity? "Well, I KNOW you told me to do it THIS way, God, but I thought I'd do it THIS way" Sort of like Sarai "helping" God's plan for Abraham to be the father of many nations by giving him Hagar.....yeah, THAT worked out real well!......and then we have the audacity to wonder WHY things turn out badly?? Abram was told to leave his country AND ALL HIS KINDRED.....but he took Lot with him. Of course, it started with Eve....."but the serpent beguiled me, God....." Someone else told me to do it. I couldn't resist. I just THOUGHT......."Lean not unto thine own understanding.....in ALL thy ways acknowledge HIM and HE will direct thy path".....Had to have been a reason he put that in there, huh??? Anyway, today what God impressed on my heart was in the chapters regarding Abraham and Isaac and the 'sacrifice'. One little phrase just jumped off the page at me......Gen. 22:9 "And they came to the place which GOD HAD TOLD HIM OF,.........." (emphasis mine). What would have happened to Isaac if Abraham had decided to "do it his way"? Just stop 2 days away in this little place 'right here', after all, what could it hurt?? Isn't killing my only son in one place the same thing as doing it anywhere else?? I just want to get it over with, God, and be on my way to mourn all the rest of my days......avoid another day of misery. That's what I would have been thinking. Just let me get this dreadful task over with. How much could it matter that I do it WHERE GOD told me to?? Can you just imagine the grief and self recrimination Abraham would have lived with the rest of his life if indeed he HAD done it his way? Just went 1 or 2 days away or took the 2 guys he had with them with him to the sacrifice spot? Or just picked a different spot, maybe in the opposite direction? Sort of like the guilt and self recrimination I live with, when I don't do things the way God has laid out for me in the Bible. Like not fulfilling my God given role as help meet......but that's for another post. I can't help but think right here about a post I read recently about choosing to sacrifice our children instead of sacrificing ourselves. It's what the world does all the time and, if I'm honest with myself, it's what I do too. Not to such a great degree.....but I still think about myself first far too often. What if we just did things God's way?? Like it's laid out in the Bible? How much better off would our children be? And how much of a better example would we be to them to imitate now and when they become adults? Maybe it's just me and maybe it's just the phase of life I'm going thru and maybe it's just that God really does want me to learn to FINISH WHAT I START. But it's painful God, and BORING (sounding all in the world like my 12 y/o).....WHY should I not be able to start this fresh new project.....(and here's where the reasoning kicks in).....but I can make money doing this project and then I can help out with the finances....just the the Proverbs 31 woman, God.....isn't that how you want me to be/?? Why can't I just go off IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION???? And before you know it.....I'm off on a new adventure in a DIFFERENT DIRECTION than what I had started or what God have probably intended.....A project that I will bore with in short order.....leaving the unfinished project and now a NEW unfinished project on the shelf. How much more diligent would I be if I really practiced the verse that I've been chirping at my 12 y/o lately?? "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might, AS UNTO THE LORD"??? What if I focused on glorifying GOD in everything I do.....small and large tasks?? WAKE UP CALL this morning, and I'm not talkin' alarm clock here!!!! Makes me wonder.....if I HAD finished all the projects on these shelves, in these totes, etc......what would I be working on now?? What greater and 'more fun' project would GOD have had me working on by now?? Man, did I have to get on my face in front of the God of the thousandth 'chance' (Lam. 3:21-23) and repent of being so full of myself. I have much to do. I have SO MUCH to be grateful for. I am not sure if God wants me to finish ALL these things that are here. But I am listening now, like I've never listened before. I can't even IMAGINE how much glory God is going to get!!! AND I can't wait to get started. And it all started with Abraham not stopping to sacrifice Isaac until he got to the place GOD TOLD HIM. Wow. Denise aka The Domestic Angel |
Comments
Monday, January 7, 2008 - Untitled Comment
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Posted by Monday, January 7, 2008 - Untitled Comment
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Posted by desertoasis Monday, January 7, 2008 - Untitled Comment
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Tuesday, January 8, 2008 - Melinda
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