The other day my devotions took me to Genenis 6 & 7. Noah and the flood. It's a pretty familar passage so sometimes it becomes easy to just read through it and then think, "That's a good story," or "What am I going to learn new in this passage, I've read it a hundred times?" I know not very spiritual of me. But hey, I'm just being honest. So I read through it and was just getting ready to start praying and my eyes floated down to the first verse of chapter 8. It starts with, "But God remembered Noah." Those four little words really made me stop and think about what I had just read. Why was it so important to Noah that God remembered him. I mean, think about it. At that particular moment there were only 8 people alive on the planet. So of course God remembered Noah. But then I started to think about all that Noah had gone through. He had been serving the Lord by building a boat for the last 100 years or so. You know he had to have endured a lot during that time. Gen. 6:5 says, "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." The people around him probably weren't very encouraging. I imagine it was much worse than just talking badly about him or making fun of him. But Noah pressed on. He endured and eventually the rain came just as the Lord had said it would. His family and all the animals climbed into the ark and were safe from the flood. God had spared him and his family. So why was it so important that God remembered him.
Maybe it was because now Noah was in that waiting period. He had been working and serving for so long that this just waiting was a little tough. At this point they were just floating around with not a lot of work and serving that needed to be done. You can clean the boat just so many times in one day, if you know what I mean. There wasn't some big project to do for the Lord and Noah was probably beginning to wonder, "Am I going to be on this boat forever, Lord?" Have you ever been there? Been really busy doing lots of things for the Lord and then a time of just having to wait comes along. It may be that you have just fallen into a routine with your serving and you begin to wonder. Is this all I am going to get to do? It's been 150 days Lord? When's all this water going to dry up?
"But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided." The waiting was over. Change was coming. But Noah had to go through the waiting period before the change could come. I have been there. Wondering, ok Lord, what's next? and then not hearing anything right away. Then I start to wonder, Lord have you forgotten about me down here, "floating on this water?" Those are the times, when I am quiet, that He reminds me. "I remember you; be patient, the winds will come and dry up this water. But know, I have not forgotten you."
So if you are in a time of waiting for the winds to come and dry up the waters, be encouraged. God remembers.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Spend Yourself
I just finished my lesson for our Bible Study, Living Beyond Yourself. I listened to the message Beth Moore had for us this week and it really struck a chord in me. She ended the message with a passage from Isaiah 58:6-11. I have included it here from The Message Bible. I love the way the message puts some of this. It says:
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’
“If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people’s sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
The whole message was on the idea that "goodness does." The characteristic of goodness is not just a passive personality trait but it is an action; goodness does. The passage above basically says, we are to spend ourselves on others. There are some things that will happen if we get our eyes off ourselves and on other people. First it says, if we help those around us, including our families, that the lights will turn on and our lives will turn around at once. That is a for sure thing. I don't know how many times that I have been so absorbed in my own stuff that I didn't see those around me who were in need but when I stopped long enough to reach out to them things in my life turned around. Maybe it is because God helped to put things back in perspective, but I know I felt much better after helping someone else. Another thing it says is that your prayers will be answered. I don't want to hinder what God is doing but sometimes I think I miss what God is doing because I am so inward focused. It goes on to say if we quit sinning, blaming and gossiping, if we will be generous and give out of what we have and give of ourselves to others, our lives will begin to glow in the darkness. And don't you know the darkness in this world could use more of us beginning to glow! The next three benefits are great. God will show us where to go, give us full life in the emptiest places (do you have any empty places?) and strengthen us with firm muscles and strong bones. I can't imagine that any of us couldn't use some of those things but it seems a little backwards to the world's way of thinking. We need to spend ourselves and give to others in order to receive these things. Verse 11 is great! It says, "You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry." I think we all have seen the difference between a well-watered garden and one that isn't watered well. What's the difference? Fruit!!!! It is the same in our lives. There will be fruit when we spend ourselves for others.
Tonight at church I saw this very thing. We had baptisms and a gal named Mary was baptized. I sat there crying through the whole thing because it was such a miracle. God used someone else, pouring themselves out, spending themselves, for Mary and God brought forth fruit. I don't know if you have ever witnessed God transforming a life right before your eyes but I saw that with Mary and God chose to use Amber to produce the fruit. It cost Amber. There were long nights on the phone; there were tears; there were times when Amber just didn't know how to help but she was faithful to what God had called her to and now she is able to see the fruit. I was able to witness this from a distance and was there praying for Mary along the way. To watch her be baptized tonight and see the joy of the Lord all over her face was nothing short of amazing. I'll bet if you asked Amber if spending herself was worth it, she wouldn't hesitate to say yes! It wasn't easy, but it was worth it. Are you feeling kind of depressed or just feeling bored with life? Maybe you are too inward focused. God says if we will look outside of ourselves and risk helping someone else, He will turn our lives around. I don't know about you, but I can easily get too inward focused. So in the days and weeks to come, I am looking for ways to spend myself on others.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’
“If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people’s sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
The whole message was on the idea that "goodness does." The characteristic of goodness is not just a passive personality trait but it is an action; goodness does. The passage above basically says, we are to spend ourselves on others. There are some things that will happen if we get our eyes off ourselves and on other people. First it says, if we help those around us, including our families, that the lights will turn on and our lives will turn around at once. That is a for sure thing. I don't know how many times that I have been so absorbed in my own stuff that I didn't see those around me who were in need but when I stopped long enough to reach out to them things in my life turned around. Maybe it is because God helped to put things back in perspective, but I know I felt much better after helping someone else. Another thing it says is that your prayers will be answered. I don't want to hinder what God is doing but sometimes I think I miss what God is doing because I am so inward focused. It goes on to say if we quit sinning, blaming and gossiping, if we will be generous and give out of what we have and give of ourselves to others, our lives will begin to glow in the darkness. And don't you know the darkness in this world could use more of us beginning to glow! The next three benefits are great. God will show us where to go, give us full life in the emptiest places (do you have any empty places?) and strengthen us with firm muscles and strong bones. I can't imagine that any of us couldn't use some of those things but it seems a little backwards to the world's way of thinking. We need to spend ourselves and give to others in order to receive these things. Verse 11 is great! It says, "You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry." I think we all have seen the difference between a well-watered garden and one that isn't watered well. What's the difference? Fruit!!!! It is the same in our lives. There will be fruit when we spend ourselves for others.
Tonight at church I saw this very thing. We had baptisms and a gal named Mary was baptized. I sat there crying through the whole thing because it was such a miracle. God used someone else, pouring themselves out, spending themselves, for Mary and God brought forth fruit. I don't know if you have ever witnessed God transforming a life right before your eyes but I saw that with Mary and God chose to use Amber to produce the fruit. It cost Amber. There were long nights on the phone; there were tears; there were times when Amber just didn't know how to help but she was faithful to what God had called her to and now she is able to see the fruit. I was able to witness this from a distance and was there praying for Mary along the way. To watch her be baptized tonight and see the joy of the Lord all over her face was nothing short of amazing. I'll bet if you asked Amber if spending herself was worth it, she wouldn't hesitate to say yes! It wasn't easy, but it was worth it. Are you feeling kind of depressed or just feeling bored with life? Maybe you are too inward focused. God says if we will look outside of ourselves and risk helping someone else, He will turn our lives around. I don't know about you, but I can easily get too inward focused. So in the days and weeks to come, I am looking for ways to spend myself on others.
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