Genesis 29:21-35 (Click on reference to read text)
I have never read this story and felt bad for Leah. After all she is the nemesis, right? However, today my heart broke for her. She knew she was unloved. She knew she was seen as a mistake. She did everything in her power to win the love of her husband. Yet she could not succeed.
After every son was born, she says, "surely now my husband will love me" (vs. 32 & 34). Finally, after her fourth son was born she says, "This time I will praise the LORD. Therefore, she named him Judah" (vs. 35). She stopped looking at what she didn't have, and started praising the Lord. Leah learned the secret of Hebrew 13:15 - offering a sacrifice of praise. It is called a sacrifice because you are making the conscious choice to praise God before the circumstances change. In the midst of your pain. Your heart shifts from trying to manipulate the situation like you want it, to just giving God glory and submitting to His sovereignty. It is in the hard moments, where you lay down your desires and take on His, that He begins to change your life and give you the strength to keep going.
We all know that from Judah came the Kings of Israel, starting with David and going all the way to Jesus. What a sweet picture of Romans 8:28 - "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Praise that Lord that even when bad things happen to us, God is still in control and can turn those hurtful things into great blessing!
Whose affection are you trying to win? Are you striving with all your might to earn favor, to gain esteem, to feel loved? "Cease striving and know that He is God. The Lord of hosts is with you" (Ps 46:10-11). "How great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God" (1John 3:1). That is what you are... the beloved child of the King.
I urge you to start making your sacrifice of praise... TODAY. NOW. EVEN BEFORE your circumstances change. Those sacrifices, He will not deny. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise" (Ps 51:17).
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Argh... Nineveh!
Jonah 2:9-3:3 (Click on reference to read text)
We are all familiar with the story of Jonah. But did you know that the big fish did not spit Jonah up at Nineveh? Once he committed to obey God, he still had to walk a three days journey to Nineveh. This simple revelation has changed my life.
I realize that I can have a very Americanized view of obedience. We almost have a sense of entitlement that when we decide to step out in faith and obey God: it should be easy, it should be comfortable and we should receive great blessing from God because of it.
How quickly we forget Moses, who obeyed God by marching back into Egypt and cursing the family that raised him until they decided to let the Israelites go. Paul who obeyed God by preaching the Gospel to the known world, but spent more time in prison and getting beat up than actually doing sermons in the countryside! Finally, Jesus, the ultimate picture of obedience. He placed himself upon the cross and died so that we can have reconciliation with God. The cross was not comfortable and it certainly was not easy, but I am so glad that Christ obeyed.
When you make the decision to obey God, it often means that you will be stretched beyond your comfort zone, you may have to go to a place you don't want to go and talk with people you don't want to talk to. Most likely He will ask you to do something that is beyond your mental, physical or spiritual abilities, but He is not asking you to do it alone. Just like with Moses, He is the great "I AM" in your life, just like with Paul and Jesus, the Heavenly Father is right there with you. Remember what Paul proclaimed, "That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor 12:10).
Are you a three days walk from your Nineveh? Put on your walking shoes and get going!
We are all familiar with the story of Jonah. But did you know that the big fish did not spit Jonah up at Nineveh? Once he committed to obey God, he still had to walk a three days journey to Nineveh. This simple revelation has changed my life.
I realize that I can have a very Americanized view of obedience. We almost have a sense of entitlement that when we decide to step out in faith and obey God: it should be easy, it should be comfortable and we should receive great blessing from God because of it.
How quickly we forget Moses, who obeyed God by marching back into Egypt and cursing the family that raised him until they decided to let the Israelites go. Paul who obeyed God by preaching the Gospel to the known world, but spent more time in prison and getting beat up than actually doing sermons in the countryside! Finally, Jesus, the ultimate picture of obedience. He placed himself upon the cross and died so that we can have reconciliation with God. The cross was not comfortable and it certainly was not easy, but I am so glad that Christ obeyed.
When you make the decision to obey God, it often means that you will be stretched beyond your comfort zone, you may have to go to a place you don't want to go and talk with people you don't want to talk to. Most likely He will ask you to do something that is beyond your mental, physical or spiritual abilities, but He is not asking you to do it alone. Just like with Moses, He is the great "I AM" in your life, just like with Paul and Jesus, the Heavenly Father is right there with you. Remember what Paul proclaimed, "That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor 12:10).
Are you a three days walk from your Nineveh? Put on your walking shoes and get going!
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