gratitude

One area of my life that I struggle with constantly is remembering God's goodness to me. To be perfectly honest, I don't think about this much. It usually comes to light when I am working through a bible study and I'm asked to list a time that I remember that God did something wonderful. And while I know that he does many beautiful miraculous things on a daily basis, mostly I draw a blank. I've come to the conclusion that I just don't pay enough attention.

Anyhow, we recently read the story of Elijah and the widow at Zarephath.

Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him: "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food." So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?" As she was going to get it, he called, "And bring me, please, a piece of bread."

"As surely as the LORD your God lives," she replied, "I don't have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die."

Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.' "

She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.(1 Kings 17:1-16)

Here's a woman who is living life with a constant miracle. She knows that no human is putting flour in the jar and oil in the jar. There still is no rain so there is no hope for a harvest. Elijah has told her that God himself said that she would have flour and oil as long as there is no rain in the land. You have to think that she is feeling pretty good about the Lord and how He's blessed her family. Except...

Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?"

"Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this boy's life return to him!"

The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, "Look, your son is alive!"

Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth." 1 Kings 17:17-24

I have to tell you that I was a little bit frustrated by the widow. She's living this miracle life and yet the moment her circumstances change, she's pointing the finger and blaming Elijah (and God). The note I made in my Bible says, "do our life circumstance cause us to forget the miracles in our lives?" But I still wasn't talking about me. Yet. It wasn't til later that I realized that I was no different than the widow. If I can't remember the good things the Lord has done in my life when I'm working through a bible study, what are the chances that I'll remember them when life comes pounding on the door? To carry the thought one step further, am I truly grateful as the Lord works throughout my day? And what can I do to change it if I'm not?

One of my favorite blogs is a Holy Experience written by Ann Voskamp. I will often reread her posts over and over just to allow them to seep into my soul. She has such a way with words and everything she writes has a scriptural tie. It's a beautiful thing. Anyway, she wrote a post entitled a thousand gifts where she talks about her journal of the gifts that the Lord has given her. Over the years she has surpassed one thousand and now goes on to number the thousands. She says, "Too often I miss Him, oblivious, blind. I don't see all the good things that He is giving me, gracing me with, brushing my life with. True, He is everywhere, always. But maybe, before The Gift List, I thought of Him as further off, not so close. When I started to see all the things that I love bestowed upon me, I started to see Him as near, present, everywhere, showering me with good things. Seeing the things I love all around me gives me eyes to see that I am loved, that He loves me."

Anyway, recently I decided to begin my own list of a thousand gifts. Some days are more challenging than others and I have to look a little deeper to see how He's blessed me. Some days are simple gifts such as the bluest sky that I've seen in a long time and some days the gifts are huge. Through it all, my hope is that when I seek Him, I will find Him. (2 Chronicles 15:2) And maybe the next time difficulties come knocking on my door, I'll remember the miracles that have come before and I will rely on the Giver of life.

thoughts on Kings...

A couple of verses stood out to me this weekend as I was reading.

2 Chronicles 12:14...He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord.

2 Chronicles 15:2...The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

2 Chronicles 15:15...They sought God eagerly, and He was found by them. So the Lord gave them rest on every side.

2 Chronicles 16:9...For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.

These verses make it very clear that we need to set our hearts on seeking the Lord. The first verse goes even further, saying that we do evil when we do not set our heart on the Lord. At first glance, that sounds incredibly harsh. We don't want to think of our actions as evil but clearly we are capable of it when we do not seek Him. Conversely, 15:15 says that when they sought Him (don't you love the word "eagerly"?), He gave them rest. Believe me, I could use some rest. And when I compare the words "evil" or "rest" as the outcome of my actions, the choice is easy to make.

One other thing that struck me this weekend was how Asa followed God with all his heart until he was older. I wonder if he grew complacent. Scripture says, "Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians." (16:12) What happened? Did he start believing his own press? Was he surrounded with people who told him how wonderful he was? I don't know. What I do know is that he is not the only person in the Bible that started out well but didn't finish strong. There's a lesson in that.

Then they bound themselves in a covenant to seek God, the God of their fathers, wholeheartedly, holding nothing back.They shouted out their promise to God, a joyful sound accompanied with blasts from trumpets and rams' horns. The whole country felt good about the covenant promise—they had given their promise joyfully from the heart. Anticipating the best, they had sought God—and he showed up, ready to be found. God gave them peace within and without—a most peaceable kingdom!
2 Chronicles 15:12,14-15 MSG

Do you ever wonder?

In 1 Kings 11, Solomon has turned his heart from God. (11:4) Verse 9-12 goes on to say, "The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although He had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord's command. So the Lord said to Solomon, 'Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son."

As far as I can tell, Solomon did nothing to change his ways after this Word from the Lord. Does anyone but me find this odd?

First of all, I'd like to think that if God had appeared to me twice, I'd make a little more effort to be obedient. I realize that it's a lot easier to maintain that "spiritual" feeling after a "mountain top experience." (anybody else remember camp?) However, I still think that an encounter with God Almighty would mark me forever.

Regardless, I'm fairly certain that if God came back and said, "Child, you've got an attitude that's got to go. Since I was fond of your parents, I'll wait and bring destruction on your children rather than you" I'd sit up and take notice. I'm pretty sure I'd be begging for forgiveness, changing my attitude and asking Him to punish me instead of them. As a mom, I can't even fathom allowing my children to be punished in my place. (and Solomon had to be aware that this wasn't a "time out" punishment. God is saying that He will tear the kingdom from him. That means war, bloodshed and death.)

Interestingly enough, this isn't the only time this happens in scripture. I remember reading about Hezekiah last year and Isaiah telling him the same thing. Except Hezekiah thinks, "will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?" (2 Kings 20:19)

I do not want to be that me focused. My prayer is that I will always be sensitive to God's correction (and my attitude) and that my eyes will not be so focused on myself that I am unable to see the harm that I might be doing others.

Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
preserve my life according to your word.
Psalm 119:36-37

But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign LORD;
in you I take refuge
Psalm 141:8

Just a thought...

I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about Saul lately. He was a man chosen by God to do great things but somewhere along the way, he got sidetracked. As I've mentioned before, Saul is never the man that he might have been. Rather than rely on God and the things he knew to be true, he chose to "help God out" along the way. As a result, the Lord rejected Saul as king and chose David instead.

Then we have Solomon, son of David. He had the benefit of growing up under David's guidance. Certainly, as David was dying, he instructed Solomon on how to live. (1 Kings 2:2-3) From all appearances, Solomon followed those instructions. For awhile. (1 Kings 3:3) By all accounts, God was pleased with Solomon. Rather than ask for great wealth or a long life, he asked that the Lord would bless him with wisdom. The Lord gave him all three. (1 Kings 3:12-15) After the temple was built, the Lord appeared to him again and promised that as long as "you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David." (1 Kings 9: 4-5)

Sounds like a plan, doesn't it? After all, Solomon not only had the benefit of learning from Saul and David's lives, the LORD Himself had spoken to him and made clear His expectations. And since He had gifted Solomon with wisdom, wealth and health, Solomon knew that God would fulfill His words.

And yet, somewhere along the way, Solomon chose his own path. 1 Kings 11:4 says, "As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been." As I read those words, I sit here and shake my head. I don't get it. How could he take such a path? God HIMSELF spoke to him. He knew the benefits of obeying the Lord's statutes. So how did he go from here to here?

Ecclesiastes 2 may offer a clue. As I read the chapter last night, one thing kept coming to my mind. I thought, I said, I tried, I wanted, I undertook, I built, I made, I bought, I owned, I amassed, I acquired, I became, I denied, I refused, my heart, I surveyed, I had toiled, I turned, I saw, I came, I thought, I said, I gain, I hated, I toiled, I must, my heart... I don't know that I've ever seen so much "I" and "my" in any of our readings. Today, 24 hours later, I'm still pondering this. Wondering how much of my "self focus" keeps me from following Him...and asking God to make this the prayer of my heart today...

Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight.

Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.

Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
preserve my life according to your word.

Psalm 119:35-37

LPM Scripture Memory Verse 12

intercession

There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as praying for him. --William Law

Bev will be having surgery on June 9th and then will begin chemo and radiation to fight her cancer. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits--who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases...Psalm 103:2-3

Yvonne and her husband are on sabbatical in England for the next month. (her youngest son is taking care of things at home while they are gone.) If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139:9-10

Annette's friend Wendy is a full time caregiver to her husband who has COPD. They have had to adapt to some difficult changes recently. O LORD my God, I called to You for help and You healed me. Psalm 30:2, Surely God is my help; the Lord is the One who sustains me. Psalm 54:4

After more than a year of waiting, Katie has not one but two schools interested in hiring her. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "I say this because I know what I am planning for you," says the Lord. "I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future."

It's my turn to wait on biopsy results. They apparently will tell the doctor what they need to do to treat this spot on my back. (I keep hearing Lady MacBeth's voice in my head.) Exodus 15:27 says, "For I am the Lord, who heals you."

Praying for you all today...