My Only Hope

This morning I was reading in the book of Job, and I came across the following verses. "God might kill me, but I have no other hope. I am going to argue my case with him. But this is what will save me--I am not godless. If I were, I could not stand before him" (13:15-16).

Those two verses struck me. The statement, "God might kill me, but I have no other hope" is incredible. We must come to that place in our life where we so desperately long after God that we will seek His face even if it costs us our very life because without Him we are nothing. What a prayer!

It's similar to the story of Jacob wrestling with God. All night he wrestled with an unknown man. All night Jacob tried to get away. Then dawn was about to break and finally the unknown man touched Jacob's hip and it was wrenched out of socket. In that moment Jacob knew he had been wrestling with God. In that moment Jacob knew he was outmatched. In tht moment Jacob knew that if the sun rose and he saw the face of God that he would surely die. But, in that moment Jacob knew he had finally found what he needed and he wasn't going to let go until he had been blessed by God.

 Both Job and Jacob knew something that we so often seem to struggle with, life without God is not worth living. That is why they were willing to die in their pursuit of God, because without God their lives were not worth living. May we cling to God with reckless abandon and be willing to loose it all so that we might receive Him.

Faithfulness of God

Lately I've been reading in the Old Testament. I have to admit that there are parts in the Old Testament that I have struggled with. There are parts that still don't make a lot of sense to me. But I've also come to learn that as I read scripture I can't always rely on my first thoughts. Instead, I need to really take a closer look and consider what I'm reading in light of the rest of Scripture in order to see the bigger picture of what God is saying and doing.

This week I've been reading in 1 Chronicles. To be honest, it doesn't start out very exciting - it's genealogy after genealogy after genealogy. As I made my way through these genealogies yesterday I thought, do we really need to know these names? How does a list of names change my life today (after all we believe that God's word is timeless and transforms our lives)? Then all of a sudden in occurred to me. Maybe it's important to see a list of unknown people. Usually when I think of the Old Testament I think of the big names -- Abraham, Joseph, David, Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, etc. Obviously God used those people in remarkable ways, but perhaps we have the genealogies to remind us that God used many other people too, the forgotten ones whose names we don't even know how to pronounce. And, if God can use those forgotten ones to accomplish His extraordinary plans, then perhaps God can use me as well.

One more thought. Today in 1 Chronicles I came across the story of King David. David's life is talked about in a little more detail in 1 & 2 Samuel, but we see some of the story here again as well. David is a man that Scripture calls, "after God's own heart." We also know that David is the greatest king to ever sit on the throne of Israel. Yet, for so much of David's life, he was running for his life, or dealing with opposition, or living on the margins. And yet, from our vantage point we say that David was faithful to God and God was faithful to David. It struck me, that God is faithful even when the circumstances of life are less than ideal. However, how many times do we speak of God's faithfulness in our lives when things are going well, and we pray for God's faithfulness when things aren't going so well. God is faithful. Life's circumstances might change, but I am so thankful that God does not.

Waiting Upon the Lord

This morning I was reading from 1 Samuel. In the latter part of this book we read how David is fleeing from Saul. David has been anointed as the new king of Israel because Saul has turned his back against God. In contrast to Saul, David is a man after God's own heart. So God continually blesses everything that David does. This makes Saul jealous to the point that he wants David dead.

So David flees from Saul, but God continues to bless David and provide for him. On several occasions David could have easily killed Saul but he does not. Instead David says, "The Lord forbid that I should do this to my lord the king and attack the Lord's anointed one, for the Lord Himself has chosen him" (1 Samuel 24:6).

David could have easily said, "I have been faithful to the Lord and the Lord has protected me. Surely the Lord is the one who delivered my enemy into my hands, therefore I will kill him." But instead David is patient to wait upon the Lord and he is not eager to take matters into his own hands.

I find this fascinating and challenging. I wonder how often I see what God is doing and take matters into my own hands, instead of being patient and waiting upon the Lord for His timing. Clearly God calls us to action, but how often do we act too soon? May we learn to be patient and wait upon the Lord for His timing and His way, in our lives and in our churches.

Love of God

As I've been reading through the Old Testament the last couple of months I've noticed some things. One of the things that I've noticed is how desperately God longs for His people to be Holy. I reflected on this the other week, but it continues to strike me as I read.

Yesterday I was reading the second half of Joshua and came across the following verse, "He was not the only one who died because of his sin" (22:20b). As we read Scripture I think it's pretty clear that sin is not just personal. Sin always affects others, even when it might not seem so obvious to us. That is why God takes sin so seriously. Our sins do not only affect us! So, in the Old Testament we see this structure where laws are given in order to protect people from sin and to keep them holy so that they can truly live as God intends.

However, the laws didn't help to keep people free from sin. Instead, they had the opposite effect, and people became enslaved to sin. Then, in the book of Jeremiah we see that God is going to make a new covenant. No longer is the covenant going to be written on stone (the law), it is now going to be written on the heart.

God still longs for His people to know Him and follow Him. God longs for us to be free from the power of sin and to live life as it was intended to live. God desperately wants us to be holy, and will go to great lengths to make that possible. He even sent His one and only Son. Praise the Lord!

Choices

We make a lot of choices in life - what to eat, what to wear, what radio station to listen to ... Most of the choices we make are trivial and not of that much importance. That's not to say that we don't make more significant choices - whom to date, whom to marry, where to go to college, where to live, what job to take.

Life is full of choices, but the greatest choice we could ever make is whom we will serve. In Deuteronomy 28:47-48, God tells his people that if they do not serve God they will serve their enemies. Just a couple of chapters later God says, "Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses... Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live! Choose to love the Lord your God and obey him and commit yourself to him, for he is your life" (Deut. 30:19-20).

As I read those verses this morning I was overwhelmed with the incredible love of God. God wants to bless us, and God desires to work in our lives because of His incredible love. However, God does not force himself upon us and He allows us to choose what we will do with our lives even if it leads to death.

I am thankful that we have a God who loves us so dearly. I choose life.