Oh my.
I know I’ve posted to several blogs lately, but Mamas, you’ve gotta read this.
Maybe you saw it on Facebook? I don’t know. The letter she wrote to her son at the end is Per-Fect.
Just grab some tissues.
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Look at the corner of your robe in my hand, for I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you. Look and recognize that there is no evil or rebellion in me. I haven’t sinned against you even though you are hunting me down to take my life.
– 1 Samuel 24:11
“How easily does a vengeful spirit creep in on you?
Why do you think God calls us to such a high standard of peacekeeping with one another, even at times when we seem to have grounds not to?
We have already considered God’s unwavering devotion to prepare His children for His service. Now we will see some of the fruit of God’s preparation in David. In those caves, God chiseled character into the heart of His king…
In spite of all that Saul had done, David continued to have a tenacious belief that he must respect God’s anointed king…
David’s change of heart offers evidence that he was greatly influenced by the Holy Spirit…
You an I may want to minimize David’s sin against Saul [by cutting off a corner of his robe] because Saul’s offense against David seems so much worse. We tend to view sin in relative terms. David’s standard for measuring sin was not the wickedness of Saul, but the holiness of God…
The Holy Spirit works restraint in us when we are tempted toward revenge; if we are fully yielded to the Spirit, we will obey…
David withdrew from taking the life of Saul out of respect for God, not Saul…
If you are willing to honor a person out of respect for God, you can be assured that God will honor you. Several times I’ve been required to honor a person out of honor to God. A very strange thing has happened almost every time I’ve been obedient to God in this area: He has restored my respect for the person I had come to resent.
God is always faithful. The results of your obedience may differ, but the blessing of your obedience is guaranteed…
Father, I pray that You would enable me to trust so confidently in Your sovereignty and love that I would not only live at peace with everyone – as far as possible – but would seek to bless my enemies in return. For I know that vengeance belongs to You, Lord, not to me. You will repay what has been done to Your children (Rom. 12:18-20).”
Stewardship
I’ve been so encouraged lately watching God’s people share resources, love on those who need loved, and join Him in His mission.
I’ve been thinking about two books that make this so compelling to me, both by Randy Alcorn:
Heaven and Money Possession & Eternity.
My guess is anyone who has gone through a Biblical financial course has heard many of the concepts in the latter book. But the uniqueness of it, in my opinion, is how deep he delves in the Stewardship theme. So deep that he focuses much time on eternity and our rewards there.
Here are some of the things he has to say, based on Scripture:
“In reading Matthew 6, many see something negative and miss the positive. They think Jesus is categorically against the storing up of treasures. In fact, Jesus didn’t tell us not to store up treasures. On the contrary, he commanded us to…
What we keep we will lose. What we give and share and do in Christ’s name will ultimately come back to us in heaven, in a far better and permanent form…
A person may give up all earthly treasures without ever investing in heavenly treasures. Jesus is not looking for ascetics or hermits, but eternity-wise investors…
You can’t take it with you, but…you can send it on ahead.
What a stunning qualification. Who would have dared to think such a thing possible – that we creatures of dust could make choices today that would result in possessing eternal treasures in heaven?
Paul spoke about the Philippians’ financial giving and explained, ‘Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account’ (Phil 4:17). God keeps an account open for us in heaven, and every gift given for his glory is a deposit in that account…
Is Jesus speaking metaphorically when he refers to ‘treasures’? Although Christ’s words can be applied in principle to investing in God’s kingdom the treasures of our time and talents, the primary meaning relates to our money and possessions…
Luke 12:33:
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses [money belts] for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys…
Not only will there be rewards in heaven for the cup of water given on earth, but those rewards will never disappear. The act of kindness will be remembered forever and its reward will always last. Hence, eternal rewards are not only ‘rewards we will receive in eternity,’ but rewards that are themselves eternal, imperishable, inexhaustible (1 Peter 1:4)…
Imagine you’re alive at the end of the Civil War. You’re living in the South, but you’re a Northerner. You plan to move home as soon as the war’s over. While in the South you’ve accumulated lots of Confederate currency. Now, suppose you know for a fact the North’s going to win the war, and the end is imminent. What will you do with your Confederate money?
If you’re smart, there’s only one answer. You should immediately cash in your Confederate currency for U.S. currency – the only money that will have value once the war’s over. Keep only enough Confederate currency to meet your short-term needs.
As believers, to accumulate vast earthly treasures in the face of the inevitable future is equivalent to stockpiling Confederate money. It’s not just wrong. It’s stupid.
Kingdom currency, backed by the eternal treasury, is the only medium of exchange recognized by the Son of God, whose government will last forever. The currency of his Kingdom is our present faithful service and sacrificial use of our resources for him. The payoff in eternity will be what Paul called a ‘firm foundation,’ consisting of treasures beyond our wildest dreams.”
Exciting, huh?
More next time!
Saul searched for him every day, but God did not hand David over to him
– 1 Samuel 23:14
“We have the blessing of studying several psalms that coincide with David’s experiences. God inspired David to write Psalm 54 after the Ziphites told Saul his whereabouts. David began the psalm with the words, ‘Save me, O God, by your name.’
Before David had finished, he called on God with a multitude of names. David seemed to have as many names for God as he had needs! Why? Because God was everything to him!
Psalm 54 concludes with David’s vowing to sacrifice a freewill offering to the Lord. According to Deuteronomy 16:10, the freewill offering was to be ‘in proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given you.’
Do you remember that well-known hymn ‘Count Your Many Blessings’? Counting our blessings when we are betrayed, wrongly accused, and hunted by ruthless men is a different kind of worship than counting our blessings in the safety of Sunday worship. David responded to his helpless estate by giving a freewill offering to God in proportion to His blessings.
He left us a wonderful example.
Lord God, I know that You have told us not only to be thankful in all things (1 Thess 5:18) but to be thankful for all things (Eph 5:20). Swell my heart with gratitude, Lord, not only for Your blessings that bring a smile to my face but even those works of Your Spirit that occur in the hardest times of my life.”
“When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,” 2 he inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?”
The Lord answered him, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”
3 But David’s men said to him, “Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!”
4 Once again David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.”
5 So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah. 6 (Now Abiathar son of Ahimelek had brought the ephod down with him when he fled to David at Keilah.)”
1 Samuel 23:1-6
“First Samuel 23 shows God’s faithfulness shining brightly against the bleak backdrop of David’s life. David continued to evade the crazed King Saul, but he did more than hide. He took every possible opportunity to defend his people, even when he was repaid with betrayal.
David faced a dilemma. The Philistines were attacking the Israelite town of Keilah. What was David to do? Should he defend fellow Israelites and thereby put himself and his men at greater risk? In that difficult situation David did something characteristic of a man after God’s own heart. He inquired of the Lord.
‘The LORD answered him, ‘Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.’ (v.2). Not surprisingly, David’s men greeted the news with less than enthusiasm. They said, ‘Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!’ (v. 3).
David responded to them in an interesting way. He returned to ask God once again. Once again God told him to go attack the Philistines and save Keilah. So David and his men fought the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah.
Have you ever moved too quickly in a direction you believed God was sending you and later realized you were hasty and might have misunderstood? David’s example reminds us that doubting God and doubting we understood God are two different things.
I find it interesting that rather than shame his men for questioning the word he had received from God, David went back to God and reconfirmed His direction. God rebuked neither David nor his men. God knew David felt great responsibility to them. If he misunderstood God, many lives could be lost.
David did not ask God a second time because he doubted God, but because he needed to be certain. In the same way, you or I might ask God to reconfirm His direction – not because we doubt God’s Word, but because we question our understanding. To doubt God in the face of clear direction is disobedience, but to double-check our understanding and interpretation of God’s will is prudent.
Jesus, You have told us that if any of us wants to do You will, we will understand what comes from You and what is mere human understanding (John 7:17), that if we keep asking, keep searching, and keep knocking, what we need will be given to us by Your gracious hand. Teach me to trust You so totally that I can come before You boldly with my questions and struggles.”
Caden started Kindergarten today.
This is a good thing because after 2 years of preschool, he pretty much has a PhD in the alphabet.
But the house is feeling empty this morning.
So.
We will do some errands and beg some friends to hang out with us.
I knew I was kidding myself that sending him off wouldn’t affect me.
I will miss him.
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| Little one packed a lunch for himself, too!
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| With Mama
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| This is his teacher’s first year too! I hope they all learn well together.
Hopefully I will be a little more regular on here. I will have nap time to get some things accomplished. I want to continue on with some lessons God has been teaching me.
But I’m also excited about all the other hats He asked me to wear.
Like spending the majority of my emotional energy on my family this summer, per my husband’s request.
Like getting to know what my almost-3-year-old is like alone.
Like leading an outreach with integrity (the Administrative hat doesn’t fit my head and my Executive pants feel a little like someone else’s…but that doesn’t mean I’m not supposed to put them on and work hard.)
Speaking of the outreach, you could pray for it if you want. I’ve had two big churches in town contact me in the last week or so interested in what we’re doing. There seems to be a sub-committee from every group interested in combating human trafficking and I’m not certain of everyone’s angle or philosophy. All I know is there is a right way and a wrong way to do an outreach, and I don’t want to see His people do more harm than good in the clubs. These women don’t need pity or money thrown at them. They don’t need people coming in trying to convert them and they definitely don’t need people trying to pull them out of the business.
They need safe love with no strings attached. They need to have sincere offers of friendship without pushing or rescuing. They need to see God’s people living differently, but attractively. They need to know there is Someone worth living for and a Healer worth their hearts.
Our vision is for the four of us as a community to go deep in one or two places of business – and ask God to raise up communities to engage one or two places of business each, becoming an expert on that club or massage parlor or escort service. But we’d love the training and vision of every outreach community to be unified. Not so we can lord it over anyone, but so His Body can work together sharing resources and courage and success.
This is not something you can force on others.
So there’s that.
Also. I fell off the menu planning wagon somewhere around mid-summer. We ate at home and hosted people and all that, but I wasn’t as diligent in making things stretch. So I need to renew my passion for that again.
The school year routine will be good for everyone.
I like school. I always have.
Jesus, please help our oldest like it, too. Refine the character we’ve spent the first 6 years on through classmates and rules and taking turns. Use the inevitable conflict to deepen his trust in You. Begin teaching him now how to love the world without looking exactly like it. And help him be a blessing to his teacher and classmates.
Thank You that You “hold the weight of the world, still we don’t slip through Your hands.”
You are Awe-some.
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Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.
~ 1 Peter 4:8 NLT
Surely children weren’t made for the streets
And fathers were not made to leave
Surely this isn’t how it should be
Let Your kingdom come
Surely nations were not made for war
Or the broken meant to be ignored
Surely this just can’t be what You saw
Let Your Kingdom come here in my heart
And I will live to carry Your compassion
To love a world that’s broken
To be Your hands and feet
And I will give with the life that I’ve been given
And go beyond religion to see the world be changed
By the power of Your Name
The power of Your Name
Surely life wasn’t made to regret
And the lost were not made to forget
Surely faith without action is dead
Let Your Kingdom come, Lord, break this heart
Jesus, Your name is a shelter for the hurting
Your Name is a refuge for the weak
Only Your Name can redeem the undeserving
Jesus, Your Name holds everything I need
And I will live to carry Your compassion
To love a world that’s broken
To be Your hands and feet
And I will give with the life that I’ve been given
And go beyond religion to see the world be changed
By the power of Your name
By the power of Your name
The power of Your name
Lincoln Brewster, “Power of Your Name”
A Facebook friend posted this today.
Love it.
This is the kind of vision I want to adopt as we enter full-time public school.
Only possible in You, Lord.
People often ask us if we’re done having kids.
The honest answer is we don’t know.
Caden regularly asks for a sister.
We’ve talked a lot about domestic adoption.
We don’t know.
But when I feel maxed out, I think I’ll refer to this post over and over again.
Enjoy!