Day 194: Just Who Is Your God?
Read: Jeremiah 32:6 - 26, Deuteronomy 32:1 - 7
(17) ‘Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by
Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult
for You ...,' God sent the Prophet Jeremiah to go buy a house, a field and a vineyard. Square in the face of the Chaldean conquest that would devastate His nation, send His people into
a prolonged exile, God said unto Jeremiah (15) 'For thus says the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel, “Houses and fields and vineyards will again
be bought in this land.”’ So Jeremiah did as the Lord required of him
and he bought a field even though he knew he would in all likelihood he
would not live on it for long. I'm not sure I could've done the same thing as Jeremiah did!
It would have been way to hard a thing to do. My future is not promising! My families future is not promising! But to make a long term investment in real estate under such conditions as then existed for Jeremiah and the Nation of Israel? This is where I claim before God that my blind obedience now to this command was in no way
wise for my immediate future. I will need to invest my money so I have
something for myself and my family - that is the immediate need here! I
do not even know if it will be here for whoever comes back 70 plus years
from now - the deed of ownership, the bill of sale, what will become of them? Lord, You know well that I am not rich in money and you want me to do this thing?
Who is God, that He should tell me to do this disgustingly wasteful thing and expect of me and my family - such blind obedience to such a hurtful, obviously reckless order? Who is this God that I should willingly give my faith to, intentionally
choose to devote my whole life to, in praise, worship and prayer, in
such a way as this? Just who is this reckless God that I should be
so faithful to? I know that each of us have conceptions about God, but
have you ever really taken time to think about and meditate on who He is
and what He is like? I believe sometimes that we get a distorted idea
about God in our minds and, like a closed alligator's jaw, hold on to it and never let it get away, no
longer envision the real God.
Often our images of God influence
us more powerfully than do our ideas or formal convictions about God,
because images are deeply rooted in our powerful emotional experiences.
Our images of God affect both how we feel about God and how we live in
response to that relationship. Are we all privately envisioning a God
who is more about our 'obedience in the face of impossible expectations'
than a God who is really more about our 'faithfulness and compassion in the face of impossible expectations',
and now, today, even more so in placing the fullness and completeness
of our lives into the hands of a resurrected Lord whom we've never seen but we are expected to have faith in?
Just who is your God?
Let Us Pray: Ever Living God, I believe
in You and Your Son and The Holy Spirit, help my moments of unbelief
when faced with impossible choices, when I am confronted by impossible
expectations. Lord of all wisdom, knowledge and truth, help us so to
hear your holy Word that we may truly understand; that, understanding,
we may believe, and, believing, we may follow in all faithfulness and
obedience, seeking only your honor and glory in all that we do; through
Jesus Christ our Risen Lord. Amen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX2s1Ptar4Y
I Lift My Hands with Lyrics - Chris Tomlin
www.youtube.com
Read: Jeremiah 32:6 - 26, Deuteronomy 32:1 - 7
(17) ‘Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You ...,' God sent the Prophet Jeremiah to go buy a house, a field and a vineyard. Square in the face of the Chaldean conquest that would devastate His nation, send His people into a prolonged exile, God said unto Jeremiah (15) 'For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”’ So Jeremiah did as the Lord required of him and he bought a field even though he knew he would in all likelihood he would not live on it for long. I'm not sure I could've done the same thing as Jeremiah did!
It would have been way to hard a thing to do. My future is not promising! My families future is not promising! But to make a long term investment in real estate under such conditions as then existed for Jeremiah and the Nation of Israel? This is where I claim before God that my blind obedience now to this command was in no way wise for my immediate future. I will need to invest my money so I have something for myself and my family - that is the immediate need here! I do not even know if it will be here for whoever comes back 70 plus years from now - the deed of ownership, the bill of sale, what will become of them? Lord, You know well that I am not rich in money and you want me to do this thing?
Who is God, that He should tell me to do this disgustingly wasteful thing and expect of me and my family - such blind obedience to such a hurtful, obviously reckless order? Who is this God that I should willingly give my faith to, intentionally choose to devote my whole life to, in praise, worship and prayer, in such a way as this? Just who is this reckless God that I should be so faithful to? I know that each of us have conceptions about God, but have you ever really taken time to think about and meditate on who He is and what He is like? I believe sometimes that we get a distorted idea about God in our minds and, like a closed alligator's jaw, hold on to it and never let it get away, no longer envision the real God.
Often our images of God influence us more powerfully than do our ideas or formal convictions about God, because images are deeply rooted in our powerful emotional experiences. Our images of God affect both how we feel about God and how we live in response to that relationship. Are we all privately envisioning a God who is more about our 'obedience in the face of impossible expectations' than a God who is really more about our 'faithfulness and compassion in the face of impossible expectations',
and now, today, even more so in placing the fullness and completeness of our lives into the hands of a resurrected Lord whom we've never seen but we are expected to have faith in? Just who is your God?
Let Us Pray: Ever Living God, I believe in You and Your Son and The Holy Spirit, help my moments of unbelief when faced with impossible choices, when I am confronted by impossible expectations. Lord of all wisdom, knowledge and truth, help us so to hear your holy Word that we may truly understand; that, understanding, we may believe, and, believing, we may follow in all faithfulness and obedience, seeking only your honor and glory in all that we do; through Jesus Christ our Risen Lord. Amen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX2s1Ptar4Y
I Lift My Hands with Lyrics - Chris Tomlin
www.youtube.com
I Lift My Hands with Lyrics - Chris Tomlin
www.youtube.com
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