"Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. But Abram said, 'Sovereign Lord, what can you give me..." Gen. 15:1 Oh my Abram! What in the world was he thinking? Ok, so say there you are sitting in your living room and God shows up and says to you, "Do not be afraid (your name)." What would you think? Well, I dont really share this very often because I fear people thinking I'm crazy or off track theologically, but I think it is valuable to share. So, when I was in high school, going into my junior year I went to a youth camp. We were singing the song All in All and I decided that I was really going to surrender to Jesus. I had given my life to Him when I was eleven, but the year before this camp, I was totally living for myself. I was sick of it and wanted Jesus to have His way in me and through me. So, as a symbol of my surrender, I put my hands in the air when I was singing. I had my eyes closed and saw a picture in my head. It was of a crowd as though they were waiting for a parade. I was toward the middle of this large crowd. After I saw this, I saw Jesus start walking by. I was in shock thinking, "there He is". He had walked by and was almost gone so I shouted out "Jesus, I love you." Then He stopped. He turned and looked right at me in the crowd and said, "Laura, I love you." He said my name! That was all I could think about, He said my name! He knew me, He cared about me. That was it for me, my life was radically different from then on. That night when I was laying down to go to sleep I told God that I was sure I couldn't stop the selfish way I was living on my own and asked Him to do it through me. I changed that day. But I find it so interesting that when God speaks to Abram and even tells Him "I am your sheild, your very great reward." Abram doesnt seem to be fazed. He actually says to the gracious God who showed up to speak to him, the Creator of the entire universe, "what can you give me"? What!? Can it be that God speaks to us and we are totally unfazed? Can we really be in the presence of God and leave unchanged? Yes! It is not only possible, but common. God's Word is His very Word, it is Him speaking to us. Lets ask Him to not let us have deaf ears and hard hearts. Oh Lord, please soften our hearts and open our eyes and ears. We don't want to de-value You. We dont want to take for granted that we get to hear from you. As we read Your Word, let your Spirit illuminate our minds and help us understand and hear what You want us to. And empower us to act on what You tell us. Let us be people who see You as our very great reward. That we wouldnt look to other things to be our reward, but You. Help us see you as You truly are, that we would see and understand that YOU are our reward.
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Our mission with Master Plan Ministries is to prepare others to reach and influence the world for Christ. Austin and I normally take students on a 6-10 week summer project/missions trip. These trips really help us walk out our mission of seeing students hearts grow for the world and being a part of what God is doing. Having 3 kids 3 and under (2 of which are extremely active, curious boys) is moving us to think about seperate missions trips. Austin taking a guys trip and me taking a girls trip.
It is obvious that God is at work in the hearts of the college girls on our campus giving them a desire to help girls in sex trafficking. Around the world in places like Thailand, India, Cambodia, Philippians and others, girls are sold by thier parents to get money for food or to pay debts. Or parents are tricked into giving up thier daughters being told she is going to have a great job in another country, offering all of them a better life. Then these young girls are taken to a brothel and are tortured many times a day until they agree to "serve" 10-50 clients a day. As I am researching organizations and possible partnerships, the videos and stories I come across are absolutely horrific. Reading these stories overwhelmes my emotions making me not want to think about it any longer, wishing I had never read them, wishing I could stay ignorant to what is going on around the world. But my mind keeps going there, thinking about these girls and asking God how He fits in and what He thinks and what to do about it. Through the immense sadness, anger and discouragement, God met me and opened my eyes again to where I am putting my hope. There are a million girls chained to beds of horror who desperately need rescuing. And of the few that are rescued if they are not taught some life skill to support themself, 99% will again be trapped into the trafficking industry (the fastest growing crime in the world). Where is the hope? What is the hope? We need to step in and care for these girls for God's glory. Caring about and acting toward what He cares about... rescuing the oppressed, setting the captives free. But as we do what we each uniquely can, we need to have our hope not in them having better circumstances but have our hope in Christ. Jesus is the healer, the hope-giver, the redeemer, the Savior. Jesus can meet them in their horrific circumstances and His Word can comfort them in thier affliction (ps 119:50). Recently I heard a story of a young Christian girl who was tricked and sold to a brothel. She was brutally tortured until she agree to "work" (though paid nothing). For 3 months she persevered through the torture but finally couldnt bear it any longer. For 2 years she "served clients" and on the wall in her room she etched Psalm 27:1-3 "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life-of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear, though war break out against me, even then I will be confident." The Lord used international justice mission to rescue this girl and as a result a team went in and raided the brothel, rescuing 20 other girls. Now this girl clings to Psalm 10:17-18 "You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them and you listen to their cry defendign the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror. "Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow." (Isa.1:17) Do for the defenseless what they can not do themselves. This goes for defending the unborn who have no voice and for rescuing the girls in chains. Perhaps right now you can pray and ask God what He would have you do. Not if, He already said He wants you to act. I find it interesting that this verse in Isaiah starts with "learn to do good...". We truly have to learn how to good dont we. It seems obvious the Lord is leading the girls trip to help these girls in some way. Please pray that God would clearly and specifically lead us in what and how. “Thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have…” 2 Cor. 8:16 God is so good at this!!!
Monday nights I lead a bible study for the lady student leaders for the college ministry. I have to say it is one of the highlights of my week. We are going through Judges and I LOVE it! Each week God clearly leads all of us to some very clear action to take for that week. It is so exciting to see how what God is showing each lady fits together with what He is showing everyone else. Just like Paul and Titus' desires. About 3 weeks ago the topic of selling our possessions to give to those in need came up. Since then, God has brought this topic to my mind almost every day. Around the first time it stood out in Judges, I had some expenses related to the bible study I wrote (Beholding Him, Becoming Missional). But money made from the bible study I have decided to give to organizations that rescue girls from the sex trade. I was tempted to put bible study money toward my expenses, after all, it was related. But I didn’t want to get in a habit of doing that… so I asked God how else I could pay for these expenses. He put Acts 2:45 in my mind “They sold property and possessions to give to anyone in need.” Immediately I thought of a ring I had that I never wore and would never wear that I could get a lot of money for. I would have enough to pay off the expenses and then could give the rest away. I took the ring to get appraised and put the ring on craigslist, I had a burden for some friends of mine who are adopting and still need $5,000. How perfect! I could give money to them! A friend of mine had recommended reading the book Radical by David Platt (thinking it would be right up my alley… which it totally is! I love it!!). Well, I finally got around to reading it. And got to the chapter talking about, what do you know, selling possessions to give to those in need. I could not believe it! Not only has God bring that verse to my mind every day, but also reaffirmed what He was leading me to do though David Platt. In my times with the Lord I am reading 2 Corinthians and got to chapter 8 and 9, which talks about generous giving. I was again amazed at God’s affirming me. By this point, which was a couple days ago, I had been burdened to raise money for some other friends of mine who are adopting 3 teenage girls from Lithuania. After praying about how and asking some people on facebook, I thought it might be neat to start a Sell to Give facebook event, asking people sell things they really don’t need in order to give money away. I could give them some ideas of where to give, one being my friends who are adopting (still needing $28,000) others being Voice of the Martyrs, Women at Risk etc. Then I go to church and what does my incredible pastor talk about?! Yup, 2 Cor. 8 & 9 and Acts 2:45 and even specifically talked about selling things on craigslist to give to those in need. WOW!!! I started crying, so touched at God’s encouragement, His ability to lead and confirm and speak. Seriously… what an incredible God to make things so clear! I keep thinking of Shindler’s list where at the end the “guy” (sorry I am so vague… my memory and movies don’t mix) is seeing other things he could have sold for peoples lives. I want to sell, and sell big for the sake of giving to those in need b/c it results in life, and it results in displaying the glory of God. What a privilege to get to display our Kings heart! I cant wait to see what God does. A friend of mine is doing this with me and it makes it all the more fun. Will you join us? What can you sell to give my friend? The first time I thought about luxury being something to display God’s glory/character was in Russia. It seems the entire city is built out of concrete and is not the least bit appealing. But the churches were a completely different story. They are built with such beauty because the builders wanted to show the city what God was like, that He was a beautiful God.
I have a tendency to think that luxury is a waste, almost looking down on people for being so selfish (assuming their motives). But really this exposes my small view of God and a man-centered gospel. It is like I think God needs the money of the rich, that unless the rich gave to the poor, God’s hands were tied and He could not take care of them. This exposes that my highest goal for the money is not the glory of God but the glory of man. Yes, giving to the poor displays God’s compassion. But the glory of God has not been my aim in thinking the rich should give to the poor. I see another example of God being delighted in luxury because it displays His character- in how He told Moses to build His tabernacle. Luxuriously, with all sorts of precious stones and beautiful items. And the same is true about the New Jerusalem He is going to bring when Jesus returns. Rev. 21:19-21 “The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.” The King of Tyre and the King of Sidon are more examples of this. Eze. 28:12-17 Speaking of the King of Tyre God says, “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you… Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on that day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you.” Then he is rebuked b/c he became proud because of his luxury and beauty. His heart was what was rebuked, not the fact that God had blessed him materially. The King of Tyre was the epitome of luxury and the King of Sidon (Eze. 28:20-26) was the epitome of poverty (after they were punished) with blood running in the streets and death everywhere. Yet both of them were for the purpose of displaying God’s glory and making evident the He is the Lord. “Bless us and be gracious to us SO THAT your ways may be known on the earth… SO THAT all the ends of the earth will fear Him.” Psalm 67 And may our hearts be more passionate about Your glory than the glory of men. Let all we do be to display Your heart and character. With our house under contract and closing in 20 days with no place to look forward to yet, it feels like all there is only sadness. Leaving friends and neighbors who care for us so well. Leaving the known, the beautiful and the safe all for the sake of seeing God be glorified in students lives. And if you know anything about college students, they are a beautiful challenge. They are at a place where they are becoming who they will be and making decisions that will affect them for the rest of thier lives. For many, college is the time when thier love for the Lord grows into passion and living for God's kingdom and glory becomes an obsesssion. But it is not all roses... it seems there is always some students who we to call to something greater than living for thier flesh and after investing many hours, even years into thier life, they can easily turn on you. This is what we are leaving beauty, saftey, being well cared for, convience, comfort and relationships for. For people who may turn on us at any given moment.
But then isnt that what Jesus did? He left heaven... its safety, beauty, comfort, ease, being well cared for-worshipped no less to live among people who would not only turn on Him but would slaughter Him. Apparently He thought it was worth it. "Truly I tell you, Jesus replied, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields-along with persecutions-and in the age to come eternal life." Mk 10:29 So, I am encouraged to "joyfully accept the confiscation of your property because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So dont throw away your confidence, it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere...for in just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay." Heb. 10:32-37 And "I know that our present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us." Rom. 8:18 "Therfore we do not lose heart...for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Cor. 4:16 Some people say that garages are the worst thing ever invented because they keep neighbors from connecting with each other. But I think that isolating ourselves comes from within, not from something external. If people dont want to connect with thier community/neighbors they will find something from keeping them from doing so.
My neighbor Carrie taught me how to be a neighbor. She is constantly serving her neighbors. For instance one snowy morning before 8am she had shoveled our driveway, our neighbors, the other neighbor across and the street, her own and all the sidewalks in between. She watches our boys once a week (as she also does stuff around our house that needs to be done), she cleans the older man's house next door and helps out with other neighbors too. God uses her in amazing ways to be a blessing to the people around her. Two days ago our house went under contract. Oh the mixed feelings. Some excitement because we are going to get to see God come through in providing a place for us (since there is nothing we are looking for right now), but sadness to leave our neighbors. With another baby on the way and two toddlers, what will I do without Carrie? But then I think of Martha who felt the same way when Jesus left and her brother Lazarus died. "If you had been here, my brother would not have died." Jn 11:21 And this brings me back to something I have been processing for awhile. God seems to move people in an out of peoples lives for His glory. (Except for the one relationship He wants to be an always remain relationship-marriage). Because Jesus was not in Mary and Martha's life at this time (when thier brother died), lots and lots of people came to put thier trust in Him and God's glory/character in His power over death was revealed. (read it in John 11 & 12) This is what God has brought to my mind during my college roomates weddings. One of which was a few weeks ago. Four of us (who seemed to be a picture of the four temperments) lived together for a couple years in Durango and were the best of friends. That was many years ago. They were all in my wedding, one of whom was my maid of honor. My maid of honors wedding was the one I went to a few weeks ago. And as I watched her walk down the isle to some guy I had never met and not knowing really what the last 10 years of her life had been like, sadness came over me. Years ago God moved us all to different cities and put different relationships in our lives. But I have His Word to cling to that b/c we left each other God will be glorified more and more people will put thier trust in Him. And not only that but that our seperation is not eternal, we all know and love Jesus and will get to hang out in heaven. And not only that but God will do things in our hearts that would never happen if we were still four peas in a pod. So there is hope in people moving in an out of our lives. A hope for now and a hope for the future. So the best thing for us and for our neighbors is to follow where God is leading us and let go letting Him bring a new family to this neighborhood so that "God's Son may be glorified through it." Jn 11:4 Ecclesiastes 12:11 says "The words of the wise are like goads." Dr. Groothuis is a very wise man who I respect a ton. So when he makes a comment about stepping out and taking risks (like the comment he made on my last post) I seriously take it before the Lord. And sure enough, his words proved to be a goad (a poker that moves cows). Thanks Dr. Groothuis! So refreshing in the face of passivity of not wanting to do too much or risk too much for the sake of comfort and saftey.
As I spent time in Eccl. 11 this morning, I also got to hear Warren Wiersbe share his commentary on the chapter. How cool that books like that are available to us! So, here is his input as well as the footnotes of my bible. 11:1 talks aobut being adventurous and taking risks and not always playing it safe. 11:2 "Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upond the land." Meaning to diversify your efforts. 11:4 "Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap." Meaning that when you are moving you are part of the action/adventure and if you are not in the action you are not going to reap the reward. 11:5 "As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you can not understand the world of God, the Maker of all things." As a side note, this got me thinking about mission, purpose and values. It is good to stay focused on the specific end goal that God has given and put all energy in that direction. I dont think these verses are contrary to that but is talking about using variation in reguards to the how of going about the mission and purpose. 11:6 "Sow your seed in the morning and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well." So, there is the words of Eccl., here is the applicable commentary of W. Wiersbe. "Is life worth living? That was the question the Preacher raised when he began the discourse that we call Ecclesiates. After experimenting and investigating 'life under the sun,' he concluded, 'No, life is not worth living.' He gave four aguments to support his conclusion: the monotony of life, the vanity of wisdom, the futility of wealth, and the certainty of death. Being a wise man, Solomon reviewed his arguments and this time brought god into the picture. What a difference it made. He realized that life was not monotonous but filled with challenging situations from God, each in its own time and each for its own purpose. He also learned that wealth could be enjoye and employed to the glory of God. Though man's wisdom couldnt explain everything, Solomon concluded that it was better to follow God's wisdom than to practice mans folly. As for the certainty of death, there is no way to escape it; and it ought to motivate us to enjoy life now and make the most of the opportunities God gives us." In presenting his practical application he presents four pictures of life. 1. Life is an adventure-live by faith 2. Life is a gift- enjoy it 3. Life is a school- learn your lessons 4. Life is a stewardship- fear God "As I grow older, I'm asking God to keep me from getting set in my ways in a life that is routine, boring and predictable... when I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior, I married adventure and that meant living by faith and expectting the unexpected. Solomon used two activities to illustrate his point: the merchant sending out his ships (vs 1-2) and the farmer sowing his seed (vs 3-6). In both activities, a great deal of faith is required, because neither the merchant nor the farmer can control the circumstances. The ships might hit a reef, meet a storm, or be attacked by pirates, and the cargo lost. Bad weather, blight, or insects might destroy the crop, and the farmers labor would be in vain. However, if the merchant and the farmer waited until the circumstances were ideal, they would never get anything done... Man is ignorant of the future, but he must not allow his ignorace to make him so fearful that he becomes either careless or paralyzed." So in the face of moving forward with selling our house/buying a ministry house by campus and adopting snowflakes (baby embryos), Austin going to Haiti for spring break... and another biggie I am not willing to share yet. Heck ya! Bring on the great adventure! This week was quite the adventure. Austin and I have been thinking about moving downtown closer to the campus we minister to students on. We found a place 1 block away but the neighborhood is not that great. We have been thinking/praying about moving there for a few moths. The lady said she would be willig to rent it to us for a year and then give us the option to buy if we decided we wanted to stay. So, we went by to look at it one more time. When we got there, she said someone had put an offer on it that morning.
The next day I found a crazy amazing house 4 min. from campus that was in our price range but twice as much house b/c it was a short sale. It had been on the market for a year with no one even looking at it. Then, this week it got 5 offers put on it. The next day, our embryo (fertilized egg) adoption lady returned our phone call. We had decided to move forward with adopting 1/2 white, 1/2 pakistani babies and wanted to tell her. When Austin told her, she told us she had placed them with another family that morning. Wow! At the same time Austin was on the phone with her, the other adoption agency (who did our home study) called me and said they messed up our background check and we had to start all over again. Which meant that we could not do the transfer in April like we were hoping to. (Meaning we will have to wait till October-unless God pulls off some crazy cool stunt). And that night I got an email saying the grant I requested to publish my bible study was not granted. That is a whole lot of No's in a matter of a few days. For little bit I just wanted to quit "walking" by faith and just wanted to sit back and let life happen to me. It is so much easier that way! But like God does, He totally encouraged me, reminding me that in reality, I really dont want that. I greatly desire to live adventurously for His glory, being part of the action. I can feel my perseverance muscles growing. :) So, this morning I was reading when God told Joshua "I have delivered Jericho into your hands" and I thought, Lord, seriously, it would be so much easier to move forward if You gave specific promises like that! Why dont You? Come on, "I have delivered Jericho into your hands." Why not "I will publish Beholding Him, Becoming Missional", or "I will give you a little girl through embryo adoption", or "I will give you a ministry house close to campus." I was thinking that we would be so much more confident in what God said and not in what we feel or what we want if He did it that way. Then I got thinking about David when he fought Goliath. God didnt give him a promise for that exact cinerio. But He had previously given him a promise that enabled him to step out and do hard things. God had given him the promise that he would be King. Therefore, he was willing to do hard things b/c of what God said. Perhaps thinking If I am going to be King, I sure have to be alive, so if I fight Goliath, God will come through for me. But how does this relate to believers now? God has promises us a ton of things. Ultimately He promised us heaven-which is stinkin awesome. But here, on this earth, now, He promises that He will use every single thing for our good, He promises to give us love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control as we let Him live through us. He promises to give us the grace we need, that we wont be crushed, wont despair, wont be abandoned by Him, and wont be destroyed and will bless abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, we will abound in every good work. (Rom. 8:28, Gal. 5:22-23, 2 Cor. 12:9, 4:7-10, 9:8) And why not test Him in this and see if He will not throw open the flood gates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. (Mal. 3:10) So, here I am, ready again to give my all, to press on toward what He desires. Willing to keep pushing through with moving downtown, adopting and writing. This moring I was sharing this (well, part of it) with some people. Someone responds by saying "if we dont move forward in faith, God cant open the door." And I am just not a great on the spot type of person (well, quite honestly, I really stink in situations like that... cause I know its not true and dont want to agree but dont want to make the person look dumb, so I just sit there, not knowing what to say.) Anyway, our faith does not control or manipulate God. If we have faith that doesnt mean God now has the power to act and vs. God is not controlled by or held back by us. He is the potter, He is the Maker, and we are not. But this comment got me thinking. Why does God want us to have faith? It is not so that He will be freed up to do His thing-since "No plan of His can be thwarted". And immediately God brought to mind Heb. 11:1 "Without faith it is impossible to please God." So, faith is a big deal to Him. Real big deal. Faith is exercising dependance on God. And how beautiful... faith glorifies Him b/c it is showing Him to be the I AM, the all/self-sufficient One. When we admit that we are not the I AM, and put our reliance on Him, our faith in Him, He is being displayed at the I AM, and that pleases Him since this life is about glorifying Him. So in 2 Samuel 14:22-33 Joab got King David to say yes to bringing Absolom (David's son) back from banishment (for killing his brother). David gives him his own house (I imagine it was pretty "royal" and awesome. And wont let Absalom see him. (I wonder why?)) Absalom is hot (well, scripture says "there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance") and seems like he has it all. He had a great house, beautiful kids, didnt have to do much of anything b/c his dad the King did it all for him... But all he could focus on was what he didnt have. (Dang, convicting!) (And interesting to note that not a lot of great things happen we dont have something to "do")
He acts on his desire (thats what we eventually do- when we keep thinking about it) and it grows. When he doesnt get what he wants he throws a tantrum and does whatever it takes to get it not caring who or what he hurts to get it. (He sets Joab's (the guy who was overly generous to get him his freedom) field of crops on fire and destroys it to get him to come talk to him.) Then when Joab comes to Absalom instead of apologizing for destroying his field he throws a verbal tantrum. He basically says 'I asked you to come see me and you and you didnt come! This life sucks and it would have been better if I was never here at all! You should have just left me in banishment. All I want is to see my Father and if I am guilty than he should kill me.' Ok seriously! How manipulative can you get! And this is what happens to us when we let our self-pity and uncontentment run away with us. It seems that his self-pity and focusing on what he didnt have turned into bitterness and a demanding attitude. He ends up demanding a full pardon (and doesnt even see that he is guilty of murder!) or death without one ounce of repentance. I just think "Uh, what a creep!" But then I have to remember when I focus on what I dont have rather than thanking God for what He has given me to steward, that creep could be me! UH! Whatever you feed grows. Oh Lord, I dont want my heart to turn this ugly. But I know apart from You, this is what I could become. Please help me to live a life of praise to You, help me focus on You and being a good steward with what You have given me. Help me not give in to setting my gaze on what I dont have. Give me Your strength. Well, I love the tv show Alias (which is no longer showing). One of the characters is Sloan. He is a "bad" guy but at times you wonder if there has been a real change in his life where he becomes a "good" guy. But nope.
Abner gives me that same feeling. A selfish, in it for himself type of person. But in 2 Samuel 3 it seems like he is a completely different person. Is it real or is it just a scheme to promote himself somehow? 3:19-21 Abner travelled around to convince and persuade the people to make David King. Then comes back to David and says "Let me go at once and assembel all Israel for my lord the king, so that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may rule over all that your heart desires." This is crazy! This is Abner... the commander of SAUL's army... that lead people to fight David's army. the very person who made Ish-Bosheth (Sauls son) king instead of David and fought a civil war against David. The very person who was trying to make himself great in Sauls palace, strengthening his own position with Ish-Bosheth. The man that at one time David served under. The same man who spent a lot of his life directed by Saul to seek David out to kill him. I love love love seeing God change lives... attitudes. But from what I read in commentaries, it is not the case here. So sad. NASB notes on Abner say "To him (Abner), God was someone with whom he would cooperate if it suited his plans. Otherwise he did what seemed best for him at the time. We can identify with Abner's tendency to give God condition cooperation. Obedience is easy when the instructions in God's Word fit in with our plans. But our allegiance to God is tested when his plans are contrary to ours." That's challenging. I want to be like David... having a extremely high view of God causing me to honor Him in everything he did. And I definately dont want the attitude of Abner. And the crazy thing is that aparrt from Christ we can do nothing, not even change our attitude. Oh Lord, make me and those I serve people who see You as You truly are. People who have a high view of You. Oh God open our eyes to what You truly deserve and what we truly deserve. Make us humble and willing to lay our lives down as a living sacrifice that You may be honored and glorified however You please. Change us into people who cooperate with You, even when it seems Your plans are not what we want. Help us to surrender. To honor You and honor our leaders the way David did. |
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