The Work of our Hands

"The people of Israel have done nothing but provoke me with what their hands have made, declares the LORD."

In this verse in Jeremiah, we assume that God is talking about the idols the Israelites have made. But what if it is more? The Israelites surely made lots of things not idol-wise that served to provoke the LORD.

Our pastor recently finished a series on glorifying God. He pointed out that EVERY SINGLE THING we EVER do must be done to glorify God. Obviously, the Israelites weren't even thinking of God with anything they did.

How often do we do the same thing? How often do we do things for the approval of people or just for ourselves? I know with a lot of those normal day-to-day things I don't think about what God would think about this thing I was doing. But I don't want to provoke him with what I do - I want to glorify him!

I don't guess that made a lot of sense to anybody except me:Z

The Lord SPEAKS!?!?!!!!

I have decided that the last thing I would ever want to happen to me is this that happened to Job. He was moaning about how he was clean and God was punishing him for no reason. THEN the LORD SPOKE BACK!!!!!!! That's the last thing I would ever want - to be whining pointlessly and saying some things I probably shouldn't say, then hear God speak through a storm to call me out!

But God basically awed Job with his power, and made some statements like these:

"Who is this that darkens my counsel

with words without knowledge?"

"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?

Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!

Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,

or who laid its cornerstone-
while the morning stars sang together

and all the angels shouted for joy?"

"Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea

or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been shown to you?

Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?

Tell me, if you know all this."

"Can you raise your voice to the clouds

and cover yourself with a flood of water?
Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?

Who endowed the heart with wisdom

or gave understanding to the mind?"

Those are just a few! But you should really read the whole Job 38-39. It is a great reminder of what God can do from his own mouth! And he covers everything - we have an all-powerful God!!!

Poeticness

"Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him."

I know, I've posted about this one lots of times. But reading at Christmas time is perfect (and besides, it's my favorite:P). God does not take away life! He devised a perfect way that we, banished by sin, may not remain estranged from him - sending his son down to take our punishment.

And here is a stolen post from Stone of Help that echoed my thoughts perfectly and was so perfect for the moment...

"God, I am in Love with you. I desire nothing but you. I want to die so I can see you right now face to face. You have my all. Where else can I go? You not only have the words of life, you are the lover of my soul. There is no way I can be taken out of your hand. Hardship may come. Doubt and pain likely lie before me. But come what may, I choose to say blessed be your name. I am yours.

You are faithful... when I am faithless. You are strong... when I am weak. You are impassioned... when I am apathetic. You just ARE. period. And I can't get enough of knowing you.

I pursued you and found you where you were to be seen. But there were places I did not look. Places I thought were out of bounds to you. (Imagine that) That is why I was in awe to find you within me, shaping down to the depths, guiding up from the abyss, and emerging victorious! I was shocked to see you in my own reflection. But I am not shocked anymore. I believe what you have told me. I know who I am. I am yours. I see that it is true! Lord, point me where I am to go.

You patch the broken vessels. You breath life into the dust. You restore that which was fallen. I am living proof.

Don't just be in me, Lord Jesus. Live in me."

Which do we choose?

God has been stressing about choosing him over the past little while. It's the, "well, I know I didn't finish my Bible time yet, but I'll just look at my library books for just a minute first..." kinda stuff.

Today I read about Jesus being handed over to Pilate (that time when Judas chose money over his master). Pilate didn't want to kill Jesus, because he hadn't done anything wrong. So he went to the crowd and asked them who he should release - Jesus, or some dangerous murderer guy named Barabbas. They shouted "Barabbas!!!!!!!"

"Wha...?" said Pilate. He was shocked! The murderer? These people CHOSE the bad guy who had, and would probably hurt them again instead of Jesus, the one who'd been healing their sick and feeding them all out of a lunchbox.

We look at that in the Bible and roll our eyes. "How ridiculous!" But we do that every single day!!!!!!! It needs to stop.

That's what I'm going to be working on. Care to join me anyone?

Evil or Affliction?

"Beware of turning to evil,

which you seem to prefer to affliction."

~ Job 36:21

This verse jumped out of the page at me and said, "HEY! Check it out!" Elihu is saying this sassy bit to Job, but I didn't really think about Job when I read it.

Once our church/homeschool group/friends whatever did a play called THE CATACOMBS. It was about the Christians having to hide out and I don't remember the history right now. The whole time they were hiding they had all kinds of problems - sickness, lack of food, etc. But in the end, the bad guys found them and they were shot one by one for not denying their faith. This is not an uncommon thing in many countries, but in America today were are allowed to worship God if we wish without fear of getting shot about it.

But what if that were to change? Would we turn to evil, preferring it to affliction? Or would we stand for God no matter what happened to us?

To the promised land or bust!

The Israelites are thinking bust. There was no water to drink (in the desert:Z) and they started whining again. They went to Moses and said, "Give us water to drink! Is the LORD among us or not?" Strange question, seeing as he just parted the ocean for them. Moses said, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put God to the test?" But they whined all the more. Moses sighed and went to talk to God. "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me!"

The LORD answered, "Take in your hand the rock with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." Moses did so, and the people drank it.

I was kinda wondering why God waited until they grumbled to give them water, but then I thought... he didn't! It sounds more like he waited until they were uncomfortable to see if they would trust him - and they didn't. God still does that - puts us in uncomfortable positions to see if we fall apart, or if we trust him to see us through.