God is my Helper

God is my everything.

God is all-powerful.

God is all-knowing.

God is always loving.

God is ready to give me His words.

God provides for my everyday life.

God gave me a wonderful family.

God gave me an amazing guy.

God gave me beautiful friends.

God always watches out for me.

God is always ready to help me obey Him.

God protects me from harm.

God gives me the little things that I don't even need.

God knows what I do need, and He's never left me without it.

God always loves me.

God always forgives me.

God sent His son for me.

God does not lose His temper.

God is always there for me

God always hears me when I talk to Him.

God always pays attention when I talk to Him.

God does not just ignore me.

God is faithful to tell me what is right.

God always wants the best for me.

So why then...

do I be selfish?

Why do I be disobedient?

Why do I forget to be grateful?

Why do I snork around when things don't go my way?

Why do I be impatient?

Why do I sin?

Why do I not pay attention to God like He pays attention to me?

What I do not want to do, I do.

LORD, help me always to be alert to You. Thank You for loving me.

Interesting Bit...

When Hezekiah became king (the first good one in a good while) he reestablished the temple of the LORD and made offerings and set the people up to serve him yet again. He also invited all Israel and Judah to come to the temple to celebrate the passover, something which had probably not been done in a while. The king's couriers went all throughout the land with letters, telling all the people to come and please God by doing this. But you know what? The couriers were mostly just mocked by the people! The people had been distant from God for so long, that many of them weren't open to Him anymore. BUT some people humbled themselves and came to the temple for the feast.

All happy and good right? Not quite. If you remember, there were many rules and that went into the eating of the passover. The LORD was very particular about which hand they were to hold the staff in, what they were to wear, etc. Not to mention they had to go to Jerusalem for a ceremonial cleansing--otherwise they could not eat the passover. But in this case, the children of Israel were just creeping back to God, mostly unfamiliar with his commands. Listen to this!

Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone who sets his heart on seeking God--the LORD, the God of his fathers--even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary." And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

~ 2 Chronicles 30:18-20

I read that a couple of times to let that sink in. A zillion things ran through my head of what all that actually meant! The LORD just cleansed the people who were set on serving him! The first thing I think of is that our God is the same yesterday and today and forever--he is always devising schemes and sacrificing and forgiving and cleansing so that we may be close to him. I also thought of Peter's vision. Where the sheet full of unclean animals keeps dropping down and the LORD says, "Do not call unclean what the LORD has made clean".

I also thought it interesting that God did it on nothing other than Hezekiah's simple request for their pardon. I have been wondering if, even today, we can pray for God to forgive others of sins they don't know they have commited. After all, Jesus asked the LORD to forgive those who were crucifying him, because they did not know what they were doing. It doesn't say clearly whether God did, but I guess I'm just curious to know the length of God's forgivespan ;)

Any thoughts? What popped into your head when you read that passage?

Exile

Today I read in II Kings. I had been noticing that just about every king of Israel was evil, and I was waiting for another good one who didn't offer sacrifices to Baal and all that. But the little title over chapter 17 read, "Hoshea Last King of Israel". And guess what? He was bad too. So since the Israelites had rejected him for years and continued doing all these detestable things, God sent the Assyrians to attack Israel and they took Samaria captive. There is a long explanation if you will about why these things took place. Read 2 Kings 17:7-23. You can sense God's sorrow that his people didn't listen to him. You can tell he didn't want to remove them from his presence. Even after the exile, the Samaritans did the same things as before, so God sent lions among them. It was reported to the king of Assyria, "The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the God of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires." They had been away from God for so long they forgot all about his commandments! One of the priests of the LORD came to them and taught them how to serve God again, but it says, "Nevertheless, each national group made its own gods in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places... They worshiped the LORD, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to officiate for them as priests in the shrines at the high places. They worshiped the LORD, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought." They served two masters. They worshipped the LORD, and whatever else they wanted. God says later that this is a bad thing! And how often do we do it today? We serve God, but whatever else we want can also be our god.

But wait! Judah is still out there and they have a new, good king! Hezekiah removed the high places and smashed the idols and all that! Hooray!

But Assyria is coming to take them too. Sennacherib came and shouted threats and said that God told him to come and take Judah into captivity. But that made God angry, and he put many of Sennacherib's soldiers to death. Not an arrow was shot into Jerusalem. Because Judah came back to God, he saved them. God's not mean for punishing those who disobey him - he is quick to forgive and see the best in us!

Everybody should read 2 Kings 17-19 today. It is a great example of God's willingness to forgive us and see our hearts.

Offerings

Today I read in Leviticus about the rules for making offerings to the LORD. You had to cleanse yourself, and God was VERY particular about how he wanted it to be done. There were even directions about where to throw the guts of the sacrifice birds! Why all this hubbub? Dirt and sin could not be in the presence of God! He could not even look at it. There was a gap between us and him that sin had dug out. God did not like this. There had to be a bridge over that gap.

Well all know what God did - he sent his son as the ULTIMATE sacrifice for our sin, forgiving us for all we have and ever will do! Now instead of having to cleanse ourselves before we could come before God, we can come just as we are! We are forgiven!