"It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him."
~ Deuteronomy 13:4
This about sums it up. This verse is our life--it covers everything. It sounds so easy doesn't it? This verse is what I want to do for the rest of my days on earth. Even if I never become a famous writer, or the best wife and mama in the world, or the smartest English teacher ever, I will die happy if I will have followed this verse. If I have done what God wants, then nothing else matters. At all.
Remember when Joshua and the Israelites were FINALLY getting to go into the promised land? They'd crossed through the Jordan river on dry land, eaten some of the fruit of the land, and are getting pretty excited. But the bad guys that they were scared of in the first place are still out there. They need to be defeated. So on this particular day, Joshua was standing near Jericho. It was the first place to go. I'm sure he was kinda counting fighting men in his mind, thinking up tentative schemes on how to get over those walls and defeat those people. But then he looks up and sees a man with a drawn sword in front of him. Had to be a wee bit disturbing. He asked the man, "Are you for us or for our enemies?"
Listen to what the answer was! "Neither, but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come."
Now we all know that the man proceeded to give directions about how to march around Jericho and the walls would fall down, etc. But what really grabbed me this time was that the man said, "Neither". He said he wasn't on the side of Joshua, or of Jericho! It seems he would say, "your side", especially when he was there just to give specific directions on how to defeat Jericho. Anybody agree?
And now here is my thinking. My simple guess is that Joshua NEVER thought, "Hey, hows about we march around these walls blowing trumpets for seven days these certain number of times, and the walls will fall down and we win!" My guess is that he was shopping around for grappling hooks or big ladders or bombs or whatever would come in handy. He was making his own plan. But whatever he was thinking, it is safe to assume that his plan was NOT what God's plan was. So God was basically saying, "I'm not for your plan, or their plan--check out MY plan for YOU!"
These are just my thoughts of the last 20 hours or so. Don't know if I communicated them to make any sense or not.
But God's plan always prevails. Bring it LORD! Not my plan, but yours be done!
I was listening to John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life, and heard an interesting bit.
We are told to magnify the LORD. It is the purpose of our life. But there are two kinds of magnification.
The first is the magnification of a microscope. A microscope brings tiny little cells to the screen, magnifying them and making them look huge. This is NOT what we do with God. We do not make a small and obscure God look bigger through our lives.
Rather, the second form of magnification is correct. This form is that of a telescope. The telescope looks at things like stars and planets, which are HUGE. It brings what is large and glorious into visibility. The planet was already magnificent, but the telescope brings it into view and shows it clearly to the world.
Anybody notice that the Christmas songs are creeping out? We sang this one at church Sunday (and sang it very well I might add). There's always one point in the year where the impact of Christmas hits me--Sunday, listening to this song was it. Hail the incarnate Diety, born that man no more may die!
Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled
"Joyful, all ye nations rise"
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
Listen to this video and sing the words--see if you can tell what I mean.
I don't know how or why. Don't FEEL any different. But all of a sudden, all my friends are in college, and going away, and working, and getting married, and having babies and all...and I'M NEXT!!!! College choices, future life choices, all these things loom just outside the door.
Sound a little scary?
What I can see myself doing in the future is getting my degree and going on to teaching maybe middle-school English. But even starting and finishing school is all up to God. Not to mention I'd really like to be married and have my own children to teach at some point. And with that one there's REALLY nothing I can do, or would want to do, to influence that! But what I mostly hope is that one day he'll send the perfect hero my way...one that he has saved and built just to be for me. Some people call that silly or highly unlikely. And to be honest, it often feels that way to me too! Why would God have made someone just for me and me for them? And how will I know who it is? How will he know who I am? The more you think of the improbabilities, the more hopeless it sounds.
But my God is the same God that did the amazing things in the Bible.
Gideon was just some random kid who God chose to save Israel.
God told Samuel the exact man in all of the land to be king--more than once.
He had a special eye on a no-status girl named Mary, and made her the mother of his son.
God hand picked Noah's family and rescued them when he destroyed all the earth in a flood.
And, in addition to all this proof, I know God has a special eye on my life. He even pays attention to the little things--one time I was feeling down for no reason and was randomly blabbering to God, and mentioned that some flowers would be nice. I moved on to the next subject without thinking anything of it, but later I was sitting outside and my lil bro runs up to me with a big grin. He holds up a little pink, wilty, weedy bloom, complete with roots and dirt clumps hanging at the bottom. "This is for you Meg!" he yells, plops it on my knee, and runs away. I was confused for a minute, until I realized what this little thing WAS--a gift from God. I laughed and thanked him, and sat with my little weed, feeling much better :) If God can do THAT, of COURSE he can do the big things!
