by David Brenneman
The unexpected can be the expected if indeed the life we live honors God. Ever think of this?
In all the 80 years of the wanderings of the children of Israel...the generation that did enter the Promised Land was reminded of how. How their feet didn't swell from the walking. How their clothes didn't wear out. Of how God had provided for them food and drink.
In your life...these things aren't impossible...just possibly missed.
We often pray and seek but also often don't remember what we have prayed for. Answers came and went and the acknowledging of them to God is often missed.
I know it's been that way for me at times. Being sensitive to the Spirit is something to learn. Our world wants sensitivity to it instead.
Our world wants you to comply and compromise. When we do something has to suffer loss...that something is a someone. Our relationship with Jesus will suffer from our compromising with the world.
When we do...there are consequences. Many times the unexpected happens and we're not connecting the dots as to why.
We think we have dreams or aspirations and in pursuit of these we forget to ask God if those are for us. We forget...we get involved...we suffer loss or gain a lot. In the mix our relationship with Jesus suffers.
I indeed have aspirations...not sure if they are dreams or not. But I am very hesitant to pursue them because to me they might not be what helps me in my walk with Jesus. I don't want to add things to my life that would cause me to suffer loss.
The eventual adding of idolatry to the children of Israel after they entered the Promised Land caused many distresses to their lives. They were described as stubborn, stiff necked people. Unfaithful. Some went as far as to murder those sent by the Lord Jesus to turn them back.
People haven't changed. The degree of efficiency of the schemes of the Devil have, but people are still given to pursuing idols. An idol is anything, anyone, who has been put above Jesus in a person's life.
When we do this, we begin to suffer loss. The curses of God are just as real as the blessings of God. Moses wrote of these and made it abundantly clear to the children of Israel the results or consequences of both.
They would experience a harvest time unlike any other nation or people by their obedience. The blessings of obedience would be totally unexpected and abundant. They would experience a lack of a good harvest unlike any other nation or people by their disobedience. They would be scrounging for enough to get by.
Our obedience to the Lord should be from a willing heart. We should be ready to obey God when He prompts us to a need or job to do.
Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him...as Dr. Stanley used to say.
Our obedience will indeed bear much more fruit than we can expect. These come with temptation as well. The temptation to waste the blessings or pass them on instead.
When you go out into your day today...be grateful.
Our world wants people to not think but just do what feels good.
We get bombarded daily and often miss that still small voice of God.
Look for the hand of God in your life today. It's always there. At no time are we abandoned by Jesus. He does have a purpose and plan for your life. To see it requires our attention to his details.
We often do miss what's right in front of our own eyes when the Spirit is doing what we've prayed for.
We often hold onto hurts that we shouldn't. That will impact our observational skills.
We are all different yet all the same.
In Christ we are different parts of His body, the Church.
Take time today to stop n sit at His feet. The unexpected is possible and we're oh so good at missing it.
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