May the mumbling commence!
Just when I think I know it all, then life throws me a
curveball. And I realize how foolish
I’ve been. To God, we must seem like
foolish animals… like sheep. We need the
council and guidance of the Great Shepherd, Jesus. Read from Psalm Seventy-three:
Then I realized how bitter I had become,
how pained
I had been by all I had seen.
I
was so foolish and ignorant—
I must have seemed like a senseless
animal to you.
Yet
I still belong to you;
you are holding my right hand.
You will keep on guiding me with your counsel,
leading me to a glorious destiny.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
I desire you more than anything on earth.
My health may fail,
and my spirit may grow weak,
but God remains the
strength of my heart;
he is mine forever. (Verses 21-26)
Life has a way of making us bitter and of showing us
great pain. Hindsight – which is always
twenty-twenty – tells us again and again how foolish and ignorant we have
been. The one thing that we learn from
history is that we do NOT learn from it.
It’s no wonder that God compares is to sheep – dumb and directionless
animals that are stubborn and willful.
Yet we belong to God.
God still claims us and holds our right hand – to comfort us and guide
us and lead us to the glorious destiny that the Lord has always planned for
us. So God is our greatest and only true
desire. Nothing or no one else will do.
All other things and people will fail us
eventually. Even our health will atrophy
and waste away with time. Yet God’s
strength in our heart of hearts is what gives us hope and courage to
continue. We are God’s forever. Nothing can change that but a willful break
from the Lord that we do.
So, let’s be content with the Lord. Read from First Timothy chapter six:
Yet true religion with
contentment is great wealth. After all, we didn't bring anything with us
when we came into the world, and we certainly cannot carry anything with us
when we die. So if we
have enough food and clothing, let us be content. But people who long to be rich fall into temptation
and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is at the root of all
kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the
faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. (Verses 6-10)
Contentment in having our needs met is great
wealth. It leads to great joy. Those who chase after the almighty dollar
find themselves perpetually unhappy and bitter.
Which will we choose? I would
like to say the former, but the latter is what is preached from every
commercial that bombards us daily… hourly.
May we find the Way to live in this world as resident aliens looking
forward to the coming Kingdom of God.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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