Just a word to share with you to end our week <3
Happy Friday!
It is so rainy and windy here on the prairie. I looked at the weather app this morning and it looks like we are not alone in this miserable weather. I know we are all aching for Spring to be warm and sunny…let’s hope we get that soon <3
As I was praying about what to send you all this morning, I just asked like I do so often for God to let me know what He would like you to know today. This is what came to me so here we go.
I am reading in Judges this week and as I do every time I read the book of Judges, I am amazed and appalled at the cycle of Israel. Every entry goes the same…
Israel turned from God and began following the practices and idolatry of the people around them. Alienated from God, they came under bondage to the people to whom they had followed. There was severe oppression and war or enslavement for a decade or two and then they would cry out to God and He would raise up a judge to deliver them. Each time they broke free of their oppressors with a great victory, the land had peace for usually about 40 years and then …. Repeat.
It is a bit discouraging a book to read, even if we can relate to our own cycles of backsliding, wandering, weeping, repenting and returning.
We see it happen in churches and in Church history and we have seen it far too close to home recently.
But here is what God laid on my heart to tell you.
Don’t confuse God with God’s people.
God’s people are human, broken, prone to wander, weak, still battling old sin patterns and sometimes just not even trying.
God’s people are sometimes forgetful they are human and all of the above.
God’s people are not God.
Only God is God and while we may get this confused, God never does.
He never forgets who He is, what He stands for, and He never forgets what we are made of.
He stoops down but He doesn’t bend or compromise.
He remains faithful when we or others in the Body are not.
He cares more than we could understand and He is both merciful and just.
He doesn’t betray us.
He can’t.
Rest in Him, lean hard on Him even when His people let you down.
You are precious in His sight and you have great value to Him.
And remember at those times when all of this is hard to believe, flip back to Joshua where God says so many times I lost count…
Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or dismayed.
For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.
(first appearance is Joshua 1:9 but it is repeated over and over throughout the book)
Blessings friends! You are loved <3