Why You Have What You Have

Clearly, God’s love for Israel is behind this, making you king to keep a just order and nurture a God-pleasing people. 1 Kings 10:9 (MSG)

The Queen of Sheba had gone to visit Solomon. She was blown away by the extravagance of his kingdom. His palace, the food served, the servants, the organization of his kingdom, the sacrifices to God, the wealth...everywhere. She was also taken by his wisdom and knowledge.

She said to the king, “It’s all true! Your reputation for accomplishment and wisdom that reached all the way to my country is confirmed. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself; they didn’t exaggerate! Such wisdom and elegance—far more than I could ever have imagined. Lucky the men and women who work for you, getting to be around you every day and hear your wise words firsthand! And blessed be God, your God, who took such a liking to you and made you king." 1 Kings 10:6-9a (MSG)

But that is not what I love about this story. I love the next line. It says "Clearly, God’s love for Israel is behind this, making you king to keep a just order and nurture a God-pleasing people." (10:9b) I love that because God blesses us with so much. We are given talents and material possessions. We are given successes and achievements. We are given family and co-workers and friends. Sometimes we get tripped up into thinking we get these things because we've done something good. We pat ourselves on the back and congratulate ourselves for this life we have.

In reality, we are given these things for God's glory. 1 Kings 10:9 could be paraphrased to read "Clearly, God's love for all his people is behind this." God wants his children to be a God-pleasing people. All we have, all we are given is so we can become more like him and represent him well.

A Minute In It - Anything You Want

A little time in the Word every day changes you. Take a few minutes, read these verses and ponder the questions at the bottom of the post.

That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”

Solomon replied, “You showed great and faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued to show this great and faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne.

“Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”
1 Kings 3:5-9 (NLT)

If God came to you and asked you "What do you want?", what would you say? Take a minute to think it over. Seriously.

First From His Hands

Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. Luke 9:16 (NLT)

This verse is from the story where Jesus fed the 5,000 (that number didn't count the families with them). The crowd had been following him around all day. The disciples were ready to send them home to fend for themselves but Jesus had another idea. He pushed the disciples to come up with a plan to feed them. He asked them for suggestions but they were stumped. It looked like an impossible situation. And from a human perspective, it was.

Queue the Jesus factor. We don't queue this a lot. We look at our situations and say "Nope, impossible. Let's all go home." But Jesus always has another idea and another plan. What I love about this story is Jesus' personal involvement. The disciples brought him the fish, he thanked God for them and then with his own hands he broke the loaves and fish into the portions needed for the people and gave them to the disciples to hand out.

Could Jesus have just said "divide into multiple pieces enough for everyone" and then looked at the disciples and said, "There you go, pass them out." Yes. But he didn't. He handled each piece of food and gave the food to the disciples to distribute.

I think Jesus is still working this way. We look at our situation. We call it impossible. Jesus says "How about this?" and gives us our portion to digest and be filled. Then he says, take what I've given you and pass it on. Share it so others can be filled also.

This salvation thing is never meant to be isolated between us and God. It is always meant to be re-given, over and over again. As many times as Jesus hands you food, that is how many times you are to share it with others.

When I Am Weak, Who Is Strong?

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

Ever think about what this text means? We don't like to be weak. I can even make it more personal. I don't like to be weak. I am super independent and stubborn (and all my family said 'Amen'!) I've always had this mentality that I can do whatever I want. And I try. But the problem with that is life gets in the way of our "I can handle it" attitude and eventually, we are faced with things we can't handle.

When I was talking to God about this text, I made a list of things I cannot do. Let me be really honest here, right now there is a lot of things on that list. I worded it like this:

I don't have what it takes to _____________________.

I would encourage you to do this. Some things on your list might be:

I don't have what it takes to fix my health.
I don't have what it takes to get my finances in line.
I don't have what it takes to save my children.
I don't have what it takes to answer Your call.

Take some time, make your list. I know at first it may seem depressing but here is what I found. At the end of my list I realized I don't have what it takes to do anything that is really important to me. And then I realized I was empty. Empty of the feeling that I could work hard enough to fix this. Empty of the feeling that I alone had to try to make it work. Empty of the feeling that I was a failure because I couldn't make everything come together the way I wanted it to. And then, I let it go.

I gave the "Don't have what it takes" list to God and I told him I couldn't but I knew he could. And I was OK with being weak because I wasn't weak alone. My weakness allowed me to get out of the way so my True Strength could step in.

How about you?  Make your list and then let it go. Embrace weakness for then you will find your Strength.

Where Was It I Was Going?

Careful! I’ve put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion,
    a stone you can’t get around.
But the stone is me! If you’re looking for me,
    you’ll find me on the way, not in the way.
Romans 9:33 (MSG)

One of the really hard things about following God is when you know you are on a journey but you have no idea where you are going. God rarely reveals the destination. As a matter of fact, you don't always know at day break where you will end up by sundown.

For most of us, if we are willing to admit it, this is super frustrating. We have been told our whole life that you should make a plan and do the plan. You should know what you want and what you need to do to get there. We have ideas about what our life is supposed to look like and we know what it will take to accomplish our goals.

Enter in a relationship with God. Slowly, as you allow God to lead, he blocks first this path and then diverts you onto another. You are being directed, one step at a time, toward his purpose and his goal.

At first, this is really frustrating....who am I kidding....it continues at times to be frustrating but as you stick to his path, you begin to realize it is less about the destination and more about the journey. What you knew you wanted, becomes less important. Instead of feeling like God is in the way, you begin to realize that along the way you have found what you were looking for all along.

It is no longer about arriving or knowing where you will end up. It becomes about what happens along the way and even more importantly, who you've come to know.

In The Meantime

I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness,
    and you will harvest a crop of love.
Plow up the hard ground of your hearts,
    for now is the time to seek the Lord,
that he may come
    and shower righteousness upon you.’
Hosea 10:12 (NLT)

Can I just put a text on here because I love it? I came across this text this weekend and it spoke to my heart. You know, we spend a lot of time trying to figure things out. There are the little things like trying to figure out what to wear or my least favorite, trying to figure out what to have for dinner that's really fast, healthy and that hopefully I don't have to cook. Sigh.

But then we try to figure out the big stuff too. Should I change jobs? Should we move? What am I supposed to be doing with my life? Which of course leads to "God, what are you doing? What do you want?" At least it leads there for me.

Maybe, just maybe while we are pondering all this stuff there are also things God is telling us to do in the meantime. The Good Lord knows that he's told me to wait (a  (did I mention that I don't wait well - probably have). In the Bible sometimes the word wait is translated as 'to keep doing what you were last told to do until you are told something else'. That is not a technically correct definition by the way. So, I spend a lot of time, doing what I was last told to do and waiting.

One of the things God has told us all to do is to look for people that cross our paths that we are supposed to talk to, help and love on and if God says, we can tell them how much Jesus loves them. But only if. That's a whole 'nother post.

Isn't that kind of what this text is saying? We spend a lot of time working, living life and waiting but what are we supposed to be doing in the midst of all that? I think the text says it perfectly.

Plant the good seeds of righteousness (justice, honesty, something morally right).
And you will harvest a crop of love (acts of kindness, favor)
Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, (make it ready so God can expose the deep things)
for now is the time to seek (to earnestly pursue) the Lord,
that he may come and shower righteousness (what is good and just, what ought to be) upon you.’

Basically, while you live life, do good things for others, receive the good gifts intended for you, spend time pursuing God digging up the things that hinder your journey and accept what he showers upon you.

I still don’t like to wait but if I wait like God is telling me to, it’s not like waiting at all. It’s more like taking a journey – I just don’t know the destination. Again, a whole 'nother post.

It's Really Not About You

God is love. 1 John 4:8

Notice what this text does not say?

It does not say "God is loving because you didn't get angry yesterday."

It does not say "God is loving because you didn't lie cheat or steal this week." or "You made all the right decisions so God loves you." or "You went to church this weekend so you are loved." How about "You totally flubbed that one up so you are not loved."

It doesn't say any of those things. As a matter of fact, it doesn't talk about us at all! It talks about God and who God is. It simply says "God is love." That's who he is and his love is not dependent on us.

Does he like it when we make bad choices? No. Does he wish we'd lean on him more and make better choices? Yes. Will he love us more if we make better choices? No. When we make bad choices, does he still love us? Yes.

I'm not sure where the idea came from that to be loved by God you had to perform.....oh wait that started in the Garden of Eden.....OK. So we know where it came from. But we also know it's a lie. When Adam and Eve didn't perform God came looking for them. He sought them out and he talked to them. Did they have to face the consequences of their decision? Yes. But he also provided for them in the midst of it. Why? Because God is love.

God's unconditional love is a gift. We don't deserve it. It's totally free. How about we stop believing the lie that we have to earn it? How about we stop making this about us and instead make it about God. What he wants from us is a relationship, not a completed list of accomplishments. Besides, our meager accomplishments are miniscule compared to what he's already done.

A Minute In It - Thinking It Through

A little time in the Word every day changes you. Take a few minutes, read these verses and ponder the questions at the bottom of the post.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

Think through your life. Think about the negative things and then apply this text to that circumstance.

In your trials, or if you are blessed enough to not have any right now, in your life:

What do you know that is true (genuine, authentic)?

What do you know that is noble (high morale qualities)?

What is right?

What is pure?

What is lovely?

What is admirable?

What is excellent or praiseworthy?

As you ponder your life today, remember these things. They are your blessings.