...have been my friends as of late. i hope to continue to make each of them a habitual treat. this might have been the strangest sickness i've had. they said i had a terrible cold virus, but i've just had a terribly sore throat the whole time with few other symptoms. the first couple of days a headache and chills. but, i've downed that chamomile tea for sure... and have grown to really like it. apparently, it helps relax your body and mind, which is good for me these days. better than all that coffee and diet coke i am usually downing.
and my mom suggested i read some of the stories from the old testament, about God fulfilling His promises to the israelites. i decided to read about elijah, because he has come up a couple of times this semester. the Lord has been teaching me a lot through his life. in fact i have a small, wooden cross sitting in my dashboard directly from the mountain that the following story took place...
"And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, 'O Baal answer us!' But there was no voice and no one answered... And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered, no one paid attention.
'O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it e known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God and that you have turned their hearts back.' Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, 'The LORD he is God, the LORD, he is God." - 1 Kings 18:26,29,36-39
God will be God. we do not have to do anything for Him to be God. nothing and no one else can take His place.
the funny thing is, after this incident, elijah runs away in fear for his life. he hides in the wilderness and wishes to die. he had great fear and wanted to end his life even after seeing the great power of the Lord distributed. there are no heros in the bible. God is the only hero and works through weak people. we will have highs, we will have lows, but God will stay the same.
these verses in ezekial that pastor rick stark read tonight, helped put things in perspective for me.
"Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, o house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name which has been profaned among the nations and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes... I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit will be put within you. And I will remove your heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." - Ezekial 36:22-23, 25-26
what the Lord does is for His sake and not my own. therefore, i have no need to worry about what my life looks like, all i need to worry about is bringing Him glory. He is God, He will do the work and will bring glory to Himself. i simply need to be an empty vessel.
on another note... my friend, rachel, told me about this amazing website... http://www.sadsteve.com. it is great! every 20 minutes, the website provides 20 free song downloads! so fun.
0 comments:
Post a Comment