Truth and Circumstances
I had a great time with the Lord this afternoon! How fully He feeds the God-shaped hole in my life! Why do I starve it so often?!
Anyways, I read a little in Exodus - about Moses' response to God after He told Moses to deliver a message to Pharaoh. When his circumstances changed, Moses didn't go patiently back to God and ask Him for his perspective, instead he did exactly what we do - he became bitter and blamed God and accused Him of failing to do what He had promised! If you were at church on Sunday, this falls right in line with what our pastor spoke about! When our circumstances aren't exactly what we would like for them to be, we have a tendency to throw the finger at God! Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is unchanging!! Moses was so confident in what God had spoken to him - He was ready and willing to tell Pharaoh exactly what God told him to say, but something happened - something went wrong somewhere. When Moses was in the midst of God's presence, he was exactly where God wanted him to be! When Moses' circumstances changed, it all of a sudden became about him. It was no longer about God - it was all about Moses! His circumstances changed, thus his feelings changed. Was God there whenever Pharaoh brought trouble upon his people? YES! Moses accused God of not rescuing his people at all - he was so wrapped up in how HE expected God to respond that he was just about ready to quit! We do this, don't we? So often we assume that God isn't or can't be as powerful as he says he is because we don't always see immediate evidence. We expect faster results and fewer problems! "The most difficult thing you will ever have to do is deny yourself, take up God's will, and FOLLOW Him. The most challenging part of your relationship with God is being God-centered." (-Henry Blackaby) and not self centered!!
Our circumstances tend to define truth in our lives. We define truth by what we can see, hear, feel, and smell: tangible things. Take the widow in Luke 7. Her husband died several years ago and she had only one son. She dreamed of having a wonderful life with both of them... until her husband died. Now she dreams of having a wonderful life with her son, to care for her and to love her as any son would love his mother. But then, her son died. What was truth for her? That she would spend the rest of her life alone. Was this true for her? Yes. Was it the truth? No. If you know the story, who steps onto the scene as they are preparing for burial? TRUTH HIMSELF! Truth walks up ... and when truth reveals itself, it CHANGES EVERYTHING! We cannot determine the truth of a situation only by looking at the circumstances because we only see half of the story. How much better off would we be if we would just trust God with the other half and stop blaming Him for everything that goes wrong in our lives!!
"I am ... the truth." - John 14:6
Anyways, I read a little in Exodus - about Moses' response to God after He told Moses to deliver a message to Pharaoh. When his circumstances changed, Moses didn't go patiently back to God and ask Him for his perspective, instead he did exactly what we do - he became bitter and blamed God and accused Him of failing to do what He had promised! If you were at church on Sunday, this falls right in line with what our pastor spoke about! When our circumstances aren't exactly what we would like for them to be, we have a tendency to throw the finger at God! Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is unchanging!! Moses was so confident in what God had spoken to him - He was ready and willing to tell Pharaoh exactly what God told him to say, but something happened - something went wrong somewhere. When Moses was in the midst of God's presence, he was exactly where God wanted him to be! When Moses' circumstances changed, it all of a sudden became about him. It was no longer about God - it was all about Moses! His circumstances changed, thus his feelings changed. Was God there whenever Pharaoh brought trouble upon his people? YES! Moses accused God of not rescuing his people at all - he was so wrapped up in how HE expected God to respond that he was just about ready to quit! We do this, don't we? So often we assume that God isn't or can't be as powerful as he says he is because we don't always see immediate evidence. We expect faster results and fewer problems! "The most difficult thing you will ever have to do is deny yourself, take up God's will, and FOLLOW Him. The most challenging part of your relationship with God is being God-centered." (-Henry Blackaby) and not self centered!!
Our circumstances tend to define truth in our lives. We define truth by what we can see, hear, feel, and smell: tangible things. Take the widow in Luke 7. Her husband died several years ago and she had only one son. She dreamed of having a wonderful life with both of them... until her husband died. Now she dreams of having a wonderful life with her son, to care for her and to love her as any son would love his mother. But then, her son died. What was truth for her? That she would spend the rest of her life alone. Was this true for her? Yes. Was it the truth? No. If you know the story, who steps onto the scene as they are preparing for burial? TRUTH HIMSELF! Truth walks up ... and when truth reveals itself, it CHANGES EVERYTHING! We cannot determine the truth of a situation only by looking at the circumstances because we only see half of the story. How much better off would we be if we would just trust God with the other half and stop blaming Him for everything that goes wrong in our lives!!
"I am ... the truth." - John 14:6
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