Father, the thing from Exodus that jumped out at me today was the ~430 years in Egypt. Several generations came and went without seeing Your deliverance, and yet some of them held on to hope. What faithfulness in the face of mistreatment, lies, injustice, and challenge. I want to be as tenaciously faithful as those heroes were. I want to continue to live a righteous, Godly, loving, and gracious life while awaiting Your action, which, of course, does not come as quickly as I want.
I will wait more or less patiently, probably more on the less side. Your timing, Your ways, and Your resolutions are always perfect.
Abba Father, I chose that title above to grab for Your overall omniscience. You see everything! You know everything. You have purpose that cannot be stopped. As I was reminded this morning by the worship song, YOU WON’T FAIL.
This truth can be hard to embrace in the trials and tribulations of the immediate moment. I heard again in my devotional this morning in Exodus that the Jewish people waited almost (another) 400 years between Joseph and Moses. This makes my short 6-month-and-counting leave seem infinitesimal in comparison. It also makes the difficult spiritual climate in the evangelical church come into some focus, given that You, Abba, allowed Your people to endure those centuries of oppression before You rescued them.
I am going to try to embed a link to the song “Firm Foundation,” better remembered by me as “He Won’t.”
Abba, it has been challenging this week to keep my focus. In my mind I have considered several posts with titles that might reflect where my distractions have been:
Spiritual Problems, Spiritual Solution (regarding the state of religion and politics, especially the evangelical church)
What Does She Want? (regarding my accuser's imagined endgame)
Justice in Several Areas (the former president, my daughter's low salary, and my own false accusation)
I am continuing with The Bible Recap assignments on a daily basis and I marvel (not the first time) at how You use the Scriptures for the day to speak to my heart, my life, and my soul. Joseph ultimately forgave and blessed his brothers, who treated him so badly, not before making them grovel a little bit! He practiced a bit of subterfuge and sleight of hand, too. I have seen Joseph's business acumen, wisdom, and breath of knowledge as well. This guy was no lightweight. I wouldn't mind being a bit like him with respect to his endurance of false accusations, careful restoration of relationships (thinking about my DH's recent question about forgiving my accuser), and management of wealth and business.
In this meantime, Lord Father, let me be more faithful and devoted. Show me how to do this in ways that are effective and honoring to You. We may well be entering into a period of history when evil seems to triumph, when justice seems to be slow in coming. You ultimately bring it! May I not rush ahead of Your perfect timing.
I don't know if I can clip the part of today's Bible Recap sermonette that hit me hard. If I can't, I will get the whole thing here, with a special focus around minutes 6:40 to 7:25.
In short, God's will cannot be thwarted by human sin--mine or others. This section of Scripture is filled with examples of humans trying to mess with God's plans. Interference, delay, distractions, and redirections never seem to work out in the moment--or sometime they do seem to!--but ultimately God wins. He always wins.
There is also the phenomenon that what goes around often comes back around. Deceit begets deceit, and the deceiver becomes the deceived. Two things come to my own mind, Father God: one, may I be a person of truth, always, and two, may justice come. My prayer foci (plural of focus, right?) are for a just salary for Amy, a just resolution for my work leave, and a just outcome for the nation and the world who are in the gripping throes of lies and injustice.
I find myself pondering the problems facing the prophets and even Jesus. People were defiant and sinful, rejecting messages of repentance and love in favor of their worldly pursuits and pleasures. Their eyes were blinded? It certainly seems that way now. No matter how much truth is presented to them, they refuse to consider it. Several honorable Christians have observed that this seems to be idolatry and a dramatic misunderstanding of the non-worldly nature of both the Kingdom of God and the United States.
Abba, keep my eyes focused above, according to Colossians 3:1-2~~
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
My "God Shot" for today's reading is the vindication of Job and restoration of his fortunes. May it be so for me, too, God. I want to be as faithful and as honest with You as Job was. Help me to hold on!
(This could be "punny" since I intended it to reference the Biblical character, but the application to my employment is equally pertinent.)
Looking back on my "readings" to which I listened over the past days of my devotions, and for whatever reason the author chose to focus on Job, I find You and Your providential leading--again. Today's reading in Job 6 is titled "Job Replies: My Complaint is Just."I feel that way, too.In verses 10b-11, Job says what I feel:
"for I have not denied the words of the Holy One. What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient?"
Tara Leigh Cobble, who hosts and directs the one-year Bible reading plan the Bible Recap, spoke about this chapter's character Bildad's false accusation against Job. That's how I feel: falsely accused. And of course, Jesus, You were also falsely accused. Seems like there is a lot of that going around....
So my God Shot of today concerns Your faithfulness to the falsely accused. You know the truth..You will vindicate me in due time, although Your time is not my time, and I am impatient. Knowing when, whether, and why to poke the bear is risky. Only You, God, knows the right timing for this situation. Until then, I submit and surrender to Your will.
