The Well
The Well |
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Connecting Hope to the Hurting | |
Tuesday
July 15, 2008
Truly, O God of Israel, our Savior, you work in strange and mysterious
ways.…
For
the LORD is God, and he created the heavens and earth and
put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of
empty chaos.
"I am the LORD," he says, "and there is no
other. I publicly proclaim bold promises. I do not whisper obscurities in some
dark corner so no one can understand what I mean. And I did not tell the people
of Israel to ask me for something I did not plan to give. I, the LORD, speak only what is true and right….
Let all the world look
to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other. I have sworn by my
own name, and I will never go back on my word: Every knee will bow to me, and
every tongue will confess allegiance to my name."
The people will declare,
"The LORD is the source of all my righteousness and
strength." And all who were angry with him will come to him and be
ashamed.
Isaiah 45:15, 18-19, 22-24
God does work in strange and mysterious ways. There is no other God but Jehovah. However, we can make gods of anything from our children to our jobs. We must be very careful and learn to prioritize. God wants us to know Him, worship Him, and share Him with others. As we do this we will begin to see the promises He has for His children begin to manifest in our lives.
When we start walking according to the Spirit, we will know when God is speaking to us. As He said through Isaiah, He will not whisper some obscure message to us that we will not be able to understand. He will speak to us through His Spirit within us and there will be no doubt that the message is from Him. In the same light, if the Spirit leads us to pray for someone or something, we can know that God has lead us to ask for that and that He will bring it into fruition in His time.
Years ago God taught me that there are basically three voices speaking within us constantly: the flesh, the Spirit, and the enemy. We will know it is the flesh if it has to do with something that will make us "feel" better or make people like us more. If it is God's voice it will be encouraging and will not only benefit us, but benefit others as well. However, the voice of the enemy is an accusing voice that will tear us down, inside out, and will also hurt others.
When God spoke to Abram and Sarai and promised them a son, they believed with their head. Then Sarai set about getting Abram a son through her servant. This wasn't God's directions. They were listening to God through the voice of their flesh. However, when they began to trust God Isaac was born. "Then the Lord did exactly what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant, and she gave a son to Abraham in his old age. It all happened at the time God had said it would…And Sarah declared, 'God has brought me laughter! All who hear about this will laugh with me. For who would have dreamed that I would ever have a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age!'" Genesis 21:1-2
Father, we do thank You and praise You that Your ways are not our ways. However, we hunger to become more like You. Thank You for Your Word.
