I was at choir last night and it seemed like everyone was tired. There was no energy and some lack of cooperation. It had been raining all day so the mood for the Denver metro area was sort of laid back and tired. So when 8:00 finally rolled around, alot of people were ready to leave the church and go home. We had a gal named Keri filling in for Scott while he is away. She seems like the sweetest lady and really wanted to make sure that we were ready for Sunday so she kept us all of ten minutes late. When she was finished she told us to meet in our sections (which confused me simply because I have only been in the choir a combined total of maybe three months and I've never met with my section). People started telling her that we don't do that anymore and Martha (I was so proud) stood up and said that we were doing it tonight. So grumbling and complaining, everyone got into groups and started praying. I must give a disclaimer and say that I don't fault the people who had children at all. They needed to do their thing and they did it.
A couple of ladies in my section got kind of irritated and started asking Diane what time choir was supposed to get out and said they had to get home. I don't know what they expected her to do about it except apologize profusely on Keri and Scott's behalf- which she didn't. If she had, I would have had to smack her. We prayed and let me tell you, Ruth's prayer was definitely worth waiting for.
But it made me start thinking about how we sometimes treat God as an inconvenience. We tell the Creator of the universe that we don't have time for him. We tell the Redeemer that we don't want to talk to him. We show the Almighty God that our schedules mean more to us than his grace. How can we not pause for five minutes with brothers and sisters in Christ and bring our joys and sorrows to him?
Instead of jumping on the opportunity to curl up with our heavenly Father, we jump into our cars and go. Let me ask this question honestly. Please hear it as just a question and not a complaint:
Why is it so hard to stop for a minute and focus on God?
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Do I Trust God?
I read Genesis 1-16 today and something jumped out at me. Genesis 12 talks about God coming to Abram and telling him to move. Verse 1 says, "The Lord had said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.'"
Go to the land I will show you.
Go to the land I will show you.
Abram was living in a place called Haran with his family and God called him away. This was post Tower of Babel so everyone was supposed to be moving and populating the earth anyway so it's not really too big of a deal that God called Abram to move. The big deal is that he didn't tell him where to go.
God gives Abram this great promise and tells him that he's going to make him into a great nation, that he'll bless him and everyone on earth will be blessed because of him. So Abram, feeling pretty good I would imagine, takes his wife and his nephew (and all their servants and stuff) and heads out to Canaan. Some things happen, Abram moves around a bit more, and then he and Lot decide that they have to separate because this isn't enough natural resources to support both their families. Abram tells Lot to choose a place to live and says that he'll live wherever Lot doesn't choose. Lot makes a decision and that's when God comes to Abram and shows him the land he promised.
God kept his promise to Abram because Abram followed him obediently. God showed Abram where to settle at just the right time.
Abram had been obsessing about providing a heir even though God had already told him (twice) that he was going to have a bunch of offspring (a.k.a. children). But God doesn't chastise Abram for worrying about having a son. It was a real concern and God told him that he was going to give him a butt load of kids. My favorite verse in this passage is Genesis 15:6- "Abram believed the Lord, and he credited to him as righteousness."
Abram believed God.
Now, we all know that he goofed things up a little with the whole Hagar thing (and that was because he listened to someone who obviously didn't believe God's promise) but that hadn't happened yet. He was ready to take God at his word.
How ready am I to take God at his word? He's promised all these great things but when time goes on and I don't really see evidence that he's keeping his promise, do I still trust him? It's human nature to want rewards right away. But it's a characteristic of a child of the King to keep believing those promises even when they don't come to completion right away.
Go to the land I will show you.
Go to the land I will show you.
Abram was living in a place called Haran with his family and God called him away. This was post Tower of Babel so everyone was supposed to be moving and populating the earth anyway so it's not really too big of a deal that God called Abram to move. The big deal is that he didn't tell him where to go.
God gives Abram this great promise and tells him that he's going to make him into a great nation, that he'll bless him and everyone on earth will be blessed because of him. So Abram, feeling pretty good I would imagine, takes his wife and his nephew (and all their servants and stuff) and heads out to Canaan. Some things happen, Abram moves around a bit more, and then he and Lot decide that they have to separate because this isn't enough natural resources to support both their families. Abram tells Lot to choose a place to live and says that he'll live wherever Lot doesn't choose. Lot makes a decision and that's when God comes to Abram and shows him the land he promised.
God kept his promise to Abram because Abram followed him obediently. God showed Abram where to settle at just the right time.
Abram had been obsessing about providing a heir even though God had already told him (twice) that he was going to have a bunch of offspring (a.k.a. children). But God doesn't chastise Abram for worrying about having a son. It was a real concern and God told him that he was going to give him a butt load of kids. My favorite verse in this passage is Genesis 15:6- "Abram believed the Lord, and he credited to him as righteousness."
Abram believed God.
Now, we all know that he goofed things up a little with the whole Hagar thing (and that was because he listened to someone who obviously didn't believe God's promise) but that hadn't happened yet. He was ready to take God at his word.
How ready am I to take God at his word? He's promised all these great things but when time goes on and I don't really see evidence that he's keeping his promise, do I still trust him? It's human nature to want rewards right away. But it's a characteristic of a child of the King to keep believing those promises even when they don't come to completion right away.
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