For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. – Isaiah 55:8-9
God always wants to bring us closer to Him, yet we fall short because of our own vices. I have now finished both books of Samuel, and have begun to read 1 Kings. As I am still learning about God's faithfulness and our own ability to serve Him through the characters in these books, I have begun to pray more often for God to show me His own will for my life, so that I may follow it with ease. Yet, I suppose I am missing the point of these readings in the two books of Samuel, because David is given clear instructions to be king, yet he still finds a way to go against God's will. I suppose we cannot truly follow His will for us all the time, because of our own sin. Yet, God's grace allows us to start over every day and make draw closer to Him when we feel furthest away.
Lately, I have been less stressed about my job for a number of reasons, though I still have a cloud of frustration hanging over me. My thoughts get the best of me when I go to work, and I cannot seem to be satisfied with how things are run, how product is displayed, how the employees act, etc. It all brings me to a point where I seem to get irritated over minute details and lack trust in my coworkers to do their job properly. This frustration is something I do not want in my life and I have been trying to redirect those frustrations onto God, in my prayers that is. My thoughts and prayers are in constant battle when it comes time to pray in the morning; "I should just sleep in to get more rest, but I know God wants me to spend time with him" I think as I am praying. There are a lot of things I need to find a solution for at work, yet I only have an hour or so in the morning to be in prayer with God, so why do I need to worry about that now? I wish I could just sit down in the morning and be completely focused on God and be in prayer to hear His words for me, rather than my own grumblings. However, as I looked up a verse about God's way in our lives, the only verse that I was brought to was the one at the top, from Isaiah. We cannot know how God will work in us, yet we must continue to let Him turn our ongoing thoughts into clarity of His direction for us. We cannot find better advice from anything than the word of God. However, His thoughts and ways are not ours, so knowing when He is speaking to us is what we need to understand if we are to follow His will in our lives.
May God guide your thoughts and prayers so that you may have clarity, and peace, in His holiness.
Amen.
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Lead and Serve
"For does not my house stand so with God? For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For will he not cause to prosper all my help and my desire? – 2 Samuel 23:5
It will be two years by the end of this month that I began waking up early to spend time with God, and since I began writing this blog. I am not sure how much I have developed in my faith, though throughout my reading these past two years, I continue to learn about two main themes; how to lead, and how to serve. I have officially been an assistant manager at my job for some time, and unofficially the store manager because of my responsibilities while the owner is not present. I still currently lead the youth group at my church as well, though there is not much going on with that right now, considering the pandemic we are experiencing. Both books of Samuel follow, at first Samuel, and eventually David as he becomes king of Israel after the death of Saul. Though David ends up becoming the most well known leader of Israel before Jesus, he certainly does not lack the ability to serve his people and the God of Israel. For myself, I see David's example as an opportunity to follow Christ in the same way. Though he did sin, David grew up focused entirely on God's will that he would not fight back against Saul who was trying to kill him, simply because he knew Saul was God's anointed and God would deal with Saul. It was not David's responsibility to take out Saul, gaining himself the throne, when God had permitted Saul to be there. God had a greater plan for David than murder, and God also still had mercy on Saul until the very end of his life.
If God continued to show his mercy to Saul, who was trying to kill his most loyal servant (and disobeyed God in many other serious ways), how could he not continue to show mercy on us, through Christ, who choose to fix our eyes on Him daily? I wrote about God's calling on my life to lead in my first post, and my situation has not changed. I trust that God still wants me to lead these people because I am still where I am, yet I am slowly learning how to also serve them, in a way that Christ, or David, may have on the earth. The struggle is to continue to choose this everyday. God's grace has brought me to where I am, and I want Him to tell me where to go next, so that I may continue to lead and serve whomever He needs me to.
May God continue to speak to you in ways that only He can, so that you know where you are called, in order to serve Him and lead a Godly life as those before us have. Peace be with you. Amen.
It will be two years by the end of this month that I began waking up early to spend time with God, and since I began writing this blog. I am not sure how much I have developed in my faith, though throughout my reading these past two years, I continue to learn about two main themes; how to lead, and how to serve. I have officially been an assistant manager at my job for some time, and unofficially the store manager because of my responsibilities while the owner is not present. I still currently lead the youth group at my church as well, though there is not much going on with that right now, considering the pandemic we are experiencing. Both books of Samuel follow, at first Samuel, and eventually David as he becomes king of Israel after the death of Saul. Though David ends up becoming the most well known leader of Israel before Jesus, he certainly does not lack the ability to serve his people and the God of Israel. For myself, I see David's example as an opportunity to follow Christ in the same way. Though he did sin, David grew up focused entirely on God's will that he would not fight back against Saul who was trying to kill him, simply because he knew Saul was God's anointed and God would deal with Saul. It was not David's responsibility to take out Saul, gaining himself the throne, when God had permitted Saul to be there. God had a greater plan for David than murder, and God also still had mercy on Saul until the very end of his life.
If God continued to show his mercy to Saul, who was trying to kill his most loyal servant (and disobeyed God in many other serious ways), how could he not continue to show mercy on us, through Christ, who choose to fix our eyes on Him daily? I wrote about God's calling on my life to lead in my first post, and my situation has not changed. I trust that God still wants me to lead these people because I am still where I am, yet I am slowly learning how to also serve them, in a way that Christ, or David, may have on the earth. The struggle is to continue to choose this everyday. God's grace has brought me to where I am, and I want Him to tell me where to go next, so that I may continue to lead and serve whomever He needs me to.
May God continue to speak to you in ways that only He can, so that you know where you are called, in order to serve Him and lead a Godly life as those before us have. Peace be with you. Amen.
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