Happy New Year - Despite Our Circumstances

Happy New Year ... a little late!

As you know Joyce and I were away on a mission trip to Papua, Indonesia for most of the month of January. This was a great experience for us that generated several stories that we can now share with others. Thank you so much for your prayers and support!  Consequently, this blog entry is a "catch up" entry so that I can get back in sync with where we all are in The Story. We are covering ... at a very high level ...Sessions 13 to 17. The big message if you decide to not read the rest of blog is "don't do evil in the sight of the Lord by committing idolatry or there will be serious consequences if you don't turn from these wicked ways".

As followers of Jesus Christ we will experience good times and periodically we will go through some "bad" times. God uses both and especially those times that we consider difficult or hard or "bad" times.  We wish we didn't have to go through some things ... we wish that life would be easier or go more smoothly! Unfortunately, we will all probably experience some difficult times in our walk with the Lord. I have in the past and we all know others who love the Lord who are experiencing some hard times right now. This is when we need to remember God's promises such as Jeremiah 29:1 and pray for one another.

God loves you and me very much. He cares about us. He wants us to draw close to Him especially when we are going through difficult times. He has infinite grace available to pour out on us. Sometimes we get out of step with the Spirit and start doing life in our own strength. He uses various means to get our attention. If we have sinned, he wants us to simply confess our sin, repent and return to Him. He forgives. He delivers. He restores. He revives. Unfortunately, sometimes our pride gets in the way and we become stubborn and rebellious just like the Israelites and remain in our difficult state longer than we need to be.

In The Story for the last several weeks you have seen the Israelites (God's children) continuously go astray under a number of kings.  Things started to get bad when Solomon failed to follow his own advice / wisdom in some areas. Idolatry entered the kingdom and God gets pretty upset when we disobey His first commandment ... no other gods. The majority of kings after Solomon also did "evil in the sight of the Lord". Some of the kings tried to do some house cleaning ... tearing down the shrines and places of worship and sacrifice to other gods. When this occurred, God's blessing returns to His children. Unfortunately, king after king fell into the trap of "doing evil in the sight of the Lord".

Despite many prophets being sent by God to warn His children ... Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and many minor prophets ... the Israelites remained stiff necked and rebellious and did not turn from their wicked ways. They went through some very difficult times. The kingdom was divided. The northern kingdom of Israel was taken over and destroyed by the Assyrians and anyone who survived was dispersed.

Years later because of the same problem of idolatry in the southern kingdom of Judah, Jerusalem is destroyed and many are taken into captivity by the Babylonians. They were warned by God through His prophets to get rid of their idols and return to God but they just wouldn't listen!

When you read these stories in the Bible, you begin to wonder ... "how could they be so dumb?!" They could have avoided problem after problem if they would have only obeyed God's basic laws. God always wanted to bless them. God is patient. He is willing to forgive us and cleanse us and ultimately use us for His glory. He wants to use our stories ... both good times and hard times ... so that others will be drawn to the Lord and enter into His kingdom where Jesus is and will be their King of kings and Lord of lords and where we will all worship the one and only true God!

God uses our difficult times so that we are "pruned" in order to be more fruitful (John 15) and to become more and more Christ-like. He wants us to draw close to Him and get to know Him more and love Him more so that we can represent Him and serve Him and share His love with others.

If times are difficult for you right now .. stay close to Him ... remain in Him ... get back to basics. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Matt 6:33). Spend more time in the Word. Pray without ceasing. Rejoice in the Lord. Recognize that He is in control and that all things do (and will) work together for good to those who love Him. He has plans for you! There is hope and a future! He also wants you to share your story with others.

Next week we are looking at Daniel who is a great example for all of us in our day in age and as we do our jobs, serve Him and have some influence on those around us.