Lately I've been listening to the Bible on Cd. It's what I do on my way in to church in the morning - traffic is usually slow so it gives me a good chunk of time just to listen.
Over the last month or saw I've been in the Kings-Nehemiah. The lesson I'm learning most of all. Heart stuff. It's not even so much about what you do - take David for example - as much as it is about heart. However, what you do will have definite consequences - so don't just dismiss that.
One statement sticks out after many weeks..."He sought God, worked hard and God blessed him." So there's something to be said for what you do - okay, that was a tangent...
Personally, the thing that's touched me the most over the last month or so is the need for humility - not easy when you've always thought of yourself as higher than you ough. I desire it so bad - I find myself praying for it every day as I begin my day, and then I catch myself throughout the day saying this or that, that might just puff me up a bit or exalt myself in the eyes of others. That which I want to do I don't do. Still I pray to that end, and will seek that each day.
The other thing that I've been impacted by has been Solomon's life. It's hard, in our society, not to be led, even in small ways, by the desire to accumulate and possess stuff. I've know what it is to be poor and not have enough money to even be able to provide for a place to live. But those aren't my circumstances these days. I look at my life and although there's much we don't have and can't have, I consider myself rich in every sense of the word. And often I find myself drawn to buy this or that - stuff - things I don't really need - but get because I can afford them. And then I read/hear about Solomon - he only asked God for two things - Wisdom & Knowlege. That's it. He didn't ask to be rich or for stuff, just wisdom and knowlege.
Like the Humility thing, I'm praying lots about Wisdom & Knowlege these days.
It's neat to see some of the things that is resulting in. It's neat to see the awareness it's bringing into my life of several areas where I wasn't even aware that God really hadn't had control over. It's not so neat to see when handing over control isn't my always easy or my first desire. The mountain top is still far away in the distance.
Thank God for his "STEADFAST" love & grace. Otherwise, I'd be sunk and without hope.
Posted by ed | TrackBack