Bible Blender
In
those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying,
“Repent for the kingdom of heaven is
near.” That is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah. Matthew
3:1-3a (NIV)
John the Baptist was what we today call an itinerant
preacher. The prophet Isaiah described him as “the voice of one crying in the
wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the LORD.’”
John told the people to repent, to turn away from sin and
not return to those ways.
During the wandering of the Israelites, they would stop
doing things that God did not like but they always seemed to fall back in their
sinful ways.
When they closely followed God, things went well.
However, when the Israelites fell into sin and did not follow God’s ways, their
collective life was in torment. A former Sunday school teacher made the analogy
of a roller coaster ride—they followed God, all things went well; they disobeyed
God and all things did not go well at all.
As a people, we face difficulties at every turn. Nothing
happens in our world that gets accepted by a vast majority of us.
We must trust the LORD and wait patiently for Him to act.
We also must prepare our hearts for Him to use us according to His will.
I know so many who live on that proverbial "roller coaster ride", because they refuse to totally surrender to Christ and let Him lead the way. Without that total surrender we will always be tossed to and fro and never find peace. Yes, waiting on the Lord is the BEST way to live this life. I do tend to become impatient at times and want things done my way and in my time...but God knows best, and when I put my trust in Him I will never be disappointed.
ReplyDeletePam: Thank you for your thoughts. Yes, we have to trust Him implicitly. Sometimes we even have to wait for God to act on our behalf. Peace and blessings.
DeleteHi Pam and Cecelia! One thought I have is sometimes Christians can believe from OT readings people who have troubles must be sinning or hiding sin in their lives. This may or may not be true, as none of us can attain to the perfect standard of Christ, but only stand in His riteousness...however I feel that often there is a presumption...and potential danger in deduction of if I obey God I am blessed, if I don't I am cursed. The truth is, we can be in submission to God and suffer. This is what it is to be a human being in the hands of a soverign God. The reality is God allows suffering in the lives of those he loves, our response is to trust and obey, even while we suffer. Love to you both.
DeleteDawn: Yes, bad things happen to those who walk with God. We are human and God is infinite. Sometimes, God allows bad things to happen; we learn lessons from those experiences and grow stronger because of them. Peace and blessings to you and your husband.
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