Never be Swallowed by Life

"If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, When men rose up against us,
Then they would have swallowed us alive, When their wrath was kindled against us;
Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, The stream would have gone over our soul; Then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul."
Psalm 124:2-5

Image By: cod_gabriel

Simple actions like checking the news or Facebook can leave you feeling buried, not to mention the daily grind. Sometimes I would swear that laundry and dishes are going to consume my soul.  It's easy to get in the mindset of just trying to survive, to keep your head above water, while secretly wondering if at some point it will just be too much.

The good news: With Jesus you will never be swept away. By Jesus' side you will never disappear, no matter what comes your way.

Knowing Good

"Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." James 4:17

Image by: Pink Sherbet Photography

 

 

The ways this verse can apply are endless and staggering.

We know it's good to say hi to that really obnoxious person, but we chose to avoid them instead (sin)

We're called to care for the orphans, yet how many of us really adopt? (sin)

We know we should exercise and start eating less (sin)

We know we should do good, but there are others called to those areas. We don't want to be inconvenienced unless a bolt of lightning from heaven strikes us with the idea. (sin)

So many sins in our day to day lives, not from doing something wrong, but from not doing something right.

I like to think that God simply hasn't called me to all the things 'm not doing, but does he really need to tell me to do all the things that I know are good to do? What parent isn't thrilled when their child cleans their room without being asked? Are we watching opportunities pass?

Thoughts?

Who's the Guy whose Wife asked for Springs?

"Then Caleb said, "Whoever attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, to him I will give my daughter
Achsah as wife." And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah as wife. Now it happened, when she came to him, that she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, "What do you wish?" So she said to him, "Give me a blessing; since you have given me land in the South, give me also springs of water." And Caleb gave her the upper springs and lower springs." Judges 1:12-15

Alright, so that's very interesting. The same story is recorded almost word for word in Joshua 15:16-19. I've read this story many times and always wondered why it was included. So I did some background research on this guy Othniel and guess what? He was the first judge of Israel. I know, I know - I should have caught that before. But there are a lot of funny names and I never made the connection. Anyhow, in Judges 3:7-11 we learn that Israel forgot God, got taken over, God raises up Othniel who judges Israel, goes to war, prevails, there's rest in Israel for 40 years, them he dies. So I guess the guy whose wife asked for springs played a rather big roll after all.