Got in a walk, and some time at the pool last night.
An actual conversation from yesterday,
I was ordering flowers to be sent to a funeral home, while distracted with another project:
Flower lady: "and the message you'd like on the card?"
Me: "we're praying for your quick recovery,"
loooooong pause ....
Flower lady: "are you sure that's what you want to say?"
Nope.
I was reading in Gen. 50, where Joseph's brothers expressed their concern that, now that their father was dead, Joseph would take vengeance for their betrayal.
Joseph's response:
Genesis 50: 19 & 20: But Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.
That's exactly the key.
We can try to ascribe the best possible motives to people's nasty actions. And that's a worthwhile thing to do ... "Love thinks no evil" - 1 Cor. 13:5
But in the end, there are times when people are flat-out evil in their intentions and behavior.
When that occurs, we can still "...keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8)
How? By remembering what Joseph remembered -- that despite people's wrongs, GOD is ultimately the one Who allows things to happen. And He "causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (Rom. 8:28).
And we can take comfort that He's not remote from our struggles. When He allows things to happen that wound us, He is wounded also -- "In all their affliction He was afflicted ... " (Isaiah 63:9)
Trinka
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About Me
- Trinka
- The most important thing about me isn't about me at all. It's about God. Though He is perfectly holy, and I had no hopes of being so, He loved me (and you!). There had to be punishment for sin – justice had to be satisfied. So God sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, who lived a sinless life Himself, and died to pay the penalty for sin. Because of that sacrifice, I can be right with God. And so can you … and so can anyone who will cease trusting in their own goodness -- but rather acknowledge that they have none, and trust in Jesus Christ’s sacrifice instead. The less interesting things about me are: I am the office manager for the church I attend and also have a small business re-binding books & Bibles. I’m in the process of overcoming the horror of school gym classes, and learning to think of exercise as a “good thing” rather than an exercise in public humiliation. I love being outdoors, particularly when Michigan allows a person to be outside without the danger of frostbite. (that would be “July”)
2 comments:
(This is the same as the comment I just deleted...I just hit the wrong button the first time and posted instead of previewed...)
Lol! It's a good thing the flower lady was following up behind you! I so appreciate it when people help me with stuff like that when it's obvious my mind is scattered in 900 different directions.
There truly are times when it's impossible to find goodness anywhere in people's motives. There are times when it's clear it's all about "sticking it to 'em."
It's in those times it becomes necessary to yield ourselves to the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who's been given to us and to worship Jesus who will never leave us, never forsake us, and never "stick it to us." It's in those times we have an opportunity to say to the Lord, "Lord, I thank You, and I praise You! You're working something really good and really glorious in my life through this!" And we have examples of this very thing to encourage us such as Joseph, Esther and her uncle Mordecai, the 3 Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, Daniel in the lion's den, and the list goes on and on.
And, of course, when we think on the state of the person doing the "sticking it to 'em" and we realize where it will ultimately land them if they don't get it right and get right with God, there's nothing else to do but cry out to God for mercy for them, and that love of God shed abroad in our hearts earnestly desires to bless them as Jesus commanded.
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