Remembering God's Promises
Please see our previous blog from December 24 titled "Please Pray" for the story behind this blog entry.
Thank you all for your encouraging emails and calls. Keith, Joseph, Tim and I are having a wonderful Christmas in South Carolina with Keith's family. As sister Marcia Brown reminded us, we can't let the devil steal our joy and we haven't let him.
I want to share a bit about what God had been teaching us through the last week. For our forty-day media fast I had decided to get into God's Word more, so I sought out the only book in the Bible that has 40 chapters...Exodus. It helped me keep on track with the days and has revealed to Keith and I some very practical lessons.
As I read through Exodus, I passed through the all-familiar amazing miracles of God as he led his people to the promised land. But I was really surprised by my judgmental attitude towards the children of Israel.
I found myself thinking, "These people are so stupid. Don't they remember what God did for them? Don't they remember the promises that the God of the universe made to them? I mean...he walks in clouds and fire with them every day, and they complain and build golden statues!" (I have a natural aversion to whining.)
Then God laughed at me and had me take a step back from my thoughts. When I looked at the things that the Israelites complained about and how they cried out to God anytime things got a little hard, I had to see myself reflected in the Israelites actions.
When we got the news concerning our support shortage it was easy to be afraid and start to doubt God's promise of a ministry house. We can even slip into planning our own solutions instead of listening to God's voice in the situation.
But reading Exodus reminds us that God is in control of the journey, and he will still make good on his promises. If He wants us to have a ministry house in Boston, he will bring it to pass in his own time and in his way, and we will be faithful to listen and obey his words. Even though we may not see what he is doing, we will not forget his faithfulness and miracles in our lives, and we trust him to lead us forward.
