Solomon’s choice

If there’s anyone in the Bible I’d like to shake and say “What are you doing,” it’s King Solomon.

God had literally given him everything he could ever hope or wish for. He had riches beyond belief. The very goblets that he drank out of were made of gold! He had so much of the precious metal that he regarded silver as virtually worthless.

But God didn’t stop with material possessions. He gave Solomon wisdom well beyond his years. Kings and leaders from other nations would come and sit with him for hours while he answered their questions with his incredible wisdom. Today, centuries later, King Solomon is still proclaimed as the wisest man who ever lived.

Perhaps best of all, the Lord gave Solomon peace. In a land that has known little through the years. he lived and reigned for forty years in complete peace. It allowed him to construct the fabulous temple out of the riches God had provided. He lived a truly blessed life.

All God asked of Solomon was to stay true to him and follow his commandments.

But, unfortunately, Solomon choose to not always do that. Instead of one wife, Solomon wanted hundreds and he took them from foreign lands that worshiped idols, going against God’s direct command. In the end they led him astray and were his downfall.

In his later years looking back on his life, Solomon realized all he had was vanity. He had learned the hard truth that without God, all the riches and wisdom didn’t mean a thing. Instead of continuing to grow in the Lord Solomon had choosen another path and it cost him dearly.

While I want to shake Solomon and say “What were you thinking,” in reality, I often do the same thing. How often have I not obeyed the Lord knowing full well whatever he has for me is always what’s best.

We’re all faced with choices each and every day. Some lead to life and some to death. Right choices usually enhance our life and wrong ones often bring us trouble. Most days are a mixture of both.

No one is perfect and we don’t always get it right, but my prayer is that as I grow in the Lord I will make more right choices than wrong ones.

What about you?

I don’t want to miss out on anything the Lord has for me, especially those pearly white gates, streets of gold and an eternal life in God’s presence that comes with life’s most important choice of accepting Jesus as our savior for the forgiveness of our sins.

That’s one choice I hope we all get right.

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Loving Communication

I often find myself scrolling through Facebook and thinking “Oh how cute!” when I see a friend’s child’s or their grandchild’s adorable picture; or “How fun that looks like it would be!” when I see a post from someone’s amazing vacation. But I don’t always take the time to respond with my comments or even give it a simple thumbs up.

Every now and then I find myself thinking about how much I care for this person or the other. But guess what? Thinking it is not communicating and if I never tell them how much I love or appreciate them, they will never know.

Now Facebook wasn’t a thing back when Paul wrote Hebrews, but I still get convicted when I scroll through a Facebook post and don’t bother to acknowledge an accomplishment from one of my friends. Not that God wants me to be constantly on social media, but He does tell us to communicate. The wording here even says to sacrifice in order to communicate.

Communication takes effort. Even a short comment on a social media post takes time and thought. Talking takes energy and writing a hand written note takes special effort, but it is worth it.

When we are communicating we are focusing outwardly on another person. When we’re not communicating we’re focusing inwardly on our self. There are times God wants us to focus and meditate on Him alone, but to serve him always takes some type of communication.

God is always communicating with us either through his Word, teachers, the Holy Spirit, others, and even nature. While we may not be able to physically see God in this dispensation, we can definitely hear him if we are listening.

This verse is a good reminder for us to slow down and take some time to let others know what we are feeling and how much they mean to us. Just as we as parents are pleased when we see our children getting along, God must be pleased when he sees His children uplifting, encouraging and helping each other.

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The Beauty in Stillness

I can still hear my mom saying to me when I was a squirmy little kid. “Will you just sit still!” In some respects I believe that has been God’s message to the world over the past several months of COVID. We’ve all been forced to slowdown to some extent. That part of COVID is perhaps a silver lining.

For in order to really know God, we have to turn off the distractions and get into his Word and listen for His voice. His character is revealed through those inspired passages and much of His will for our life is uncovered there.

God through the Holy Spirit also speaks to us in a still quiet voice. Seldom does He shout. Our world is loud and our lives are busy, but God won’t complete for our attention. Rather He tugs lightly on our heartstrings so that we usually won’t even hear him unless we are attentive and listening. Thankfully, God can be persistent though, always gently drawing us to do what He’s desiring of us.

As the pace of our lives begins to pick up again, let’s not neglect time to be still, pray, read the Word and listen for His still small voice to guide us. In doing so we will live life to the fullest and experience the most wonderful adventure He has planned for us – now and in eternity.

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Guiding light

When I was a little girl I’d often spend the night with my cousins who lived with their grandparents. They had an outhouse for a bathroom. I can remember us little girls taking a flashlight after dark and following the path down the trail to that creepy toilet which was in a field behind the main house. It was always a little scary to us because we never knew what was lurking in the darkness.

This verse is a picture of what the Word of God does for us as we travel through life. It guides us through our journey and helps avoid both perceived and real dangers along the way.

The Bible remains the number one selling book year after year! Unfortunately though, many people haven’t discovered the jewels of inspiration, wisdom, and hope that are recorded there.

Some say they don’t believe the Bible, yet have never even read it. If that’s you, I’d say now is the time to dive in and discover it’s truths. The creator of the universe has given you a manuel for a successful life here in earth. Aren’t you curious to know what’s in it?

Dave Ramsey says that everyone should read the proverbs for their incredible wisdom even if they aren’t a Christian. I agree. That book alone will provide you wisdom for relationships, finances, health, and life in general.

There’s a big movement within the church today for believers to get more into the study of the Word. Many are participating in one or two year plans to read it through cover to cover. This is good because even though it isn’t written chronologically, the Bible is actually a story. It’s the story of man from his creation to eternity and God’s plan for his redemption. Reading it cover to cover allows the story to unfold.

It’s exciting to see the church gaining the wisdom presented in God’s word. As the days get darker before the return of Christ and Christian persecution intensifies, we are going to need the strength the Word of God brings more than ever.

My greater desire, though, is for those who aren’t believers to begin to search it out. For not only will they find help, wisdom, and guidance for these moments in time, they will find the keys to eternal life as well.

The value of Christian community

Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works; not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Hebrews 10:24

We are commanded by God to assemble together as believers; but many Christians today are being forbidden to attend church by their government, are afraid to go because of the pandemic or have just got out of the habit over the 2020 shutdown.

The Bible instructs us to assemble more as the day approaches. The day is approaching my fellow believers. Christian persecution has already began even in our beloved America.

The warp speed at which were now experiencing censorship of conservative Christian ideas is alarming.

By gathering together we gain strength and encouragement from each other. We help each other draw closer to God and live out His commandments.

If you’ve not been getting together with other believers, start this week even if it’s just a small group Bible study. We’re going to need each other more than ever in the coming days.

How to Start your day in a happy place

The birds sing to me each morning as I sit on my back deck having devotions. How do I know they are singing to me? Because I’m the only one out there!

Okay, I get it. They would be singing even if I wasn’t there because they’re actually singing to God. But I do get to enjoy listening in on their melodious tunes. A since God made the birds and He knew I’d be there, just maybe He’s allowing them to sing for me too! Nevertheless, they remind me to be as cheerful and happy as they are, inspiring me to welcome the day by offering my own praise and thanksgiving to the God who created it all.

Depending on the time of year, it’s often dark when I sleepily trek out to the deck with a cup of coffee in hand in one hand and my Bible (which is now on my phone) in the other. I don’t mind the dark because I love looking at the stars. Yet I can always tell when the dawn is about to break as the birds will start singing. It’s the first sign that the eastern sky is about to ever so slowly get increasingly lighter reminding me that God is not yet finished with mankind. He’s allowing us yet one more day.

Granted there is much to be concerned about in our world as it moans and groans from the sin that we’ve brought into it. But the birds are always happy and they faithfully keep singing their tunes. They still have something to sing about and are always excited to see the sun. Maybe they know something we don’t! They lift my spirits and encourage me to look for the things I can sing about, too. If they can be thrilled to see the dawn of a new day then so can I.

I know all the birds on the hill and all that moves in the fields is mine. Psalm 50:11

How Excited is Jesus about You?

I was there when He set the heavens in place,

When He marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,

When He established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,

When He gave the sea it’s boundary so it’s waters would not overstep it’s command and when He marked out the foundations of the earth.

Then I was constantly at His side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in His presence.

Rejoicing in His whole world and delighting in Mankind. Proverbs 8:27-31

This beautiful passage is speaking about wisdom, but I think it’s also referring to Jesus. The Bible tells us that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. (John1:1). That Word was Jesus.

“I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in His presence. Rejoicing In His whole world and delighting in mankind.” Proverbs 8:30-31

Think about it! Jesus was there and was thrilled to watch God create this world and even more excited about mankind. That’s us!

Did Jesus know then how evil we would become? How we would abuse the incredible gift of free will that God was imparting to us? Did He know that one day he would have to come and horribly suffer and die to redeem us?

Yes he did indeed! Yet he was still excited to see us come into being.

At one point man became so evil that God had to practically wipe us off the face of the earth and start over. The Bible says that he even regretted making man. But thankfully, God is not a quitter, and he saved a remnant and started over, giving us one more chance at life.

His patience with us throughout our days has been remarkable and His overwhelming mercy and grace has spared us from extinction for thousands of years.

Presently, Jesus is anxiously waiting for God to give Him the nod to come and get everyone who has accepted his sacrifice of love and made him Lord over their life. We can all look forward to that soon coming day when He will take us home to the place he has been preparing for us to live forever with him!

Now that’s exciting!

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed because His compassions never fail. They are new every morning: Great is thy faithfulness. – Lamentations 3:22-23

How to Cope with an Unfair Advantage

When my children were little, often they’d come screaming to me, that’s not fair, whenever they had a conflict with a teacher, sibling or friend. My first answer without fail was always Life’s not fair. Why did I say that? Because life isn’t fair and I didn’t want to raise my children with a sense of entitlement. Life doesn’t owe us anything. It’s a gift — a precious gift from God. None of us had one thing to do with bringing our existence into this world.

Even thought we are all created equal in that we are all human, we are not all created the same. God created each of us differently with our own set of gifts, talents, physical characteristics, intelligence, athletic ability, strengths and weaknesses. There has never been nor will there ever be any other person on earth exactly like you or I, unless, of course, you have an identical twin and even then their personalities are unique.

No two people are the same in their upbringing either. Our families are different. We are exposed to different environments and are offered different opportunities. Likewise, we all face different challenges. No matter how privileged we are, we will face trouble in this life. No one gets a pass. Jesus promised it. (John 16:33)

Recently, the world watched in horror as a man was slowly and deliberately killed by a police officer. It was a senseless act of violence that never should have happened. Unfair is an understatement. George Floyd should have been given his day in court for his accused crime instead of an immediate death sentence. That’s the way our system of justice works.

We then watched in horror again as angry mobs burned businesses, looted stores and mercilessly beat innocent people to the death. Instead of just the perpetrator paying for his crime, at least seventeen innocent people had to pay with their life and hundreds of others had to pay with the loss of their business or property to the tune of millions of dollars. Again, totally unfair and most unfortunate.

What’s even more shocking was to listen to a major news commentators actually condone these acts of terror as “Sometimes necessary in order for change to happen.”

Seriously? Is this the way we now handle our grievances in America? Pro-life advocates have been marching on Washington for over 40 years for laws to be enacted to stop the killing of our unborn sons and daughters. Are they supposed to start burning down abortion clinics now and murdering people in order to bring attention to the matter and get the results they want?

Of course not. The Bible instructs us not to return evil for evil. (Romans 12:17) Jesus never did. He went so far as to pray for the forgiveness of those who were nailing him to a cross.

One thing that is equal in each of us, however, is our free will. God will never impose His will on us. It’s a part of being human. We’ve all been give control over our attitudes and our actions. It’s how we choose those attitudes and actions that makes the most difference in our life.

God hasn’t invited us into a disorderly, unkempt life but into something holy and beautiful – as beautiful on the inside as the outside. – 1 Thessalonians 4:7 – The Message