The Battle Is the Lord's

Feeling like the whole world is against you and that you are standing alone before giants? Find courage from the words David called out to the Philistines just before he slew Goliath: "Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword or spear; for the battle is the LORD's, and He will give you into our hands." (1 Samuel 17:47)

Hope

It was a bit discouraging when only one of my corn seeds grew. I think the heat wave we had after my initial planting did the seeds in. But since it had been several weeks with no activity, I decided to replant. I took the hoe and re-furrowed my rows, giving them a bit more width. Then I added new corn, carrot, and Italian squash seeds. That was on Monday.

When I went to water my garden yesterday, I noticed that there was a bit of green sprouting from one of my corn hills. It was too early for the new seeds; so it had to have been from the old planting. What I had thought was dead, suddenly had new life.

Isn't that like us sometimes to give up before we should? Even though it had been well over a month of waiting, I had given up. The normal gestation period for that type of corn was two weeks at the latest. I had well passed that timeline. So no one could blame me for wanting to start over. But yet, here was new life; new growth.

Thankfully, Jesus doesn't give up on us. He waits patiently for growth, tending to us with diligence and love and care. He carefully waters us with His Word so we can be nourished and strengthened.

Don't give up on yourself. There is always hope. Just ask the Lord to be your gardener, and then wait for new growth to begin.

Get-togethers

Yesterday my husband and I hosted a Mothers' Day Picnic and Barbeque at our house with my Mom and my sister as the key guests. We had a very nice time, enjoying conversation, laughter, and good food. The weather was perfect, too, with a beautiful sunny day in the mid 70's.

Get-togethers are nice when the company is filled with those you love. The Lord wants to get-together with us. He wants that one-on-one fellowship where He can share in conversation that comes from reading His word. This brings spiritual nourishment that strengthens us for the day ahead. Our hearts are then filled with hope and encouragement that leads to joy.

Why not try getting together with God? You will be richly blessed with the encounter.

Trusting God When It's Tough

There are times when life is tough. Circumstances come our way, and it's hard to see where we are going. Those are not times to give up. Those are times to trust God.

Psalm 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." If this is true, then we need to read God's word, trust Him to lead the way, and then follow closely behind. He will navigate us through the rough seas and the barely visible trails. He is the Light that illuminates through the fog.

Having a tough time? Trust God to see you through.

Kindly Remove Your Hat

In the days of silent cinema, placards were used not only for dialogue within the motion picture, but also as a reminder of proper etiquette and courtesy for those within the theater. One placard read, "Ladies, Kindly Remove Your Hats." The style for fashionable ladies in those days were big hats, sometimes with lots of feathers and fluff. They blocked the view of anyone sitting behind them.

I thought about this in terms of our relationship with God. Sometimes we block God, not from seeing because of course He's Omniscient and sees everything, but from leading us in the direction we should go. We stand in His way and say, "Okay, God...lead!" Yet we are not stepping aside so we can follow. We need to take off our hats of headship and independence, and step out and step back so that we can follow the Lord completely.

It's not always easy to do so. Sometimes we've built ourselves some pretty big headgear, thinking we are much more than we are. But it is absolutely necessary for us to remove any resistance to God's guidance if we truly want Him to be the Director of our paths.

So, to gentlemen and to ladies everywhere, kindly remove your hats!

Renewed Vision

Have you noticed that as you age, your vision gets worse? In my case low lighting is bad news, especially with small print. Unless I'm reading, using the computer, or driving at night, I usually don't wear my glasses. This means I can forget about reading all those fine print labels at the supermarket, because, of course, I left my glasses at home thinking I didn't need them. I'm sure as I get older I will need to start carrying them around more and more.

Sometimes we lose vision in another way -- in our walk with God. We usually start out strong, stepping out in faith upon the journey the Lord would have us take. But as we age, and as life in general consumes our time, our vision weakens and blurs.

As Christians it is vital for us to have a strong vision for the Lord's work. We are here on this earth for His purposes. His plans need to succeed, not our own. Proverbs 29:18a tells us, "Where there is no vision, the people perish..." We need to renew our vision if we want to lead a joyous and productive Christian life.

So how do we renew our vision? We seek the ultimate vision restorer -- God. When we humble ourselves before Him, acknowledging the fact that our vision needs restoration, then He will show us how to get on the right track again. We may get our vision back quickly, or it may take some time (especially if we have let things fog over for too long); but God is faithful and He will lead us in the right direction once again as we daily put our trust in Him.

Reflection for the Day

Here is a Scripture to encourage those who try to serve the Lord with their whole heart:

"And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered."

2 Chronicles 31:21 NKJ