5.28.14

2 Samuel 13:15 Then suddenly Ammon's love turned to hate, and he hatted her even more than he loved her. "Get out of here!" he snarled at her.

My Thoughts

Ammon was so consumed with wanting Tamar that he was able to be talked into taking her by force. After she begged him to marry her so that she would not be dishonored. But his sin caused him to hate himself so much he couldn't love Tamar, even though he had loved her very much. 

How often do we do things we know we shouldn't to have something we want?  You can read this and think, "No worries here, I would never do what Ammon did!" But in truth we do it all the time in smaller ways. We do it when we don't wait on God's timing in our lives. 

One example I can thin of is when we go shopping for something we can't really afford yet. So we put our purchase on a credit card so we can have it now!  After all, we can pay the bill on the credit card. What is the big deal? The purchase feels really good, until we get home. Then the joy of having that pretty thing has vanished into thin air. There is a gnawing at out tummy that makes us wonder why. Even a month later when the bill comes in there is that feeling. When if we had just waited until we had the money, the purchase could have felt like a gift, a gift that God gave us because He loves us so.

See that is Satan telling us, "Buy this you deserve it! I know you don't have the money, but you want it!" Then Satan turns right around and uses what he tells us to do, against us. That is only one example..there art millions, one for every person. The I should clean the house but I won't, not yet. The I know I shouldn't watch "this" movie but I will. If there is guilt after we have done something it is something Satan talked us into! If there is joy after, it is something God asked us to do, or something that God is giving us. 

When we get ahead of God, we are saying to Him, "You don't do enough for me, I will take this into my own hands." All that does is give Satan power over us, and Satan uses that power to destroy us. It cause Ammon to hate the person he loved. 

Oh what joy we rob ourselves of by not waiting on God!  When we wait on God, He so often gives us much more than we get for ourselves.  That $80 dress that we "had to have"  could cost us at least triple if we can't pay it off and we can't pay it off, so we make the minimum payment. Along with the guilt we feel. If we just waited on God to tell us we could have it, we could have had three dresses. 

We get in such a big hurry to have, that we take away all the joy in having. And in that loss of joy we go after even more searching for joy. When waiting on God would give us joy in what we have already, and joy in what He gives us in His timing.  

5.29.12

2 Samuel 14:14 All of us must die eventually.  Our lives are like wanted spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again.  But God does not just sweep life away; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him.

My Thoughts

Don't you love this!!... God devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from Him!!  Isn't this wonderful... God just loves us so much! God puts people in our paths... God sets up situations so that we can see and understand that we need him.... God does what it takes for us to get back to him because he loves us so much... God wants us with him!!  God wants to protect us... God wants to show us his love.

Just this morning I was getting dressed and talking to God.  I said to God, "God I am trying to be good, to do better all the time!"  God said right back to me!!  "Jeannie, I always love you... I want you to do better not so I can love you, I already do, always!  I want you to do better so that you can have a good life, so you can be happy and peaceful...I don't want you to sin because sin separates us...I don't like to be separated from you!  I always love you!  Just keep trying and asking for forgiveness. Keep learning and growing so your life will be better...so we won't be separated."

God drops it down into our souls when we have done wrong...so we can ask forgiveness, so that we can be near Him again!  God wants us to confess not to shame us...but so we will know what we have done so we won't do it again.  When we learn not to repeat wrongs...our lives are better...and there are less times that we sin...the less we sin the less we are separated from God until we confess. God makes us aware of our wrongs so that we can find our way back to Him. All because He wants to love us...to care for us... to do for us... to shower us with His blessing because we mean so much to him!

When we feel God telling us we have done wrong..it is not a time to run away... it is time to run to God saying "I am so sorry God.. please forgive me!  I love you so much!"  Then God will forgive us...and engulf us in His wonderful love!!

5.27.12

2 Samuel 12:26-28 Meanwhile, Joab was fighting against Rabbah, the capital of Ammon, and he captured the royal fortifications.  Joab sent messengers to tell David, "I have fought against Rabbah and captured its water supply.  Now bring the rest of the army and capture the city. Otherwise, I will capture it and get credit for the victory."

My Thoughts

Joab loved King David so much that he would not dare do anything that would make him seem to stand out above the King.  He would not do anything that made it look like the king's victory was his. This is how much we should love our king, God. We should never take credit for our accomplishments...because without God we would not been able to accomplish anything.  God is who gives us strength... God is who gives us knowledge, God is who puts the right people in our paths to help us accomplish things... God is who gives us solutions to our problems... God is why we are who we are... we are able to accomplish so much because we love and depend on God.  We should always make sure that God gets the credit for who we are and what we do because we love Him so much. We should love God even more than Joab loved King David!