It
is kind of cold and windy today, but not too bad overall. As I sit here and
type this, there is a male red cardinal sitting at a small bird bath right
outside my window getting a drink. I had hung up a bird feeder about a week ago
that has three different compartments. I put seed for all birds in one, seed
for finches in one, and seed for cardinals in the last one. I have actually
been seeing some cardinals feed at the feeder. Probably cheating a bit about
bringing the cardinals to me, but I need all the help I can get. I still see
them as a reminder from God that He is watching over me each and every day.
I
have been reading a book by Tim Gray and Jeff Cavins called “Walking With God”.
It is a book that explains how the Bible all ties together with God’s plan for
us and for the world. This is a great book, and really helps the Old Testament
to make more sense as a part of God’s grand plan for all of us and for our
salvation. The greatest prophets and leaders in the Old Testament each had
their trials and tests from God. They did a lot of dumb things that we would
probably do as well. Their errors make me feel more human and more able to be
able to achieve heaven in the end, even though God knows I will screw up a lot
of things while I am still here.
It
all starts with Adam and Eve. They have everything we all could want – living
in paradise on earth, and that wasn’t good enough. They had to try for more and
to not trust God completely. Cain kills Able because he was jealous of Able’s
relationship with God. All through the Old Testament we find prophets,
patriarchs, and people who God chooses to be leaders and they all are very
human in their lack of faith in God’s plan as they journey toward their
ultimate destinies. There is Noah, Noah’s sons Ham and Seth, Abraham, Isaac,
Moses, David, and the list goes on. Each of these men is chosen by God, who
then reveals His plan for them, and even having heard directly from God, they
go off and take matters into their own hands and try to do things according to
their timing, and not according to God’s timing. Abram was promised to have descendants
more numerous than the Stars in the heavens. He doesn’t
think his elderly wife could help with this, so he begets a child with his
wife’s slave. That turns out badly for Abraham, and the stories go on. You will
have to read the book. It helps to make a lot of sense of these stories we have
heard about for years and maybe never thought much about.
The
lesson I see in all of this is that we, as humans are always trying to be in
control of our lives and to make things happen on our time. When things go bad,
we get angry with God and have trouble giving up that “control” we thought we
had. I think God uses hard times to make us realize who is really in control.
He has a plan for each of us. We need to learn to accept that plan and to live
with it as best we are able to.
Make
yours a great weekend, and remember it is Mother’s Day this Sunday.
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