Category: Obedience

Direction and Strength

suzieinglis
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

My kids had a lemonade stand over the summer and wanted to use the money they received (from very generous neighbors) to buy a basketball hoop.

I searched high and low for a good deal and found a previously owned hoop that wouldn’t exceed their budget. My husband was happy to go and retrieve it, hoisting it in the back of his truck.

When he got home, we had a few challenges. First, we had to get this long, and quite large basketball hoop out of the truck. Second, we needed to figure out how to get the very, very heavy base out without dropping it. Third, we needed to set the pole upright on that very, very heavy base and secure it.

My husband thought through a plan and step by step, we were able to carefully get the pole, attached backboard and basket (all in one piece) out of the truck and onto the grass. Then he grabbed a dolly from the garage and placed it like a ramp off the tailgate of the truck. Setting some heavy objects at the bottom of the dolly to hold it in place, we worked together to pull the gravel-filled base from the truck bed onto the dolly.

Once the base was in place on our driveway, we (meaning my husband) 😉 had to lift the pole and position it into the base. While he held it in place, I had to insert and properly line up the bolts. This sounds significantly easier than it actually was. Let’s just say we had to try it from a different direction after our first attempts failed.

Finally, we got everything in place and secured. Phew!

I said to my husband, “I am amazed at what you can do. I never could have done that.” He replied, “You just did.” I responded, “Only with your direction and strength.”

And then it hit me. Isn’t that how it is with God? He gives us a really big, or difficult task and we think, “no, I can’t do that.” Remember Moses?

But with God’s direction and strength, can’t we do anything He wants us to do? I believe we can.

When God asks us to do something, let’s not focus on the greatness of the task, but rather on the greatness of our God.

Now, every time we shoot hoops on the driveway, I have a visual reminder of how God works in us using His direction and strength. Next time you see a basketball hoop, maybe God will bring that to mind.

Let us go be radiant this week.

When Next to Nothing is Astoundingly Abundant

suzieinglis
Photo by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi on Pexels.com

Maybe you’ve had a time in your life when you sensed God telling you to do something, but you felt reluctant because you didn’t think you had what you needed to accomplish what He wanted you to do.

Moses (read Exodus 3 and 4 for context) is a prime example of such a scenario. God had a mission for him: “So now go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” (Ex. 3:10). What was Moses’ reply in the following verse? “Who am I that I should go to Pharoah and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” As the story continues, Moses comes up with potential problems and other reasons why he doesn’t have what it takes to accomplish God’s mission.

Let’s fast forward to a time when Jesus had a mission for the twelve disciples he had been training. He was going to send them out to preach to the lost sheep of Israel. In Matthew 10:1, we read that the disciples were given authority to “drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” However, in vs. 9-10, we read that they were not to take the following: any gold or silver or copper (money/coins), a bag for the journey, an extra shirt, sandals or a staff.  

Essentially, the disciples were given a mission and were to take next to nothing when they went. I don’t know about you, but reading that makes me a bit uncomfortable. I always have stuff with me. And I mean always! I want to be prepared for any and every situation. There is security and comfort when we have things with us, right?

So why did Jesus instruct the disciples not to take any of those things on their first mission? One commentator writes, “that they might be always unencumbered, free, ready for motion.”

Benson Commentary

I love that. It reminds me of David, when he was preparing to fight Goliath and he was given armor to wear that was way too cumbersome and heavy for him. There was no way he could fight Goliath being weighed down like that. He didn’t need that. No, he just gathered 5 small stones and used a light-weight slingshot (next to nothing compared to a full suit of armor) and it did the job.

What would do the job for the disciples as they went out per Jesus’ instruction? Wouldn’t they need something to defend themselves? I mean, Jesus warned them of the opposition they would encounter. But He also told them not to take a rod to defend themselves. I might have felt a little nervous about that.

Why wouldn’t He want them to have a rod? Perhaps “…because being the servants of the Lord, they were to be defended by his power as well as supported by his bounty.”

Benson commentary

They didn’t even have to worry about what words they would say when they were arrested. Matthew 10:19-20 says, “But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the spirit of your Father speaking through you.” God would even provide the words they needed! He provides everything we need to accomplish what He has called us to do.

Remember the feeding of the 5,000? How many loaves of bread and fish were there? It was next to nothing, right? The disciples knew it wasn’t nearly enough to feed everyone. And yet, astoundingly, there was an abundance of food.

God has a pattern of using little to accomplish much – from next to nothing to astoundingly abundant. Perhaps it’s to remind us that He is always with us—that He, alone, is enough. Perhaps it’s to help us exercise our faith and dependence on Him. Perhaps it’s to help us focus on Him and what He wants us to do.

My encouragement to you, in a world where the enemy sends messages like, “you’re not enough” and “you don’t have enough,” remember that God is with us and when we are with Him, we have everything we need, often in abundance, to accomplish His will.

Let us be faithfully obedient to His call and let us be radiant this week.

If you thought of other examples in Scripture like the ones I gave above, please comment below. I love hearing from my readers. Please also pass this along to anyone God brought to mind while you were reading this post.

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The Ark Encounter

suzieinglis
This is the Ark lit up one evening during my time there

Hello friends! I returned about a week and a half ago from my first trip to the “Blue Grass” state, otherwise known as Kentucky. While there, I had the amazing opportunity to experience a life-size replica of Noah’s Ark called the Ark Encounter. The Ark was built to Biblical dimensions and is truly a sight to behold.

Walking through it gave me such a surreal sense of what it must have been like for Noah and his family during the days of the flood.

People often wonder how all the animals could have fit inside the Ark, and I was reminded that the Bible tells us they were “kinds” of animals. In other words, there would have been a dog “kind,” a cat “kind” and so on, which helps explain having enough room.

As I gazed around the various exhibits and displays found within the Ark, I saw large terra-cotta-colored jars lined up on one side showing what it was like to store food and water for the people onboard. You know, I had honestly never spent much time thinking about them having to store water before. I had also not really thought about how they were able to get light inside the Ark. There were so many logistical details that had escaped me when reading through the Biblical account.

 Our God is a God of order and detail and not only do we see that in creation as a whole, but also in the instructions given to Noah for building the Ark.

Having the opportunity to experience the replica of the Ark in person really helped the Biblical account of Noah and that period in history come alive for me. If you have some vacation time coming up and are in the area, I’d highly recommend a trip to the Ark Encounter.

In the meantime, feel free to check out a blog post I did called, Dry Ground, where I talk about what happened when the flood waters receded and relate that to other passages in Scripture about dry ground.

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My encouragement:  let us go be radiant this week, reflecting the light of Jesus.