So this morning I get myself together and head to church for early service. I'm singing and all, staying focused on worship when the preacher gets up and introduces the title of his sermon--Running on Empty. Umm, umm, um. Boy I tell you. God sure does know what you need when you need it. The topic was taken from II Kings 4:1-9. In the passage (I'm paraphrasing), there is a widow who cries out to Elisha saying that his servant who revered the Lord, her husband is dead, and the creditor is coming to take her two sons as slaves to clear the debt that they owe. Elisha is all cool and asks her what she has in her house. She says nothing but a little oil. He tells her to go and ask the neighbors for empty jars (not just a few), then go inside, shut the door, and pour oil inside all the jars and put each jar aside after they are filled. She did what he said and kept pouring until all the jars she had were filled and that's when the oil stopped flowing. Then Elisha told her to go and sell the oil and pay the debts and for her and her sons to live on what was left. I thought that was a powerful passage demonstrating a miracle of God. The preacher went on to note that you must understand that all you have, God allowed it and he can take it so that you will rely fully on Him. Without Jesus, you are no one! Sometimes we get so confident and prideful and we feel like we don't need Him (we don't actually say that but we show it in our actions) and He has to sit us down to remind us who He is. As long as you stay empty, God can fill you. Emptiness can be a gift from God--don't be afraid to be empty. When you are empty, there is no one you can turn to but God. It is when you are empty when He can use you. He has the power to deliver you out of any situation! Umph. I getting excited just thinking about his grace and mercy. I'm glad I heard that, I really needed that cause I know right now I'm running on empty but I have full confidence that God will fill me again as he has done for me plenty times before.
After church, I got to my mom's just in time to see my nephew before he left her house. I love him so much! He cried when he had to go home cause he wanted to stay and I was sad to see him go but I had to get some work done before evening service (yep, I gots to go back--it's the least I could do!) He was looking mean in this pic, probably 'cause it was hot out there so we gave him a popsicle so he was better after that. Note: my head is really not that big, it's just the angle of the camera and the comparison of mine to a 2 year old's. No really.
I got a chance to listen to some of the Dave Ramsey Show (great advice, check him out www.DaveRamsey.com), touch basis with a couple of clients, twist my hair, watch "Secrets of a Millionaire Mind", take a nap, and eat two meals. I must say, today was a good day. And I got my daily dose of Judges in...
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Okay, so in Judges 3, God leaves nations as a test of the children of Israel to once again see if they would obey Him. Of course, they didn't learn and they were sold to a king who they served for 8 years. They cried out to God and God delivered them through Othniel (husband of Achash mentioned in Chapter 1) and they had rest for 40 years. Then they reverted back to old ways of disobedience and had to serve Eglon, King of Moab for 18 years. They cried out and God delivered them through Ehud. The bible notes that Ehud was left handed (v.15). Being left-handed meant that he could hide a dagger on the opposite of his garment and use it expectantly. Which he did. He was real slick with his attack. He brought a tribute from Israel to King Eglon (why would you accept a tribute from people who you defeated and took their city??) and when Ehud dismissed everyone from the room, he stabbed Eglon with his dagger and left before his servants came in to check on him. After this, Israel had rest for 80 years. Then God delivered them again through Shamagar.
Question: What have we learned?? Stop disobeying God so you won't have to keep going through these same tests. Will they learn? Have we learned?
Oh, when I watched "Secrets of a Millionaire Mind" on PBS, I decided I would take on one of their suggestions on my 21 days-- No Complaining! I'm not going to complain. I'm going to need some help so if you hear me complaining I give you permission to call me out on it!
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