LEARNINGS TO SHARE…

Let me introduce to you a special guest writer.  I have asked Hal Wilson, our college small group leader, to help me with some of these devotional posts.  I think you will be encouraged…thanks Hal!

When Mike first mentioned that maybe I should give writing one of these blog posts I was instantly excited, then suddenly nervous.  I’ve heard it said that public speaking is one of the biggest fears of people in America, but what about public writing?  As I thought about the people that I actually know reading this I started to get a little worried, but soon remembered some of the many verses telling us not to fear.  In fact, just a little earlier in Genesis (15:1) the Lord tells Abram “Do not be afraid, Abram.  I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” (NKJV)  In Genesis 21:17 the angel of God tells Hagar to “fear not.”  In Genesis 26:24 the Lord tells Isaac, “I’m the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you.” (NKJV)

So I put aside my fears and dove into the readings.  Surely it was Divine Providence that had Matthew 10:19-20 as part of our reading for today.  In the verse Jesus tells his disciples “do not worry about how or what you should speak.  For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”
It is when we stop focusing on what we want to say or think others want to hear and focus on God that the words come.  I do not know what to say to the people of Haiti tonight, but God does and I pray he speaks through all of those who give donations and the aid workers and most importantly those who unite in prayer for all involved.  In today’s shrunken world, I even have a former basketball player whose family is from Haiti, and as I wrote this he does not know if his extended family is ok.  I pray that God would comfort him and that he would do as 1 Peter 5:7 says and “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares for you.” (NLT)

It is hard to try and find any good in tragedies, especially of this magnitude.  But as Mike mentioned in his Day 2 post, we are shown in the readings that good can come from Man’s selfish schemes and I believe that good can come of this disaster.

We see in the verses in Matthew that Jesus sends his disciples out not with their own plans, but with the wisdom of God.  To put that in Crossroadian I hope that as we go out (Building) that we base our journey on God (Being).  In Psalm 12 we learn that Man’s words are, as my college coach used to say “not good.”  But in 12:6 that “The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.”  After reading that I wondered, what do the words coming out of my mouth look like?  Probably not like purified silver, unless I have put my focus on God so that they are not my words but God’s.

Finally in Proverbs 3:13 we see that “Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding…”
To me, that says that the wisdom of learning to rely on God is what brings true and lasting happiness, or as Paul writes in Phillipians 4:7 puts it “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (NIV)

I am a high school teacher so we often have a review before the bell rings, so here goes.  Man’s selfish schemes and words= bad + sad.
Relying on God for the words as we go out= good + happy.  I wish you all a “good” and “happy” day.

HW

This entry was posted on January 14, 2010 at 4:15 pm and is filed under Daniel Fast 2010. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.