Post by mommadee48 on Feb 14, 2022 11:57:15 GMT -5
OUR DAILY BREAD: READ (LEVITIOUS 19:12:12-21).
NOT HOLDING GRUDES:
During a promotional event in 2001, two seventy-three-year-old former Canadian Football League players got into a fistfight on stage. They had a "beef" (a grudge or feud) dating back to a controversial championship football game in 1963. After one man knocked the other off the stage, the crown called out to him to "let go!" They were telling him to "squash the beef."
The Bible contains many examples of people "beefing". Cain held a grudge against his brother Abel because GOD accepted Abel's offering over his (GENESIS 4:4-5). This grudge was so severe that it eventually led to murder as "Cain attacked his brother...and killed him"(v.8). "Esau held a grudge against Jacob "because Jacob stole the birthright that was rightfully his (27:41). This grudge was so intense that is caused Jacob to run for his life in fear.
Not only does the Bible give us several examples of people who held grudges, but it also instructs us on how to "squash the beef"---how to seek forgiveness and reconciliation. GOD calls us to love others (LEVITICUS 19:18), pray for and forgive those who insult and injure us (MATTHEW 5:43-47), live peaceably with all people, leave revenge to GOD JEHOVAH, and overcome evil with good
(ROMANS 12:18-21). By HIS power, may we 'Squash the beef" today.
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the LORD's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Do Not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for GOD's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay", says the LORD. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will leap burning coals on his head."
Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.
UNANSWERED PRAYERS: READ (PSALM 6).
HOW LONG, LORD, HOW LONG?
ARE WE THERE YET?
"NOT YET."
ARE WE THERE YET?
"NOT YET."
That was the back-and-forth game we played on the first (and definitely not the last) sixteen-hour trip back home to Arkansas from Colorado when our children were young. Our oldest two kept the game alive and well, and if I had a dollar every time they asked, well, I'd have a stack of dollars. It was a question my children were obsessed with, but I (the driver) was equally obsessed wondering "Are we there yet? And the answer was, Not Yet, but soon.
Truth be told, most adults are asking a variation on that question, although we may not voice it out loud. But we're asking it for that same reason---we're tired, and our eyes have grown "weak with sorrow" (PSALM 6:7). We're "worn out from [our] groaning" (v.6) about everything from the nightly news to daily frustrations at work to never-ending health problems to relational strains, and the list goes on. We cry out: "Are we there yet?
How long, LORD, how long?
The psalmist knew well that kind of weariness, and he honestly brought that key question to GOD JEHOVAH. Like a parent, HE heard David's cries and in HIS great mercy accepted them (v.9). There was no shame for asking. Likewise, you and I can boldly approach our FATHER in heaven with our honest cries of "HOW LONG"? and HIS answer might be, "Not yet, but soon. I'm good. Trust ME.
LORD do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint; heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish.
How long, LORD, how long?
Turn, LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?
I am worn out from my groaning.
All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. (enemies).
Away from me, all you do evil, for the LORD has heard my weeping. The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer. All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.
NOT HOLDING GRUDES:
During a promotional event in 2001, two seventy-three-year-old former Canadian Football League players got into a fistfight on stage. They had a "beef" (a grudge or feud) dating back to a controversial championship football game in 1963. After one man knocked the other off the stage, the crown called out to him to "let go!" They were telling him to "squash the beef."
The Bible contains many examples of people "beefing". Cain held a grudge against his brother Abel because GOD accepted Abel's offering over his (GENESIS 4:4-5). This grudge was so severe that it eventually led to murder as "Cain attacked his brother...and killed him"(v.8). "Esau held a grudge against Jacob "because Jacob stole the birthright that was rightfully his (27:41). This grudge was so intense that is caused Jacob to run for his life in fear.
Not only does the Bible give us several examples of people who held grudges, but it also instructs us on how to "squash the beef"---how to seek forgiveness and reconciliation. GOD calls us to love others (LEVITICUS 19:18), pray for and forgive those who insult and injure us (MATTHEW 5:43-47), live peaceably with all people, leave revenge to GOD JEHOVAH, and overcome evil with good
(ROMANS 12:18-21). By HIS power, may we 'Squash the beef" today.
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the LORD's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Do Not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for GOD's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay", says the LORD. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will leap burning coals on his head."
Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.
UNANSWERED PRAYERS: READ (PSALM 6).
HOW LONG, LORD, HOW LONG?
ARE WE THERE YET?
"NOT YET."
ARE WE THERE YET?
"NOT YET."
That was the back-and-forth game we played on the first (and definitely not the last) sixteen-hour trip back home to Arkansas from Colorado when our children were young. Our oldest two kept the game alive and well, and if I had a dollar every time they asked, well, I'd have a stack of dollars. It was a question my children were obsessed with, but I (the driver) was equally obsessed wondering "Are we there yet? And the answer was, Not Yet, but soon.
Truth be told, most adults are asking a variation on that question, although we may not voice it out loud. But we're asking it for that same reason---we're tired, and our eyes have grown "weak with sorrow" (PSALM 6:7). We're "worn out from [our] groaning" (v.6) about everything from the nightly news to daily frustrations at work to never-ending health problems to relational strains, and the list goes on. We cry out: "Are we there yet?
How long, LORD, how long?
The psalmist knew well that kind of weariness, and he honestly brought that key question to GOD JEHOVAH. Like a parent, HE heard David's cries and in HIS great mercy accepted them (v.9). There was no shame for asking. Likewise, you and I can boldly approach our FATHER in heaven with our honest cries of "HOW LONG"? and HIS answer might be, "Not yet, but soon. I'm good. Trust ME.
LORD do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint; heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish.
How long, LORD, how long?
Turn, LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?
I am worn out from my groaning.
All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. (enemies).
Away from me, all you do evil, for the LORD has heard my weeping. The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer. All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.