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Justice
David was a man from small beginnings. The youngest of eight children, he was a shepherd, who had stories to tell of his courage, only to be told when he would ascend to the heights. If you actually read about David and his dealings, you realise quite early why God loved David so much. He was a likeable character it seems, a man of justice, one who would not do things on his own desires but firmly stood by the fact vengeance was God’s alone.
This is the kind of character God could work with and ascend to much stature. Where Saul would make things his way and ultimately fail as king, David was different and understood who anointed him. While David followed these principles, he flourished and grew. When justice and equity left David, he stole another man’s wife, murdered a man in an act of injustice and started to be problematic. David soon remembered where he had came from and quickly resorted back to serving his maker.
Justice comes from God.
Every Family
Genesis 5 goes through a genealogy of Adam, down to Shem, Ham and Japeth. Reading this timeline started making me think about how there must be someone important in every timeline in the Bible. Maybe more than one in certain ones. It started making me see this genealogy in a different light. Enoch walked with God and was not, his son Methuselah his son was 969 years old and Noah was prophesied as being someone who will help the Earth. Here are at least three people from the genealogy and there may be more.
This thought track then started making me think about our genealogies and where we stood. Are we just another name, or will we be special? Not taking anything away from any of the men mentioned in Genesis 5 (good or bad) however some we remember with ease and some we have never heard of consciously. The three men mentioned above were not different in regards to origin. They were all men and human. Are you a woman? Are you a man? If you can answer yes to one of these two questions you have the opportunity to be successful. God could have used any of those men to build an ark, walk with him or live to be 969 years old, however these three men were distinguished. I don’t believe by mistake. They made a decision to do something differently.
Will you?
The DAY of creation
The Day of creation is something spectacular. I think I have found it hard to relate to God at times. We all have created something, so we can all relate to the creation in one way or another. Observing how God created the world and what he did. God had a plan to make something long-lasting as time suggests. God also progressed in a tangible way, assessing his work as he went on. God also created, reviewed and continued. If God had found fault, I’m sure he would have stopped and rectified it. Can we say the same? How many times do we create, review and settle for what the product is in front of us?
God looked over his work in reflection at the end and was totally happy with what he had made. Whether how big or small, we have created something in our time. Reading the story of a creator creating something, is something we can relate to on a personal level.
God of the future, for the present man
The best thing potentially about God is perhaps his omnipresent nature. This means he valuable to those who know him intimately. For someone needing foresight, he can prove very useful. For example, Genesis 31 begins with Jacob discussing how God had favoured him and given him much of the substance of Laban. He proceeds to tell the story of how God by a dream instructed him of his blessings. This was something he knew before he even spoke to Laban about deciding his wages. God is past, present and future for us. He is whatever we need him to be. God instructed Jacob to pick the right cattle and he also told Jacob to go back to his homeland at the right time also. The present man Jacob was blessed with future awareness and this excelled him in his circumstance. I can testify of many times the god of the future has testified to me of things oncoming and how this gave me the opportunity to position myself in great stead.
We see these occurrences timely in the scripture and time and time again. The believer should also be able to testify of these things because God is just portraying his nature when he does so.
Moving on to another piece of text, lets use Joseph who was in prison as a case study. A few chapters on in Genesis 41, we see how from being in prison one day, the next he was the governor of the Egyptians. God had showed the people a dream and he was the only man found able to unlock the code from God. Everywhere but Egypt was famished and this made Egypt the place to be. People would come, increasing the demand for bread, meaning the price went up. Joseph, through God’s leading, positioned himself and the nation under his government in the best possible position. The God of the future helped the present man and took him from poverty and imprisonment, to wealth, respect and riches.
Jacob and his son Joseph both had intimate relationships with God and it was made known through there actions and their harvest.
Change is hard but needed
Being a Christian I have found it hard to not stand out in common societal beliefs. It is part of life. Most people go against what I believe in. Some changes I have made have been hard but they definitely have been needed. Sort of like Moses being a prince in Egypt but realizing temporal wealth was far greater for the lay person than for someone who knew his maker (Hebrews 11:24-26). Leaving your nation is no small feet, all he had known for years, respect he had earned. When I made decisions to stop listening to particular types of music, certain TV programmes, speak a certain way and many other changes, my nation changed. Some people didn’t contact me anymore, I didn’t contact others. It would have been easy in some senses to move to another place. Eventually when I moved away from the area I grew up in, it was hard but I did not focus on the negatives for long. God steadied me and I accepted and I began to enjoy the fact, I did not know anyone and other benefits.
I don’t like change naturally but I know it is essential to growth, never being content in stagnation, but knowing moving forward is vital. Some of my greatest successes came from me changing and moving.
What I do know is life is more important to me than death. Life for me includes what happens after we leave Earth and what happens in eternity. I asked someone today, If they were told to leave their location because they were warned the city would be attacked and destroyed, would they leave and if so, what to take. I wont disclose their answers but I will give you the gist of my answer. My answer included no more than three items and they all ensured I could continue my call from God. In crunch situations, importance counts. When Lot was being evacuated from Sodom and Gomorrah, what do you think he took? Due to the pace of evacuation, one man could not take much. Remember, Lot came to Sodom and Gomorrah rich and I am sure he dwelled there even richer. However when he left, he left with potentially nothing. He had his life and two daughters. I say this is better than dying and also better than forsaking God. Riches can be returned, life can’t.
Change is hard for me but God is more important. This is why I try to change for God everyday…
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