Why Do You Fast?

It's that time of year again where churches encourage members to fast at the start of the year. To launch fasting in our household, we had a long discussion about what fasting means while reviewing Isaiah 58: 1-7. This chapter speaks about right and wrong ways to fast. In this passage, the reality was that God's people didn’t fast with the right heart and did it only as an empty ritual. The context of this passage focused on their relationships with others - the oppressed and the needy. But the overriding theme was not to do something just because you think it will please God without changing your ways. We were mindful of this thought as Monday dawned.

Sanctified not Sanctimonious

Social Media is this generation's technology tool that many struggle with how best to use. To provide context, in my generation, it was the TV. Social media has brought down leaders, rebuked citizens, notified us of prominent deaths prior to regular news outlets, shared the gospel, and highlighted areas that warranted our attention. But one of the things it has also done is made us all more self-focused to the point that reality is blurred. We see most people boasting - about their families, their accomplishments and their good deeds online. Sometimes I feel like a voyeur because so much of what is posted is not for public consumption. A lot of it feels like bragging, even humble bragging which is just a

Broken Record

In the old days, the 70s, music was played on a record player or a phonograph. A record was a round flat disc with a small hole at its center that was used to place it on the turntable. As the turntable rotated the needle would touch the record. As the record rotated the music played beautifully. If there was a flaw in the record - it was scratched or warped, at each rotation. the music would skip or sound warbled. In order for this to stop, the needle had to be lifted and placed on a better part of the record.

Sometimes in life we sound like broken records - we are repeating the same thing over and over again with little variation. What leads us to this circular state? Do we feel unheard? Is our message important and no one is receptive? Or do we have the annoying gene?

When you constantly tell your children to pick up after themselves, yet they don't - you feel like a broken record.

When you ask your spouse to be on time, yet it doesn't happen - you feel like a broken record.

When you've suggested a better option at work and it's not acknowledged - you feel like a broken record.

When you tell your close circle of friends your relationship woes each time you get together - you are a broken record.

In all of these scenarios, you are talking to the wrong person. The next time you feel yourself spinning into broken record land, stop. As a flawed human, take the needle off the record. Look up and talk to God. Pour it all out - your frustration, anger, your minimized feelings, what you wish would happen....pour it all out. Then pause and listen. Ask God for the wisdom to deal with the situation. Perhaps it requires you changing your tactics, perhaps someone else will step in with the same message, perhaps you never mention it again, perhaps the solution has not materialized as yet.

Recognize that you are important and what you are saying is important. Be willing to live with an outcome that you may not have had in mind. If what you're saying is important enough, you will be heard and acknowledged, eventually. It's dealing with the eventually that's hard. Don't become a broken record to those around you, become a broken record to God - He doesn't mind one bit!

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. James 4:8 [KJV]

Casting all your cares on Him for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 [KJV]

Do you ever feel like a broken record? How do you handle it?

A Chapter A Day - Proverbs 15

Look at how far we've come already. There are more contrasts between righteousness and wickedness with a focus on the little things that make a big impact - a soft answer, a wholesome tongue, a merry heart. Some of the larger impacts are highlighted also. Can you believe we're at the midpoint?
Proverbs 15

Observations and Highlights

This chapter starts off with another verse that I've heard quoted many times, particularly in my teens. "A soft answer turns away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger (v1)." Or said another way, "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." This verse came back to me when I would have yelled at my children, snapped at my husband, or became sarcastic with a coworker. It has saved me from much grief though I am not perfect. I have done all of the above and recognized after the fact, had I spoken differently I would have had a different outcome. It requires self-control to always give a soft answer.

Another theme in this chapter is - little is much when God is in it. (v 6, 16,17,25,27). This is the title of an old hymn that encourages you to give your best no matter how insignificant you feel or how small the task. When God is in it, there's a blessing.

Don't we love genuinely cheerful people? A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance (v13). Everything flows from within, so make sure your heart is right.

Whenever I'm facing huge decisions in my life I recall v 22 - "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers, they succeed." It's not wrong to seek out advice, just be sure your sources can be honest and truthful and have your best interest at heart. Counsel means advice or guidance, especially as solicited from a knowledgeable person - so this rules out asking everyone for their opinions. You're not looking for hundreds of opinions, you're looking for additional insight to assist in making a decision. For me, the Bible serves as one of my primary sources of counsel, then my husband, and maybe another person who has some understanding(professional or otherwise) of what I'm thinking about. After all of this, I pray about it, until I have peace on the direction I should take.

Don't be afraid to seek out instruction, it's the beginning of understanding that leads to wisdom. (v 32,33).

One last point - before honor is humility (v33). We all need to submit, whether we like it or not. We submit to laws and rules. At work, we submit to our bosses. At home, we submit to each other (husband and wife). Children submit to their parents. So why not submit to God, and honor his commandments? Start with God first. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom (v 33).

Read on.

I'd love to hear from you; leave a comment if you're so inclined.

Why? Because I Said So.

Source

After Job went through all of his trials God showed up, but probably not in the way he expected.  All along Job had been questioning why all of these terrible things were happening to him. His friends showed up but then they started to speculate and pontificate, making the situation worse, yet Job still had no idea why he was suffering. He didn't realize that this was something that God ordained.

If you've ever had a toddler that kept asking you why, you might be able to relate to Job. When you as the mother or parent finally say, it's because I said so, in that moment you are exerting your parental rights and authority. All questions cease because you said so.

Well, God finally showed up and in a manner of speaking said to Job, it's because I said so.

In Job 38 and 39 God appears to Job out of a whirlwind and immediately sets the tone: God said, "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?"  I can imagine Job inwardly cringing and saying 'uh oh." God tells him he has to man up: "dress for action like a man, I will question you and you make it known to me.

God proceeds to give Job a dissertation on the universe in the form of questions that Job cannot answer or conceive the answers to:

• Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
• Have you commanded the morning since your days began and caused the dawn to know its place?
• Who kept the sea inside its boundaries and said here your proud waves must stop?
• Do you know where the gates of death are located?
• Where does light come from and where does darkness go?
• Have you visited the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of hail?
• Who created a channel for the torrents of rain?
• Who laid out the path for the lightning?
• Can you direct the movement of the stars?
• Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth?
• Who gives intuition to the heart and instinct to the mind? (Job 38:36 - my new favorite verse)

And then He goes to the animals in the universe:

• Do you know when the wild goats give birth?
• Have you watched as deer are born in the wild?
• Who gives the wild donkey its freedom?
• Will the wild ox consent to being tamed?
• He mentions the ostrich who appears dumb but has great speed to protect her offspring.
• Have you given the horse its strength or clothed its neck with a flowing mane?
• Is it your wisdom that makes the hawk soar and spread its wings toward the south?
• Is it at your command that the eagle rises to the heights to make its nest?

• And finally - shall a fault finder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.

 Job is not the first person to think that he could get the answer he wanted from God. At the end of this questioning, Job recognized that even though he wanted answers from God all along, he could not answer God's questions. Job saw his limitations and recognized his weakness. Job was humbled. I want to be aligned with someone who is all powerful - not just a mere man.
In our trials, we are never alone. God is there and if we will just still our minds, we can hear what he is trying to tell us.

Who gives intuition to the heart and instinct to the mind? Job 38:36 [NLT]

Can you remember a time when God showed up? Was it during a tumultuous time? How do you feel about the sovereignty of God - i.e. because I said so?