Pondering

Pondering. After Joseph had shared his dreams with his family about them bowing to them he didn't receive a very good reaction. That's to be expected. But Genesis 37:11 lets us know that Jacob(Israel) knew that there was more to this than just a dream. The verse says that his father kept the matter in mind. Mary had given birth to Jesus and the shepherds had visited. The shepherds in turn spread the word concerning what they had been told about this child, Jesus, and everyone who heard it was amazed. Luke 2:19 tells us that Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Later, Mary, Joseph and Jesus traveled to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover when Jesus was 12 years old. Jesus stayed behind and when they return to look him they found him in the temple teaching. They were astonished and questioned him about what was happening. They didn't understand what he said about being in "his Father's house," but Jesus returned home with them and was obedient. Mary knew that these things were important and that there was more to it all. Luke 2:51 says that she treasured all these things in her heart.
Sometimes we sense that there is more to something than meets the eye. That is the time to keep the matter in mind, treasure and ponder things in our hearts. Bring it before the Lord. Ask for His wisdom regarding the matter. It may be a while before we know the rest of the picture. Psalms encourages us to "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord" (27:14) and "I will wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I put my hope." (130:5). Oh Lord, keep my pondering heart waiting on You.

Self-sufficiency

Self-sufficiency. We all strive for it. Starting with our drive to more and more independence: to feed ourselves, to cross the street by ourselves, to walk to the store by ourselves, to start the campfire all by our self. We want to show that we can do things without the help of others. For some that pioneering spirit leads us to grow our own food, preserve our own food, teach our own kids, ride a bike or walk so we aren't so dependent on that foreign oil, or try to figure out what's wrong with this or that so we don't have to pay someone else to. As much as we might like to think that we could make it on our own if we had to...the truth is we can't. We were created to need each other. The New Testament talks about us like a body. Each has it's part. It graphically says, "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I do not need you!'" (1 Cor. 12:21) Unfortunately, our striving for self-sufficiency often effects our spiritual lives. We want to do it on our own, our way. Sometimes it seems a little to risky to trust in a particular situation. What if God isn't quite in tune with what is going on this time? The Bible tells that He knows our thoughts(Ps. 94:11) and He knows our needs even before we ask Him (Mt. 6:8). We are so short sighted to think that we can navigate this life without Him. All that we have, are and will be comes from Him.(2 Peter 1:3)
There is only One who is self-sufficient and that is the source of our sufficiency. God, alone! The Father has life in Himself. (John 5:26) His existence is not dependent upon us. Neither is His Godness, His love, His kindness, His power, His mercy, His justice, His wisdom, His holiness. He is all these things independent of us. He has been these from eternity past ("In the beginning God..." Gen 1:1) and continues to be these irregardless of our relationship to Him. We experience who He is because that is who He is, not because of what we have or haven't done. As A.W. Tozer states, "He has no necessary relation to anything outside of Himself." (p.39, The Knowlege of the Holy) How thankful I am that He chose to have a relationship with me. (Eph. 1:4) Oh that I would see all of my sufficiency rooted in the one and only self-sufficient.

Parenting

Parenting! I believe it is the ultimate challenge in life. I find that we have been "successful" three times and wonder how in the world we will make it through this fourth time. Frankly, I am a little scared of failure sometimes. I guess the key is right there, two sentences back...we will not be successful. It is only by God's grace that any heart submits to Him and then to the authority that He has seen fit to place over us. For our fourth, that is her parents at this point in her life. Ultimately, she must choose to submit to Him as her Lord and then He will do the molding of her heart. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I wil put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws...you will be my people and I will be your God." Ezekiel 36:26-28 Oh Lord, mold my heart.