Daily Devotion

After the 40th

Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.  Nehemiah 9:21 NASB

August 3, 2008 was my official first night in the Charleston area.  I was staying in an extended stay when I first moved down here.  I had not had an opportunity for find a place to live prior due to my health issues taking precedence... But nearly four years ago I made the decision to move to this place.  At times I have felt like this was the worst decision I ever made in life, but no decision is ever without its downside.  I have experienced some of my most trying life experiences since I've moved here, and I am sure they have served their purpose in God's plan of making me stronger through each trial. 

I believe in Biblical Numerology.  For example here, the number 40 (forty).  Throughout the Bible, every major trial period occurred during a time spanning 40 days, weeks, months, years, etc.  The Great Flood of which we all know about Noah's Ark was caused by rain lasting 40 days and 40 nights. (Genesis 7)  The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before reaching the Promised Land.  As the scripture above says, during that time of wandering, they did not have a single need that God did not supply.  Even Jesus had his 40 experience--right before he began to preach, he was led into the wilderness for 40 days by the Spirit to be tempted by the enemy. (Mark 1:13, Luke 4:12, Matthew 4:1) 

In life we will not be without our 'wilderness experiences'--we will all have those points of testing and temptation.  It can be a purging and cleansing experience--in the 40 years, those that doubted God and were banned from entering the Promised Land died along the way.  In the 40 day rain, the world was rid of the evil.  It can be a strengthening experience--during that 40 years, Joshua and Caleb were men of valor and honor in God's sight.  They both came up under the leadership and tutelage of Moses, becoming stronger and rooted in their faith so that when they entered the Promised Land, they could win the battles necessary to claim it on God's behalf.  During each of these '40' experiences, those in them grew stronger in their faith--Noah had to trust God enough to even build the Ark, let alone inhabit it for the length of time it took for it to come to rest on dry ground.  The Israelites, although very fickle with their faith, had to trust God each day for His provision of manna and quail (although they were still ungrateful).  The experiences required total obedience--its clearly evident what happened with the Israelites when they chose to do things their own way--they lost battles, lives, food, and even God's favor at various points in their journey.  At the end of each of these experiences, a change had taken place and a goal had been achieved.  For Noah, the earth started out full of evil, at the end it was as if everything was new.  For the Israelites, they finally, finally made it to the great place God had prepared for them.  For Jesus, prior to his experience, he was already full of the Holy Spirit.  Afterwards, he had banished the devil away from him, and was filled with power from the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14).

I have had several 40 experiences thus far, but this last nearly 40 months has been most critical for me.  I have definitely experienced purging--purging of fake and phony friends/family members/relationships, purging of old attitudes and ways of thought, purging of unforgiveness and bitterness.  I have gotten stronger--I know that I am sometimes sensitive, but even now the wounds people try to inflict through blaming, lying, and accusing no longer sting as much.  I am still working on being more obedient; I know I have gotten stronger in my faith because throughout every situation I have experienced, I have only had God on which I could rely.  He will place people along the way, but ultimately you are to rely on Him for everything.  At the end of this, I realize how much of a different person I am.  I am not the same person that moved here nearly 40 months ago (my 40th month is December 3, 2011...when I take my test!)  In the midst of these situations I have not been happy.  I have not been pleasant about them because I truly could not understand some of them were happening to me.  But in it all, I know that God has changed me, and it is my prayer that the goal in all of this has been reached.  I know God has still got more work to do on me, but I'm definitely far better than when I came here.  So as I await my entry into my promised land, I'll keep trusting, believing, and obeying God.

These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 
1 Peter 1:7

--
"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Daily Devotion

God's Gift to Man

 

" The man said,

"This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called 'woman,^k'

for she was taken out of man."

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. "  Genesis 2:23-24 NIV

 

Inspired a recent string of conversations with many of my girlfriends and my own series of failed romances, I decided to share this today.  As a disclaimer, we may differ in opinion about this, so I'm open to debate on this...this is just what God laid on my heart on this topic.  I had forgotten my exact words from earlier, but like all God-inspired thoughts, it came back to me as I was thinking about something else lol.  To all my male readers, pass this along, and feel free to comment.  I'll be posting this on my Tumblr and Facebook pages as a note as well.  I decided several months back that I would take a hiatus from the dating scene to allow God to prepare and position me for His ideal mate for me.  Every guy that I had met had either repulsed me or had too many flaws that I care to count.  But then I thought, what is the common denominator, ding ding ding!! ME!! 

 

I had also realized I had much unforgiveness in my heart towards some persons and went through the necessary process of healing following a brief romantic involvement for the first half of this year.  I realized that I was too afraid to love that person because of the hurts I had endured both romantically and at the hands of my family and friends.  I was so afraid that I had blocked myself into a fortress, allowing only a select few into my heart.  Since that time, I've learned a lot, grown a lot, and am still growing.  I analyzed my problems and came up with solutions, and even found my ideal career (go figure!).  Needless to say, that situation is still sensitive to my heart, but has empowered me to share lessons with others that are going through the same or similar situations.

 

So ladies, yep, this one is for you.  In Genesis, when our Great Heavenly Father saw to create man (man being the human being Adam, a man, not mankind), He said this: "The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."" (Genesis 2:18NIV)  Adam then went on to name all the animals and yet God still saw that there was no suitable helper for Adam.  Genesis 2:20-22 details that process:  But for Adam^h no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribsⁱ and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib^j he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.  No where in this account does it say, God told the woman to find a man, or God told the woman that she could prepare herself or the man.  None of that is listed in this passage, or anywhere in the Bible for that matter...so please internalize that.

 

I think the most critical part of this message is that God brought the woman to Adam...as a gift.  You see, everything God had given to Adam at that point was a gift.  And what more suitable a gift than the person created perfectly for him, made especially to his needs, than someone that was to become a perfect part of him???  This is why I firmly believe that there is just one person out there for me...the problem with the world is that too many marry for the wrong reasons and try to force the wrong person into the right mold.  You do have the freedom to choose...and you can choose the wrong person again and again until you give God the reigns and the space to work on you and mold you into His vision of perfection so that when He makes that presentation, you will not be rejected.  I'm just saying that you cannot force that person that is everything you want on the outside to be who God wants for you.  All you are doing is guaranteeing yourself misery.  And you cannot get mad at the world when that person shows you who they are because you chose to ignore it or overlook it.  Be mad at yourself for getting caught up in the hype!

 

I'm learning to be content in my singleness--because God created us as individuals.  We do not need another person to complete us--God made Eve into a complete person; on the contrary, we are made to be helpers, and to become one with our husbands.  So how can I thus be presented if I have not allowed God to finish preparing me?  Ladies we get caught up in the excitement of being in love, of being in a relationship--and I am not trying to hurt anyone or preach at you, because these are things I have done myself.  But we have to get caught up in God, let Him strain all the bad behaviors and past wrongs out of us so that when we are ready, we can enter into that perfect partnership.

 

So look at what God did, He made the woman--let God remake you and mold you into His perfected work.  Let His love and beauty radiate from you.  Now lets be clear, while you are on this path, there will perhaps be many to come along to distract you.  But if you are focused on God, only the right one will catch your eye--and that is when you are ready.

 

He who finds a wife finds a good thing And obtains favor from the LORD.  Proverbs 18:22 NASB

He that finds a wife finds a good thing, and receives the will of Lord Jehovah, and he that puts away a good wife puts away good from his house.  Proverbs 18:22(Aramaic Bible in Plain English)

--
"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/