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Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Rocking Chair Thoughts

To clarify the title of this post: I am a rocking chair girl, and I have been once since I was very little. Rocking in my rocking chair is one of the ways I relax, and it is often where I do many of my hobbies: reading, listen to music, knitting, crocheting, reading, and working on my laptop.

I have begun to read 2 Samuel pretty much daily for a week now because I am wanting to get a head start for the class I will have on that book of the Bible next semester, to remind myself what is going on, and so I can maybe formulate some questions and take part in the discussion better.

Anyway, I was reading in chapter 6 the other day where Uzzah had reached out and took hold of the ark to help prevent it from falling while it was being moved to the City of David (Jerusalem). If you don't know this story, or haven't read it in some time, when he (Uzzah) touched the ark the "anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God" (2 Samuel 6:7). When I read this passage, I remembered hearing others ask why God would kill him for trying to help prevent the ark from falling and no doubt shattering into many pieces.

I can't seem to find the passage, and maybe I'm making it up (lol) but I think the Lord had commanded that no one could touch the ark, and if they did, the end result would be death.

This is a promise of God; and had God not put Uzzah to death for touching the ark, He would have broken His promise. We know that God keeps His promises, and if He hadn't kept this promise it would show otherwise.

For if we saw that God did not keep that promise, then we would wonder at His other promises and think what is to stop Him from breaking that promise. What if God had broke His promise to establish David as King? What if God had broke His promise to send His Son Jesus to save us? What if God had broke His promise of ________ (insert any other promise)?

If God broke His promises, we would not be able to trust Him. I mean, how can you trust a promise made by someone who does not keep them? God wants us to trust Him, and part of helping us to trust Him is to keep the promises He makes.

I am sure you can pour over the entrie Bible with a fine tooth comb and not find one instance where God breaks His promises. If you have found instances, I'd like to know.

The point I am trying to make with all of this, is that we can trust God to always come through on His promises. Whatever He has promised in His Word, whatever promise He has given us, He will be faithful and bring it to completion.

Has God promised you something? Rest assured that He will not break it! It will come about in His timing though, not ours. God never said when He promised something that it would always happen immediately. No, time, circumstance, situation, etc. all must be at the place He wants it to be when He comes through with His results. If God has given you a promise my friend, you can stand on it!

Standing On The Promises

Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain:

Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

Standing on the promises I now can see
Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me;
Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

(words for song taken from: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/s/o/sotpogod.htm)

15 comments:

Shelley L. MacKenzie said...

Your Grandmother's saying is so true!

I'm going into my final semester of my 4th year of my BA in Biblical Studies, and I am also applying to the education program to become a teacher. I'll go wherever God leads me with that.

If you are looking for other Christians blogs, the ones in my sidebar are pretty much all Christian (actually, I think they all are). Feel free to check them out and tell them I sent ya!

God bless and thanks for stopping by!

What's my Mission said...

Amen, and well put...

Shelley L. MacKenzie said...

TY Mission Girl

Bonnie S. Calhoun said...

Very good post, Shelley, the verses that you are looking for are in Exodus and Leviticus.

The Levites were given charge over the tabernacle(Ark) and no (stranger) non-Levite was allowed to touch it under penalty of death. But, that was only applicable to the Israelites (God's people).

When the Philistines captured the Ark they moved it around quite a bit without a death penalty. The only reason they decided to return it was because, they were keeping it in the temple with their god Dagon, and every morning they'd come in and Dagon would be tipped over or broken, so they got scared and took it back to the Israelites.

You were right in your final assessment but you got there in a round about way!

See, Abinadab had possessed the Ark for twenty years. The people had become too familiar with it and basically, no longer feared God. So Uzzah, in being too familiar reached out, irregardless of whether he was trying to help or not, he died.

That is a lesson for us today. When we know that we are doing wrong, but say, "Well, yes I know that's wrong but God knows my heart!" There will be a time when that line no longer buys the peace it once did. God help us!

(Sorry for being long-winded!)

Nettie said...

Okay, now I'm really starting to believe in signs...

Tim said...

what more can I add that bonnie didn't already cover.

Excellent post, shelley

Shelley L. MacKenzie said...

Bonnie, thanks so much for clearing things up :o) Great addition!

Judy said...

Hi, welcome to the Christian knitters webring!

Ruth said...

hi shelley!
i just got your comment question about the new template... i was going to email you back when i realized that i don't think i have your email! you can always email me (roofth AT rocketmail DOT com) if you have questions. with the template, if it's set up for Blogger, it should have Blogger tags that would retain all your posts and such, so no problem there. the only thing you would have to manually insert into your new template html is all your links, rings, sidebar extra stuff (this does not include your archives or recent posts or Blogger profile, as the Blogger tags will already take care of that). anyways, email me if you need help - i don't want to clutter your comment box here!! =)

Jan said...

Count me as one of the rocking chair girls too! I love them. What a wonderful and thoughtful post. Thanks for giving me some encouragement today!

(also, thanks for visiting my blog. I have really enjoyed your comments!)

Jenny said...

What an amazing post! This is just what I needed today. **hugs** and I love that hymn also.

I feel a little like Rob and I are Abraham and Sarah, but HEY! their promise came through also.

mreddie said...

My favorite chair is my glider-rocker and even though it doesn't have a high enough back for my neck, I still doze in it on occasion.

Well stated that all God's promises are true, the one's for good or ill. What is so sad is that not only do many people miss out on the good, by default all the ill will befall them.

Your post was also an answer to my search for the words to old hymns - thanks much and keep up the good posts. ec

Jennifer said...

Thank you very much for the post, Shelley. It means a lot to me today! And thanks for all your prayers lately.

Anonymous said...

God is faithful. all His promises will come to pass. i'm holding on to one myself. God bless!

Live, Love, Laugh said...

amen sister, amen! Well said