For
many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you admonished them
through your prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you handed them over to
the neighboring peoples.
Nehemiah
9:30
The things which you deserved to
face as a result of your actions are not the things which you have faced simply
because of the mercies of God… Despite the situations that you may be facing or
even may have just gone through, you must stand in faith, smiling amidst the
trials and tribulations knowing that things can always be worse… The children
of God found themselves in bondage and dealt with the consequences of their
disobedience; however, the word of God reminds us today that God continued to
be patient with them… Know that God has
been patient with you; you may think He has not been there at all, but the way
to tell is simply by looking at the things which you have done which have not
killed you or turned out as bad as they could have… There are decisions
that you have made that should have caused you your death; however, the grace,
mercy and patients of God has spared you and kept you despite the pitiful
darkness that was over your life… Nehemiah reminds us today that for many years God was patient with them;
His patients has not run out and He continues to give us second, third and even
fourth chances… This is good news for the one who feels like they have fallen
beyond the saving grace that is the mighty hand of God; this should be
encouraging to the believer who has backslid or the child which has wandered off…
There is a time when the world will end; however, you can find comfort in
knowing that the moment you have today can be a moment in which your life is
transformed because of God’s patients… What I love about this passage from
Nehemiah is the fact that God sent messages to His children through the
prophets even though they paid no
attention… God continues to show forth His desires to bring you back into
the fold; the Lord continues to display His love even while we don’t show our
love toward Him… He admonishes us through the prophets as Nehemiah tells us because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father
the son he delights in. (Proverbs 3:12) The signs of God’s path are all around you,
the things that have to change in your life are your focus and motivation in
order to see and comprehend those plans…
It is your actions and the decisions that you make which lead
to results that you do not want… You have the ability to change and transform circumstances;
you have the ability to alter the atmosphere of the situation that you are
currently facing and you have the ability to turn a negative situation into a
positive one if you live the faith you speak of in Christ… Nehemiah goes on to
say yet they paid no attention, so you
handed them over to the neighboring peoples… God has planted the seed of
ability inside you; however, you have chosen to pay it no attention and live
your life trying to appease people instead of the Lord… The word of the Lord
says that “Before I formed you in the
womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a
prophet to the nations." You were uniquely created by
God for a special purpose… You have more ability within you than you know and
you should be thankful unto the Lord that He has been patient with you as you
have misused the gifts and abilities which He has placed inside of you… God has
allowed things in your life so that you can actually be refined after being
placed over the fire… This is why you can accept the growing pains in Christ…
He has been patient and has continued to work with you knowing your ability
before you even realized that the potential is there… This is why He can anoint
David to be king after only being seen as a shepherd for His father… This is
how he can call David a man after His own heart even though he messed up and
ended up taking another man’s life… So many of us believe that we can create
our own path on this earth and the very love of God will not allow us to go the
wrong direction without showing us the right path multiple times…
Understand that God will get your attention; however, it’s entirely up to you as
to how it is they He has to accomplish it… Jonah wanted to be disobedient and
not go to the land of Nineva; in the end he went after spending time living in
the belly of a big fish… As we studied yesterday, Pharaoh wanted to defy God
and it cost him his son and his very life; some things that you endure are
teaching and growing moments, however, there are also some things you go
through in life simply because you don’t want to adhere to the will and plan of
God… You might find yourself going through a season of turmoil, it might feel
as though the enemy has the upper hand and you are on the edge of a cliff with
no strength left; if this is you today, know that God is still in charge as He
has just turned you over to strengthen
your faith and confidence in Him… There are things in life that we don’t want
to go through, situations that we don’t want to face and storms that we don’t
want to endure; the message today is to go through, face the situation and
endure the storm… God has been patient
because of the seed and ability He placed in you; you in turn need to be
patient now as you go through knowing that the storms of today are watering the
seed that will sprout tomorrow…
BE BLESSED!!!
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