Corona Devo 1306

What's going on in our lives today? 

God is doing that!  

Good, bad, positive, challenging… God is working in all things, and through all things in our days, in what we are experiencing, and possibly in why we are experiencing.  

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  ~Romans 8:28

But--Are we noticing (God)?  Or are we taking our own credit (if life's good) or making our own excuses (if life's hard)?  

Could there be more to what's happening with us?  Could God be speaking/moving/working/(trying) to get-our-attention about our pride, or His plan for us, or both?

The Bible shares a clean-cut account of two sets of people--both of whom were "missing" out on what God was doing.  One group (the Assyrians) were experiencing victory, but they were pridefully mistaken in thinking that they deserved the glory (God was doing it!).  

I am sending Assyria against a godless nation, against a people with whom I am angry.  Assyria will plunder them, trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.  (7) But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool; his mind does not work that way.  His plan is simply to destroy, to cut down nation after nation.  ~Isaiah 10:6-7

And the other group (the Israelites) were receiving penalty (from God through the Assyrians) for their waywardness from God.  But even in hardship, (most of) the Israelite eyes and hearts remained closed to the Lord and what He was trying to teach them (for their good). 

Yikes!  Are we in either of these "camps" today?  Prideful in thinking that we are the source of success in our lives.  Or blindly stubborn in the stance of seeing no correlation between our suffering and our sin.  (Of course not all or even most suffering is a result of our sin, but there are times of willful disobedience when there can be a direct correlation.  Is it time for us to connect the dots today?)

And (bless their hearts!), there's a third, tiny, steadfast group:  A few that will respond to God and return to Him.  Will it be us today?

In that day the remnant left in Israel, the survivors in the house of Jacob, will no longer depend on allies who seek to destroy them.  But they will faithfully trust the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.  (21) A remnant will return; yes, the remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God.  

(22) But though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant of them will return.   ~Isaiah 10:6-22

~~~

Which "camp" are we in today?  

Are we ignoring every act that God blesses us with?  Or each one that He afflicts us with (Not for our suffering, but for His glory)?  

God is working in our lives today and on our hearts today.  Will we acknowledge Him?  Will we humble ourselves before Him?  Will we join Him today?  

~~~

Assyria was not just inwardly proud, but they were outwardly boastful in pride.  We must beware of making similar boasts in our lives about what we are doing...instead of realizing that what we are doing is a result of what God is doing.  

If we are proudly and arrogantly caught up in our victories as ours, instead of our victories as God's, then a time of consequence may be on the horizon or it may be here.  

God answered Assyria's boasts back with a few questions of His own.  And He asks the same questions to us today if we (like the Assyrians) have been glorifying ourselves instead of Him:   

But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it?  Is the saw greater than the person who saws?  Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it?  Can a wooden cane walk by itself?   ~Isaiah 10:15

It takes a lot to get God agitated, but the wandering and lack-of-interest of the Israelites and the Assyrians agitated God's spirit and thus brought consequences down on both groups because they missed Him and only saw themselves.  

But everything we are is because of Him.

Do we realize that we might be the ax, but God is the One using us to do strong things.

That we might be the saw, but God is bringing us back and forth and back and forth to get His work accomplished.

~~~

So...what's going on in our lives today? 

Look again and see (and trust and accept) God's discipline in knowing that God is doing that (not us)!  

Good, bad, positive, challenging… God is working in all things, and through all things.

We do not want to be "missing" out on what God is doing.  If we are experiencing victory today, God is behind it, and if we are receiving penalty today, there just may be a good reason.  And though the people of (God) are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant of them will return (Isaiah 10:22).

Let's return to God today, and join Him in what He's doing in our lives. 

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com