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Ballerboy27
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Country: United States
State: California
Metro: Orange County
Gender: Male
Interests: Christ, the Bible, family, friends, and sports (especially basketball)
Expertise: stuff...
Occupation: Student
Message: message me
Member Since:
4/4/2005
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| Life's going. Fam's growing. R. can sing like an opera star. Mi. reads better than some of my high school friends. N. can remember everything he's done to the day for the last 2.7 years. B. likes to dance around and is starting to grow up. A. likes to work out with me and desired to become "Yoked". Ma. is excelling at gymnastics and sleeps like a growing teenager. D. is D. I, T., am doing well. Got 7th speaker out of 250 kids at the last debate tournament. Basketball's alright. Drums are funn. Went snowboarding twice in last two weeks which was awesome. Yeah, so that's that...
over and out. | | |
| So, I was reading the other day in 2nd Samuel about a guy named Uzzah. Some of you may have heard his story before, but bear with me anyways...
The Philistines were constantly at war with the Israelties. During their battle at Ebenezer, the Philistines routed the Israelites and captured the Ark of the Covenant. They brought it back home with them, not knowing the harm it would bring upon them. Inhabitants throughout their entire land were struck with deadly tumors. Fearing the power of this Yahweh, they sent the Ark away on a cart led by oxen. It stopped in Beth-shemesh, where seventy men were killed because they looked upon the Ark of the Lord. So now, the men of Beth-shemesh also wanted to rid their land of this Ark, so they sent it to the men of Kiriath-jearim who bestowed the Ark upon Abinadab. The Ark remained there in the house of Abinadab for twenty years.
After those twenty years, David, along with thirty thousand men (this was a big deal), went to retrieve the Ark from the house of Abinadab. During their journey back, one of the oxen leading the cart stumbled, so a man named Uzzah reached his hand out to steady the Ark. Uh-oh, he just touched the Ark of the Covenant. As the Lord had commanded His people in Numbers 4:15, the Ark was not to be touched under ANY circumstances. EVEN IF it was about to fall to the ground.
So what happened to Uzzah? The Lord killed him right then and there. No debate. No excuses. Just dead. He had disobeyed God's orders. It didn't matter if he had good intentions. It didn't matter if he thought he was doing God a favor by keeping His abode from tumbling to the ground. It didn't matter if he was trying to be helpful and courageous. Just dead.
So what do we learn from this? At first glance, we probably have a tendency to think something along the lines of how cruel and heartless God seems to be in this story. We think something like, "Uzzah was just trying to help, did he really deserve to be obliterated because of that? Did You have to kill him? Isn't that sorta harsh?" But I believe God wants us to learn a very important lesson from the story of Uzzah.
How often in life do we think that know what's best? How often do we think that we know what should be done and how it should be done and who should do it? How often do we have lousy attitudes because events in life don't unfold the way WE think they should? I believe one of the most important lessons we can learn from Uzzah is the vitality of humility and trust.
If Uzzah had been humble enough to realize that God's plan is always best and humble enough to recognize that obeying God's orders is always better than doing what seems best to us at the moment, would he have been struck down angrily by the Lord? If he had trusted that God was in control and that He would orchestrate all circumstances for His Glory in adherence to His sovereign plan, would he had lived to see another day? Countless times in scripture, God reminds us that obedience equals blessedness (granted, that blessedness may not be realized until Heaven, obedience will eventually be noticeably blessed). This truth is cemented in Deuteronomy 11:13-15, Proverbs 3:33, John 13:17, and many other scriptures as well. Luke 11:28 says "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" Obedience to God will always be blessed. He doesn't make mistakes in the commands He gives us. His orders should always be trusted above "what seems best" to us, even if we have good intentions. We must always be humble enough to realize that God is smarter than us.
Let me wrap this all up in a simple syllogism.
(Romans 8:28) ....We know that for those who love God all things work together for good....
(John 14:15) If you love me (God), you will keep my (God's) commandments.
Therefore, ....We know that for those who keep God's commandments, all things work together for good....
We could all save ourselves so much stress and trouble if we remembered this more often. Our job is to love God and obey Him. His job is to take care of everything else. (:
So, even when you think you know what's best, in humility trust that obeying God's commands will always work out better than obeying your "reason". What is the real life application of this? Parents. God commands us to obey our parents* ("Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right."), so we obey God (keep His commandments) by obeying our parents and we just have to trust that everything will work out best when we do (that all things will work together for good), even if what they tell us seems to us to be crazy and unfair.
So what is God saying through the story of Uzzah? Be Humble; realize I'm smarter than you. Trust Me; remember that I'm in control and that keeping My commands WILL work out for good.
over and out.
*That is assuming obeying your parents does not cause you to disobey God. Obedience to God always trumps obedience to parents.
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Have you ever thought what the world would be like without music?
Without music there would be nothing to sing, perform, or write,
Nothing to do on a cold winter’s night
How would we truly express ourselves? And show what’s really inside?
What would we do to show our nation’s true pride?
What would we do to bring joy to a friend?
How would we praise our God, who never ends?
So whether your write, sing, or play
Enjoy the gift of music everyday.
over and out.
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| well, while you're on the computer, maybe give this sight a few minutes every once in a while. There is some very good stuff on it. It's Colin's blog and it's really good. I am more impressed every time I read it. check it out....
http://amaninabox.blogspot.com/
God bless.
over and out.
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| This is really good. It convicted me greatly the first time I read it. It really is miserable to be that person...
The Most Miserable Person
Who is the most miserable person in the world? One might answer that the wicked, unsaved person surely must be because he is on his way to hell. But that is not true. The unsaved can enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (Heb.11:25). However, the true Christian cannot. The moment he accepts Jesus Christ as his Savior, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in his life. He can no longer enjoy a life of sin. Therefore, a Christian who is not right with God is the most miserable person in the world. His own carnal desires will not let him enjoy his Christianity, and the Holy Spirit will not let him enjoy his sin.
over and out.
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