Faith-bearing Seed for the Soul
"While the earth remaineth,
Seedtime and harvest
....shall not cease"

Genesis 8:22

Oh NO! Not again!

Does it seem like you have just overcome a problem and up it pops again? It is something you've experienced in the past and you might  be wondering what it is that you didn't learn the first time around?

This morning my husband announced that he'll be out of work until after the holidays. My initial reaction was, "Oh NO! Not again!" because we've gone through several Christmas times without being employed. With my  not having work that I'm compensated for with a pay check, it would be very easy to panic, even though the Lord has seen us through previously.  These are the times in our walk of faith that we need to hear from God... to be reassured that it's all gonna be awlriiiight! I asked Him to speak to me from the Word and assure me, and He did!

As I read in Deuteronomy how before Moses died he told the Israelites  about the blessings and cursings of God, I noticed something. These people were not going to enter into the promised land because of their murmuring while out on the desert...only Joshua and Caleb would be allowed to go in and I sure didn't want my life to end up being tested and tried for forty years and then not enter into the promised land.

God was doing more than testing His children in the desert. He was allowing Himself to be proven to them. He was confirming that they were His people and that He was their God. No matter how much they complained, whenever there was a need...He met it. Their clothing and shoes didn't wear out...the manna was there EVERY morning on schedule. God was proving His faithfulness, His abilities and His long-suffering.

Deuteronomy 29:13,15 LB

"He wants to confirm you today as His people, and to confirm that He is your God, just as He promised your ancestors....(This contract is with ALL FUTURE GENERATIONS of Israel as well.)

I began to think...being without work is going to be God ONFIRMING that He is our God...not the job or employment! It will be an opportunity for Him to supply our needs MIRACULOUSLY just like He did for the Israelites those forty years in the desert! They had no secure income on their way to the promised land, did they? Yet, every need was supplied.

Deuteronomy 29:5,6 (Emphasis mine)

"For forty years God has led you through the wilderness, yet your  clothes haven't become old, and your shoes haven't worn out! THE REASON he hasn't let you settle down to grow grain for bread or grapes for wine and strong drink, is SO THAT YOU WOULD REALIZE THAT IT IS THE LORD YOUR GOD WHO HAS BEEN CARING FOR YOU."

I began to realize that in addition to my faith being tested, that this was the message that He has been trying to drive home to me each and every time I have been tested... that it is the Lord our God who has been caring for us because He IS OUR GOD and WE ARE HIS PEOPLE and that the test is a means of confirming this fact...and that it is not the job or our own efforts in themselves caring for us. That's so basic and simple, how could I not already thoroughly understand it? The truth is, however, if I did completely understand it, I would have been praising Him for being out of work and for another opportunity for Him to show Himself strong, and I wasn't. In the midst of testing, we can praise Him and receive His blessings, or murmer and complain and be enslaved by worry and fear.

Deuteronomy 28:47 (Emphasis mine)

"You will become slaves to your enemies because of your failure to praise God for ALL that He has given you."

God has offered me the opportunity to one more time CONFIRM to me that  He is my God who has been, and who will be taking care of me! This time, I have chosen to praise Him.

The Lord wants us to look to Him only in our times of need, to have no idols that we look to, not even our jobs. He wants us to know that our employment has also come from Him, and if He allows it to be discontinued for a while, that He will assuredly be our God, and we will continue to be His people that He takes care of. Praise your name, Lord Jesus! Selah!

Rooted and grounded in the love of Christ Jesus,

Marlene JuHaros,

Texas Seed Sower

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which will grow--perhaps it all will."

Eccl. 11:6

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