If you were expected to bring an offering to God like Cain and Abel were, what do you think your offering or gift to God would’ve looked like?
Would the offering have been the most beautiful flowers from your flower garden, or vegetables from your vegetable garden, or maybe the most perfect animal you raised? Have you ever thought about why God had a problem with Cain’s offering in Genesis 4? Why did He react one way towards Abel’s gift and the opposite towards Cain’s? What was different about the offerings?
The Offering
We read in Genesis 4:3-5 ESV:
In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering, he had no regard.
Genesis 4:3-5 ESV
In the Hebrew language, like other languages other than English, there are masculine and feminine pronouns.
In the verse above, the pronoun his is masculine because it is Abel’s flock, but the pronoun their is feminine because Abel’s flock’s fat portion was from a female lamb or goat.
Why does that matter?
My husband and I have raised both sheep and goats. When they are pregnant, we hope for female offspring because we can either breed them one day for more lambs or kids or sell them as breeders to another farm.
Unfortunately, you don’t need a lot of male offspring on a farm. They end up fighting over the girls and get aggressive towards the humans. Farmers need a few males for breeding, but other than that, they have no other purposes except for food. In the time of the Temple sacrifices, God allowed the Jewish people to bring their male animals to be sacrificed…bulls, bucks, and rams. They kept their females to grow their herd.
The Sacrifice
However, sometimes you can have a half dozen animals give birth and have more than half born male. This is not what we hope for…it thrills us to see little girls being born, but too many boys, and we know we must castrate them to sell them for pets or they will be food. Abel brought God a female sheep or goat offering. This was a genuine sacrifice. He gave God a perfect lamb or kid that would have been an excellent breeder for him. God knew his offering was good.
For this reason, I believe Cain’s offering was not a true sacrifice. He sees God’s displeasure with it and becomes angry.
So, Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
Genesis 4:5-7 ESV
Freedom from Strongholds
At the end of verse 7, we see two pronouns—its and it. The word Its is feminine—the word sin is feminine in Hebrew. Sin’s desire is to control Cain. The pronoun It is masculine. The word angry is masculine. That it is referring to Cain’s anger.
God told Cain to rule over his anger, not his sin. Sin is always waiting for an opportunity to use our emotions against us. We may not always be able to control sin, but sin will control us through our anger or jealousy if we do not control it.
God gave us His Son, the Perfect sacrifice, whose blood can free us from the power of strongholds of anger, lust, fear, rage, and rejection to name a few. Freedom comes when we ask for it.
God gave us His Son, the Perfect sacrifice, whose blood can free us from the power of strongholds of anger, lust, fear, rage, and rejection. Freedom comes when we ask for it. #ThisSideofHeaven #TheOffering #Biblestudy #Devotion
Like Cain, God does not want our strongholds to rule over us. He made a Way so they wouldn’t.
Let go of the strongholds that hold you captive and allow sin to crouch at your door. Ask Jesus for freedom, fall out of agreement with satan and his lies, and forgive those you need to forgive (especially if they don’t deserve it).
Dear Heavenly Father, we ask you to help us forgive those who have wronged us. Help us let go of the pain, wounds, and anger we hold on to with our unforgiveness. Free us from our hurt and strongholds that open doors to sin. Forgive us as we forgive others. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
After four months of dating, my then, boyfriend, got all our friends together and planned a three-day cruise. There were eight of us total, four guys and four girls — two rooms (one for the guys and one for the girls). Then off we went to the Bahamas. We had a great time together. On the last night of our cruise there was a formal dinner with great food, friends, and fun.
At the end of the night, my boyfriend, Mike, took me to the top deck overlooking Nassau (the port city of the Bahamas). It was a beautiful star-filled night with the lights of the ship and the city reflecting on the water. As we looked toward the beautiful city on the ocean, he knelt on one knee and ask me to be his wife.
I said, “Yes!”
He wanted to go get the captain and be married right then. But I resisted, knowing how upset my family would be if I did that.
We planned our wedding for six months later when our family and friends could be with us. Ten months after we started dating, we became Mr. and Mrs. Mike Pavlantos. We just had our twenty-ninth anniversary in April.
Has it always been easy and full of fun? Absolutely not.
Marriage can be hard. But God created the marriage to be a covenant. Even though many people experience the heartbreak of divorce, that is not what God intended.
God modeled the marriage covenant after His Son.
What does a covenant mean?
In the Bible, when two parties instituted a covenant between them, they took a fattened animal, the best of the flock or herd, and “cut” it into two pieces. Then the two parties of the covenant would pass through the pieces symbolizing their dedication to the covenant and by this action are saying, “If I do not hold to the agreements of this covenant, you can do to me what we did to this animal.” (https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/definition/covenant.htm)
Pretty serious stuff, right? But, that is what the Father made with us through His Son.
A betrothal, is a marriage contract and it involves a covenant. The betrothal began with the father choosing a bride for his son, but the bride had to agree.
The Father has chosen us, too.
Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
Ephesians 1:4 ESV
We must agree to our Betrothal as well.
The bridegroom and his father go to the house of this woman whom he has chosen to be his bride. The family knew he was coming, but it was the daughter’s decision to open the door. If she opened the door, they came in, had dinner, and ironed out the details of the marriage contract or Ketubah (the Jewish word for the contract).
If she had cold feet or decided she did not want him as her husband, she did not open the door and the two men left.
Here’s how that looks in our Bibles:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Revelation 3:20 ESV
The Bridegroom comes to the door of our hearts and knocks. When we let Him in, it begins an amazing relationship that will challenge us to be holy. However, if we do not open the door—He leaves. That doesn’t mean He won’t try again, but continually refusing to open the door leaves Jesus with little choice but to walk away.
However, the bride could back out of the betrothal at any time before the ceremony.
Jesus will never change His mind about wanting us as His Bride. But we can back out at any time. We can walk away—as many have.
Jesus will never change His mind about wanting us as His Bride. But we can back out at any time. We can walk away—as many have. #TheBetrothal #ThisSideofHeaven
During the betrothal process, the first thing the couple and their family do is drink the first of four glasses of wine together. The first cup represents servanthood. As they drink this cup, they vow to serve one another throughout their lives. This cup compares to the first cup of Passover.
While on this earth, Jesus shared three of the four cups of wine with his disciples during the Passover meal. The first cup is the Cup of Sanctification, representing a setting apart for God, serving Him only. Just as our new spouse wants all our affections and faithfulness, Jesus does too.
Jesus sets us apart for Him. Is that easy? No.
The world can ridicule us for being pure (holiness), for not using foul language, for not watching or listening to raunchy popular movies or music, or for not partying and getting drunk, which can make us feel, well, separated—wanting to fit in.
But being set apart shows God’s love for us. Staying pure and holy shows our love for Him.
When we are faithful to our spouse, no matter what, it shows our commitment and loyalty to them.
How are we unfaithful to the Lord?
With our idols…. humans have always had and will always have idols—unless we acknowledge them and give them to Jesus. We need to ask Jesus to point out our idols so we deal with them.
I often need affirmation. There was a time when the Lord pointed out to me that my need to have people recognize what I was doing or writing was an idol. The Holy Spirit revealed to me His opinion and pleasing Him was all that mattered.
Our idols can be many things, but mainly whatever pulls and keeps our attention from the Lord. When we use food, alcohol, or anything else to self-medicate our hurts or failures, we make it an idol. When our spouse or children are more important than our relationship with the Lord, they become our idols.
A day or two before the wedding ceremony, the bridegroom comes back for his bride. But if he found she had been unfaithful; he could divorce her.
In our relationship with the Lord, He may find us unfaithful, but He is compassionate; He forgives our unfaithfulness even though He could cut us off forever. He requires one thing from us, though…repentance. Repentance is His gift to us.
Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord; ‘I will not look upon you in anger. For I am gracious,’ declares the Lord; ‘I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the Lord your God.’
Jeremiah 3:12-13 ESV
Jesus is our Bridegroom who longs to make us His Bride forever. Answer the door and let Him in.
My German shepherd, Mia, had surgery almost a month ago to remove a growth on her back foot. She injured it a couple of years ago by jumping our fence. She had a nasty wound that we cleaned and sprayed with an antibiotic and thought it had healed. However, after a year and a half, it grew into a mass. The vet checked it and told us if it kept growing to let him know.
Wounded
It grew and grew, so off to the vet, then to a surgeon.
On March 10th, we took her in to have it removed. The vet warned us the there would not be enough skin to suture it so she would have a large wound which we would have to keep very clean and bandaged.
Every three days, we took her back to the vet and had the bandages changed.
One night soon after surgery, I took her outside, and a cat ran past us–Mia took off after it. Despite her pain and bandage, her instincts took over, and she ran all over our four-and-a-half acres of property and into the creek which runs through it. I was mad at her, but madder at myself. I had not put the leash on her because she could hardly walk, and never in my wildest dreams thought she would run.
We had an appointment already made for two days later.
After the appointment, the vet told us Mia’s wound was infected.
It was ugly–bright red and inflamed. The vet removed more tissue to culture it for bacteria. Mia was in pain, too. I felt so bad for her.
The vet told us, if we did not act soon it would only get worse and move into the bone. From there it could mean amputation of the lower leg. Since Mia is a very active outside dog, who watches over our ducks and chickens, this would be devastating for her and us. (And because we love this dog…).
The vet removed her bandages for good so her wound could heal better. We also started laser treatments. She had three sessions, which were very short–about a minute long–but it helped a lot! After the first treatment, we saw a difference the next day. From their webpage, this is how it works:
K-Laser therapy targets damaged tissue with specific wavelengths of light. The light energy passes through the skin at the cellular level, initiating the body’s natural regenerative process. Laser therapy accelerates wound healing…
The only thing we could do was keep it clean, give her medication, and wait for her body’s immune system to take over and heal her foot. It was a waiting game.
She also had to wear an extra-large cone because she kept figuring out how to get out of them. She hates the cone!
Our entire house has centered around this dog of ours. The smaller bath near her dog bed became her personal clinic, storing everything she needs to keep her comfortable and well. It has been a month, but she is doing very well. So much so, I took her out today for about forty-five minutes on a leash.
We’ve all experienced wounds–whether from sports, accidents, or abnormal growths– and had to have a doctor or surgeon intervene in order for us to heal properly. It’s especially hard when it’s your child or pet going through something like this.
In this world, people wound us emotionally and spiritually as well. They hurt, betray, slander, bully, and abuse us. Sometimes those wounds are even more painful, taking even longer to heal than a physical wound.
In this world, people wound us emotionally and spiritually as well. They hurt, betray, slander, bully, and abuse us. Sometimes those wounds are even more painful, taking even longer to heal than a physical wound. #ThisSideofHeaven #Wounded #Mia
Our emotional wounds can last a lifetime. Our hearts become an open wound–ugly and inflamed. If something triggers a memory of our wounding, we react in anger or pain.
We try to medicate the pain with temporary fixes like food, alcohol, drugs, or one relationship after another. The problem is, it doesn’t help. The infection goes deeper…it can even make us physically sick.
Forgiveness is kind of like the laser the vet used to promote healing in Mia’s foot. It penetrates damaged hearts and souls with light–the Light of Jesus.
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Isaiah 58:8 ESV
We are not condoning the injustice someone did to us when we forgive. But, we free ourselves from the prison and the damage it is causing.
We are not condoning the injustice someone did to us when we forgive. But, we free ourselves from the prison and the damage it is causing. #ThisSideofHeaven #Wounded
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:31-32 ESV
Forgiveness allows the healing power of Jesus to restore and regenerate you. Let go of the hurt and the reruns that play in your mind and let the power of Jesus heal your heart and soul as you forgive those who have wounded you.
Mia outside on Tuesday. She had a red bandana around her wounded leg while we were out.
Growing up, I loved Easter Sunday. We dressed in our new dresses, ate the candy from our Easter basket, went to church, and spent the day with family eating a lot of food.
I grew up hearing the same story every year of Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection. I’m not sure how much it meant to me until I was out of college.
I remember hearing a song called Watch the Lamb by Ray Boltz in the late 1990s. It was an amazing song, which helped me put myself in that moment. (Here’s the video https://youtu.be/UNT1AThOgME)
I heard little about the Jewish feasts, the Passover Lamb, and the Jewishness of Jesus in church. So, I began reading and seeking people who could fill in the gaps in my understanding.
The Lamb of God
Years ago, while reading the first chapter of John, I heard the Holy Spirit speak to me about the passage. That passage was John 1:35-36.
The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples,and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
John 1:35-36
Suddenly, the Holy Spirit helped me understand that John prophesied about Jesus. John could not have known without the Holy Spirit that Jesus was the Lamb of God.
Many years later, I heard a familiar story from Genesis explained in a way I had never heard. Genesis 22 recounts the story of Abraham taking Isaac to Mt. Moriah to sacrifice him. In Genesis 22:7, Isaac wanted to know where the lamb for the sacrifice was. Abraham told him, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”
In Genesis 22:11, an angel stopped Abraham from killing his son. When Abraham looked up toward the land, he saw a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. This ram became the sacrifice.
Why does this matter?
Rabbis and priests read this story to thousands of people every year. The Hebrew words lamb (seh) and ram (ayil) are very different and do not rhyme like they do in English. As a result, once the people heard how Abraham said the LORD would provide a lamb, the Jewish people waited for a lamb–a type of Joseph or a suffering Messiah. As John pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God” he was letting his disciples know this was the Lamb they were waiting for.
Passover
On the tenth day of Nisan, also known as the Day of the Lambs, before the Passover feast, the Jews brought an unblemished lamb into their houses. They cared for the lamb until they took it to the priest for slaughter on the fourteenth day of Nisan at the ninth hour or three o’clock in the afternoon. The Levites hung the slain lambs on a hook with their forearms stretched out like a crucifixion and skinned them. They called this the day of preparation. The Passover started at 5:30 pm or sundown (the 14th of Nisan).
Before Passover, the priests hung the slain lambs on a hook with their forearms stretched out like a crucifixion and skinned them. They called this the day of preparation. #ThePassoverLamb #ThisSideofHeaven
You already know that the Sabbath or Shabbat takes place every week from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday. The Jews also had other Shabbats. The first day of the Passover feast was a Shabbat. There were six additional Shabbat days, each one of which occurred on the day of each of the other six feasts. That created two Shabbats on each of the weeks having a feast, in addition to two preparation days, since no one worked on either of these Shabbat days.
The Triumphal Entry
Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!
Luke 19:38 ESV
We see in Luke 19, John 12, and Matthew 21, the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on what would have been Sunday, the 10th of Nisan–the same day families took their lamb into their homes. The family tested the lamb to make sure it was free of blemish. That is exactly what we find in Luke 20. The priests and scribes challenged Jesus’ authority as a way of testing Him.
On the day of preparation before the Passover Feast, Jewish families cleaned their houses to remove any traces of leaven or yeast. Of course, this represented sin.
After Jesus came into Jerusalem, He entered the Temple and cleansed it.
And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
Matthew 21:12-13 ESV
The Last Supper
On the evening of the 13th of Nisan, Jesus sent His disciples to prepare the Passover for them.
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” 9 They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” 10 He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters 11 and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’
Now, remember, the day began at sundown. On the 14th of Nisan, the following afternoon, they slaughtered the lamb.
The significance of the man carrying a jar of water is that he was an Essene. They were a certain sect of Judaism who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, who didn’t marry–hence they carried their water–and celebrated Passover the day before the Orthodox Jews.
Jesus would have celebrated Passover the day before all the other Jews because He was the Passover Lamb.
If you have never been to a Passover feast commonly called a Seder Meal, please do it sometime–it is so worth it, especially with a Messianic Rabbi leading it. It all points to Jesus the Messiah!
After Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, they went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. The soldiers arrested Jesus that night and took Him to Annas, first. They then took Him to the high priest where they questioned Him, and the soldiers mocked and beat Him.
At daybreak on the 14th of Nisan, they took Jesus before the assembly of elders, scribes, and the chief priest (Luke 22:66).
Then, they led Jesus to Pilate, His armed guards, who were Jewish, didn’t go into the governor’s headquarters because it would defile them, and they could not eat the Passover feast (John 18:28).
Of course, we know Pilate sentenced Jesus to death by crucifixion.
From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
John 19:12-16 ESV
As you can see from this verse, it is the eve or Preparation Day of Passover (Thursday, the 14th of Nisan about 12 pm).
The daily sacrifices would end soon about one or two o’clock in preparation of the slaughter of the Passover lambs.
It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour,45 while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this, he breathed his last.
Luke 23:44-46 ESV
Jesus died the ninth hour or about three pm, while the priests slaughtered and hung the Passover lambs on a hook with their front legs spread out as if crucified.
Jesus had to die on the cross at the very time the Passover lambs were being killed to be the Lamb of God. He is our unblemished, perfect Passover Lamb who took away the sins of the entire world with His precious blood.
Jesus had to die on a cross at the very time the Passover lambs were being killed to be the Lamb of God. He is our unblemished, perfect Passover Lamb who took away the sins of the entire world with His precious blood. #ThePassoverLamb #ThisSideofHeaven
Everything that happened during the Passover, Jesus fulfilled PERFECTLY! God is amazing.
He wanted His people to see the feast they kept for thousands of years was all about His Son. Yet some missed it.
Please don’t miss the precious gift God has given–His Son.
The Tomb
Since it was the day of Preparation [Thursday], and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. (Emphasis mine)
John 19:31 ESV
As I already said, Jesus died on the day of Preparation for the Passover. The Sabbath, mentioned in the above verse, is the first day of Unleavened Bread.
The Resurrection!
John tells us as Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, she saw two angels.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
John 20:11-12 ESV
Imagine, as Mary looked within the tomb at those two angels sitting there where Jesus had lain. She was told He was not there. He had risen! Hallelujah, Jesus arose on Sunday morning!
But, look at this.
In Exodus, God gave Moses directions to build the Ark of the Covenant and Mercy seat.
You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold…. 18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. 20 The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be.
Exodus 25:17-20 ESV
Can you imagine? God looked down through history to the day His Son would be laid in a tomb. He sees Him lay there for three days and three nights until His Resurrection. He sees Mary come to the tomb, the angels–God placed at each end–sitting there facing one another with their wings spread out over the place Jesus’ bloody body had been.
Then, He told Moses to build it.
The Bible is such an incredible book!
However, there is no One like our Savior, Jesus the Christ. He suffered and died a horrible death for you and me because He loves us. Take time this week to thank Him for all He has done and will do.
Remember, He was thinking of you and me on that cross.
For the past eight weeks, we have been looking into the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount. The other day, I read Psalm 32 and noticed it begins with the same wording as Matthew 5.
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Psalm 32:1-2 ESV
While looking for a commentary about these verses, I came across an article from “Working Preacher” called The Pursuit of Happiness.
The Hebrew word, ashre, translates into Blessed are. The Working Preacher described it as Happiness is… This is an interesting translation of the word. You can read it here.
What comes to mind when you hear happiness is?
I found these quotes during a quick online search:
Happiness is a warm puppy.
…having you in my life.
…being weird every now and then.
…the privilege of friendship.
…letting go of your worries.
… not out there, it’s in you.
What would you say happiness is? To me, happiness is laughing with my family.
The Bible is full of these Blessed are /Happiness is statements.
There are Beatitudes in Deuteronomy, Job, Jeremiah, Psalms, Revelation, and probably others.
Let’s look at a few other examples I found in the Bible, and my Happiness is interpretation below them.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
Jeremiah 17:7 ESV
Happiness is the man who trusts in the Lord…
Isn’t true happiness being able to fully trust in Someone? Knowing our Father will never lie, cheat, hurt, or disappoint us is a wonderful feeling. I was thinking the other day, if I truly believe God can not lie, then everything He has told me is truth. Everything He has promised He will do, because He has to–He. Can’t. Lie. Lying would go against His holy and perfect nature.
Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
Job 5:17 NIV
Happiness is getting corrected by God…
This isn’t exactly a quote we would make into a poster and paste on our wall, right? No one really likes correction or discipline. However, I would prefer the Lord correct or discipline, me now, in this life, rather than in eternity. Hebrews 12:6 says, “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
In addition, Hebrews 12:11 tells us, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
A number of years ago, I developed a bad attitude with my pastor (Many others saw my poor attitude, as well). It didn’t seem to matter to him what I wanted to teach because he would either say he taught it or he was going to teach it. To me, it seemed as if he didn’t want me to teach at all.
One Sunday morning during worship, I grumbled to the Lord. I complained how my pastor wouldn’t let me teach or lead any groups. As a result, I felt useless and angry. Suddenly, I heard the Lord’s voice inside me, AND it was neither gentle nor caring. Sternly, He answered me, “Your pastor didn’t say ‘No,’ I DID!”
If I could have crawled under my seat, I would have. God made it clear I needed to quit grumbling about the pastor and accept his answer. This was the closest to having the Lord yell at me as I have ever gotten. I won’t forget it either. But God changed my relationship with my pastor for the better through this. I realized all the things I thought he was doing, he wasn’t. I publicly apologized for my bad attitude.
Godly discipline yields fruit–and happy children.
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Ps. 34:8 ESV
Happiness is the man who takes refuge in the Lord…
A refuge is “a condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble.”
I have a picture my mom took on my fifth birthday. I wore a little flowered dress with a bow in my hair sitting on my dad’s lap. That was my safe place.
My dad died almost thirty years ago. One day as I prayed, feeling lonely and a bit depressed, the Lord reminded me of that picture. He spoke to my heart and told me I sit on His lap in much of the same way I sat on my dad’s as a little girl. My Father sees me as His little girl and He holds me when I am happy or sad. The Lord protects me, comforts me, speaks to me and loves me. He is my refuge. The words the Lord spoke to me gave my heart peace, and also joy and happiness.
Here’s the last one for now…
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:1-2 ESV
Happiness is not walking with the wicked, standing in the way of sinners, or sitting in the seat of scoffers, but delighting in the Law of the Lord…
1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.'” That’s certainly a good reason not to walk, stand, and sit with people who will corrupt us. How many people have you known who didn’t regret following others into trouble?
I looked up the word happiness online. As I read over the definitions given, I realized God, in His Word, gave us the true meaning of Happiness. It is not following Him in a half-hearted, on-again, off-again, when-it-is-convenient way.
What if true happiness is being poor in spirit, peacemakers, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, being meek, mourning over our sin, being merciful, getting persecuted, taking refuge in the Lord, getting corrected by God…#ThisSideofHeaven #Beatitudes #HappinessIs
What if true happiness is being poor in spirit, peacemakers, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, being meek, mourning over our sin, being merciful, getting persecuted, taking refuge in the Lord, getting corrected by God…
You get the picture.
We will never find true happiness by looking at the world around us. It comes from looking up.
It comes from gazing past ourselves to the One who is the meaning of happiness.
