Skip to main content

Friday... How to survive in a swamp.


Friday... How to survive in a swamp.

I found two words that caught my attention as I was reading in Proverbs 12. The first one was in verse 3. It is the word swamp.  I don't like swamps. And that is a good thing. There are a lot of things that can hurt you in a swamp. Verse 3 (MSG) says, "You can't find firm footing in a swamp, but life rooted in God stands firm." Such a simple truth.

The NLT says it this way, "Wickedness never brings stability, but the goodly have deep roots."

There is a swamp down in Louisiana that we have gone through many times. At some point there were some workers who built a long bridge through that swamp. I'm sure that they had to go deep to find something solid to build that bridge on and they did and we flew through that swamp with no trouble. And we can go through life if we have a firm foundation built on God and His Word. 

There's another word that I found in verse 26, it is the word survives. The verse (MSG) says, "A good person survives misfortune, but a wicked life invites disaster." Are you a survivor? How are your making it through this swamp of a pandemic, this misfortune that we have been going through? Are you sliding all around or are you on a bridge that is built on a deep foundation? 

Paul over in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (MSG) writes, "I was given the gift of an handicap to keep me in touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he did in fact was push me to my knees." Now that is the way to handle misfortune, isn't it? 

He goes on, "At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me. My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into it own in weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size - abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become." Now that is the way to survive the swamps of our life, isn't it? Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit?

Nehemiah 6:16b (NLT), "They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Tuesday... I wonder what would happen if we didn't take the credit? Over in the Old Testament in the book of Nehemiah it tells of a major task that through the leadership of Nehemiah was accomplished. The walls of Jerusalem had been torn down and God had laid it on Nehemiah to build those walls back up. It was definitely an almost impossible task but Nehemiah 6:15-16 says, "So on October 2 the wall was finished - just fifty-two days after we had begun. When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." Now, we so many times want to take credit for doing the impossible. It would make such a difference for us. But I wonder what would happen through us if God got the credit? Psalm 96 tells us what we are to do. Verses 2-3 says, "Sing to the LORD; praise his name. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thursday... Maybe we need this word today.

Psalm 57:1b (NIRV), "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Thursday... Maybe we need this word today. There are words in life that give us confidence no matter what we are facing. Now we have to believe them in order for them to have an impact. David wrote Psalm 57 while he was in a cave hiding from Saul who wanted to kill him and he says in the last part of verse 1, "There I will stay." It was a safe place and Saul didn't know that he was there. But he doesn't stop there. With confidence he said, "There I will stay until." And until is definitely a word of faith and confidence. "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Do we need that today? Let me give you the whole verse. In verse 1 David says, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." And that is a great place to start in times of trouble. Maybe that is what we need to pray today, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." It is so great to have someone...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tuesday... We just have trouble listening.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Tuesday... We just have trouble listening. Over in Jeremiah 25:4 (NLT) it says, "Again and again the LORD has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention." And Jeremiah went on to tell what was going to happen. There will be consequences if we do not listen to what God says through his Word. Now the Apostle Paul over in 1 Corinthians was having a problem with some professed Christ followers who were having trouble at listening. And we too can have problems at listening. We can think that being a Christ follower means we do a lot of finger pointing and we give up on people who don't do what we say. We can even do that in our families. But Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." In verse ...
Post a Comment
Read more