Saturday... We don't always really understand.

There are times in our life that things happen and we hurt, we hurt because we don't always see the potential good in it. We only see the pain, the bad, but as we live through it and look back on it and see where God had a different plan that we did not understand but we then see that it was good, very good.

There is an occurrence over in Matthew 17:22-23 (NLT). Jesus was with his twelve disciples, It says, "After they gathered again in Galilee, Jesus told them, 'The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.' And the disciples were filled with grief." And I'm sure that we would too if we had spent three years of our lives following this man and listening to everything he said and watching everything he did. No way was his being killed good news but that wasn't the end of what he said.

I remember the time that Margaret, my wife came home and told me that she had a new boss and it was not a good thing. It was a very difficult time for Margaret This boss was not good news but it wasn't the end of the story. Margaret needed a bad boss in order for her to start looking for another job. And she found the job that she is in now that has made such a difference in our life. There was good in the bad.

The bad news we hear sometimes is good news when God is a part of our life. And maybe what you are going through in your life right now has a good side to it. That is so many times the way God works.

Sometimes we feel like David in Psalm 13:1 where he says, "O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way?" He then says in verse 3, "Turn and answer me, O Lord my God. Restore the sparkle to my eyes or I will die." And that is definitely sometimes the prayer that we want to pray.

But he goes on in verses 5-6, "But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me." Even in what we see as bad, there is good. That's how God works.

The disciples didn't really understand what Jesus said. They were basing their grief on what they did understand. He said that he was going to be killed and in no way was there good in that. They just didn't understand what 'on the third day he will be raised from the dead' really meant. That was the reason why he had come to earth, That was the purpose of his living and his dieing. And that was going to change the world and change them.

Here is the key, "But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me." And he is the same God that these disciples served and he really loved them and he really loves us and he knows what he is doing. And I will trust in his unfailing love.

Yes, we don't always really understand but we can really trust in his unfailing love and that he is good to us even in what we are going through right now. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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...

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 ...

Friday... It is so exciting but wait a minute.

Proverbs 19:2 (NLT), "Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes." Friday... It is so exciting but wait a minute. This time of the year is so exciting. We get our paycheck from work and then we head to the store or Amazon and buy and buy and buy all those presents and then our check is gone Proverbs 19:2 (NLT) says, "Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes." But buying gifts can be so much fun and seeing how happy they are when opening those presents makes us feel so good. But then verse 3 says, "People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then they are angry at the Lord." Now for some that is their life. They get money and they spend it on their wants with no thought of what needs to be paid. An important lesson that we have learned is just because you have money in the bank doesn't mean you must spend it. But our enthusiasm takes over. But the problem is when it is gone and there is no money to pay th...

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