Tuesday... What does an elephant look like?

Tuesday... What does an elephant look like?

Let's say you ask someone that question and they give you a description of the tail of an elephant. That in no way tells you what an elephant really looks like, does it? But so many say they know what God is like and they describe him as an angry being who kills people that he doesn't like. But that isn't a valid description of who God is but because that is their picture then they say that they don't want to serve someone like that. And that is understandable if that is your only picture of God.

Now Proverbs 2:22 (NLT) does say, "But the wicked will be removed from the land and the treacherous will be uprooted." Now that isn't the whole picture just like describing the tail is the whole picture of an elephant.

But in the beginning of Proverbs 2 in verse 3 it says, "Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding." And then verses 6-7 says, "For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest." There is so much more about God than just one verse.

I was also reading this morning in John 11 in the NT and it tells about a very special friend of Jesus who died. Now Jesus had been told that his friend was very sick and his sisters thought that he would come and heal him. They really didn't understand what Jesus could do and what he was all about. By experience they had seen him heal people so they knew that he could do that. And we are also like that. We have a difficult situation happen to us and we have an expectation of how God will handle it but when he doesn't do it they way we think he should them we get upset and our faith weakens.

Verse 21 says, "Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.'" Earlier in verse 4 it says, "But when Jesus heard about it he said, 'Lazarus's sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.'"

In situations that happen different than our expectation we need to, "Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding." Now that comes through his Spirit and through spending time in his Word. 

Back to John 21. When Jesus finally got to the grave of his friend Lazarus, verse 39 says, "'Roll the stone aside,' Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man's sister, protested, 'Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.'" Remember, "Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding." 

Verses 40-44 says, "Jesus responded, 'Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believe?' Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, 'Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.' Then Jesus shouted, 'Lazarus come out!' And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in a headcloth. Jesus told them, 'Unwrap him and let him go!"

Now this gives us a another glimpse of what God is like and how he works and why he might do things in our life and why situations in our life don't go the way we expect. God has a plan, a purpose and he can be trusted.  

Back to Proverbs 2 in verses 6-8, "For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity. He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him." Just a little more to be added to our picture of God. And there is so much more! Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning