"And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee."
Exodus 23:25
I really like the idea here that, besides all else, the Lord will bless our food and save us from sickness as we serve him. It's probably in a different way now, since we have refrigerators and stoves and ways to preserve food that we didn't before, but there are still plenty of food-borne illnesses and other sicknesses that we need protection from.
What I wonder, actually, is how many times we might have gotten sick and we didn't, because God was watching out for us. I think we are so wrapped up in looking at the exceptions that we don't really think about all the times that God does exactly what he says he will do, so situations *don't* become emergencies, nothing permanently bad happens, and we continue to live our lives. I can certainly think of a few close calls in my life that, but for a well-timed blessing, could have gone dangerously and badly sideways. I can also think of a couple where things did go sideways of course, but maybe we dwell on those times too often. I think God is watching out for and protecting us every single day, and that we should probably pay a little more attention to that, and be thankful.
There are always going to be exceptions, because we're here to learn and be tried... to figure out who we want to be in a world that allows us true free agency. Today, though, let's think about all the times when God snatches us away from danger and saves us. Those are huge, and God deserves credit for that consistent love and protection way more than he deserves our anger and disdain for the times when he asks us to endure hardship. :)
Exodus 23:25
I really like the idea here that, besides all else, the Lord will bless our food and save us from sickness as we serve him. It's probably in a different way now, since we have refrigerators and stoves and ways to preserve food that we didn't before, but there are still plenty of food-borne illnesses and other sicknesses that we need protection from.
What I wonder, actually, is how many times we might have gotten sick and we didn't, because God was watching out for us. I think we are so wrapped up in looking at the exceptions that we don't really think about all the times that God does exactly what he says he will do, so situations *don't* become emergencies, nothing permanently bad happens, and we continue to live our lives. I can certainly think of a few close calls in my life that, but for a well-timed blessing, could have gone dangerously and badly sideways. I can also think of a couple where things did go sideways of course, but maybe we dwell on those times too often. I think God is watching out for and protecting us every single day, and that we should probably pay a little more attention to that, and be thankful.
There are always going to be exceptions, because we're here to learn and be tried... to figure out who we want to be in a world that allows us true free agency. Today, though, let's think about all the times when God snatches us away from danger and saves us. Those are huge, and God deserves credit for that consistent love and protection way more than he deserves our anger and disdain for the times when he asks us to endure hardship. :)
Amen!
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