Monday, June 16, 2008

Count Your Blessings Monday


Here is an opportunity for you to give thanks unto the Lord for a blessing in your life. If you have a blog, please sign Mr. Linky below and post on your blog. Please link back to this blog and you may use the picture above. If you do not have a blog, leave a comment on this post telling us what you are thankful for and what you are counting as a blessing today. This is a way that we can encourage one another. Many of our blessings we will have pictures of and we can share those as well. I think that many times we forget that it is a blessing to be able to breath, to get out of bed, to hold a baby... Share your blessings with us. They encourage others. We can share so many other things.... special gifts, recipes, let's take the time to share how God has blessed us!!



Today, I want to count my Bible as a blessing. There are so many reminders to us in there of what we are to be about, what our short comings are, how we should treat others, how to follow the Lord, etc. For many years, I would read through the Bible in a year. I followed different plans and read different versions different years. I am reading through the Bible again, but I am taking my time this time and not following a schedule. I am reading my Mom's Bible that my Dad gave to me. It is the New Living Translation. I have not read through in this version. I am really enjoying it.

Yesterday morning, as I was reading Numbers, I read about Korah, Dathan and Abiram. They rose up against Moses and let him know that they were every bit as important as he was and they would not be taking orders anymore. Dathan and Abiram would not even come when summoned by Moses. They accused him basically of lying saying they were promised a land flowing with milk and honey and they had not received it, etc.

Moses had Korah meet him the next day and told him to bring his other men each with a censer with incense. Moses told the people that God told them to get away from the tents and belongings of Dathan and Abiram. The people moved away. Then Moses told them, "Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me. But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD." That is just what happened. The earth opened up, all the tents, men, their families and their belongings were swallowed up whole and the earth closed back over them. I am a very visual person. I was picturing this in my mind. Think of the shock that would be. The earth would split open, people would be screaming, and everything in that area would fall into the big hole created and then the hole would close up as if nothing was there. Don't you think that it would give you a VERY healthy fear of the Lord? Don't you think it would make you walk in His ways for a good long time without too much trouble? But... On the VERY NEXT DAY, they were back to complaining and murmuring. I thought, man what is wrong with these guys. Then the Lord brought to my mind how many wonderful things He has done in my life and how often I go back to murmuring and complaining. I am just like them!!! It was a reminder to me AGAIN, that I need to remember those miracle moments when God made Himself so real to me. I need to keep a journal of Ebeneezers (standing memorial stones as a reminder) to look back on. When things are not going right or I am struggling, then I could go back and look at those moments and know that He is there, He is with me, He loves me and He still expects me to obey what I know, even if I don't understand.

Praise the Lord for His Word. What are you counting as a blessing today?

2 comments:

The Stricklands said...

Marci,
Such a beautiful post. Remembrance of God's goodness is such a sweet way to keep our intimacy with Him as it should be.

Theresa said...

Amen! The Bible is an awesome blessing!

A few years back I read an article about a family that had ebeneezers in their home garden. They were different things - a tree, a thinking bench, a fountain, a stone pile etc. But each one was a memorial to something God had done in their lives. If we are ever blessed to own our own place, that is something I would like to incorporate. Not that the things are important, but so that I could look out my window and say, "Thank you Lord, I remember the day You..."