Monday, July 02, 2007

Blessed to be a blessing

Did you know that God blesses us so that we might be a blessing to others?

Jim preached on that yesterday in Church using Psalm 67 as his text.
1May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us,
Selah

2that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
3Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
Do you see it? We ask God to be gracious and bless us. Why? So that his saving power and His ways are known on the earth. Later in the Psalm we learn that God does bless us. So what we ask for we get....and we get it so that God is glorified.

I was drawn to remember this lesson as I was reading from Joshua 4 this morning. This chapter deals with how the people of God (Israel) would remember what God did for them to help them escape from Egypt. They walked on dry ground through the Jordan. God commands them to gather up 12 stones (one for each tribe) so that their children would know what God did for them.
23For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, 24so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever."
It is important for them to know, so that others might know (aka the world) that The Lord God is Mighty and worthy of being feared. God blessed and helped his people so that the rest of the world might see who HE is.

God gives us, asks us to find ways to remember him. why?
21And he said to the people of Israel, "When your children ask their fathers in times to come, 'What do these stones mean?' 22then you shall let your children know, 'Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.'
And that leads to the world knowing who God is. Because like children, the world wants to know why God is so important to us. Why these things we hold dear are important and what they tell us about about God.

Makes me ask myself... how am I showing the world who God is?
What remembrances am I placing in my life so Justin will ask.... why is this important? What did God do for us here? and so forth.
How do I show who God is to the people in my world?

I have to admit, I don't have the answers right now. I need to change that.

2 comments:

Baxter said...

Good questions! Here's a few questions I have asked myself that can be "rocks" we set up.

Who do my children see me go to when I need help? Whomever it is, they may ask me, "Why?"

Who or what do my children see me depend on when I need someone or something to lean on? Whomever or whatever it is, they may ask me, "Why?"

What do they see is "important" in my life? What does that tell them about God?

Who do they see is "important" in my life? What does that tell them about God?

Do my children see me "living" by faith, or "talking" about it. What does this tell them about God?

When I fail, do my children see me tell God I am sorry and them if I need to, or do they see me not sorry at all? What does this tell them about God?

God knew our children would ask, and they are watching us.

Annette said...

ooh..... good questions... way to stimulate my thinking process there Baxter. Thanks! :)