MIRACULOUS RENOVATIONS
DAY 92: Last September I found a puddle of water on my kitchen floor. Following the water trail I discovered the water line in the refrigerator had been leaking - and from the look of it, for MONTHS!Behind the fridge, nasty mold was growing three feet up the sheet rock wall. All of the wood baseboards were rotted. The base cabinets flanking the fridge was also rotted.
Don't ask me how I didn't notice... I did smell musty odors that summer, but I blamed the smelly dogs.(Sorry guys) I'm sure there is a whole spiritual application I could make about the decay that happens out of sight, but I wasn't thinking about that. I had a mess on my hands. Not only was the kitchen damaged, the water had leaked through the wall and rotted a cabinet in my laundry room. It was going to cost a pretty penny to get all the repairs done. With four kids in college I had no idea where we would get the money to fix it all.
The next morning I made a call to my insurance agent. The first estimate the insurance company offered was no where near what I knew the actual costs would be. It took me a few weeks to come to an agreement, but in the end, our insurance company provided an accurate settlement - minus our deductible!
Fortunately, by hiring all my own subs and doing some of the work ourselves, what was a disaster actually turned out to be a blessing. We not only repaired all the damage, but by being frugal, we were able to upgrade my old counter tops, too. In the end, I had the newly renovated kitchen of my dreams. A curse became a blessing.
I shouldn't have been surprised. God does that kind of thing.
He reminded me and Israel of that very thing in today's scripture reading.
Again, as they were preparing to enter the promised land, God instructed Moses to recap what He had done already. He reminded them of a little incident involving their enemies and a seer who was hired to curse God's people.
Deuteronomy 1: 4 Instead, (the Ammonites and Moabites) hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in distant Aram-naharaim to curse you. 5 But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam. He turned the intended curse into a blessing because the Lord your God loves you.
Moses did not deny that Israel had enemies and that those enemies plotted against them. He did not deny that bad things came their way. He did remind them that God is sovereign over even the bad. What was intended for a curse was CHANGED into a blessing in the hands of God. Why? Because of God's great love for HIS people.
A few verses later, Moses adds a little more understanding of how God looks out for those he loves.
14: . . . for the Lord your God moves around in your camp to protect you and to defeat your enemies.
I LOVE that picture! Imagine God moving around your heart, your house, your neighborhood, workplace, city, state, country.... GOD MOVES AROUND YOUR CAMP TO PROTECT YOU. It makes me recall the scripture from Romans 8.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
My kitchen is a trivial thing to most people. It wasn't trivial to me. I don't know if there was anything sinister behind it, but it was a test all the same. In this case, like in Israel's trial, He overruled a disaster and turned it into a blessing instead.
But what about when your disaster really does feel like a curse because it is so devastating - and you have to live through it? I happen to read a blog entry today by a friend who is a young mom facing the disaster of her toddler with severe undiagnosed medical challenges. She explains better than I can how God turns disasters into blessings in unexpected ways.
" I think anyone who is struggling may wonder, "why?" And there it is, (found in John 9:3) "...But this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."
I think suffering is a part of living in a fallen world, and God can use even the suffering to display HIS work in our lives. It somehow figures into the sovereign purpose and plan of God.
That takes away some of the fear and the what-ifs of it all. Whatever it may be, the work of God can be shown in (my son's) life. . . I cannot for a minute think that (my son's) struggles (and i recognize that there are others with much bigger struggles) in his 1.5 years have been for nothing. I must believe that it is to show the work of God. Our God is bigger. Our God has an amazing plan for my sons and for our family. . . He is at work here, and He is at work half way across the country. Everywhere. This is our God."
Kaylan is right! What greater blessing can come from a "curse" than that "the work of God might be displayed"? Sometimes God moves around in our camps transforming the hard things into blessings that we are able to immediately see. I, for one, will ask God to do that often. Other times, the blessings will come as He works in and through our camps and our lives to provide all we need to endure that hard place. Both are blessings. Both come from God alone. That is a miraculous renovation!
Don't ask me how I didn't notice... I did smell musty odors that summer, but I blamed the smelly dogs.(Sorry guys) I'm sure there is a whole spiritual application I could make about the decay that happens out of sight, but I wasn't thinking about that. I had a mess on my hands. Not only was the kitchen damaged, the water had leaked through the wall and rotted a cabinet in my laundry room. It was going to cost a pretty penny to get all the repairs done. With four kids in college I had no idea where we would get the money to fix it all.
The next morning I made a call to my insurance agent. The first estimate the insurance company offered was no where near what I knew the actual costs would be. It took me a few weeks to come to an agreement, but in the end, our insurance company provided an accurate settlement - minus our deductible!
Fortunately, by hiring all my own subs and doing some of the work ourselves, what was a disaster actually turned out to be a blessing. We not only repaired all the damage, but by being frugal, we were able to upgrade my old counter tops, too. In the end, I had the newly renovated kitchen of my dreams. A curse became a blessing. I shouldn't have been surprised. God does that kind of thing.
He reminded me and Israel of that very thing in today's scripture reading.
Again, as they were preparing to enter the promised land, God instructed Moses to recap what He had done already. He reminded them of a little incident involving their enemies and a seer who was hired to curse God's people.
Deuteronomy 1: 4 Instead, (the Ammonites and Moabites) hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in distant Aram-naharaim to curse you. 5 But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam. He turned the intended curse into a blessing because the Lord your God loves you.
Moses did not deny that Israel had enemies and that those enemies plotted against them. He did not deny that bad things came their way. He did remind them that God is sovereign over even the bad. What was intended for a curse was CHANGED into a blessing in the hands of God. Why? Because of God's great love for HIS people.
A few verses later, Moses adds a little more understanding of how God looks out for those he loves.
14: . . . for the Lord your God moves around in your camp to protect you and to defeat your enemies.
I LOVE that picture! Imagine God moving around your heart, your house, your neighborhood, workplace, city, state, country.... GOD MOVES AROUND YOUR CAMP TO PROTECT YOU. It makes me recall the scripture from Romans 8.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
My kitchen is a trivial thing to most people. It wasn't trivial to me. I don't know if there was anything sinister behind it, but it was a test all the same. In this case, like in Israel's trial, He overruled a disaster and turned it into a blessing instead.But what about when your disaster really does feel like a curse because it is so devastating - and you have to live through it? I happen to read a blog entry today by a friend who is a young mom facing the disaster of her toddler with severe undiagnosed medical challenges. She explains better than I can how God turns disasters into blessings in unexpected ways.
" I think anyone who is struggling may wonder, "why?" And there it is, (found in John 9:3) "...But this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."
I think suffering is a part of living in a fallen world, and God can use even the suffering to display HIS work in our lives. It somehow figures into the sovereign purpose and plan of God.
That takes away some of the fear and the what-ifs of it all. Whatever it may be, the work of God can be shown in (my son's) life. . . I cannot for a minute think that (my son's) struggles (and i recognize that there are others with much bigger struggles) in his 1.5 years have been for nothing. I must believe that it is to show the work of God. Our God is bigger. Our God has an amazing plan for my sons and for our family. . . He is at work here, and He is at work half way across the country. Everywhere. This is our God."
Kaylan is right! What greater blessing can come from a "curse" than that "the work of God might be displayed"? Sometimes God moves around in our camps transforming the hard things into blessings that we are able to immediately see. I, for one, will ask God to do that often. Other times, the blessings will come as He works in and through our camps and our lives to provide all we need to endure that hard place. Both are blessings. Both come from God alone. That is a miraculous renovation!
I am convinced that no curse can stand against one of God's people because God will bring blessing in to overrule it.
WHERE DO YOU NEED TO ASK FOR
AND LOOK FOR HIS BLESSING?
TALK TO YOU TOMORROW!
Day 92 of 365
Deuteronomy 23
Deuteronomy 24
Deuteronomy 25
Luke 10:13-37
Psalm 75:1-10
Proverbs 12:12-14
Deuteronomy 23
Deuteronomy 24
Deuteronomy 25
Luke 10:13-37
Psalm 75:1-10
Proverbs 12:12-14
Comments
Post a Comment