Worried About Lost Donkeys and Stumbling on a Kingdom!


“Don’t worry about the donkeys you lost three days ago.
They’ve already been found. But who are all of the people
of Israel longing for? You and your father’s whole family!”
(I Samuel 9:20, NIV)

donkey on grass lawn

We all have misplaced and even lost things that we treasure. Everybody should be able to identify with the cycle and anxiety of mentally backtracking, trying to recall where we lasted placed something.

There are people in the Bible we can identify with, who have lost things, too. There was a character in the Old Testament whose name was Saul.  He was from Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. He seemed to be an average citizen who one day was sent on an assignment by his father to locate some of their donkeys who had ran away (I Sam. 9:1-27). The father was troubled by this lost (9:5). The family did a diligent search and Saul and his servant travelled to many areas, no doubt, spending days in the process. They came upon a prophet by the name of Samuel who had knowledge that the donkeys had been found. This must have taken a load off these two exhausted travelers! It’s is such a blessing when we find what we have lost!

While finding their donkeys seemed like a time for rejoicing, there is a greater blessing to this whole account in the book of I Samuel. The prophet further shared with Saul that God had called him to be king over all Israel! We see a perplexed man who was at a loss about a lowly animal, yet he was about to step into the greatest blessing he could not even have imagined!

It’s amazing how God can have some greater plan for a man or woman who, at present, is perplexed, and so unsure about loss. God has a way of showing us our future even when our present seems bleak. Saul’s mind was toward one of the lowest animals God had created and yet God’s mind was to give this man authority to oversee the kingdom of Israel! The scripture has declared that the people we read about in the Old Testament, such as Moses and David, in some unique way, are not complete without us (Heb. 11:39-40). It also states in verse 40: “God having provided some better thing for us”. Whatever the loss we may feel today, it is safe to say that God has some better thing for us tomorrow!

Here is a song about uncertain times and anxiety
when we are at a loss. Please click the link below:

Didn’t I Walk on Water

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Short Inspiration from the Scriptures: Now God Knows!


“For now I know that thou fearest God…”
(Gen. 22:12. Read chapter 22)

brown ram goat

 

In Genesis chapter 22, God tested Abraham by asking him to take his son Isaac to a mountain and offer him as a burnt offering. This test was tailored for Abraham to prove his love, loyalty, devotion, worship, sacrifice, and commitment to his Lord! It’s likely that nothing else on earth was more precious to Abraham than the son God had promised him.

After hearing God’s voice, Abraham took his son and the wood to consume Isaac upon God’s altar!  We see the succession: Abraham journeyed three days to the mountain. And at the base of the mountain, he was prepared to climb with the wood, items for the fire, and the knife to slay his son. God (I’m speaking in human terms) watched to see this progression. This series of events still did not prove Abraham’s loyalty until he attempted to plunge a knife, directly into the body of his son. We see Abraham performing the ultimate sacrifice in vs. 10, when he extended his hand and would have killed his son, but the voice from the angel of the Lord stopped him! The angel of the Lord now knows. Thousands of years later we come to know — what type of man Abraham was, as well. It’s the story of his life, from the book of Genesis, that speaks of his progressive faith and maturity. We see his devotion and loyalty and his ability to “worship” (vs. 5) during his greatest time of testing! What an example to us who read about the details of a man who loved God and ultimately overcame by his faith in God!

The child Isaac was saved. He remained God’s promised seed and through him, God would multiply and bless the earth! What a test of faith, to be set to kill your son, believing that God would raise him from the dead (Heb. 11:19). Abraham passed his test and a nearby ram caught in the brush was sacrificed instead!

How is God Proving Us?

There are special times when God wants to test our integrity, loyalty, commitment, love, or devotion, as well (Ps. 26:2; Ps. 66:10). Sometimes He does it in the smallest ways until (speaking again in human terms) He knows what we will do. More importantly, God tests us to HELP US UNDERSTAND what WE will do! He may do this with progressive steps, as with Abraham. He takes us through these steps…each a bit harder than the prior one, until hopefully, we pass the test.

Have you passed your recent test?

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How? – (Short Inspiration from the Scriptures.)


“And in the desert you saw HOW the Lord your
God carried you, like one carries a child. And he
has brought you safely all the way to this place.”
(Duet. 1:31 – NCV)

death-valley-89261_1920

“How…?” is usually a question we ask or ponder that seemingly has no foreseeable answer. The Israelites questioned Moses many times about the way things were unfolding in the wilderness. Many of them murmured and complained or just simply did not believe that God, through Moses, was able to bring them to their destination. What we do see is a great and loving God, who provided for an estimated 2 million people for approximately 40 years! Our God is God!

God doesn’t give us any details in the scripture above as to HOW He preserved Israel from all the dangers in the wilderness and HOW He kept them from becoming extinct as a nation. We do understand from the scripture that He preserved them by carrying them and brought them to their promised land! “How” is God’s business; our business is to trust!

Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest
the desire of every living thing.
(Psalms 145:16)

You may be asking “how…?” today. Know this…God has a track record and history that those who belong to Him have been sustained. The old are often overlooked in our society, but look to those who are old and righteous and ask them about His power to provide (Prov. 16:31). King David, in the Bible, had come to a long and fulfilled life and his words remind us of God’s faithfulness: I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.  (Psalm 37:25)

Look back on your life and see where God has brought you from and, right now, GIVE HIM THE PRAISE! Then…from there…there is nothing else to say but this: Trust God!

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Not Able!


green leaf tree on top of mountain during daytime

The Apostle Paul stated: “who is sufficient for these things…” (II Cor. 2:16). He also reminds us that “our sufficiency is of God” (II Cor. 3:5)! He has placed DREAMS [as with Jacob] in our hearts and minds at very early stages in our lives. He has shown many of us what we will be and do, many years prior to those things coming to pass. Others of us have destinies waiting to be fulfilled and things yet to be realized. God has placed quite a few of us in undeserved places, and given us the ability to perform way beyond what we could have been or done on our own. His Spirit patiently directs those who are led by it and He gives us glimpses into the mind of Christ to perform the will of God. Who then is sufficient? Who is able? Who knows the mind of God? Yet…God reveals His plans by His Spirit, bringing us to new vistas…new dimensions. Even when we falter, He is ever present to strengthen us for seemingly insurmountable tasks. God is our strength! We come to learn that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us! And if we need encouragement…there is a spark in our lowly spirits that God has shown us where He alone continues to ignite in His times!

You are not able! You do not qualify to boast of your abilities. They are God-given and without Him we can do nothing! Be humble! Wait on the Lord, and be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord!

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The Tribes are Not Lost After All!


The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from
the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he
had driven them: and I will bring them again into
their land that I gave unto their fathers.
(Jer. 16:14-15)

together-2450084_1920

I spoke recently with a man who claimed to be a “black Hebrew Israelite” and who appeared to have his roots in Detroit, Michigan. He was really a misguided soul…misquoting and twisting scriptures to try to justify his Jewish standing. From that conversation a thought occurred to me that the tribes are not lost after all.
There has been such debate over the years concerning the lost tribes of Israel. There was a time when the tribes from the Old Testament were a part of one nation under God. Under king Rehoboam’s reign Israel became separated and eventually scattered among the gentile nations of the world. Although few tribes in Israel can be accounted for today; the majority of the tribes are truly lost tribes with no certain identity. No one seems to have the ability to claim them or call them or even know where such people exist. Scores of peoples have come forth over the years and do claim to be descendants of Jacob’s children, but only God knows them that are His (II Tim. 2:19).
God has made a covenant with His people Israel, and He does not break his covenants. God has sworn. He knows where His people are and, in time, the “lost” tribes from all over the world will return to Jerusalem and nearby areas. History records a nation who, thousands of years ago, survived near extinction and today continues to accept migrating Jews from all over the world.
(While Israel awaits to recognize her Messiah, God has also called an “ecclesia” or church — meaning an assembly of unique believers — from the gentile nations of the world. We have, unlike Israel, different covenants, laws, and promises. We await and recognize Jesus as Saviour.)
God has not forgotten Israel! The tribes are not lost after all. They have been found. Each ones’ name has been engraved in the palms of God’s hand (Is. 49:16)! His covenant with them has not been disannulled and every chosen one will be accounted for. When the “fullness of the gentiles” has expired, God will look toward Israel with His favor in a way that has never been known since biblical history!
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God: how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! (Rom. 11:22)

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