For Mother’s Day I reported to my family, “I want a new Bible!” I grew very comfortable with my old one but the pages were now falling out. While on a road trip, my baby decided to rip out the first few pages and it was then that I knew I really had to let go of my favorite Bible.
As the day began, I forgot about my declaration but my family did not. Lying on the table was a card, a dozen of roses and a green embroidered covered Bible with silver pages. I was excited and eager to get to church.
When it was time to follow along with the reading of the scripture, I noticed this new Bible was a bit different. The words were a different version than what I was used to reading. I frantically thought, “were are the devotionals, this Bible doesn’t have encouraging devotionals?” Then I said, “Oh well, I will have to get used to this one.” Later my husband asked me, if I liked the Bible and I curiously said, “yes, it is a different version than I am used to.” He insisted I took it back and I said no the change is good, I will keep it. At that moment God ministered to my heart.
My mind thought of the book of Luke and Jesus was talking to a group of people.He told them I came to bring division not peace. He told them from now on there will be division in the house of five, father against son, mother against daughter. He continued to say to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, 'A shower is coming.' And so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat,' and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?" Luke12:52-59
In the text Jesus was telling the crowd you can predict the weather but you hypocrites you cannot discern what you are prophetically going through.
‘Ooch that hurt’, when we get to a point in life and we have to choose something new it never means there will not be heartache, anguish or sorrow about letting go of the old. There are countless stories in the Bible of faithful people of strife and division, stories of disruption caused by the choice to letting go of something that is most familiar, what is comfortable or accustomed to in exchange for a new and more faithful way that God has for us. Grief escorts a change of a rainbow. Our heavenly Father expects more of us, He has given us so much proof yet we stand in negligence.
Have you been told to let go of something old? Has God pressed upon you to stop doing some negative things and you feel like you are wrestling?Are you kicking and screaming? Do you have things falling apart as you try to hold fast of the old?
Maybe you have to make a change today but you are still looking at how it was ‘Back in the Day.’ Perhaps something has been kicking your behind as you go against the grain because you won’t let go of the old to choose the new.
Choosing the new way can cause pain, it can cause some discomfort. When Abraham followed Jesus it caused some chaos. He had to take his family somewhere and he did not know where. When Peter followed Jesus it caused pain and division for he left his family. He left his job of being a fisherman that supported his family that he abandoned. Today you might feel like the tables are turning upon all that is familiar but our God sent us a Savior who is a healer. He sent a healer that healed the uncertainty in Abraham’s family and the brokenness in Peter’s family making their names great.
Perhaps the flames you feel are meant so our God will heal all the brokenness of division, of discomfort of the usual and old ways turning to new. Consider allowing the Father to do His job as you follow His path. Pray to God to help you be more discerning of the changes that He is allowing to take place. Pray to endure the change with grace. Call upon the Lord and thank Him for bringing you through the change of the old into the new. God has set us apart placing His hand on us for a specific purpose. "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end," Jeremiah 29:11.
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2 comments:
amen this devotional is so true this past week in mens bible study for the first time since ive been here in toledo ohio a place that i absolutely did not want to be , i thanked the LORD for me and my family being here and that same week i got a job offer. you cant go forward holding on to the past
Amen,Your testimony is a blessing to us all. Letting go is what clears the path for the new to come. Jesus gave the perfect example in the Lord's Supper. He sat the disciples down, their was grief as a result, but the new covenant was established, a promise for us to have eternal life came about. Thank you for sharing, Don.
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