He had found the key to stardom. A healthy disregard for unfavorable circumstances and people who imagined that circumstances made the man. They did not. Men created their own circumstances. It took an appreciation that one needed others and so the art of collaboration was another key to winning in life.
May the Lord lead you to the anchor of knowing without a doubt, that you belong to one larger than yourself. May your identity be shaped deeply by a sense of belonging to the everlasting God, and the majestic values of His commandments and covenant, never any fleeting circumstance, no matter how dire or beautiful it looks.
When Moses faced the red sea, it was God who told him to stretch his rod. When Joshua faced the flooded Jordan, it was God who directed that the ark was to go ahead of the people into the water. But what do you do when God is silent and yet you must win?
But surely, you cannot feel full when your brother’s continued strength is only guaranteed by the magnanimity from your table? Must they live on the generosity of others, instead of having what they can also bequeath to their next generations? You are not complete until all is complete. Don’t fail your brothers. Don’t fail the next generation’
What do we do when attacked by spiritual enemies that will decimate us in the natural? Diseases that claim to be incurable that appear suddenly in a family going about its quiet business? Deaths, divorces and addictions that were not courted or anticipated by families? Business destruction from external forces when we have worked diligently and ethically? Even worse is the fact that they can come in multitudes – a thousand on the left, and ten thousand on the right. The comfort given to those who trust in God come from several sure positions
‘Always wait for His word. He will speak. If you will learn to listen to Him and wait for His instruction, He will never fail to show up and guide you along. You can lead yourself and others well, only if you allow yourself to be led by values, emotions, and principles greater than yourself.
When we fail to align the internal truth of what we believe and ascribe to, with the external truth of our work; when we fail to speak up – and pretend to be part of what we do not believe in, we open ourselves up to ‘war’. War in our own souls. War between our internal and external worlds. War in the outcomes of our lives. We live a disintegrated life. And when the bubble bursts, we are the ones that will be expelled.
Aaron and the rest came down the mountain, shocked that they had seen the ancient God of their fathers, eaten and drank and remained alive. For days after they came from the mountain, none of them could speak and tell their story. Gradually, the fear started to leave them, though the mountain remained engulfed with fire, and Moses and Joshua failed to come down.
God had led them back to the desert of Sinai and to the place of Moses’ succor after he ran from Egypt. He had led them to the foot of the mountain on which He had first spoken to Moses. Talk about a God of consistency! Talk about comfort. Talk about assurance.
What a tragedy it is when a mentor is available to you, but you fail to listen to them? And this too can happen. Samuel was available to Saul, but Saul thought himself wiser. Elisha could have passed on incredible power to Gehazi. But Gehazi preferred clothes and food over the treasures of sound counsel. How about Rehoboam? He inherited a father who is credited with being the richest king the earth has known.