Our granddaughter is four, and from the time she started crawling and climbing, we have told her she could not jump on our furniture. But why, Mimi? This discipline does not make her happy. She still tries. We still tell her no. She doesn’t understand why she shouldn’t do it. Later, she fusses about controlling who sits where at the dinner table. She still tries to be bossy. We still tell her no. We spent over 12 hours with her and her two-year-old brother, navigating between giggles and groaning because we loved and disciplined. These two keep you on your toes. But they say thank you, and you are welcome. They squeal and play and bounce from game to game. They are precious. Now, they are not perfect. No grandchild is. The two-year-old boy will walk up and say, “I farted.” He wants a reaction. He wants to push our buttons. I think I am better as a grandparent than as a parent because I have seen the outcome of how I parented the first time around. I am not perfect. No parent is. But tucking them into their car seats last night to go home, both littles said, “I love you, Mimi.” And the kisses! They wave all the way down the driveway. My life is about the next generation now.
It reminds me of God’s Word: 6 “For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” Hebrews 12:6
God loves us and offers us Jesus as an opportunity to follow Him and to be invited to live eternally with Him if (conditional statement) we make Jesus our Lord and Savior. If we say yes to that salvation experience invitation, we are “sons” of God, meaning we partake in God’s inheritance. A father disciplines his son because He loves and wants good for them.
Why? Because God’s Word says, “Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?8If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.9Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?
10Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good so that we may share in His holiness.11No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peaceto those who have been trained by it.
12Therefore strengthen your limp hands and weak knees.13Make straight paths for your feet,so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.” Hebrews 12: 7-13
We have to learn our place in the family. For a season, we are an infant, then a child, then a teenager, then an adult. We change again when we become parents and grandparents. Each of us benefits when others invest in our lives. What they deposit into our hearts is what we will have to share with others down the generational line that follows.
As we ate lunch, my granddaughter began her conversation about our family. She asks me who my mom is. I tell her. Usually, she stays with her mom, my daughter, and then my mom, her great-grandmother. But today, she said, who’s your dad? She has never asked that before. She has also never met him, so it is understandable that she suddenly remembered that Mimi may have a father. She has figured out that we all have a mother and a father. I tell her that he has passed away. She pauses, and her little mind is processing. You can tell because she is not talking, and that my friend is rare! She then looks at me and smiles the sweetest smile. “I love you, Mimi.” That was her little heart’s way of saying, I don’t know what to say or do, but I love you. She understands how to “love one another.”
My father never invested in her heart. He will never be able to share any of what his heart could offer her. I watch my husband pour what he has into her heart. She values his words and actions, from rescuing her from a spider and being her hero to explaining how something works. His effort becomes a part of her when she learns from him.
Today, I pray for you to prioritize what is truly valuable, which is the next generation. We will come and go in this world, but what we invest in one another’s hearts is everlasting. Eternal good things are of God. If we don’t fill their hearts with God’s goodness, then their hearts lack good. This world will take a heart that is lacking and fill it up with all kinds of useless, not good things that are in opposition to God.
We wonder what is happening to the youth of today. Why are they the way they are? Because no one invested God into their hearts. Sure, we provided all kinds of other stuff: education, lessons of every kind, philosophies, ideologies, and material things of every shape and size. When they do wrong, we don’t spank or correct them anymore. Folks think a child will determine what is right or wrong on their own.
Our two-year-old grandson likes to play a cup game where I hide a toy inside one of four colored cups. He has to guess which one has the toy. As he lifts the cup to reveal what is inside, He says, “Nope” when it is empty. Nope! We need to guide them just as we need to be guided by God. We should never leave a child’s heart empty!
I wrote this yesterday. I had no idea what would be said in church today. It was just perfect, and it fit right into what I wrote.
We need more Jesus in every aspect of our life. Without Him, we have no purpose!
I was teasing and playing with my littlest granddaughter. She is four. She suddenly turned to me. Her turn had attitude from the position of her head to her toes and included a hang gesture found in teenagers. I know because I’ve seen our thirteen-year-old granddaughter do it. The hand is flattened and goes down in full on sass. And the eye roll!
The little one said, “Seriously, Mimi!”
I see that little love of a brown-eyed girl and the sass from her thirteen-year-old sister in that sass, and then I see her mama. If I am honest with myself, I will see myself in her too. Little by little, generation after generation, we sass. We think we know it all.
This morning, giggling at the thought of her, I soberly realize that little by little, generation after generation, we do that to God. We think we know it all.
We have a heart issues. Seriously, we have the matter of “teshuvah” (i.e., returning to God). We do not want to turn back to God. Little by little, generation after generation we drift farther and farther away from Him.
I played a game with my four-year-old granddaughter. Her response was appropriate and funny. But life is not a game with God. It is not appropriate or pleasing or good to sass or turn away from Him because when you do, that is when your deep heart issues begin!
A piece of a past generation and a little water, dirt, and sunshine begins the life of this little crocus flower. A nice bed in a nice place and the crocus grows because its needs are met. Its needs are met because they are provided for by another. The bulb did not work and earn the dirt or water or sunshine. This little bulb is blessed.
Then one day, its whole world changes. It is dug up, washed, dried, and bagged. It is no longer in the dirt or enjoying the sunshine. It is dry and it falls asleep. Dormant for a season. It travels to be processed and made into a product to sell. It will be handled with care and without care depending on the purpose of the hands that will handle it. It can have a rough day but in the bag it is quiet. It is good to rest. While the bulb sleeps, it is not aware of the bar codes and store shelves, the people passing by or even the checkout counter as it is moving from the store to a car. It is taken to a place it has never been before. A journey it never started out to take, but it goes, it has no choice. Still sleepy and depending on the loving care from the past to get it through this dry season.
New hands and new dirt, a new place to call home. Ah, a familiar friend in the bright sunshine that bakes the dirt with warmth and goodness. New hands have dug a new bed and as the little bulb is placed in the new garden a glimmer of hope, then a yawn, and then more sleep.
It is cold and wet, then warm and then cold again. It is fall and the leaves have blanketed the garden and the warmth that they provide is welcomed. As the day grows shorter and colder, the little bulb sleeps. Unaware of all of the changes in the world around it.
Then a new day comes. It is time. Warmth grows, rain quenches the thirsty little bulb, and a spark of life begins again. It is time to grow and not to sleep. It grows and grows and sees the sunshine. A shift here and a push of a leaf there and sunshine!
Living in the sunshine is satisfying. The little bulb is renewed in the light of the sun. It gains in strength and grows past the seasons of changes to mature in it’s fullness. Its purpose is to bloom. Its purpose is to glorify the God Who made it. The God of the Universe is glorified in all of the creations that He has made.
A new life from an old one that all began in God and will end in His glory when the little bulb fulfills its purpose for being here.
We are that little bulb.
Now dear ones in Christ Jesus, it is time to live in the Son-shine which is satisfying and full of life! We are blessed by God’s Son!
But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19 (KJV)
Grace and peace to you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! -Shahe Nahler
I am the author of six books. The first three of the books are about God changing me from my way to His way! Life is a process, people! A journey to walk out with God, and it’s always better when God is in you, and you have a relationship with Him. That way, His way, you never walk out your faith journey alone but with Him!
All six books are available at Amazon.com. Just click the links above or go to Amazon and type into the search, “Shahe Nahler.” Available in paperback or eBook.
You can also visit my website at www.shahesart.com for travel photos and Bible lessons, photography, and artwork.
My prayer for you is to have a real relationship with Jesus and as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Him and that you share Him with others so that they can have that gift too!
We don’t get snow often so when it does snow, it is very special.
We went to bed with a light dusting and woke up to 7 or 8 inches of white covering our woods.
It is also very beautiful.
The snow gently, quietly covers our entire woods in a perfect white blanket. Each snowflake unique because of God.
Now the snow is beautiful. Our woods are beautiful but imperfect.
There are sticks on the ground because of the windstorm that we got before we got the snow. Those need to be picked up.
There are leaves on the ground that need to be picked up too. Some of those leaves are ours, but a lot of them blow in from our neighbors because they don’t pick up their leaves. We pick up our leaves because we love the green moss that forms on the forest floor if the forest floor is kept clean.
The side yard has a pile of stuff that we did not get put away or thrown away when we tore down our lean-to. We just have not had time to deal with that pile. That pile of stuff needs to be dealt with.
We have a couple of trees that are dead that need to come down and there is one that is split that is leaning on other trees that needs to be trimmed properly. There is even a tree in the back yard that a tornado took the top one third of the tree off and it is just a very tall stump. No branches. We have lots of work to do to get our property back into order.
We have been working slowly on our yard. This past year has seen some major storms in our area. We were just finishing up on a clean-up from the winter tornado last January (still have tree stumps to grind) and we got hit with a fall tornado. More stuff came down. More mess was made. More to-do’s were added to our list.
We will never get our property into a perfect state or condition. We know and recognize that because our world is a fallen world. It will never be perfect. Because we read our Bible and we have faith and trust that what it says is true, we know that our property as well as all of this earth will pass away, and a new heaven and a new earth will be created by God.
So, we enjoy this covering of white loveliness, and postpone the work.
In the quiet we enjoy all that God has made because it is very good.
I wrote the above on the first day of the snow. I set it aside. Now one week later, after a week of being home from work and staying and warm inside our house, I had another thought.
Ah, now I know why this was set aside for a while. It wasn’t done yet. A week needed to pass by so that I would revisit the start of the week of winter wonder at the end of the week of wonder. Why revisit it? To see and evaluate what was in between.
The start is full of anticipation, excitement, and wonder because it has been a long while since snow was coming to our woods. The end is full of well, a lot of snow and ice, and I am really over the wonder of it all, people. That’s why I live in the south instead of up north. They can keep their winter! I look forward to the promise of 65 degrees in a couple of days. I had to wear snow boots! Shovel our driveway several times. And wait for it…wear a coat with a hat and mittens! Ah, the inhumanity!!!
I like Tennessee winters. A sweatshirt and tennis shoes. Sometimes an umbrella. But back to the middle of the week thought.
What did you do in the in between the start and the end of this snow week?
Did you make God a priority? Did you value and appreciate extra time in your Bible and prayer? Did you invest and make an effort to grow in your relationship with God?
Did you put things in your house back into its proper order? Did the laundry get caught up and that closet get cleaned out?
Maybe you watched a movie or read a book?
How did you spend your week?
If you want the key to having a satisfying week of wonder then start with God, end with God, and make everything in the middle about God. Your other stuff will get done but not because of your efforts. Once God puts you into your right order, all of the other stuff will fall into place. You will have peace that surpasses understanding, and in that peace, you are productive and pleasant. You are successful and submissive. You are efficient and effective in all things related to God.
So instead of focusing on your circumstances and letting the world speak into what you should do on a snow day like make some kind of ice cream from the snow with dairy products that would kill you…oh wait, that’s what would happen to me. Sorry. I got distracted. Seriously with all of the wildlife and their let’s just say stuff, ain’t no one smart to do that out here. Just saying.
Instead, be still and know, intimately understand and experience that God is God. And with Him, all things are possible because of Him so your other stuff will get done in due time!
Enjoy these verses on coverings, you might be surprised how lovely His covering can be to quietly love on you. There will always be work to do, but only one life to worship Him until eternity begins!
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely, He will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91:1-4
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10
You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. Psalm 119:114
Psalm 5:11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. Psalm 5:11
The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17
Grace and peace to you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! -Shahe Nahler
I am the author of six books. The first three of the books are about God changing me from my way to His way! Life is a process, people! A journey to walk out with God, and it’s always better when God is in you, and you have a relationship with Him. That way, His way, you never walk out your faith journey alone but with Him!
All six books are available at Amazon.com. Just click the links above or go to Amazon and type into the search, “Shahe Nahler.” Available in paperback or eBook.
You can also visit my website at www.shahesart.com for travel photos and Bible lessons, photography, and artwork.
My prayer for you is to have a real relationship with Jesus and as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Him and that you share Him with others so that they can have that gift too!
The title was “You Might As Well Unfriend Me Now.”
Someone read it yesterday. Yeah, a blog I wrote in 2016. I had no idea what was in that blog. Why would someone read something that far back? I can’t even remember what I wrote!
So I looked it up.
Wow, just wow!
My heart breaks for the world in which we live that continues to grow in darkness instead of in Jesus who is The Light Of The World!
Nothing changes anything in this world but Jesus.
Nothing fixes anything in this world but Jesus.
In the end of your days, do you want to say, “Thanks for…nothing?”
In the end of my days, I want to say, “Thank You, Jesus, for everything!”
In Hebrew, peace is shalom, but shalom is more than peace.
Shalom means peace, safety, rest, prosperity, wholeness, welfare, completion, fullness, soundness, and well-being.
We are studying in Lamentations. A book of five songs but we are covering it in one day so the primary passage that we are studying is Lamentations chapter three, verses 19-33.
Jeremiah is a prophet of God who is lamenting to God. He is crying out in anguish to God. Jeremiah is frustrated because what he sees in his circumstances is that good is defeated by evil.
Jeremiah is feeling defeated and distraught. He is looking around and seeing with his own eyes despair. Jerusalem has been destroyed and Jeremiah is lamenting about the destruction and suffering of the people.
We’ve all been there. We are worn-out, burnt-out, tired, frustrated, depressed, distraught, and afflicted. What we see is more of the same and the same is bringing us farther down in our daily lives. The farther we go down, the more we lose hope!
Now let’s look at how Jeremiah lamented to God.
Lamentations 3:19-33 (Hope of Relief in God’s Mercy)
19Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.
The word remember is “zakar” in Hebrew. It means to be mindful, call to mind, consider. Jeremiah is lamenting to God. He is asking God to be mindful of him (Jeremiah). Jeremiah tells God that he is afflicted and wandering. The word afflicted in Hebrew means depression and misery. The word wandering means restlessness, straying, homelessness, and misery. The word wormwood means accursed, poisonous and bitterness means poisonous and venom.
Jeremiah is miserable! He tells God that he is miserable. Jeremiah feels like he has been served poison and there is no cure!
Remember how I asked the class what peace meant to them. They said, quiet, rest, and be still. The word wandering is the opposite of peace. Restlessness is the opposite of rest. Straying is the opposite of being still. Homelessness is the opposite of being still. Misery is the opposite of being quiet. We tend to moan and groan, whine, and complain when we are miserable.
Jeremiah is focused on Jeremiah, and he is lamenting to God. Jeremiah has no peace.
20Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me.
In Hebrew, the word “zakar” is used twice here. Surely is the word “zakar” and remembers is the word zakar. This shows an emphasis on this word. My is Jeremiah. The word for soul is “nephesh.” Nephesh is a person, a soul, a being. The word and is a continuation of thought that Jeremiah is sunk down, a downward direction is his soul-his inner being, life, person.
Jeremiah is focused on Jeremiah, and he is miserable and poison is in his life and he is being brought down both physically and spiritually. Jeremiah has no peace.
Here is the point in which a person has to make a choice. Do you want to stay in the position or place you are currently in? Are you in despair like Jeremiah? How do you change or get out of this place? Jeremiah had no peace. Ask yourself, “Do I have peace?” If you do not have peace, how do you get peace?
21This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.
The “I” is Jeremiah. Jeremiah recalls which is the word “shub” in Hebrew. It means to return to, to turn back. It is related to repentance. Jeremiah is making a choice – to shub (a verb to return from, to turn back, to repent) from himself to God. He has been lamenting and focusing on himself and how he feels and his circumstances. But he has to change his direction from his way to God’s way. He has to change and return to God. Repent of his self-focus and focus on God. Jeremiah needs to stop what he is doing and make God the face that he seeks.
The word “therefore” is the word “ken” in Hebrew meaning YES! Because Jeremiah repents and returns to God, yes Jeremiah can have hope.
The word hope used here is “ohil” in Hebrew. It means to wait, to be patient.
Jeremiah needs to stop his lamenting, repent, and turn to God. Jeremiah needs to not remember that he is miserable, poisoned, and his person is brought down. Jeremiah needs to not ask God to remember him (God already knows everything) but Jeremiah needs to remember God and who God is.
In our circumstances, in our mucky and muddy place we need to repent and return to God. We need to remember God and remember who God was, is, and will always be.
22The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail.
The LORD is Yahwah. The proper name of the God of Israel. He is “chesed” in Hebrew. Chesed means goodness, the kindness of God. God’s goodness-kindness will not cease-to end, to be complete, consumed. For-because His-God’s compassions which is the Hebrew word, “racham” is God’s deep mercies (plural) will not fail-to be complete, at an end, be finished.
Jeremiah shub (repent/returns) choose to stop the “me, me, me” and focus on God who is God. God is love and God is mercy. God’s love and mercies have no end.
God is Who He is and His characteristics like love and mercy can be comforting to us in times when we feel afflicted and wander as if we are poisoned and brought down. We need to remember Who God Is!
23Theyare new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
They is God’s love and mercies. They are new/fresh every morning. They are a fresh supply each day. Just like the manna from heaven that God provided for the children of Israel. God is a provider. He is our providers of what we need. The Israelites needed food, so He provided manna. Jeremiah needs love and mercy, and God is love and mercy!
Do you know and remember that God is love and mercy? Do you need His love and mercy? Think about the choice you need to make that will change you from down and out to an upward calling/direction toward Him!
Great is much and many. Great is, much and many is God’s Faithfulness. God is Faithful. It is Who He Is! Faithfulness is a firmness and steadfastness. God is Faithful and He will never fail us because of Who He Is!
24“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.”
Yahwah-The proper name of the God of Isarel is my (Jeremiah’s) portion. The word portion is related to reward and inheritance. Says (speaks) my (Jeremiah’s) soul (nephesh-person, life, being).
Therefore (ken-yes!) I (Jeremiah) have (will) hope (ohil-to wait, to be patient) in (a positional word) Him (God).
****Jeremiah is a vessel. You and I are vessels. Jeremiah starts this passage as a vessel filled with affliction, wandering (2x’s misery) and poisons (2x’s things that bring sickness and death). His vessel is filled with no hope. How does he go from no hope to having hope? He makes a choice to “shub” to return to/to repent. He now remembers Who God is.
In the Book of Jeremiah, God is Sovereign. God is real. God is Holy. God is Truth. God is Good. God is Faithful. God has a purpose. God is Judge. God works for the good of each person. God is Love. God is Mercy. God is with us always. This is just a small list of Who God Is!
Jeremiah-a vessel filled with despair remembers to return to God and recall Who God is. Now God fills Jeremiah’s vessel. The despair is pushed out as Jeremiah allows God to fill up his vessel. His despair changes to hope. You can make the same choice! Why should you respond like Jeremiah? Well, verse twenty-five tells you why!
25The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.
The Lord (Yahweh) is (His essesence, being) good (tov in Hebrew, related to God’s will) to those who (people who return/repent/respond) who wait (yachal – to bind together, to collect, to expect) for Him (God), to the person (nephesh-soul, life, being) who seeks (asks, call, seek, inquire, diligently search, follows, treads, related to WORSHIP) Him (God).
Wow! If you are you, then you are probably a vessel filled with “you-stuff.” Whatever you-stuff is write it down. Make a list. Lament it to the Lord. Cry out your “you-stuff” to Him. Tell it all, write it all, cry it all out. Then be still. Rest. Be quiet.
Now respond like Jeremiah. SHUB! Return to God in a repentive way. Repent of the you and make it about HIM!
When you respond to God in the proper and appropriate manner which He wants (not the way we want), then God will (He promises) respond to you. His response will be good because He is good. His response will be love because He is love. His response will be merciful because He is mercy. God responds to those who wait (who expect-because they respond to God). When a person (nephesh) responds to God properly, appropriately, and then waits for God to respond back to him and he waits expectingly, he waits, knowing with confidence that God is good, it is God’s will to respond to those who respond to HIM!
26It isgood that he waits silently for the salvation of the LORD.
It is good (God, God’s will) that he (the person lamenting) waits (hopes, to whirl, to writhe) silently (quietly) for the salvation (yasha-root word related to Yeshua-Jesus; help, deliverance, victory) of the Lord (Yahweh).
God is Good. God is salvation. God is the LORD.
If you want to change your circumstance, your vessel, then fill it with God, knowing that He will help you, deliver you, save you, rescue you, and give you victory because of Who He Is!
Why quietly? Hmm, I prayed about this one. Because what is in a person’s heart is what comes out of his mouth (Matthew 15:17-19). What comes out of his mouth can be good or bad. Good is God. God’s will. But bad is in opposition to God and God’s will. Bad is going to share your complaints, your moaning, your groaning, etc. with another person. You are down and you share bad with someone to bring them down with you or to where you are. Complaints never encourage someone. Complaints are shared to get them to agree with you. You may temporarily feel better but in contrast, I bet that person now feels down. We are to encourage one another on toward love and good deeds like it says in Hebrews 10:24. Encourage another on toward love (God) and good (God-God’s will) deeds (work done for and through Him). Encourage not discourage. If we know God, have a relationship with God, then a bad word puts God in an improper light to that person who hears our improper words. We do not reflect or represent God.
27It isgood for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth.
It is good (God, God’s will) for a man (not the word nephesh-being, life, person but a different word related to a valiant man/a warrior) that he (the valiant man, warrior) should bear (carry, lift, take) the yoke in (positional word) his youth (early life).
I prayed about this response too. In our youth, should we respond to God’s call of salvation in our youth, then we will live the remainder of our life not as an unsaved man, but as a saved warrior, valiant man in God. We will conduct our lives in a way that is God’s way so that we will be pleasing to Him. Part of that way is to then share what God has done for us and that God can do the same thing for the others who do not have a relationship with Him!
28Let him sit alone and be silent since He has laid it on him.
The word in Hebrew is not “let” but a command “Nathan” meaning to give, to set, to put. Think of the Exodus. God did not say, “Pharoah, let me people go” as if God is giving the power to Pharoah to decide what to do. God’s Word says, “Send forth My people” as in God commands Pharoah. God has the power, not Pharoah!
This is a command that demands a response.
God commands (Nathan, to give, to set, to put) the man (valiant man, warrior) to sit (to dwell, to remain) alone (lonely, secluded, separation, isolation) and (in addition) be (exist) silent (hold peace, to stop, to rest, to quiet himself, to be dumb-don’t talk) since (for) He (God) has laid (disciplined, to lift, to lay, to impose) it on (a position, upon) him (the valiant man, warrior).
God wants the man to talk to Him and then God will talk to him. On my computer at home, I have the words, “Da lifneh mi atah omed” on a note. It means, “Know before Whom you stand.” This comes to mind when I type this because if we try to solve our “stuff” ourselves then we talk to others but (in contrast) others may give us bad advice. Ask Job how his three friends advice worked out! If we are around others, talk to others, etc., then we are distracted. God wants our attention. Don’t forget that lamenting is our way of calling out to God with our “stuff” because we want Him to pay attention to us! Now it is our turn to pay attention to Him. A relationship with God is you and God and God and you. No one else can save you or be in that relationship for you.
God disciplines those He loves. Hebrew 12:3-11.
29Let him put his mouth in the dust, perhaps there is hope.
God commands (Nathan, to give, to set, to put) him (valiant man, warrior) put his (valiant man, warrior) mouth (mouth, where we speak what is in our heart, related to face) in the dust (earth, mud, clay; what God used to make us and what we will return too), perhaps (conditional statement-if the man obeys then…) there is hope (tiqvah – a cord, expectancy, a ground of hope, things hoped for, hope for an outcome).
If the man responds in obedience, he can hope for an outcome. That outcome will be good because God is good.
30Let him give his cheek to the smiter, let him be filled with reproach.
God commands (Nathan, to give, to set, to put) him (valiant man, warrior) give his (valiant man, warrior) cheek (jaw, related to face, mouth) to the smiter (the one who strikes, defeats), let him (the valiant man) be filled (to be satisfied) with reproach (shame).
When we are ashamed we hide our face.
Verse 19 and 20 (Jeremiah laments, me, me, me). Verse 21 (Jeremiah “shub” repents and return to God). Verse 22-24 (Jeremiah remembers Who God Is; responds to God). Verse 25-27 (God responds to Jeremiah, instructions/guidance on what he should do) Verses 28, 29, and 30 are related, they are commands that demand responses by valiant/warrior men. If they obey these commands, there will be hope.
****Jeremiah is a vessel that sees and is filled with hardships. He then recalls Who God Is. God is good and God works for the good of those that love Him and are called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28). By filling his vessel up with God’s character, God pushes out the hardships and changes them by and through salvation. God’s salvation helps us, rescues us, delivers us, saves us, and gives us victory in Him. That then causes us to trust God more and to increase our faith in Him.
For (because) the Lord (Adonai) will not (not, no) reject (cast us off) forever (always, eternity). We may in our circumstances feel alone but we need to respond by remembering that God is always with us, He will never leave us nor forsake us (Deut. 31:8)! God tells the despairing that He will give us rest (shalom).
32For if He causes grief, then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness.
For (even) if (conditional statement) He (God) causes (not causes but to grieve). It would read better to say, “even if God to grieve then (yet) He (God) will have (show) compassion (racham-deep mercies) according to (on account of) His (God’s) abundant (great, many) lovingkindness (chesed).
God’s character, His essence is all we need.
33For He does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men.
For (even) He (God) does not afflict (to bow down, to put down) willingly (lev-mind/heart; our inner man) nor grieve (to suffer, to inflict) the sons (think inheritance, family) of man (ish, mankind).
*****Jeremiah’s vessel, his being is filled with rejection and suffering but when he changes and focus on Who God Is, that God is Faithful and with him always, then Jeremiah can hope in Him.
Believers can be like Jeremiah. We can allow our current position, situation, circumstances, etc. take over our being, our vessel. Slowly filling up with the mucky stuff like despair, misery, depression, anxiety, hardships, etc. But we need to recognize that God has good plans for us, ones with hope and a future (Jer. 29:11). God’s plan for us is shalom! Believers need to change/respond to God. We need to seek diligently His face so that we can have confidence-hope-hold on to His blood-stained cord to be positioned in Him and nothing else.
If we respond in obedience to Him and His commands (instructions) then He will respond to us. Our vessel filled up with Him will give us the peace that we seek. He is our peace. Fill your vessel up with HIM!
God is Holy – Believers need to remember that is Who God Is!
God is The Judge – Believers need to trust and believe that God is the ultimate authority and submit to His authority.
God is Truth – Believers need to believe in who God is and what He says. All of it! It is His word and not our opinion of His word.
God is Faithful – Believers must trust God more. Know that what He says, He will do!
God is Sovereign – God knows all, including us. He knows the past, the present, and the future and what is best for us!
God is Real – God is not of our making or imagery (that is idolatry, when we want God to fit our stuff).
God is Love – Believers need to accept God’s love and that includes His discipline.
God is Good – Believers must decide to do life God’s way – God’s will – good way!
God works for the good of each person – Believers must be patient and trust God more during hardships.
God has a purpose – God has a plan, and He may use hardships to grow us in Him.
God is Mercy – Believers must focus on God’s mercies instead of despair, etc.
God is with us always – Believers need a real relationship with God, one that is continuous. When we feel “away” from God, it is because we have turned away. God is always there.
Believer, dear one, my brother and sister in Christ Jesus, you are because of salvation no longer part of this world! The old you has gone, it has passed away, and the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17).
Your vessel may slowly fill up with the mucky stuff of the world (the you-stuff) because you have allowed it too. Perhaps, you don’t want to give up control because you think that by you having control (having things your way) you can also have peace (this never works out for the good of you). Perhaps, you are not worshiping God, studying His word, praying to Him, listening to Him, making Him the priority in your life, etc. All of these and more that you are not spending time, purposing your face to seek His face, conducting your life in a way that He wants you to conduct it are all “strikes” that make your vessel weak. Those cracks allow the mucky stuff to get in.
Be like the valiant warrior man who obeys God and fills up with Him. Conduct your lives in His salvation in a victorious manner so that when someone strikes your vessel you don’t take it personally in your face so to speak but rather you remember/recall who you are in Christ Jesus! By knowing more about God, you will be able to allow God to fight for you (the battle is the Lord’s-2 Chron. 20:15). You are the vessel, the warrior, the soldier that does not lead (that’s God’s role) but follows (obeys) His commands (instructions). When you do this, you will have His peace.
May you respond to the question, “What is peace to you?” with the answer JESUS!
May your respond to the question, “Where do you get peace?” with the answer JESUS!
JESUS is your shalom! You need to make a choice to make Jesus your Lord and Savior!
Grace and peace to you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! -Shahe Nahler
I am the author of six books. The first three of the books are about God changing me from my way to His way! Life is a process, people! A journey to walk out with God, and it’s always better when God is in you, and you have a relationship with Him. That way, His way, you never walk out your faith journey alone but with Him!
All six books are available at Amazon.com. Just click the links above or go to Amazon and type into the search, “Shahe Nahler.” Available in paperback or eBook.
You can also visit my website at www.shahesart.com for travel photos and Bible lessons, photography, and artwork.
My prayer for you is to have a real relationship with Jesus and as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Him and that you share Him with others so that they can have that gift too!
It has been a different season this past two months. Very different with one of my parents passing away and the other one being in very poor health. One death was sudden but in a way not because he had been sick for a very long time. What was sudden was the stroke and then passing away two weeks after the stroke. One life that remains is different in that she has not taken care of herself and it has caught up to her. Her biggest problem is not a stroke or injury or something tangible, but rather her grasp on reality. Her reality and what is actually the reality is different.
I just finished my Bible study time in Leviticus chapter eleven. I am studying with LoveIsrael.org. The very last verse has me “pondering, considering, thoroughly” what God’s Word says.
Leviticus 11:47, “to make a distinction between between the unclean and the clean, and between the edible creature and the creature which is not to be eaten.”
The word distinction, in Hebrew is le-Hab-dil. It is used in Genesis 1:14to separate the the day from the night. In Leviticus 11:47 it is used to make a difference between the unclean and the clean. In Ezekiel 42:20 it is used to divide between the holy and the profane.
A distinction is to set someone or something apart from others. It has a purpose in that it is meant for “good” or “excellence.” To mark someone or something of importance, quality, or value.
God makes a difference between good and evil, light and darkness, and clean and unclean. He has a reason for doing so.
God’s Word (The Holy Bible) is God. God tells us the reader of His Word, who He is and what His plans are. We are part of His plans. He tells us through the law (Torah) which are His commandments (His instructions) what to do and what not to do. We then have a choice to make. We can choose to obey or to disobey His Word.
Here are some distinctions:
God
Holy
Good
Righteousness
Truth
Obey
Light
Clean
Pure
Proper
Permissible
Blessing
Life
Reject God
Not Holy
Evil
Unrighteousness
No truth
Disobey
Dark
Unclean
Impure
Improper
Not permissible
Curse
Death
How we make choices between these distinctions is Jesus. When we have a New Covenant relationship with Jesus it changes everything. On our own we are unable to be anything on the side of God. It is hard to think that way but one thing that you will quickly learn when you study your Bible is that God is Holy. We simply cannot be holy. For us to live out eternity with God we need to make a change. Jesus is how we do that.
Having a relationship with Jesus, making a choice to be set apart from this world by making Him your Lord and your Savior of your life will change you.
You will be changed from death to life.
You will be changed from being cursed by sin to being blessed because Jesus died on the cross for your sin and His redemptive act is a forever perfect blood atonement for your sin.
Jesus starts a transformational relationship with you. He teaches and you follow His teachings. You will be able to be guided by God’s Word and the Holy Spirit so that you will be able to discern what is permissible and not permissible in your life. What is proper and improper way to conduct your life. What is difference between clean and pure and unclean and impure.
You will live as “children of the light” because of your relationship with Jesus instead of being a “child of darkness” and belonging to this world and the ruler of this world Satan.
You will study and pray and interact with God and the more truth you allow to fill up your vessel (yourselves) the more “yuk” that is against God will be removed. Your obedience is agreeing with God.
I want with all my heart line up on His side of the distinctions!
This world is hard, it pulls at you. It pokes and pushes you. It pollutes you. It is trying to bring you down. You are in a constant state of decay leading to death.
My dad has been sick since 2001, but he did not die until 2023. He kept moving. His body fought for life, but no matter how long you fight, you will die. My mom has stopped moving. It is painful for her to move. Her body is giving up life because she does not want to suffer pain. Ultimately she will die too. Either way we all die.
So which is better slow or quick, fight or not fight, pain or no pain, suffer or no suffering…my way or God’s way.
Hmmm, now that’s the point. Now there’s a distinction! My way or God’s way. With God or against God. Trust God or not trust God.
An important question to ask yourself (your soul) is, “Do you want to live out eternity with God or without God?”
I know this as a believer in Christ Jesus.
God to me (things that I should always remember) because sometimes I have to remind myself:
God loves me. God is for me. God will be with me. God will not fail me. God believes in me. God values me. God will answer me. God will strengthen me. God will provide for me. God will bless me. God will give me rest. God has made a way for me to be with Him. His name is Jesus and Jesus is my Lord and Savior.
My prayer for you is that you will “ponder, consider, thoroughly” your eternal future and that you choose Jesus because He is eternal life!
Grace and peace to you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! -Shahe Nahler
I am the author of six books. The first three of the books are about God changing me from my way to His way! Life is a process, people! A journey to walk out with God, and it’s always better when God is in you, and you have a relationship with Him. That way, His way, you never walk out your faith journey alone but with Him!
All six books are available at Amazon.com. Just click the links above or go to Amazon and type into the search, “Shahe Nahler.” Available in paperback or eBook.
You can also visit my website at www.shahesart.com for travel photos and Bible lessons, photography, and artwork.
My prayer for you is to have a real relationship with Jesus and as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Him and that you share Him with others so that they can have that gift too!
You’ve seen the phrase “rest in peace.” It is a phrase used when someone passes away.
Lisa Marie Presley has just passed away. Famous people and not famous people have said, “May she rest in peace” or “R.I.P.” Others have said, “At least now she is in the arms of loved ones.”
Hmmm. We often say or “release” things out of our mouths without giving them much thought.
So here are some thoughts that have come to the forefront in recent hours.
First, where does “R.I.P.” come from.
R.I.P. means “rest in peace” but it really comes from a Latin phrase. It is a phrase found in Christian services and prayers. The acronym R.I.P., though containing the same initial letters as the phrase rest in peace, originates from a Latin phrase with the same meaning: requiescat in pace, “may (the deceased person) rest in peace.”
It is in a sense, a prayer, a hope spoken that it would be fulfilled or come true. “May” as in expressing the possibility or expressing the request of permission.
So often, people use theological phrases without knowing they have a God-foundation. People who do not believe in God will use phrases like R.I.P. without thinking about what they are saying.
A famous female comedian had a video of the recent weather near her home and she said, “We’ve made Mother Nature angry.” To me, that is a statement that she does not believe that God is the Creator of the Universe. She is giving a fictional character, Mother Nature, the credit for what God Himself has created. Then she later states “May she rest in peace” referring to Lisa Marie Presley. Who’s peace is she requesting that Lisa Marie Presley be in?” To whom is she asking permission or praying to? I bet she would have no real answer to that question. Possibly blaming it on, “It is just a phrase. Something people say to be polite.”
God created the universe and one of His names (which demonstrates His character) is Creator of the Universe. He alone should get the credit for His creations and not Mother Nature.
People have heard or learned or assume or think that “God hears our prayers” and in our selfish-fleshly ways we ASSUME that means God will respond to hearing our prayers and “answer them the way in which we desire/want.”
Yes, God hears every prayer. Psalm 66:19 is the Psalm we are learning in our preschool Mother’s Day Out program this month. It says, “But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.” It goes on the say in the next verse, “Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer nor His lovingkindness from me.”
Psalm 66:19-20, “But certainly (truly, surely, in contrast) God (Elohim-One True God) has heard (shama -verb in Hebrew meaning to hear); He (God) has given heed (pay attention, to incline the ears) to the voice (sound) of my prayer (noun-as in a real thing).
The person writing this is David, King of Israel, a believer in The One True God. His relationship with God because of who God is, is why David has security and assurance that God hears his prayers.
Diving deeper.
Shama – the Hebrew word for “to hear” but there is more to this word than just the act of hearing. It also means to hear something and respond to what is heard. This response is often with obedience.
We desire or want God to hear and to respond to our prayers. Often, we desire or want God to respond in obedience to what we have prayed for. However what we pray for may not be in God’s will so God may not respond in the way in which we want or desire. He will always respond to our prayers if they are within His will and purpose.
Prayer – is a noun. A noun is a person, place, or thing. In today’s current culture, I may need to qualify this as in a real person, a real place, or a real thing. A prayer is more than words spoken in our heart or outloud with our mouths that floats around randomly in the universe…or in today’s culture the meta verse (seriously this stuff is such a mucky mess). A prayer is a real thing that comes from within you and it leaves you with a desired destination as in a desired outcome/response. Some people choose or designate their prayers to specific gods such as Venus, Apollo, Shiva, Vishnu, or Allah, etc. They are purposely setting the course or direction that they want/desire their prayers to go to so that god will be the one to respond to them.
Psalm 66:19-20, “But certainly” is a key part of this verse. Yes it means truly, surely, nevertheless, but it says more than that. It is emphasizing contrast to the statement above this statement. Opposed to what had been wrongly imagined or stated as in what is written directly above this statement is verse 18.
Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear;”
Yes, God hears every prayer. But (in contrast) God does not respond to those prayers from a person with a qualifier (wickedness) in their heart.
If (a conditional state or position) I regard (look, to see, consider, examine, make inspection, experience, expose, become visible) wickedness (trouble, sorrow, idolatry, wrongdoing, affliction, distress, vanity, unrighteousness) in my heart (positioned in my inner being), The Lord (God) will not hear (shama – to hear and respond).
Now, that is something to be in thought about. What is in my heart?
Luke 6:45 says, “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”
Matthew 6:21 says, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.”
Proverbs 4:23 says, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”
Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
Philippians 4:7 says, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
If God’s peace is in your heart in fulness, then there should not be room for anything else in opposition to His peace. Here is a verse with a word of warning against “trouble” in your heart. Remember trouble-wickedness in the heart prevents God from hearing as in responding to what He has heard.
John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
People do not have God’s peace in their hearts. Joy and peace even in times of trouble are gifts from the Lord. Real peace, only comes from a real God. An expression of that real peace from God is joy. Real joy is from the Lord! God alone is the source of joy and peace.
Lisa Marie Presley wrote this recently:
“In honor of it being National Grief Awareness Day, I wrote an essay about Grief which was posted today on @people,” her post said. “I thought I’d post it here in the hopes that anyone who needs to hear all of this it helps in some way.”
In the accompanying essay for People — which was published the same month as the 45th anniversary of her father’s death — Presley said she had “been living in the horrific reality” of grief since her son’s death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2020.
He was Presley’s youngest child with the musician Danny Keough and was 27 when he died.
“I’m sharing my thoughts in the hopes that somehow, we can change that,” she said, adding: “Grief does not stop or go away in any sense.” “Grief is something you will have to carry with you for the rest of your life, in spite of what certain people or our culture wants us to believe. You do not ‘get over it,’ you do not ‘move on,’ period.”
Lisa Marie Presley
Her statement began with “hoping” that someone will benefit from her statement, but her statement ended in that grief never ends. That is a sad statement. One with no hope. One with no future. Period.
Her statement of hope is from someone who has no hope and no future. She has/holds nothing in her hand to offer and share with someone else that will have a lasting impact on that someone else.
The Bible contradicts her statement in that believers in Christ Jesus have something different.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'”
I share this all of the time. Hold you hands out. Palms up. In this position, you can have/hold something that is given to you. When something is in your hands you can have it, examine it, get to know what is in your hands, and even share it.
Now, hold your hands out. Palms down. In this position, you cannot have/hold something that is given to you. Whatever comes toward you will either roll off or be difficult to handle. You will not be able to hold on to it and there will be nothing to share.
It is your choice how you hold out your hands. It is your choice how you respond to God.
Believers have/hold something in their hands because they have responded to Jesus by accepting His free gift of salvation. Jesus changes everything. Period.
Psalm 66:19 goes on to say in Psalm 66:20, “Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer nor His lovingkindness from me.”
“Blessed (to kneel, to thank, to adore with bended knee) be God (Elohim – The One True God), Who (God) has not turned away (verb-change direction, turn aside; God has chosen not to turn away from) my prayer (something that comes from me, my heart) norHis (God) lovingkindness (goodness, favor, kindness) from (a direction) me.“
We say lovingkindness. In Hebrew it is the word chesed. What a beautiful word to learn about. It means deeds of devotion, devotion, devout, faithfulness, favor, good, kindly, kindness, loveliness, lovingkindness, loyal deeds, loyalty, mercies, merciful, mercy, righteousness, unchanging love.
I love the last one, unchanging love. God is love and God’s love is unchanging!
Seriously people, beloved ones reading this blog, God is Faithful and True and Love and Light and Good.
As a believer in Christ Jesus, my hands are full and overflowing in testimony that God is Faiththful, True, Love, Light, and Good just like the Bible says. The Bible is true and can be trusted and will never fail you as a source of truth.
Others that don’t believe in Christ Jesus, what have they in their hands to offer you that will be everlasting?
With Jesus, your hands can have and hold something with an everlasting hope, that means a future, people! His plan is that your future be in (a position) Him.
All my life, I have not been faithful to God but (in contrast to me and my fleshly ways) God has been faithful.
Surrender now and accept God’s gift of salvation. He is truly pursuing and running after you.
Call (a prayer spoken from your heart outloud with your mouth) upon the name of the Lord (specifically Jesus, no other gods) and (in addition) you will be (a promise from Jesus) saved (set apart by salvation in Christ Jesus for an eternal future with Him).
Romans 10:13 says, “for whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Do you want to respond the way the Lord God wants you to respond? He wants you to respond by accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Recognize and acknowledge that you are a sinner. Admit that you fall short of the glory of God because of the sin within you. Romans 3:23
Recognize and acknowledge that the wages of your sin will lead to your physical and spiritual death but (contrast word) the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. You will still one day physically die, but your spiritual death will not happen because of Jesus. You will spiritually live out eternity with Jesus. And since the Blessed Hope (the rapture) has yet to happen, one day if you are a believer you will get a glorified body because of Jesus. Romans 6:23, Titus 2:11-13
Recognize and acknowledge that unless a person is spiritually born again he cannot see the kingdom of God (eternity). John 3:3-7
Recognize and acknowledge that Jesus is the way in which you will be born again. John 14:6
Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and you will be saved by Jesus (meaning you will be born again). Romans 10:9-13
Recognize and acknowledge that you belong to Jesus, you have been changed in your spiritual condition from your old sinful nature to your new spiritual nature in Christ Jesus. 2 Cor. 5:14-21
Recognize and acknowledge that you belong to Jesus and have a covenantal relationship (intimate relationship) with Him. You listen to His voice and obey Him after you invited Him into your heart and into your life. Rev. 3:20
Lisa Marie Presley died young at 54. So did her father Elvis Presley at age 42. His mother died at age 46. The one thing they all had in common was that they died young by cardiac arrest. They had a physical heart condition.
What is your spiritual heart condition? If you were to die today, young, old, or in between in your journey, wouldn’t you want to know where you are going to spend your eternity?
Grace and peace to you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! -Shahe Nahler
I am the author of six books. The first three of the books are about God changing me from my way to His way! Life is a process, people! A journey to walk out with God, and it’s always better when God is in you, and you have a relationship with Him. That way, His way, you never walk out your faith journey alone but with Him!
All six books are available at Amazon.com. Just click the links above or go to Amazon and type into the search, “Shahe Nahler.” Available in paperback or eBook.
You can also visit my website at www.shahesart.com for travel photos and Bible lessons, photography, and artwork.
My prayer for you is to have a real relationship with Jesus and as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Him and that you share Him with others so that they can have that gift too!
I wrote predicament in August of 2020. It is what I saw and experienced at that time. Now time has passed. It is February of 2021. Texas is in the middle of a very bad snow and ice storm. Wind energy and solar energy have failed a state that has people freezing and put in extremely dangerous circumstances all because of leadership decisions, and lack of good decisions. A state that produces energy has no energy. Let that one sink in a minute.
God always gets my attention by my life experiences and circumstances. I am a prepared person. I always have medicine and bandaids with me. A safety pin or two along with a swiss army knife complete with tweezers and small scissors, and a sewing kit. I am that person. My daughter often teases and makes fun of me for being that person. But we just took a trip together to Florida. She forgot her hair brush, I had a backup. My granddaughters both at different times needed a bandaid and ointment and Mimi came to the rescue. Mimi is me by the way, “that person” who is always prepared. Time and time again, I remembered and was prepared for what she forgot or was not prepared for. Life teaches you to be prepared. God teaches you to be spiritually prepared for life. Let that one sink in a minute.
God wants us spiritually be prepared in Jesus so that whatever comes our way in life, we will be able to handle it not on our own but because of Jesus. Life without Jesus is an unprepared life. Life without Jesus will not last past this experience on earth in a good way. Don’t be “that person.” The one that “lives life to the fullest that the world has to offer” and then spiritually goes unprepared before God on Judgment Day. That is a real Day that is really coming. We don’t want to ever discuss judgment. It is unpleasant and unwanted and unprepared for by the vast majority of mankind aka creations of God that do not want to acknowledge or deal with God and what God says in His Holy Word, The Bible.
We look at life as a vacation except we seem to be very unprepared for it. Kind of like forgetting the hairbrush and bandaids. The grandgirlies sure looked adorable with their hair fixed nice, and both benefited from the ointment and bandaids. Life was better because of preparation.
But don’t get smug or arrogant, it only takes one new or unexpected circumstance to take a person from the position of prepared to the position of unprepared. We returned from our trip with very little food at home. A snow and ice storm and a couple of days stuck in the home eating up the last of the food. Also, my husbands blood pressure medicine was very very low. He had two doses left. That required some decisions and a lot of prayers to be made. Do we go out to get the medications and the groceries? We prayed about it a lot and I mean a lot. We prayed down the ice covered driveway and out the long gravel road. We prayed down the backstreet of our country neighborhood just to make it to the small road which required more prayers to turn on too. One small road lead to another and eventually to one in a bit better condition. We eventually made it to the store. Got the medicine and food and thanked God only to start home and repeat the whole process. Two attempts up the driveway and we came home exhausted but grateful to God for our safety and success. Me, that prepared person, “that person” was unprepared for an ice/snow storm and a day break before the next one hits. We needed to do something to improve our circumstances. God was our first rescue call.
Without God being THE ONE that we can run to, lean on, rely on, and depend on then we are lost and at the bottom of the ice covered hill. Being prepared in God is the only way to have spiritual safety and spiritual success.
Don’t be TEXAS that did not learn from CALIFORNIA’s mistake. Instead by that person that listens to others testimony and life experiences and properly prepares for what is to come in life by being first prepared for any predicament by being prepared in JESUS. Eternal life is good, pleasant, and honoring in that we get to worship God eternally.
Hell is a predicament that once we receive the sentence of the Judgment Day, it cannot be reversed. Let that one sink in a minute.. It will be too late to be prepared in Jesus. Don’t be “that person!”
Here is the original blog: “Predicament”
It is defined as a difficult, unpleasant, or embarrassing situation.
We all get in them. We all try to get out of them. We all have issues, people!
California is in a predicament.
Years ago, leadership and those with loud voices expressed their own desires to switch California over from other sources of energy to solar energy.
This will benefit the environment. This will benefit California.
Leadership lead and those who are not in leadership allowed (note I did not say follow).
To follow means to agree with or to get on board with that which you are following. It means to move or to get behind something or someone.
To allow means to give someone permission to do something. Sometimes one allows another person to do something simply by not doing anything at all. By not opposing or speaking up in a time of decision, then you are allowing that which is going to happen to happen.
So again, leadership lead and those who are not in leadership did not speak up so they allowed the leadership to do what leadership does.
Again, there is a difference of two positions.
Lead = Follow Lead = Allow
Lead to benefit all that they are leading meaning those that follow the leader.
and
Lead to benefit themselves and their own agenda meaning that those that follow the leader are left out of the benefits until their vote is needed again.
California leadership wanted solar power for whatever reason (but I bet it was of benefit to the leadership) and because those in California allowed it (but I bet they did not think of the lack of benefits to them in the future) to do it.
Now time passes. As with all “benefits” time is a limiting factor. Benefits run out. Sooner or later all that benefits us in this world is limited and therefore it will run out. Only God and the things of God are everlasting and will benefit us forever.
Time limits, California leaders lead, Californians allow, and solar power is in charge. Yes, that is an energy pun in case you missed it, people!
But back to the predicament. The difficult situation is that California is burning up with wild fires. So many that the sky is dark with smoke and the sun which fuels solar energy cannot be seen. The sun as the source of the light cannot reach the solar panels that are dependent on the source to use that light to produce energy.
It is unpleasant because without energy, electricity cannot happen. Air-conditioning in heat waves and computers that we work from and light switches to turn on lights in the dark and so on and so on are unable to be used. There are so many unpleasant consequences that I do not have the time to list them all. I don’t have the energy to do so. Ok, I couldn’t resist that one.
This should now cause an embarrassing situation. Trying to save the environment and yet, the environment is what is causing great difficulty.
The predicament is…do the California leaders that made the decisions to switch all of the energy to solar in California admit, confess, repent, and turn from their misguided ways? Do they apologize to those that they lead astray that are sweating out their consequences?
As with all and I do purposely mean all, as in whole and of every kind, all that comes our way when leadership begins to lead…
…we should ask of what or who benefits?
A benefit is defined as an advantage or profit or gain from something.
Leadership leads simply to benefit themselves in some way shape or form and especially to energize their bank accounts. Yes, I did it again.
Proverbs 28:20 A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished.
Those that allow are often allowing simply because they don’t want to be bothered with the current circumstance or situation. More often than not time and resources limit their thinking and they “allow” to buy more time or resources thinking that they can make that decision…later. It won’t affect me now so it can wait.
Those that follow are often wanting to become like or one of those that lead. They want their benefits now and throw their support and energy and efforts toward what or who they are following.
In the end they are all in a predicament because all of this is done in the ways of “the world.” The ultimate “end game” of all of life’s predicaments caused by those that lead in worldly ways and those that follow in worldly ways only ever benefits…Satan. He is the prince of this world and he alone will benefit.
Satan benefits when we have turned to counterfeit sources like the sun for our source instead of turning to The Son as in The Son of God.
Where we are in the world today…
…we have leadership who have lead us to believe that we do not need God as the source of everything.
1 Corinthians 8:5 For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, 6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.
…we have those that want to benefit themselves tell us, lead us, legislate us, and demand of us, to use other providers instead of the Son of God.
Proverbs 28:16 A leader who is a great oppressor lacks understanding, but he who hates unjust gain will prolong his days.
…we have those that want to change the way the world works including limiting others access to The Son.
Proverbs 28:10 He who leads the upright astray in an evil way will himself fall into his own pit, but the blameless will inherit good. 11The rich man is wise in his own eyes, but the poor who has understanding sees through him.
…we have leadership in this world that are limited like their end-game leader Satan. Satan is limited both in power and in time and ability.
Mark 8: 31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
…we have leadership in this world that follows their leader Satan in hopes of benefiting themselves, they want to be like or one of him to gain or profit more now. He knows that. Satan knows how to lead by allowing his followers to benefit in this lifetime but it comes with a cost. There is always a price to pay!
Mark 8:34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.36“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37“For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
…we have leadership today much like the leadership back in Israel that wanted to limit The Son of God, Jesus the Messiah from benefiting this world with Himself because that would limit or not benefit the leaders.
John 7:1 After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews (Jewish leadership) were seeking to kill Him.
…we need to not allow but be active, moving, participants that do not want others to decide what our source in life will be. Our Source is God Himself, a unique unity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21“But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
We have a decision to make, a vote, a voice. We need to make them with God and not against Him.
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Remember dear ones, we need to be good and acceptable and perfect for God and we are that way because of God.
Don’t let the agendas that benefit the leadership in our current days to cause you to be in a predicament, especially an eternal one!
Grace and peace to you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! -Shahe Nahler
I am the author of six books. The first three of the books are about God changing me from my way to His way! Life is a process, people! A journey to walk out with God, and it’s always better when God is in you, and you have a relationship with Him. That way, His way, you never walk out your faith journey alone but with Him!
All six books are available at Amazon.com. Just click the links above or go to Amazon and type into the search, “Shahe Nahler.” Available in paperback or eBook.
You can also visit my website at www.shahesart.com for travel photos and Bible lessons, photography, and artwork.
My prayer for you is to have a real relationship with Jesus, and as you grow in the grace and knowledge of Him that you share Him with others so that they can have that gift too!
Shahe Nahler 