365 Reflections

When David prepares to build God's Temple the Lord sends word quickly through Nathan that he is not going to do it. This had to be hard to take for a man who was so used by the Lord to defeat the giant threatening Israel's existence. Yet the response David expresses is incredible. He received the Lord's "no" with grace and he focused on what God was going to do through him rather than what he had planned to do for God.  1 Chronicles 17:16–18 (ESV) Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? 17 And this was a small thing in your eyes, O God. You have also spoken of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have shown me future generations, O LORD God! 18 And what more can David say to you for honoring your servant? For you know your servant. God told David he would not build a house for him but instead, the Lord would build a house through David that would outla...

When I am afraid, I tend to call people, search google for answers or something very similarly stupid. I tend to obsess and stress. I tend to not sleep well and think about all the possibilities of what may or may not come about. I heard somewhere that 80% of what we worry about never actually happens. That's a lot of wasted thoughts. The Psalmist has a better idea: Psalm 56:3–4 (ESV) When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. 4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? Why? Because God is closely watching over his life. Psalm 56:8–11 (ESV) You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? 9 Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. 10 In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord , whose word I praise, 11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? Where did he get that idea? He got it from the Word... he says, ...

When God says no to our prayers, what is our response? Paul the Apostle had experienced a first hand visit to heaven. God had done a wonderful thing for him and to him.  The Corinthians needed to hear about this since they doubted Paul's authority and Apostleship in the first place. A vision of heaven would certainly impress this crowd in love with the spectacular and supernatural... But something happened after that visit.  Paul recounts the story: 2 Corinthians 12:7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul prayed and God said "no." Why? First. God says "no" because God is more concerned with our character than our comfo...