Day 9: "What makes God smile?"
"Point to Ponder: God smiles when I trust him."
Daily Verse: "The Lord is pleased with those who worship him and trust his love." Psalm 147:11 (CEV)
Daily Question: "Since God knows what is best, in what areas of my life do I need to trust him the most?"
What I wrote in my journal after reading the first time around: Relationships with family, friends, and acquaintances. He will guide me in ways to console, love, and forgive and will condition the hearts of those in just the right way needed.
Building/Having a place to live. He will provide & shine light on everything necessary to make that happen.
This is a DEEP chapter & the person from the Bible that Pastor Warren chose to EXPLAIN this chapter is NOAH.
From the first page of this chapter: "In Noah's day, the entire world had become morally bankrupt. Everyone lived for their own pleasure, not God's. God couldn't find anyone on earth interested in pleasing him, so he was grieved and regretted making man. God became so disgusted with the human race that he considered wiping it out. But there was one man who made God smile. The bible says, 'Noah was a pleasure to the Lord.'"
From Noah's experience we ALL can learn 5 ACTS OF WORSHIP:
1) "God smiles when we love him supremely."Noah loved God more than ANYTHING else in the world. He wants a relationship with us & that kind!! I am by no means an expert at the Bible, but as I try to LEARN & wrap my head around the word It seems to me that He sent his son, the way he sent him for a VERY precise reason. Jesus walked the walk. He did the tough things. He was ridiculed, beat, cursed, shunned, or questioned his ENTIRE life here on earth...BUT the LIGHT of GOD & the LIGHT in their followers urged him onward. Even as I work through my emotions from day to day I REALize how there are SO many different KINDS of ANGER....of HAPPINESS...of LOSS...of STRUGGLE...of PAIN...of TRUST...of LOVE... I really believe that Jesus experienced ALL of it & sits at the right hand of the Father to HELP him understand our sin here on earth. Jesus was FAITHFUL & God FULLY understands the INTENSE strugGLE we all face & Jesus said to him on that cross: "Forgive them Father. They know not what they do." Luke 23:34 (KJV) & God TRUSTED him & in his FINAL dying breath...SAVED AN ENTIRE WORLD FULL OF SINNERS. That to me...is PROOF that he WANTS a relationship with us & that he loves us & he will TRUST us, if we talk to him.
2)"God smiles when you trust him completely." Noah trusted God when it didn't make sense. The book discusses the 3 main issues Noah faced:
1. "Noah had never seen rain, because prior to the Flood, God irrigated the earth from the ground up."
2. He lived in the middle of dry land hundreds of miles from ANY large body of water.
3. He had to figure out how to round up ALL the animals.
BUT...he did it...without a complaint.
3) "God smiles when we obey him wholeheartedly." Boy...do I have to work on this one & is he ever lettin' me know it! Noah followed ever single direction God gave him...down to the last detail...without question. The book says: "That means doing whatever God asks without reservation or hesitation." THIS IS HARD. HARD...I TELL YOU! This means...not taking the time to pray about it...not working it through in your head...not figuring out the right time....SIGH...INSTANTLY acting... Pastor Warren also says: "Instant obedience will teach you more about God than a lifetime of Bible discussions."
4) "God smiles when we praise and thank him continually." Noah praised God before, during, and after his journey on the Ark. I praise God CONTINUALLY in private, BUT now I am working on CONTINUALLY praising him in PUBLIC.
5) "God smiles when we use our abilities." This part of the book is SUCH a good description of this act of worship! Once Noah completed his journey God said: "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth...Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything." Genesis 9:1-3 He wanted them to LIVE. There is not a thing on earth that we can not give to him in worship....washing dishes, caring for livestock, cooking dinner, painting with our children, building a business, selling a product or service, singing a song, enjoying the view......the list could go on for the rest of our lives.
Whew! It's A LOT to take in & I have LOTS of work to do!! Buck UP Baby and Ride with Jesus! He will URGE you to ride in the rain & the hail & the EXTREME wind & ASK you to PERSEVERE through it all & TRUST that he is taking you to a MUCH greener pasture. IT IS NOT EASY, BUT DON'T BE A SISSY!!
LOL you're right girl. It's not easy.
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