Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The Blessing of Being Overlooked

Have you ever spent a considerable amount of time in one place; doing a good job, being faithful, working as unto the Lord, and feeling overlooked. Have you ever felt like a spectator, not fully participating in the game of life, just standing on the sidelines watching as cliques segue into networking, and networking into opportunities that constantly pass you by? Have you ever gone through all this, feeling overlooked ending each day knowing that God has gifted you for something and this aint it. Have you ever asked, when God when? Why them and not me? Why I am I constantly being overlooked? You have?!?!?! Good.




This is a scenario that plays itself out in families, corporations, and churches every day. As miserable as it can feel, there's a blessing in being overlooked. One fella I know of had a job that was apparently beneath his older brothers, so he did the job by himself. Even his earthly father overlooked him. Huh? Yes I'm talking about David. When Samuel arrived to anoint the new King of Israel he invited Jesse "and his sons" to a sacrifice, but Jesse didn't bother to send for David. He overlooked him.




Maybe he didn't know that David had killed a Lion because he overlooked him. Maybe he didn't know how David killed a bear because he overlooked him. Maybe he didn't realize how good a shepherd David was because many times, when you're good at something, no one notices how good you are until you mess-up are leave. You're good, but overlooked.




While David was keeping the sheep God was keeping him. When David the shepherd wondered if anyone cared about him, the Lord spoke up and said I am your shepherd, you shall not want. When David felt like everyone else was prospering and even asked, "Lord, how are they increased that trouble me", God spoke to him and inspired him to WRITE, "thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head", and then he WROTE, "the LORD sustained me", and then he WROTE "I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people". He was even inspired to WRITE to his enemies, "know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him."




David was called in from the field and anointed in front of his father, brothers, and anyone else that overlooked him, then ended up right back in the field with the sheep, possibly wondering what the anointing was for if he was going to be hanging out with sheep. But, when the appointed time came, God overlooked everyone that had overlooked David and plucked him out of the fields because he knew him. All that time being overlooked was time spent drawing closer to God. So close that he would be called a man after God's own heart.




Obviously the gift and the anointing were (are) not enough. Humility that only comes from an intimate relationship with God, that's strengthened by relying on him, in Faith, through unpleasant and seemingly unfair circumstances, must first be developed. This type of relationship can't be developed in cliques, but in fact can only be developed when you dare to do you. No matter how un-cool, no matter how lonely, no matter how long the odds of success, no matter who misunderstands, and no matter how overlooked. It's a blessing to be overlooked by man. It means God has you right where he needs you......for now.




"There's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests - look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular.
Luke 6:26 (The Message Bible)

Friday, October 31, 2008

I Know Some Happily Married Single Women

He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.(Proverbs 18:22 NIV)


Have you ever been walking along, minding your own business, and looked down and found a quarter, nickel, dime, or a dollar? Was it your touch that made it whatever it was you found or was it that before you even arrived on the scene? So maybe, just maybe, fellas looking for a good wife should try to find a woman that’s already in a marital relationship. No not polygamy. Try to find a woman that loves God and shows it. She flatters him with praise. She lets her hair down in worship. She’s open and honest with him about her expectations of him. She’s so faithful to Him, that she won’t show even her love for you in a way that would bring him pain, but insists upon you sharing in the love she has for him. She’s not conceited, but she is, “confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in her will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: (Philippians 1:6). She is virtuous, which in Hebrew means she has the strength of an army (yet cloaked in femininity).

Lastly, she wants a man that’s not intimidated by all that her first TRUE love (God is Love) has endowed her with, but understands and embraces the package of gifts she is because of Her God.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The Second Time Around


They placed the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the hillside home of Abinadab. Uzzah and Ahio, Abinadab's sons, were guiding the cart. David and all the people of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all their might, singing songs and playing all kinds of musical instruments – lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals. But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah put out his hand to steady the Ark of God. Then the LORD's anger blazed out against Uzzah for doing this, and God struck him dead beside the Ark of God.

II Samuel 6:3,5-7

"After Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy furnishings and all the holy articles, and when the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites are to come to do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die. The Kohathites are to carry those things that are in the Tent of Meeting. Numbers 4:15


In this story David is returning the Ark of the covenant to the land of Gods people, and he’s doing so with a great deal of fanfare; after all this is no doubt what God wants, but as the ark is being pulled on a new cart made for the occasion the Ark gets unsteady because of the oxen and Uzzah reaches out to catch it. He’s struck down and the trip is delayed for 3 months while David was angry.

The problem in this case wasn’t what they were doing, but in how it was being done. God wanted the Ark (his presence) to be carried by men not animals and a cart. The strange thing is that after Uzzah died, they CARRIED THE ARK to another person’s house where it sat for three months. Now how frustrating yet humbling is that? YOU have to give YOUR blessing to someone else in the same way YOU were supposed to secure it. The good thing is that God’s will never changed and what He has for you is still for you. Ooops! I mean what he had for David was still for David. After a short delay David and the Israelites took advantage of an opportunity to get it right.

So if you know anybody who’s been mourning the apparent loss of what they Know is from God, let them know all hope is not lost. It’s still theirs....They’ll get it…the next time......His way.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Accountability Quotes

"Accountability breeds response-ability."

Stephen R. Covey

 

"It is not only what we do,

but also what we do not do,

for which we are accountable."

Moliere

 

"Life is not accountable to us.

We are accountable to life."

Denis Waitley

 

"I am responsible. Although I may not be able to prevent the worst from happening, I am responsible for my attitude toward the inevitable misfortunes that darken life. Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have – life itself."

Walter Anderson

 

"I am not bound to win

but I am bound to be true;

I am not bound to succeed

but am bound to live up

to what light I have."

Abraham Lincoln

 

“A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for injury.”

John Stuart Mill

 

 

 

Saturday, October 4, 2008