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When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

Genesis 19:16-17

Sometimes the hardest thing for us to do is leave what we know, even if the right thing to do is ahead of us. But in close second, is not turning back to what we know when the road ahead looks hard or the road behind keeps calling our name.

The LORD came to Abraham to warn him of the destruction He was about to do to Sodom, the city Lot called home. Abraham pleaded with God not to destroy Sodom if he found 50, 40, 30, 20, even 10 faithful and righteous people there. God loved Abraham and agreed to this plea. But when the angels of the Lord went into the city to warn Lot, they realized the only faithful ones there were Lot, his wife, and his daughters. The angels immediately told the family to leave the city, for it was about to be destroyed. But Lot hesitated, causing the angels to grab them by the hand and pull them away to safety.

Sodom was an evil city filled with every sin of the earth. Just like with Cain and Abel, the earth cried out to God, and the Lord decided to destroy the city and all that was within it. Lot, however, was found faithful, and had grown accustomed to the ways of Sodom. He was already preparing the marriages of his daughters to the men of the city and really didn’t want to leave anytime soon. But God had greater plans for Lot and called him away to save him from the destruction He was about to accomplish.

As Lot and his family are literally pulled out of the city by the angels of the Lord, the angels told them to run far away and never look back. The angels knew that if Lot or anyone in his family looked back they would be drawn into wanting what they once had even if God’s future plans were better. But Lot’s wife couldn’t part with her past and she turned around.

But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”

Genesis 19:26

Lot’s wife was so consumed with what once was that she couldn’t see what could be.

Instead of being the salt of the earth and spreading the goodness of God to all the people she encountered, she became the salt with no saltiness, useless, falling to the earth right where she was.

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

Matthew 5:13

In every life, there will be things, places, and people God says we need to let go of. He desires that we rid ourselves of the things that aren’t glorifying and growing our walk with Him. We may feel or hear His call and walk right out of the situation, or we may be like Lot and need to be guided with a heavy hand. But honestly, that’s the easy part. The hard part comes when you are in the middle of that something new and you begin to think back to what once was. Or things get tough in the new place and you remember the best bits of what your past was like and you want to turn around.

Maybe you’re thinking: it was easier back then, I used to have so much fun, they used to spoil me, those were the good ole days. But really, God never takes us from what is good, he uses the good we learned to bring us to something even better.

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.

Jeremiah 29:11

When God takes you from one thing, He is leading you to something even better, somewhere else.

So keep running. Don’t look back or dwell in the past, think back to see where you’ve come from and see where God has been at work in you. He’s up to something good for you and He won’t stop until it’s completed.

“In all my prayers for all you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work In you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 1:4-6

I love my salt and all, but I love it for its saltiness.

So as God is doing a work in me and moving me from one place to the next, I will keep running forward toward Jesus, using the past to season my future and allowing the salt to lead others to Him.

But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the LORD, God Most High, creator of Heaven and earth, that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’”

Genesis 14:22-23

Abram finds himself in a country he is unfamiliar with when he and his nephew, Lot, decide to split ways. He gives Lot first dibs on location and Lot chooses the place that looks most fruitful, the place most like the Garden of Eden, and Abram settles for what’s left.

The land Lot chooses has many other kingdoms, and early in his move the kingdoms go to war. Abram gets wind of what’s happening, and he cares so deeply for his nephew, he gathers his greatest warriors and goes into battle to rescue Lot.

God provided Abram with all he needed to defeat Kedorlaomer, along with all the kings allied with him, saving not only Lot and his family but also the kingdom of Sodom.

The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.”

Genesis 14:21

But Abram stands his ground and declares his allegiance and obligation to God alone. Abram isn’t rude or disrespectful, he just states the facts, He did this great deed for God not for himself or for anyone else. In Abram’s life, he only had room for one god and that God was the creator of the heavens and the earth. He wasn’t going to take handouts from another king because then he would be obligated to follow this king. Abram knew that the only one he could trust to provide for him was God.

There are so many people and idols vying for our allegiance and obligation, trying to attain the number 1 place in our heart. They see us doing good, and they know we could do great work for them as well, if only we’d follow them. So they tempt us into this type of relationship.

These people/idols promise us good things, money, power, love, knowledge, anything really….just to get us to become obligated to them.

Even Jesus experienced this same type of temptation by the devil in the wilderness.

“The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘Worship the LORD your God and serve him only.’”

Luke 4:5-8

At some point, someone or something will want your allegiance. It will tear you away from what’s right and blind you to the truth. This obligation will never fulfill the desires of your heart and will always keep you wanting more. But like Abram and Jesus, there is one, the One, that we should be obligated to, who will fill up and heal up every place in our heart and soul, and provide for every one of our needs.

Jesus explains in detail where our allegiance should be found and who we should be obligated to in order to take away every worry we could imagine.

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food , and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or stow away in barns and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that even Solomon in all of his splendor was not dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” Or “What shall we drink?” Or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Matthew 6:24-33

Our allegiance has been desired since the beginning of time, and in the end, it’s always Satan trying to pull us away from God. But when we keep our eyes on God, making Him our Number 1, we have nothing to worry about and everything to gain.

So what are you waiting for? Throw off everything wanting to entangle you and keep running to God, letting your obligation and allegiance be only to Him.

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The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your fathers household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.”

Genesis 12:1-4

Abram had always lived with his family. He was quite comfy in his hometown. Even Abram’s job was set for life, but God specifically called him for a greater purpose. God called Abram away from everything he knew to go to a place where he didn’t know anyone or anything about it. — It wasn’t like Abram could jump on social media or do a google search of his next place.

This call was followed by a promise, a wonderful promise at that, one declaring God would make a great nation out of Abram and from him all people would be blessed. I mean, this sounds GREAT, however, there’s one itsy bitsy problem, just a few verses back in Genesis we read about Abram’s wife.

Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.”

Genesis 11:30

The promise may look great, but the Call always takes an Abundant amount of faith.

I promise you, when you are faithful to God and pursuing Him, He. Will. Call. You! This call won’t be some walk in the park, it won’t be something that you can do blindfolded, most of the time it looks completely IMPOSSIBLE. But that, my friend, is when you know it’s from God.

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:26

God never calls the qualified, He qualifies those He’s called. And for every call, He will equip us with what we need.

“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

2 Corinthians 9:8

God has placed a call on my life from childhood, but He hasn’t just called me once, He’s called me multiple times to step out of what’s comfortable into the unknown that is only known by Him. And each time I look at the call and think: that’s impossible, I’m to afraid, it can’t be me He wants, there’s others already doing that and they are so much better, can’t I just have an easy life…..and my thoughts go on and on.

As a child, I was ready! I was fearless! But as I aged, I let my thoughts and opinions rule my decisions, and afterwards, if I didn’t choose God’s route, I’d regret it every single time. (I’m talking even the smallest Call, I’ve regretted not following through.) But God, He never gave up, and He kept calling.

One day, I made the decision to say, “Yes, Lord. Here I am. Send me.”

I finally realized my days were numbered, and my God had called me for a specific purpose. If I didn’t fulfill it, He’d just use someone else and I wouldn’t be found as faithful. So now I wait, proactively….praying, seeking, fasting….waiting for his next call, the next step, no matter the cost or the comfort.

Together, let’s run this race, and pray to be found faithful like Abraham; running into the unknown for the Glory of God to save many lives.

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“Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn it’s place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?” Job 38:11-13

Can you make the sun rise or the mountains move?

Job’s silent, his friends are done placing judgment, and the young man has ended his discord…..so God shows up. Just in time, or actually, right in His time. He always comes when we are being Still and everyone is done having their say.

God speaks out of the storm, addressing the questions of all those around, by asking His own questions.

Many around, including Job, have been trying to explain away the reasons, decisions, and understanding of only what God knows.

Yet God begins His questions with: were you at creation, did you decide how high the heavens were to be, how deep the waters were to go, or how wide the earth should expand? What about the morning and night, did you bring up the sun or help it set? Did you tell the water where to rain or the snow where to fall?

Essentially, God is saying, “Do you know what I know? Do you have the power and knowledge that I have?…….No, well then, stop putting words in my mouth!”

All these things created in Heaven and on Earth are only known and put in place by the understanding, wisdom, and thoughts of God.

We, humans, always try to figure out the “why” for ourselves and explain it away. If we can’t discover the answer we’re looking for we move onto our neighbors “whys” and try to guide them with what we “know”. When, in all actuality, we are finite and only understand what God allows us to understand. Whereas, He is infinite, all-knowing, creator, and doesn’t have to explain anything to us.

Honestly, there are many “whys” I’d like to one day have answered, but I’m comforted by Gods peace in knowing that one day may not be any day soon. There have been many “people” who have gotten a glimpse of my life and have had their own answer to some of my whys. And sadly, because of these people, there was a time I was so nervous to walk into a church. But God’s call was bigger than their judgement, and I realized that the only thoughts that mattered or could be trusted were God’s. Maybe, you’ve been there or you’re right there right now.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

I may not be able to make the sun rise or make the mountain move, but I know who can…my God. I will trust Him with my life and the lives of all those I encounter. He created you and me and everyone around us, and in His infinite wisdom, He created us in a specific way for a specific purpose with a path laid before us that was just for us. He knows what our days will look like, and He knows the questions we have. And really, that’s all that matters.

So, even though my “whys” are still there, I will not give up. I will trust God and keep running with all my “whys” in tow, with every mountain to climb, at every sunrise.

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Keep on Running until you fly!

“But it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding. It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right.”

Job 32:8

As much as we seek to be wise, as old as we grow….Wisdom can only be found in the Lord.

In Job 31, Job stops defending himself. All of his friends have nothing more to say either. Silence and Stillness should have fallen around them, but this young stallion of a man, Elihu, had been listening to the whole discussion and couldn’t wait to have his say. One thing he gets right is that wisdom is not only found in the aged, wisdom can be given to any that ask the Lord.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

James 1:5

But Elihu misses the mark when he begins his discord by stating….

“For I am full of words, and the spirit within me compels me;”

Job 32:18

This is his youth, this is him showing his immaturity. The young can be wise, but they, like those advanced in age, can be foolish as well.

God says, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” James 1:19 and “The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even tempered.” Proverbs 17:27

It is the Lord that gives wisdom and takes it away. It is fear of Him that will lead us to find the well of it. Thankfully, Job knew this well, “And he said to the human race, “The fear of the Lord — that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” Job 28:28

We can’t find wisdom in age, we can’t find it in books, but we can find it in following the ways of God. Fear of the Lord means we are living in adoration of Him, acknowledging His Sovereignty, and following Him faithfully. That is where and when we will find wisdom.

I am by no means fully wise, and I by no means don’t still act foolish, but if you knew me back when, I’ve changed a TON. Back when I loved the Lord but wasn’t following Him fully, back when I was young (ummm….I mean younger) I always had something to say and I said it. (My poor teachers!) There are more times than I would like to count that I said things I wish I could take back, but like toothpaste, once I squeezed it out, it wasn’t going back in that tube.

There are people I know today that think I’m shy and don’t talk….I know! Shocking!! But really, when I started following after God I realized I didn’t need to speak as much as I needed to listen. I realized there were appropriate times to be funny and appropriate times to hold my tongue. (I still slip up on the funny, I can’t help it, I love to laugh…..I’m a work in progress.)

But most of all I fear the Lord and want to be pleasing in His eyes, so I hold my tongue when I can, I try with all my might to take my thoughts captive, and I weigh what I say against Philippians 4:9: whatever is true, honoring, just, pure, lovely, and commendable.

I don’t want to speak out of turn, I want to turn others to Jesus. If that means I need to hold onto my thoughts and not let them slip out of my mouth, I will be wise and do just that.

It doesn’t matter your age, it doesn’t matter your intelligence; if you want wisdom, you must first Fear the Lord.

Never Give Up – Job 1-30

“My days are passed, my plans are shattered. Yet the desires of my heart turn night into day; in the face of darkness light is near.”

Job 17:11-12

Today may not be your day, this week may have gone south, this past year was probably for the birds, or maybe these past years deserve a BIG thumbs down! But you know what? Today there is still HOPE for Tomorrow.

— Hope in Jesus —

Job had it good, for a long time, but in the period of day he looses everything, including, his health, his children, his wealth, and his status. He’s having to daily defend himself to his so-called “friends” and his wife told him it would just be best for him to go ahead and curse God and die.

However, among all the problems, Job still has Hope. This Hope isn’t in getting better or regaining his wealth. This Hope isn’t in getting his children back or regaining his prominence, this Hope is in God.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:29-31

Job knows his days are numbered, and they aren’t going to be shortened or changed. Each day has a night and each night gets dark, but even in his darkness there is light and this light brings a new day. For Job, there is nothing better to do in the waiting, BUT Hope. So, he waits and hopes for time with God, his hearts desire.

God gives each of us the desire of our heart as long as we love Him and are called according to His purpose. His Purpose — meaning: we aren’t chasing after our own selfish desires but the desires that fall in line with His.

And Job here, his desire is to be face to face with His maker, the creator, God….and you know what, God wants that same thing for each of us, so it is in His Will.

If it is in God’s Will, God WILL do it.

So Job Hopes. Each day, he wakes up and waits expectantly for God to come. Because that is Hope — waiting expectantly for God’s Will to come to earth…..thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven (Matthew 6:20).

No matter what our day, week, month, year or years hold, we have no reason to hold onto despair when we can hold onto Hope. Because Hope, there will be a tomorrow, because there is Hope in tomorrow.

Don’t lose Hope because of this crazy world we live in, Have Hope because Our God has overcome this crazy world, and ALL of our Hope can be found in Him.

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“A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.” Job 14:5

There are so many seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years I wish I could go back in time and change, but God knew those days would happen and He knows those days still yet to come.

Job acknowledged the wisdom and sovereignty of God. He realized that there are things we will never understand like when a person is to be born, what they will be like, the choices they will make, and the day that they will die. But Job also realizes the heart of God and that it is undeniably good. So with one breath Job is asking “Why God?” and in the other he is saying “Because you are Sovereign and Worthy to be Praised.”

Job finds himself stuck in a place of distress, somewhere between judgement by his friends and his desire to be with God. And in the midst of his confusion, Job comes to the realization that everyone’s days are numbered including his own. So, instead of agreeing with the ideas of his friends, Job focuses on the sovereignty of the Lord.

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Relent, Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children. May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.”
Psalm 90:12-17

Job experienced all life had to offer: the good, the bad, and the ugly. He realized to grow in wisdom He had to grow closer to God. And that meant keeping his thoughts on God and his ways, not focusing on the why of the past but on the why not of the present.

We all have only so many days in our life, and many of those days have already been spent. When we focus on the past and the why, we will drown in the sorrow of it all. But when we choose to focus on the present and the why not, we can run forward with the mission of His love.

There is no way to turn back the hands of time or make time stand still so we can change the future. We can’t fix the past or understand the ways things turned out, but we can live out the rest of our days knowing the heart of God.

God loves us so much that He sent His Son to live in this sin infested world. He didn’t come to erase what happened, He came to heal what happened. We witness the heart of God through the life of Jesus on earth. Jesus loved. He loved the neighbor, the orphan and the widow, the downcast and the outcast, the poor and the needy, the beggar and the bling, the tax collector and the prostitute. And Jesus told us to do the same.

Jesus showed us in His days on earth how to number our days on earth, by walking the path He laid out before us. Taking each day as a new day to show His love.

We may never know the reason why things turned out the way they did or what we could’ve done differently, but we do know what we can do moving forward. We can love.

Teach me to number my days, filling them with only your ways.

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“He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.” Job 9:32-35.

Because of one man fellowship with God was broken, but because and through One Man we can now go to God always.

Job here, is caught in a deep discussion with his friends. These friends are sure of themselves and their “wisdom” and are trying to tell Job how he should be dealing with the situation he finds himself in. Job, on the other hand, just wants God to tell him where he went wrong, what he did to cause this disaster, so he can apologize and either get on with his life or have his life ended. Yet, Job realizes that he has no way to have a conversation with God because God is Sovereign, greater than any human, out of reach from any face-to-face discussion, and there is no one to be an intercessor for him. Job, in the depths of his heart, recognized that he needed a great mediator to plead his cause and get God to forgive him.

Now let’s rewind a bit…

In the beginning, when God created man, he also walked with man and talked with man. I’m sure God loved conversing with Adam about all the animals and the plants and about life in general with Eve. But Adam and Eve sinned; they took from the one thing that God commanded them not to. And when they did, they broke fellowship with God, forming a chasm so deep and wide there was no longer a way for them to converse with him. God banished them from Eden and from His presence.

This is where we find ourselves…somewhere between the chasm, desiring to be in fellowship with God.

When we do something wrong or getting the raw end of the deal, when we’ve had trauma in our life or caused trauma to our lives, we all want to be forgiven, we all want to know what we did wrong and how we can fix it. Don’t we all want the pain to be taken away?!

But unlike Adam and unlike Job, we do have a great Mediator, one that can go to God at any point in time and all the time, on our behalf. Jesus came to the earth for this one purpose, to mend the brokenness and build a bridge for a full on relationship with God. He died on the cross for our sins to remove them from us once and for all, and then went to the Father on our behalf as the Great Mediator to prepare our future home with Him in the presence of God.

Because of one man our relationship with God was broken, but because of another man it was healed. We now have the ability to go to God all the time: the good times, the bad times, in self-inflicted harm, and from harm caused by others. God sees us and hears us, and desires to heal us and give us Peace.

We have a mediator, His name is Jesus.

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