Thursday 9 Aug 2012

Thursday Reading: Genesis 3:16-19

Key Verse: Genesis 3:19
19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Devotion:
How many times have you been told bad news where you just know that what is going to happen will affect you for the rest of your life? Hopefully you have not had to endure too many of those times and that you are still excited about being alive and living with our Awesome God! I will not go into any of those times or dwell on them other than to remind you that they do happen and that we have to get on with our lives once those times have passed or arrived. Some may look back on times when a loved one died or maybe a move to a different country; whatever that moment or happening, it is now part of your life and we have to live with it.

I cannot imagine what went through the minds of Adam and Eve when they were faced with the absolute contrast of walking with God in the most beautiful place on earth to having to fend for themselves in an evil world. All we have even know is that walk in this evil world and so that is what we think of as normal – but that is not the whole story because we know that there will be a time ahead when we will be faced with that beautiful place again and being able to walk and talk with God in person. So don’t look back and wonder how we could have changed things to make them better but look forward to the time when we will have a better place!

But just as God told Adam and Eve about the hard and harsh times ahead, we need to take on board that we too are going to have to face some pretty grim times whilst we do live on this earth. We are surrounded by sin and by so many things that are just not right so we cannot but be affected by those things around us; so we have to live with the consequences. It does not mean we have to go with the flow and accept every evil thing that comes our way because God is still God and He is still in control of this place called earth!

We can and must lift up our prayers daily to Him to ask for His guidance and His protection. So long as we remember that He is our Great Protector then we can at least have peace of mind knowing that we do have the greatest protection we could ever have – we just need to accept that guidance and protection so that we can move forward with Him in our lives. Praise God for His wondrous mercy!

Points to Ponder:
Do you get down about the troubles in your life?

Do you look forward to your peace with God?