My Daily Pause

Here’s just a quick thought to take away after reading Romans 1:21-22 – man gets only one major life defining opportunity. We get a choice of believing in God and honoring him and his commands or not. Those who choose “not” no longer have anything relevant to contribute to eternity. Finish the chapter to see how that lifestyle turns out.

Faith wasn’t exactly Moses’ strong suit when he first spoke to God. God had to give Moses the power to do miracles and then he had to use Aaron to speak for him. (Exodus 4:10-17)

Luckily we have the benefit of hindsight. We have the Gospel – which is the power of God. (Romans 1:16) The revelation of the Gospel is the source of faith, built from faith (Romans 1:17)

Reading the Scriptures living by faith easier than it ever has been in history.

God demonstrated through Joseph that His will cannot be foiled through the results of sin. (Genesis 41-50) In Exodus 1, God’s plan is under attack once more from the King of Egypt. Notice that it only took a few little actions to keep God’s will on track and frustrate the Pharaoh:

• They multiplied despite hard labor and slavery v12
• The midwives disobeyed the king and didn’t kill the newborn boys v17
• Moses was hid (Exodus 2:1-3)

God is on our side when we teach His word and help His kingdom grow despite the attempts Satan makes to block us.

The last part of Joseph’s life was very comfortable and he had a lot of power. (Genesis 41-50) God used the sin of Jacob’s sons to save them so they could become the fathers of the children of Israel. Perhaps one of the most powerful acknowledgements of God’s providence was Joseph’s response to his brothers when they pled for their lives after Jacob’s death:

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today – Genesis 50:20

How encouraging to know God’s plan cannot be foiled by sin!

God’s word calls us, much like Psalm 49, to hear about the priorities we need to have. The psalmist reminds us that things we once worried about when we were younger don’t seem so important today. And later, the same will hold true for what worries us right now.

Jesus taught us not to worry because we are the most important thing to God (Matthew 6:25-34).

God’s invitation then, is to learn from his word – the earlier the better, so we spend our years on better things than worry.