So how is this new year going for you? Had everything go exactly like you wanted? You are saying that 2025 is going to be a great year? You’re off to a great start or just maybe you aren’t quite there with the positive thoughts?
This has nothing to do with a new year but everything to do with what life is all about. Sometimes we hear it referred to as the ebb and flow of life. You know that into every life a little rain must fall.
I recently was reading in my daily walk through the Bible about Joseph. Now he is just one part of the larger story but certainly went through a lot early in life but like Esther it was kind of a “for such a time as this” life.
You remember how God’s people ended up being in Egypt don’t you? They weren’t forced but rather invited to come. Pharaoh gave them all because Jacob’s son Joseph, who had been sold into slavery by his brothers, had become the second in command after Pharoah. To say that things don’t stay the same is an understatement. Jacob’s descendants were in Egypt 430 years. Needless to say, a lot changed from the original offer to come and live amongst us.
We know that they were eventually enslaved. This caused them to call out to God for freedom. It will come, but it will also turn the page on their understanding and commitment to God.
That was a much different time than we live in today. As they leave Egypt to head to the new land, previously promised by God to Abraham hundreds of years before, within a few weeks they are already complaining to Moses.
It is interesting that they complained to Moses and that didn’t work out well for them. They spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness. An entire generation is lost before they are able to enter.
We have God’s Word and we are to engage it regularly. This morning Elaine and I were talking and there was a particular part we were reading. She asked me had I ever noticed that before? I told her I had not and was amazed at what God was showing us. This happens all the time and it is because we have something to look at regularly that explains how God works. Works both directly and indirectly. What do I mean by that? Well, He can certainly step right into the middle of something and as the omnipotent God He is handle it. But He doesn’t always do that, does He? Often indirectly He shows His omnipotent power by using His own creation to accomplish His will.
You’ve said it and heard it before that God works in mysterious ways. When Joseph shares with his brothers that he is not going to harm them for what they did to him. In Genesis 50:20 Joseph says-
…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.
There are a lot of things we don’t know but we can and should expect that God is working in our life for His glory. I have mentioned a recent health issue. Let me put a little more clarity to it and show you what I mean.
We have been with our Doctor for 33 years. Every 6 months we go in for a checkup. Last September I went and he determined I had a Lower Bundle Branch Block. I needed to see a cardiologist. So I went and began a process of testing and medication for my condition. Now as a parenthetical note, I was and am asymptomatic. I had no and still have no symptoms of a weak heart. All my labs were normal and there is no family history of heart issues. That was the case then and is now.
After several months of testing and evaluations it was determined I was to have a Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy-Defibrillator implanted. This would correct the problem I had of “skipping a beat” by signaling the left and right ventricle to beat together. The defibrillator is there “a just in case” at some point if I were to have a “heart event”.
I am thankful the Lord has shown His mercy and Grace on me. I am excited to see how He leads and directs further in our life. We often say that God is good all the time and all the time God is good. It’s true and it needs to be said. He is good regardless of what we are living in and through. He is faithful and true.
I was praying earlier today and mediating on what God has done in my life. My conclusion is that he has more for me to do for His glory.
Recently our Doctor wrote to all his patients and shared what is happening with him and the practice. He spoke about the “dash years”. They are the years between when we are born and when we die. He had great thoughts and observations from his perspective for us to whom he wrote.
I recognize I am at the ending of my dash. I am good with that truth but I want to do all I can for the glory of God from 1951- , until that number gets put in its place.
God bless and thank you for allowing me to share with you today and every week with A Thought to Ponder.
In God’s Grace,
Elbert Nasworthy
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