Thursday SHINE.....
Today's Reading: Numbers 28, 29
Happy Thursday, SHINE girls! How's your memorizing going? I know these beatitudes are pretty easy to memorize, but it's important that they stick. :)
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."
At first glance, this verse seems so easy. Doesn't it? I mean, easy in the way of applying it to our lives.
How hard can it be to be merciful?
{clearing my throat}
It can be HARD. Yes, I mean HARD in all capital letters.
When I realized that this verse would be our memory verse this week, I cringed a little.
I knew it was "reckoning time" with God.
He knew I needed to dish out some mercy on a particular situation going on in my life.
Sometimes we get so deep into a season in our lives that we can't quite see clearly. It becomes lopsided, and upside down, and side ways, and just all jacked up.
I've been in that exact position for several months now. The position that no matter which way I turn, it just seems hopeless and full of frustration.
The more I try to untie the knot of confusion, it just gets more tangled up.
A lot of the problem has been my lack of mercy in the whole thing. I wanted to figure it out. I wanted justice to be served and served swiftly.
However, it's just not happening. {at least not in the way Jill Hill thinks it should be}
Just this week, though, God has given me a total and complete revelation. {angels sing!}
After praying about this memory verse and asking Him to show me areas where I needed to show mercy, He did. Oh, and did He!
God showed me that I needed a heart check and a pride check.
When we deprive others of mercy, true mercy, we get a little "big headed". It makes us feel superior and in control. We then forget, that we will be held to that same standard if not careful.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."
Let's put this scripture another way:
The merciless will not be blessed, and they will not be shown mercy.
Yikes. It's kind of scary when we put it that way, isn't it?
Can I just say that since the revelation He gave me this week, I have felt lighter? Like a million pounds lighter. I don't have to figure out this crazy knot. I can just rest in the middle of it, knowing that my Sovereign God is working it all out for good.
Happy Thursday, SHINE girls! How's your memorizing going? I know these beatitudes are pretty easy to memorize, but it's important that they stick. :)
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."
At first glance, this verse seems so easy. Doesn't it? I mean, easy in the way of applying it to our lives.
How hard can it be to be merciful?
{clearing my throat}
It can be HARD. Yes, I mean HARD in all capital letters.
When I realized that this verse would be our memory verse this week, I cringed a little.
I knew it was "reckoning time" with God.
He knew I needed to dish out some mercy on a particular situation going on in my life.
Sometimes we get so deep into a season in our lives that we can't quite see clearly. It becomes lopsided, and upside down, and side ways, and just all jacked up.
I've been in that exact position for several months now. The position that no matter which way I turn, it just seems hopeless and full of frustration.
The more I try to untie the knot of confusion, it just gets more tangled up.
A lot of the problem has been my lack of mercy in the whole thing. I wanted to figure it out. I wanted justice to be served and served swiftly.
However, it's just not happening. {at least not in the way Jill Hill thinks it should be}
Just this week, though, God has given me a total and complete revelation. {angels sing!}
After praying about this memory verse and asking Him to show me areas where I needed to show mercy, He did. Oh, and did He!
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you" Matthew 7:7
...and He opened that door. Wide!
He gave me a mental vision of me tied up in a huge knot. Desperately, I was trying to untie the knot and "fix" the situation.
He then showed me a big wide-open space in the knot...a safe, and quiet place. A place to rest, lay my head, and just abide in Him.
The outside of the knot was all a part of the process that I could not see. I could not see it because I was {and still am} inside of the knot.
He was showing me that He's got this figured out. Just because I could not see what He was doing, didn't mean that He was not working on my behalf.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD."
Isaiah 55:8
This is the part where "mercy" comes in.
I was feverishly trying to untie this seemingly impossible knot from the inside, when in fact, all I needed was to have an outpouring of mercy. This act of mercy would free my hands and allow me to find the space in the knot where He desired for me to abide.
"Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."
Psalm 91:1-2
Why do we hang on to "mercy" instead of pouring it out and letting it heal the situation? Why do we stuff it back down, hands on our hip, lips pouting, and wait for God to show up BIG and take over? Why do we want and fully expect His mercy on us, when we are not willing to budge on showing mercy to those who we feel are not deserving of this gesture?
God showed me that I needed a heart check and a pride check.
When we deprive others of mercy, true mercy, we get a little "big headed". It makes us feel superior and in control. We then forget, that we will be held to that same standard if not careful.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."
Let's put this scripture another way:
The merciless will not be blessed, and they will not be shown mercy.
Yikes. It's kind of scary when we put it that way, isn't it?
Can I just say that since the revelation He gave me this week, I have felt lighter? Like a million pounds lighter. I don't have to figure out this crazy knot. I can just rest in the middle of it, knowing that my Sovereign God is working it all out for good.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
Romans 8:28
Do you find yourself in a knot today? Can I just urge you, as your friend, to rest there. Quit trying to figure it all out, and just abide in Him today.
"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
Hebrews 4:16
finding mercy in this knot,
jill
