Relationship

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Acts 17:27    “So that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”

1 John 1:9    If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all the unrighteousness.

1 John 3:1    See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.  The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

James 4:8    Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you double-minded.

Hosea 6:6    For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings

1 Samuel 15:24    Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.

Deuteronomy 7:6-8    For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.   The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Micah 6:8    He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

 

 God created man to have a relationship with him/her, his mate.  He had already created the world, the lakes, streams, rivers, the land masses, the top and bottom of the world, both cold, snowy and icy; He created the glorious mountains, hills, trees and all the critters both on land or in the sea, or flying from one place to another. 

Obviously, Lucifer had already been thrown out of heaven, banished to the underworld.  Brazenly, he approached Eve and enticed her to disobey God’s one command.   And of course, she couldn’t be disobedient without also enticing her husband to try the forbidden fruit.  Misery always loves company—sometimes it’s less scary, sometimes it’s just nice to have someone to commiserate with, and sometimes you recognize that two heads are more constructive than just one in manuevering one’s way out of trouble.

Our relationship was  broken by our sinning, disobeying God’s command.  Definitely not worth it.  A taste of fruit and then separation from God forever.

So, God had the farming, fishing, raising families,  bartering and moving and settling about.  But again, they were selfish, disobedient, not even recognizing Him, never mind praising Him—except for Noah.  So God commanded Noah to build an ark, and load up all animals, male and female, then his family, and He opened the heavens, destroyed all the people, hoping Noah’s  family would begin anew and teach all the reasons God deserves praise and obedience. 

 During the time of Moses  leading the Israelites out of Egypt, He supplied them with manna and birds to eat daily, water came from rock, and somehow, their own cattle, sheep, goats, and all grew.  He wanted the people to realize they were dependent on Him and praise Him.  Like us, when things are not always moving in a direction we want, and we are persistently snagged down, we complain; and so they complained.   I am sure I would have been one of the most frequent and loudest complainer.  Yuck, I pray the Holy Spirit helps me deal with that negative aspect.

Anyway, God set forth several laws, the 10 Commandments as well as the laws about sacrifices, what one could eat or not eat, what was clean and what was an unclean person, and how an unclean person needed to be separated away from the group.  I cannot even imagine the numbers of people and animals and trying to organize and share information. 

But, of course, we in our supposed wisdom, and definite selfishness,  disobeyed, disrespected God and others, and biggest part is many did not trust in God’s ability and presence so because they felt battles were THEIRS to win, they chose to run from them.  Only Joshua and Caleb trusted God and knew the battles could be won, and the land theirs.  Instead, they went round and round in the Wilderness, until none of original elders were left, and got to take over the promised lands.

Finally, God and Jesus agreed that Jesus would come, live as full man even while full God, and show, teach, and love others to live the way He and His Father intended.  This was a new covenant.  God had made many promises over the years from Adam and Eve to the present.  But the majority of people did not complete their side of the agreement, promise.

Now, people were able to see the peace, the love, the healing, the acceptance.    These folks who traveled with Him were drawn to Him.  Some laughed and chuckled about “what good can come from Nazareth?” while others felt led to be with, to listen, to watch His actions, healings, and non judgments, his acceptance of others.   But He walked peaceably amongst them, and showed them a relationship.  And that’s been the desire since God created man.  He wanted to have a relationship with us.

How blessed we are to have numerous versions of the bible, some with easier to understand than others; but all with the promises, the encouragement, the love, the acceptance and the teaching to become better, more Christ-like.  I tend to forget the easy accessibility for me to shop for a new bible is easy.  I can stroll through Barnes and Noble, look through a friend’s bible and like some of that phrasing better than one I have, and order on Amazon,  but it is easy to acquire more.

But because we are blessed to live here, have many teachers and learned persons sharing more of the gospel for us, we are able to choose to learn more about Jesus and how to live our lives becoming more and more like Him.  We will never attain that, but we ask for help from the Holy Spirit and pray and confess our sins and failures.  We are not alone.  He is with us.  He knows our struggles and is willing to help when we ask. 

He is so awesome and helpful.  He is worthy of our praise.   As each prays, remember to give praise,  He is WORTHY!

Thank You, Lord for all the ways You walk with me and counsel me and ‘mybellaviews.’