Graves or Gardens?

And they turned against Moses, whining, “Have you brought us out here to die in the desert because there were not enough graves for us in Egypt? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Exodus 14:11 TLB

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God frequently does the unexpected. I could easily wish it were different, but alas, it isn’t.

Yet, this I have also learned, God is a God of choices.

That is, we can choose how we will deal with “the unexpected ways” He leads us, and by what unexpected methods.

Every day we live, will present us with choices. And the choices we make will determine the paths we take. This is an unavoidable fact of life. Even if the circumstances we find ourselves in, are thrust upon us? We still can choose for ourselves, what the outcome will be IN us–because it will be our own heart that will decide–what we will do, and how we will respond.

I wrote that in February 2020, right before the COVID tsunami hit us, and I’m wondering, “Is God doing with us, what He did with the Israelites, when He brought them up out of Egypt?” Is all our similar griping and complaining going to have us also circling in this COVID wilderness another year?

Frankly, I’m fed up with graves; I’m wanting to see the gardens that God wants to bring from all this tragedy!

Are we taking the right road?

… God did not lead them through the land of the Philistines, although that was the most direct route from Egypt to the Promised Land. The reason was that God felt the people might become discouraged by having to fight their way through, even though they had left Egypt armed; he thought they might return to Egypt. Instead, God led them along a route through the Red Sea wilderness. Exodus 13:17-18 TLB

I am wondering if we are on the “right road” or are we being taken the long way around because we just aren’t getting the message?

This is anarchy and THIS is America!

Anarchy in America? Unthinkable tragedy!

Talk about being in an unexpected place!

Do we need to call out to the other nations of the earth, to send us their missionaries, to descend on Los Angeles California, to help us?

Prayer for Los Angeles

Father,

I lift up the people of Los Angeles to You, The City of Angels, oh yes Father! This is a city caught in the grip of panic Lord. They are hurting Lord and they desperately need what only You can do.

Father, we don’t know what the solutions are, but You do.

Lord, send help to this desperately needy city, and to any other city that needs divine intervention. Send Your angels Lord! Send Your people. People of faith who know where their help comes from.

We reach up to You, our Waymaker. You make a way for Los Angels Lord. Help them please. We don’t look to government, we don’t look to Sacramento, we look to You!

We pray this and ask in the mighty name above all names, the name of Jesus.

Amen and may it be done.

 I look up to the mountains and hills, longing for God’s help. But then I realize that our true help and protection is only from the Lord, our Creator who made the heavens and the earth.

psalm 121:1-2 tpt

God has not changed!

I recently heard this quote from a message from the last century, on God’s unchanging nature:

He changes not in his attributes. Whatever the attributes of God were of old, that they are now; and of each of them we may sing “As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.” Was he powerful? Was he the mighty God when he spake the world out of the womb of nonexistence? Was he the Omnipotent when he piled the mountains and scooped out the hollow places for the rolling deep? Yes, he was powerful then, and his arm is unpalsied now, he is the same giant in his might; the sap of his nourishment is undried, and the strength of his soul stands the same for ever. Was he wise when he constituted this mighty globe, when he laid the foundations of the universe? Had he wisdom when he planned the way of our salvation, and when from all eternity he marked out his awful plans? Yes, and he is wise now; he is not less skillful, he has not less knowledge; his eye which seeth all things is undimmed; his ear which heareth all the cries, sighs, sobs, and groans of his people, is not rendered heavy by the years which he hath heard their prayers. He is unchanged in his wisdom, he knows as much now as ever, neither more nor less; he has the same consummate skill, and the same infinite forecastings. He is unchanged, blessed be his name, in his justice. just and holy was he in the past; just and holy is he now. He is unchanged in his truth-goodness, and generosity, and benevolence of his nature. He is not become an Almighty tyrant, whereas he was once an Almighty Father; but his strong love stands like a granite rock, unmoved by the hurricanes of our iniquity. And blessed be his dear name, he is unchanged in his love. When he first wrote the covenant, how full his heart was with affection to his people. He knew that his Son must die to ratify the articles of that agreement. He knew right well that he must rend his best beloved from his bowels, and send him down to earth to bleed and die. He did not hesitate to sign that mighty covenant; nor did he shun its fulfillment. He loves as much now as he did then, and when suns shall cease to shine, and moons to show their feeble light, he still shall love on for ever and for ever. Take any one attribute of God, and I will write semper idem on it (always the same). Take any one thing you can say of God now, and it may be said not only in the dark past, but in the bright future it shall always remain the same: “I am Jehovah, I change not.” –Charles Spurgeon

All this makes me think of Robert Frost’s poem

The Road Not Taken:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Lets believe for an “Isaiah 61” year:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the suffering and afflicted. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted, to announce liberty to captives, and to open the eyes of the blind. ² He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of God’s favor to them has come, and the day of his wrath to their enemies. ³ To all who mourn in Israel he will give: beauty for ashes; joy instead of mourning; praise instead of heaviness. For God has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory.

⁴ And they shall rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities long ago destroyed, reviving them though they have lain there many generations. ⁵ Foreigners shall be your servants; they shall feed your flocks and plow your fields and tend your vineyards. ⁶ You shall be called priests of the Lord, ministers of our God. You shall be fed with the treasures of the nations and shall glory in their riches. ⁷ Instead of shame and dishonor, you shall have a double portion of prosperity and everlasting joy.

⁸ For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrong. I will faithfully reward my people for their suffering and make an everlasting covenant with them. ⁹ Their descendants shall be known and honored among the nations; all shall realize that they are a people God has blessed.

¹⁰ Let me tell you how happy God has made me! For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and draped about me the robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels. ¹¹ The Lord will show the nations of the world his justice; all will praise him. His righteousness shall be like a budding tree, or like a garden in early spring, full of young plants springing up everywhere.

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