{"id":809,"date":"2013-02-02T14:13:40","date_gmt":"2013-02-02T14:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/2013\/02\/02\/how-do-you-define-the-lord-being-with-you\/"},"modified":"2013-02-02T14:13:40","modified_gmt":"2013-02-02T14:13:40","slug":"how-do-you-define-the-lord-being-with-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/2013\/02\/02\/how-do-you-define-the-lord-being-with-you\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do You Define The Lord Being With You?"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Chronicles 25 \u2013 29<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chapters 25, 26 and 27 are David assigning duties to the people. I wonder if this is chronological and is David tidying up before he dies or if this was just stuck near the end of his story. Verse 25:7 caught my eye because of the \u201cspecial\u201d training:<\/p>\n

The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the LORD, all who were skilful, was 288. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I wonder if there were just trained singers or if there was something special one needed to know before singing to the Lord? Either way to be one of the 288 out of millions must have been an honor. I often \u201cpretend\u201d I can sing and do so only where there is loud music to drown out my \u201cjoyful\u201d noise or while in the shower. As Clint Eastwood once said \u201ca man\u2019s got to know his limitations\u201d and I know American Idol is not where I am headed.<\/p>\n

Anyway back to David, he chose the best for each job and they are \u201cchronicled\u201d here in these chapters.<\/p>\n

Verse 28:20 has David handing the throne over to Solomon:<\/p>\n

Then David said to Solomon his son, \u201cBe strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the LORD God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I hear this for Solomon and often wonder if these are words we should all take to heart. I know that life often seems like God favors some but not others. We all know \u201cGodly\u201d people that have hit hard times, been severely injured or died before their \u201ctime\u201d. Other times we know lukewarm Christians who seem to be blessed all the time. The only answer I have for this is we define \u201cblessings\u201d by worldly standards which are great health and tons of riches.<\/p>\n

In Solomon\u2019s case he had both and did appear to be blessed by worldly standards as well as Godly ones. I think we need to understand this world we are in can be manipulated by God, but most often is not. I don\u2019t believe God is waiting with the \u201crack\u201d for each mistake or the \u201ctreasure chest\u201d for each good deed. No we need to function as God requires us to without concern for any \u201cblessing\u201d or worry about any punishment.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t give us an open ticket to do what we desire, because although God may not punish you there are most often \u201cconsequences\u201d for one\u2019s disobedience. The Law is something that many get too legalistic about (granted with stoning\u2019s for working on the Sabbath one could get \u201clegalistic) but we should look at it as more the \u201cright\u201d way to live. Eat outside of what God has made for us and God will not strike you down, but you will not be operating at your optimum health. Eat per the Law, but all the time and you will have more problems than those who eat pork but control their eating.<\/p>\n

The point I am trying to get to is for everyone to be strong and courageous for the Lord God is with you.<\/p>\n

Verse 29:17 I think is the key to God\u2019s favor:<\/p>\n

I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is the scary part about God, sure you can fool people by twisting the truth or telling outright lies, but God knows the truth. He knows what is in your heart and what your true intentions are. Imagine how serious we would live our lives if everyone could \u201csee right through us\u201d? Then why don\u2019t we live our lives such that we care that God can do that? One day we may be face to face with a man that has God\u2019s spirit, aka Jesus, and why not be well practiced so we don\u2019t get \u201ccalled out\u201d by the \u201cbig guy\u201d!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 Chronicles 25 \u2013 29 Chapters 25, 26 and 27 are David assigning duties to the people. I wonder if this is chronological and is David tidying up before he dies or if this was just stuck near the end of his story. Verse 25:7 caught my eye because of the \u201cspecial\u201d training: The number … Continue reading “How Do You Define The Lord Being With You?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}