God's Beautiful Promise displayed

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

However, I don't know how anyone can say this is not beautiful.  Look at the super big and bright rainbow we saw the other day!

What a wonderful reminder of God's promise to all.

Genesis Chapter 9

9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. ² All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. ³ I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. ⁴ But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.

⁵ “And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. ⁶ If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings^[a] in his own image. ⁷ Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.”
⁸ Then God told Noah and his sons, ⁹ “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, ¹⁰ and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. ¹¹ Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”
¹² Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. ¹³ I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. ¹⁴ When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, ¹⁵ and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. ¹⁶ When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” ¹⁷ Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”




 

Devotional Thoughts- Psalm 73

Psalm 73 (Click the link to read the whole chapter)

As I was reading my Bible this morning, I found myself agreeing and disagreeing with what may be the wrong areas.  But then I came full circle in the end understanding, and seeing where and what I need to change and fix in my heart and thoughts.

Psalm 73 begins nicely....God is good to those whose heart are pure. Ahhh, sounds encouraging. 
But then the psalmist starts in right after that on how his heart is maybe not pure, by how much he is envious of others and the things they have.  So here I'd have a agree....and maybe that's not so great.  He says, "I envied the proud when I saw them prosper." (vs3), and "They have everything their hearts could wish for." (vs7)  I feel that way a lot.  It always seems like the grass is greener on the other side doesn't it?  We see it for what we want it to be, not always for what it is really worth.

A little further on he asks a question, that I'm sure we have all thought about at some time concerning someone or something. "Does God even know what's going on here?" (vs 11)  These people are enjoying a life of ease, while I who keep/kept my heart pure and from wrong, am getting trouble all day long, and every morning brings me pain.  (vs. 13-14)  Maybe not every day....but it sure can feel like it sometimes.  And when we are in that pit, those are the words we tend to use.  EVERY, ALL, TOTAL, these are 100% words. :)  I'm almost sure not every day brings him pain, or that all day long he feels trouble.  It's just that when are you in the midst of it, those 100% words seem to make you feel better (although not really).  We must think that at the time(even for a split second), or we wouldn't choose to say them if it wasn't true would we?

Now verse 15 gets me..."If I had really spoken that way...."  Huh...this whole time I was believing him.  I thought he really was speaking this way.  But I guess he was just being transparent in his thinking....here's what I could have thought or done...but I will choose not too.  Instead in the next few verses, he says the right way to handle this instead of everything he just said, is to seek to understand the truth of the matter.  I need to do this more, instead of looking only on the surface and coming to those conclusions, like he alluded to in the beginning of the chapter.  The truth of the next few verses (16-20) is kind like a wake-up call.  Here's what is really going on.  Not all the things I said before, which were my lies to myself about these others having it "good'.  But their real fate, and it's not as pretty as before.

"Then I realized how bitter I had become, how pained I had been by all I had seen.  I was so foolish and ignorant..." (vs 21-22)  I unfortunately might have to agree with this part too.  How foolish I am to believe some of these lies.  To look at the surface and see what I want to see, instead of digging for the truth.

But the best part yet to come vs 23-24.  Through this all, the bad thoughts, the foolishness, the bitterness in my heart.... "Yet, I still belong to you; you are holding my right hand."  What a great comfort it is to realize that through all that "stupidity" we choose to do, God is not walking away.  He is still right there holding our hand, holding on to us.  Wow.  I'm so grateful.  Because I make a lot of stupid mistakes, and to be more honest, a lot of stupid choices.  (Which would imply not an accident, but a thought out process.)

And we're not done yet....there's then, what I think is a challenge in verse 25.  He states, " Whom have I in heaven but you?  I desire you more than anything on earth."  Can you say that?  Do you desire nothing more than God?   What about, wealth, health, happiness, children, healed hurts, reunification....and the list could go on.  I might have to admit to something in my list there, that I may be desiring more than God.  And the reality for me is; that needs to change.  God needs to have that first place spot. 
(Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Psalm 37:4)

vs 28 "But as for me, how good it is to be near God!  I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do."

I hope you enjoy reading Psalm 73, like I did.


 

Children's Bible/Devotions

Here are some great bible/devotionals we have used with our children and loved them.

We started with this one as a gift from friends.

Great short little stories you can read to your kids before bed.


Then we changed up to this book.  Which is great for little kids.
It's called the Read 'n' See Bible dvd...

It presents the stories in short formats, and it also has a dvd with the book.  On the dvd it has each story that you can listen, and it basically shows the picture from the book, but it adds a little extra variation with sound and voice, plus at the end of each story there is a sing-along song that goes with each story.  Great fun!


Next we have used the Gotta Have God Devotions....we have 2 now.

One that is ages 2-5 and another that is ages 6-9.  Check them out.  They are quick little devos, that focus on one verse to learn, and then a short story regarding what the verse in talking about.  There's a question to answer at the end, or to make you think about what you just read.  Then a little activity on the next page.  There is more than one for each age group, and this is a boys version, there is also a girls version and many more.


Lastly, our newest bible purchase.  It's the Jesus Storybook Bible.

This is a super great bible story book.  It brings every story back to Jesus!  Great read for any age.  And really great pictures.  You're kids are sure to love this one!



Just so you know we read 1 chapter from the regular bible every morning.....then, these fun shortened bible stories are what we read at night before bed time.