Looking Back and Looking Ahead

April 20th, 2005

I was looking back at some of my previous entries here and I found a rather amusing one from February. In it I state that I am shocked at how our gas prices have “jumped from $1.97 to $2.05.” I laughed when I read this because when I filled up my car last week it was $2.79 a gallon! Missy told me that gas is supposed to be going up a nickel a day for awhile. So now I’m eyeing my gas gauge as it hovers just under a quarter of a tank and hoping to really prolong the pending doom of filling up, Haha!

It’s been a good week so far here. Our friend Brad flew up on Monday for a job interview, and we had a great time visiting with him. Work has been exceptionally slow and quiet and I am enjoying the minimal schedule in the office even with time to read and blog. I was feeling rather down earlier in the week, but Bobby and I had a good conversation about losing heart. He was saying that whenever we lose heart, we are loosing sight of who God is. That is a hard reality to face because I want to believe that I know God and have a clear view of who He is. But I can see now how diverted my attention gets when things go wrong. Bobby said that we really start to lose hope when we forget God’s promises. He showed me an essay he was working on and I really liked this portion of it:

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In Ecclesiastes, Solomon said that there was nothing new under the sun and that all was vanity. He goes on for two chapters describing how he hated life and how all of man’s days are sorrowful. Then he says this in Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

‘Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. For who can eat or who can have enjoyment without Him? For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight…”

When Solomon brings God into his thinking his tone takes a radical turn. He is no longer viewing life under the sin, but is seeing that life comes ‘from the hand of God’ who reigns above. In fact, when Solomon says ‘nothing is better’ he is essentially saying, “This is the best!” Those who live without God are missing out on the enjoyment He brings to life. They aren’t enjoying the good in their labor that is done for Him. They don’t have the wisdom and knowledge and joy He gives to those who are good in His sight. They don’t have life as it was made to be! When we believe that we are going to see God’s goodness in our lives, we will be able to get out of bed every morning excited about being alive!
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I’m really missing out if I’m trying to make it each day on my own or stuck in disappointments of life. I’m being renewed today to see that God is so good and that when I am waiting on Him and looking only to Him for strength, direction and sustenance…this is life worth living!
“I would have lost heart unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait on the Lord, be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say on the Lord!”
Psalm 27:13-14

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