Look What He's Done
Sometimes, when the right now gets too convoluted with the details of emptiness, we forget. We turn our worship somewhere else. Inward, maybe. We’ve survived, but to what end? Survived a feat just to be angry that you had the feat in the first place? You know what you endured, but do you have any idea what you were spared? What was held back from destroying you? What was moved out of your way? What was planted for you? Ripped up for you? What wind blew through to show the hidden? What rain was sent to wash the tainted?
Photo by Nathan Wright
You know only what you know and that’s not faith.
Take inventory.
I was born to a 15-year-old who used a shoebox for my cradle and a t-shirt for my blanket. And I didn’t freeze. I was used at bait for highway rides and and overnight beds and I wasn’t eaten. I was burned, stabbed, spit upon, suffocated, starved, locked out, left, and given away, but I’m still here.
I’m still here. There are things I know. But what do I not know? In all I endured, what was I spared? How about you? In all you endured, what were you spared?
You have no idea.
Can you worship from faith? Isn’t that what worship really is?
Joshua 24 is an inventory of what God did for the tribes of Israel. For me, just reading it is somewhat convicting because it’s an inventory of everything He’s done for this group of people. These people who aren’t as moved by what He’s done for them in the past. They’re turning elsewhere. Joshua called them together to speak to them. In the chapter, God is speaking through Joshua, saying “I” and then listing the inventory of what He’s done for them. Below, I’ve copied the first 15 verses and I’ve taken out the details pertaining to just that particular group, so it’s a template of “I” statements of what God has done. It echoes in my life with my own details. Maybe it can help you take inventory of what He’s brought you through, how He’s spared you, and anything else that’s lost it’s luster to the passing time.
“A long time ago …They worshiped …. I took … I led … I gave … Then I gave … I let … I sent … I hit ... I brought … You came … Then they cried out for help to GOD. He put … and then let … “You watched the whole thing with your own eyes, what I did ... And then you lived …. I brought you …, and they fought you. But I fought for you and you took their land. I destroyed them for you. … I saved you …. You then crossed … [they] ganged up on you …, but I turned them over to you. I sent … ahead of you. It drove out …—did your work for you. You didn’t have to do a thing, not so much as raise a finger. I handed you a land for which you did not work, towns you did not build. And here you are now living in them and eating from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant. So now: Fear GOD. Worship him in total commitment. Get rid of the gods …. You, worship GOD. If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship GOD, then choose a god you’d rather serve—and do it today. Choose one of the gods …. As for me and my family, we’ll worship GOD.
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