The Right Place at the Right Time

This wasn't in my plan for today.  The old saying "Strike while the iron's hot" holds true.  Sometimes you just can't plan inspiration!  It just happens and when it does you gotta take action (if you want to take advantage of it that is!).

At the onset of this year I wanted to stop being so random in my devotional time.  So I chose the One Year Read through the Bible plan- with one exception- for me it's a Two Year Read through the Bible plan! :)  I can feel like super Christian and do the whole thing in a year, but how much would I actually be taking in and applying to my everyday life?

With that as my premise I just want to say God is doing something in these daily Bible reading times.  Most noteworthy has happened this past week.  For starters in the plan there are selections from the O.T. and N.T. to read each day plus a Psalm & Proverb.  Within a 24 hr. period God emphasized how He takes care of His own.

I read in Genesis of the account of Abraham pleading with God to not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of 50, and God told him he wouldn't destroy the cities for the sake of 50 people.  So Abraham gets brave and bargains for 45, then 40, 30, 20, and finally he bargained for the sake of 10.  All of which God reassured him He would not destroy the cities.

The people of these two cities were so wicked and far from God that God told Abraham,  "I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant.  I am going down to see if their actions are as wicked as I have heard.  If not, I want to know."

In the end the people of the city of Sodom want nothing but evil.  God sends angels to warn Abraham's nephew Lot and warns him to get his family out of there because God is going to destroy the city.  Lot tries to tell his son in laws about it, but they just think it's a joke and pay no attention.  Just before dawn the angels urge Lot and his family to leave the city now because at dawn the city is going to be destroyed.  In the end it is only Lot and his wife and 2 daughters that leave the city unscathed by God's judgement.

Next I read in Matthew and Jesus is talking (it's in red letters).  "That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life - whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear.  Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing?  Look at the birds.  They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them.  And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?" (Matthew 6:25-26)  I  think that passage speaks for itself!

Finally I get the awesome privilege to teach Children's Bible Quizzing in my local church.  The kids make it all worth while.  They aren't afraid to ask the really tough questions and I have grown so much just from "teaching" them when in actuality they are teaching me!  Anyway, the passage we went over on Wed. night was in Genesis and it's the section that pertains to the life of Joseph.  When God strategically places Joseph as second in command to help save many lives from starving during a 7 year famine.  God gave a warning through a dream that Pharaoh had and God used Joseph to interpret the dream and devise a plan to take care of the people of Egypt. In fact the Bible says that people came from all over the world to get food in Egypt because the famine was so great.  Here's the part that jumped out at me! "As predicted, for seven years the land produced bumper crops.  During those years, Joseph gathered all the crops grown in Egypt and stored the grain from the surrounding fields in the cities.  He piled up huge amounts of grain like sand on the seashore.  Finally, he stopped keeping records  because there was too  much to measure." (Gen. 41:47-49)

Ok, so Jesus points out that birds don't store up and yet God takes care of them.  He also says that we are much more valuable to God than the birds. Here in Genesis, Joseph is storing up grain, we humans have the capability to plan ahead for the future.  Birds not so much.  Either way God takes care of us.  God let Joseph know enough in advance that they needed to be saving the grain and so they did.  People literally were kept from starving to death because of it.  And then there's Lot and his family.  They were only 6 people out of a possible population of  600-1200 people!  I'm not a mathematician but that's like less than 1% of the population that God took care of!

Simply and honestly here's my take away, God will take care of us.  Even if it looks impossible He will take care of us!  He is so worthy of our trust!  He is able to move the events and people in our lives in such a way to put us in the right place at the right time in order for His plans to succeed.  Some may say it's coincidence, but I know there have been too many times in my life when things worked out in such an unbelievable way that the only explanation was that it was God!

 There you have it!  My inspiration for the day.  I hope this is an encouragement to someone today!