February 3: Do Not Edit The Extraordinary Out of Your Life.

Affirmation: I am gentle with myself & my mistakes. I treat myself with love & respect.

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Ponder: We start on Psalm 121 this week. Place yourself at a time and place when you felt vulnerable, alone, fearful, perhaps hopeless. Now read this Psalm aloud if you can. I like to read new passages over 5 times. Notice the message. Think about the thoughts and moments that come to mind. Journal if you can.

”I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭121‬:‭1‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.121.1-8.NIV

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Catching Whimsy: 365 Days of Possibility by Bob Goff 

                        Feb 3

Do Not Edit The Extraordinary 

Out of Your Life.

Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the command of the Lord your God that I give you. Deuteronomy 4:2

It is tempting to add a little of our own life experiences, viewpoints, and opinions to what God has to say in the Scriptures. It’s even easier to trim out the parts we don’t fully understand or would rather not obey.

Thomas Jefferson did a little cutting and pasting of his own when it came to the scriptures. He literally took a razor and cut out parts of the Bible involving anything seemingly supernatural, this included the resurrection. Jefferson kept the moral lessons and principles, but would cut out the miracle just before the lesson. Not surprisingly the Jefferson Bible is pretty thin.

I haven’t found any verses of scriptures I disagree with, but there are plenty I haven’t applied in my life in the way God would have me to do. I have not always loved my enemies, remained patient and kind, or not wanted to even the score after being wronged.

How about you? If you can identify with this, perhaps you are as tempted as I am to edit out the miraculous or extraordinary things that God could be doing in your life. Resist the urge to get an invisible razor to cut out the hard parts of faith or paste in parts that aren’t there.

Often, it is easier to wrap our minds around a leadership or life principal than to fully embrace the miraculous. But don’t take this bait. The parts of scripture that are hard for us to embody are often in the most powerful ways God can show the world, His awe-inspiring, whimsical love.

Assume God is at work in, through, and around you, as you live out the fullness of what His word says.

Keep your head on a swivel; 

God is constantly on the move.