God Never Gives Up

FAITH:
How do I know God is with me? What if this is all a hoax? How do you know that is God who is speaking? The thick and dreadful darkness of doubt.
The same darkness you feel when you sit on a polished pew in a funeral chapel and listen to the obituary of the one you love more than life.
The same darkness that you feel when you hear the words, “The tumor is malignant. We have to operate.”
The same darkness that falls upon you when you realize you just lost your temper.. . again.
The same darkness you feel when you realize that the divorce you never wanted is final.
The same darkness into which Jesus screamed, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Appropriate words. For when we doubt, God seems very far away. Which is exactly why he chose to draw so near. Throughout time, though God’s people often forgot their God, God didn’t forget them. He kept his word. God didn’t give up. He never gives up.
When Joseph was dropped into a pit by his own brothers, God didn’t give up.
When Moses said, “Here I am, send Aaron,” God didn’t give up.
When the delivered Israelites wanted Egyptian slavery instead of milk and honey, God didn’t give up.
When Aaron was making a false god at the very moment Moses was with the true God, God didn’t give up.
When only two of the ten spies thought the Creator was powerful enough to deliver the created, God didn’t give up.
When Samson whispered to Delilah, when Saul roared after David, when David schemed against Uriah, God didn’t give up.
When God’s word lay forgotten and man’s idols stood glistening, God didn’t give up.
When the children of Israel were taken into captivity God didn’t give up. He could have given up. He could have turned his back. He could have walked away from the wretched mess, but he didn’t. He didn’t give up. When he became flesh and was the victim of an assassination attempt before he was two years old, he didn’t give up.
When the people from his own home town tried to push him over a cliff; he didn’t give up.
When his brothers ridiculed him, he didn’t give up.
When he was accused of blaspheming God by people who didn’t fear God, he didn’t give up.
When Peter worshiped him at the supper and cursed him at the fire, he didn’t give up.
When people spat in his face, he didn’t spit back
When the bystanders slapped him, he didn’t slap them.
When a whip ripped his sides, he didn’t turn and command the awaiting angels to stuff that whip down that soldier’s throat. And when human hands fastened the divine hands to a cross with spikes, it wasn’t the soldiers who held the hands of Jesus steady. It was God who held them steady. For those wounded hands were the same invisible hands that had carried the firepot and the torch two thousand years earlier. They were the same hands that had brought light into Abram’s thick and dreadful darkness. They had come to do it again.
So, the next time doubt walks in, escort him out. Out to the hill. Out to Calvary. Out to the cross where, with holy blood, the hand that carried the flame wrote the promise, “God would give up his only son before he’d give up on you.” by Max Lucado

FRIENDS:

Father, our sight and our strength is so limited. And we are so often tempted to think that our well-being depends on what we can see or feel. Please help us in this day to look beyond this moment to the love of Your heart, to the suffering of Your Son, and to the promise of the home and future You are preparing for us. In Jesus' name, Amen.

DAILY BIBLE CHALLENGE ~July~

14. Luke 10:17-24; 1 Thess 3:7-13; Psalms 139; 2 Chron 3-5
15. Luke 10:25-37; 1 Thess 4:1-10; Psalms 140; 2 Chron 6-7

2 CHRONICLES
A friend tell me of the time his five-year-old daughter took inventory of her friends.
Seems she took a tumble down the stairs and banged her head on the wall. Her mom rushed her to the emergency room and, though the injury wasn't severe, the doctor felt it was wise to keep her overnight for observation. So the little girl spent the night in the hospital.
The next morning they took her home, and the dad carried her upstairs and put her in bed for a nap. As he closed the door he heard her voice. At first he thought she was speaking to him, so he stopped to listen.
"Sleepy? Grumpy? Dopey?"
My friend smiled. Painted on his daughter's bedroom wall were the characters from the Snow White story. For his daughter they were more than characters, however, they were friends. Every day she spent time talking to them. the dad knew what she was doing. "She was taking inventory of her friends," he said. "She'd been through a rough night and just wanted to make sure they were okay."
God has been known to do that. His people have a tendency to take tumbles. Some of those tumbles are severe. Second Chronicles will give you a few examples.
They aren't very pretty.
Some are very shameful. Still they are his children and every so often he takes inventory of those who matter to him.
Buried in the large quarry called Chronicles are several jewels worth mining.
Here are two of the finest:
Then if my people, who are called by my name, are sorry for what they have done, if they pray and obey me and stop their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven. I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land (7:14).
The Lord searches all the earth for people who have given themselves completely to him. He wants to make them strong (16:9).
Keep those verses in your hip pocket. You never know when you may take a spill yourself. Those works might be just what you need to get back on your feet.

FOOD:

Barley with Mushrooms & Green Onions

1 cup barley
1 can (14 1/2 oz) roasted garlic chicken broth (about 2 cups)
3 green onions, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
4 to 6 ounces fresh or canned mushrooms, sliced
salt or seasoned salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons butter or margarine

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker/Crock Pot. Cover and cook on
low for 4 to 4 1/2 hours.

FUN:

Paul Newman founded the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for children stricken
with cancer, AIDS and blood diseases. One afternoon he and his wife, Joanne Woodward, stopped by to have lunch with the kids. A counselor at a nearby table, suspecting the young patients wouldn't know that Newman was a famous movie star, explained, 'That's the man who made this camp possible. Maybe you've seen his picture on his salad dressing bottle?' Blank stares. 'Well, you've probably seen his face on his lemonade carton.' An eight-year-old girl perked up. 'How long was he missing?'