Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Day 21: Keeping Hope in a Negative World




Reading: Psalm 12:1-8

I can't help but relate with David's words in this Psalm. The world around us can be one that doesn't care about lies and deceit. People lie left and right without a care to simply look better or get someone off their backs. David, however, compares the lies of the world with the refreshing words of God and His promises. Compared to the words of the people around us, His words are pure as silver. David longs for this sort of purity, as he is surrounded by enemies and foes. He clings tight to God's words, however, and finds hope in them.

What kind of things discourage you as you look into our society?




What attribute of God do you find hope and refreshment in?




Reading: Matthew 14:22-15:9

With Jesus, we see that anything is possible, including walking on water. We see quite and act of faith when Peter gets out of the boat to walk with Jesus on the water. While he is focused on Jesus, he does fine, however, as soon as he looks away and at his surroundings, he begins to sink. Jesus has to reach down and save him.
Our faith in this world is very similar to the situation Peter ran into as he tried to walk with Jesus. When we have our eyes on Jesus and the things that encourage our faith, we can walk with Him over circumstance. But as soon as we look elsewhere for our strength and begin to worry about our surrounding, we can easily fall away from Him.
The world can also throw negativity into our faith by placing standards on our faith that aren't from God. We see how the Pharisees try to taint faith by insisting that money be used for God instead of taking care of their parents. Jesus was all about love, not religion. Be careful in knowing what standards of faith are from God, and which are of the worldly people who only want to be impressive in the eyes of others, not God.

When has the world's view of things made it hard for you to focus on walking close with God?




What kind of religious rituals or traditions have you come across that aren't from God, but are only heavy standards from the world?




Reading: Genesis 41:41-42:38

We see how Joseph handles the highs and lows of life. Many times, we can get caught up in the world view of success and failure. But when we see Joseph's life, we can see a God-view of success and failure. When Joseph wondered for years in prison if he'd ever get out, he waited on God's timing and provision. He gave God the glory when he could interpret dreams and eventually was brought out of the pit of his life. He never blames God or curses.
And now that Joseph is top of the nation and distributing what people want most, he is not boastful about it.
When we experience failure in this world, it can be easy to turn to worldly things for comfort or to wallow in our own failure. Joseph keeps hope and eventually gets into the incredible position of leading a nation with Pharaoh. Yet when success hits someone in today's world, it is easy to let it go to their heads. Boasting and pride are big things in our world, not to mention the entitlement we feel comes with our success. But when Joseph falls into his position, he serves humbly and still gives God the glory through it.
When we have a Godly view on failure and success, we can keep our feet on the ground and our heads out of the clouds. Hang on to God's way of things and not the world's.

When have you felt lower than low and turned to the world's strategy of overcoming the failure?




When have you had success and turned to the world's strategy with it? What about when you took it humbly?




The world can offer some enticing things to help us cope and just live everyday life. God's way of coping with life gets us so much further, though. We can turn to Him when we feel hopeless about the people around us. He can get us through any circumstance that we come up against, whether it be a storm in life, or heavy religious rituals. He also keep us grounded when it comes to success and failure. The choice is ultimately yours in choosing who's way you'll heed when it comes to various life circumstances.

No comments:

Post a Comment