October 27

 

 

DISCUSSION   

The famous UCLA basketball coach and motivator John Wooden once said, “Don’t measure yourself on what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your abilities.” The children of Israel had a real problem; they could not stop focusing on where they came from and where they were. There was no way that they would ever be able to get out of their current situation and see where God had planned for them to go. At least nine times in the books of Exodus and Numbers the Israelites are bringing up how things used to be, instead of how things could be if they would just trust God. We get that way sometimes don’t we? We have resigned to the fact that this is just who we are, we are never going to change and we will never have a victory or positive thing happen to us because we will not allow ourselves to see it. We need to remember the story of Abraham in Genesis 13. 7-11. If you will remember, Abraham gave Lot his choice as to which direction he wanted to go. Lot took the more desirable of the two choices while Abraham found himself in the less desirable situation. Do you remember what God said to Abraham? “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever” (Genesis 13.14-15). I wonder if God said “lift up your eyes” because his eyes were looking down with a gloom and doom mentality. As my uncle might have said to Abraham, “Would ya lookie here!” God reminded Abraham it doesn’t matter what you see; I’ve got big plans for you. God has so much more in store for us as well if we will just look up and allow ourselves to see it.

PRAYER REQUESTS____________________________________________________