Tag: Seek God

The Rich Fool

The Rich Fool

If you aren’t familiar with this parable, make sure to read these few verses.  Luke 12:16-21 and Psalms 99.

A farmer has an abundant harvest, more than he could store in his barns. So he tore down the existing barns, built bigger barns to store it and save for himself so he could relax. Specifically, he was looking forward to taking it easy, eating, drinking, and being merry, for the rest of his days.  Cue the voice of God: You Fool! Tonight you will lose your life, then who will have all of your stored up harvest?

Jesus wraps up the parable with the warning that the same will be for any of us, that store treasures and is not rich toward God.

I wonder where specifically this farmer went off track?  He is described in the beginning as rich (but not yet called foolish)…so maybe leading into the abundance he is a rich + wise farmer. Having a good harvest or abundance isn’t bad. I don’t even know that storing the harvest was all that awful. He had to put it somewhere, right?! Although I’m not sure why he had to tear down the small barns and build the bigger barns…couldn’t he have built an extra barn for the excess? Why tear town the existing barns? I’d really like to ask this farmer a few questions. 🙂

It seems like it went downhill with his heart + desire. We don’t hear anything about a grateful heart for the abundance, a tithe or offering back to the Lord, and we don’t read that he sought direction from God on how to use the abundance.  We don’t even hear any of his own plans to use the abundance to further the kingdom. He wants to relax and not have to worry about his future, keeping it in his own (perceived) control, relying on the abundance. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE a good sabbath – we are even commanded to rest. But not forever!

The farmer’s plans sure sound A LOT like modern era retirement goals!  Or lottery dreaming… “If I win the lottery, I am quitting my job tomorrow and living the good life”.  While retirement planning is a good way to show stewardship over what God has provided, doing it without the Lord will lead us down a path like this Rich Fool. It seems like a fine line!

How much of my financial planning and saving is to be a good steward and how much is me wanting to have control? It feels hard to discern. Are my conversations with God about money sincere? Is my heart and mind completely open to whatever He would ask of me? I love this picture of having our hands open – fully willing to use anything the Lord gives, however He directs. And it’s when our hands are fully open, we are also able to fully receive what He has for us.

Earlier this week I left a conversation with my jaw wide open and a tear in my eye.  Truly humbled by someone I really don’t know that well – but I crossed paths with Bob and wished him well in his upcoming “retirement”. I asked him what he had planned, to which he quickly replied “FIND A JOB”! What I know  about Bob is that he has a heart for the Lord and a heart for kids. His career has been in shaping children, and at home, he and his wife have fostered and adopted children. I really don’t know much more about his family or his story, other than he was at the point in his career where he either could retire or had to retire, and yet he wasn’t planning to truly retire. He shared that he needed to keep working to get these kids through college. I think about the choices he had to make when welcoming kids into his home, and knowing it would push back his time to retire. I wonder what else he and his wife have sacrificed for the kingdom. Would I have a heart like Bob, who likely sees his peers “retiring” and he is retiring from one career and actively looking for the next.

Lord, thank you for all the prosperity you have given me. Thank you for the talents and opportunities to prosper. Help me to surrender any control or fear about money, and have complete confidence in Your provision. Please put people in my path that have current needs, more than the future me might need. Give me wisdom in being a good steward and keep me from being a fool! Thank you for people like Bob that show me how to be rich toward you. Amen.

In Over My Head

Have you ever thought, prayed, cried out, “Save Me, O God!”?  Often, when we feel overwhelmed, scared, angry, devastated, and or afraid these idioms can come to mind: “Being in deep water” or “In over your head“.  We initially can try to do things on our own then once we realize we can’t we collapse or are driven to despair. Psalm 69 is a reminder that we need to turn to God and ask for help. Even better, in turning to Him, God will save you! This picture reminds me of a time when my sister Dawn who fell in the pool as a kid and I had to jump in to get her out. She was OK, and actually just gave birth to her third beautiful daughter Vivienne. What a blessing! This picture also reminds me how we can live many moments of my life before a relationship with Christ. Today I can still find myself feeling like this but,  I’m thankful for His word and the reminder of how a meaningful relationship with God can change this feeling.

Today’s Reading: Numbers 26; Psalm 69; Isaiah 16; 1 Peter 4

May 16, 2016inoveryourhead

Jesus has faced many adversaries and had to endure much physical and mental suffering.  This even came in many forms including his own brothers who he loved mocking Him.  I cannot even begin to imagine what Jesus went through!  When I think about that time I envision the movie Passion of Christ, which puts a knot in my throat as I write.  Today in our lives, we often can be mentally and physically beaten down, tempted to turn from God, lose trust, and eventually end up giving up. Psalm 69 can help and coach you not to just throw in the towel. Reminder, it’s not if we will face various trials in our lives, its when. Each of us have these moments when you feel overwhelmed and the list can be extensive to include issues surrounding:  work, money, love, family, friends, appearance… The list can go on and vary based on your season of life.

I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. Psalm 69:2-3

Thankfully, God knows us. He knows you.  Psalm 139:1-3 tells us, God knows everything about us and the world.  O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. He knows our past and the plans he has for us. We can be humbled, heartbroken, or ashamed when we sin. God knows the secrets of our hearts. He understand our humanness and our lack of wisdom when we make wrong choices.

O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you. Psalm 69:5

In our fleeting lives we need to realize that we are never separated from His care and we need to reach out to God. We need to pray asking him to deliver us. 1 Peter 4:2 says “so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.”

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. Psalm 13-14

Take time to praise God and lift him up today. Even when I wasn’t focused on God, He has always been focused on me. He is focused on you. Even in our despair He comes to us and says I’ve been here the whole time. Waiting. It’s not God who isn’t present, its us.  Sometimes our choices are only focused on we forget about talking to God. We need to pause and ask Him about your next choice and trust in His plan.  He will hear you. He will rescue you. Remain faithful. Jesus’ invitation to follow is for all of us. In our small group we have been going through the study Follow by Andy Stanley I’m reminded that he offers an invitation to a relationship with our Father in heaven to everyone. Who can we share that invitation with today?

When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.  For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners. Psalm 33-34

Where are you at today? Is the water getting deep? Your most faithful friend is waiting for you. He wants to save you and walk with you every step.

Dear God,

We don’t need any of the things we run around trying to acquire or impress. We struggle along this marathon, we need you. I need you. Amazingly you are always with us. Psalm 139:9-10 says “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast”.  No matter if I’m, “In Over My Head” or “In Deep Water”  you already know who I am, where I’m at, and what I need.  Thank you for your never-ending love and never-ending care.  Amen

In Over My Head  A little music for the day.  ~Whether I sink, whether I swim, it makes no difference when I’m beautifully in over my head.”  Jenn Johnson –

Continue to shower love and prayers to the McGriff Family Meal Train Plus for The McGriff Family  (Click Here)