The Pastor's Porch, Aug. 5, 2020

The Pastor's Porch

August 5, 2020

Are you kidding me?  You expect me to do what??  Husband, you have lost your mind.  Why are you asking me to pack all of our suitcases?  You want the boys and their wives to pack up too.  Where are we going?  It doesn't make sense.  No matter what you say, I am sure that one day we will come back.  Let me make sure that the house is left in good order.  You say that I don't have time for that, but I don't care.  Nobody is going to come into this house and find it a mess!  Let's see...I need to get all of the dishes done, change the linens, dust and scrub the floors.  Husband, come here and help!  But no, you and the boys just keep building and building some monstrosity.  You say that God told you to build it.  But why would He have you do something so illogical?  I thought that God only does things that make our lives better.  How could getting on that, that THING bring anything good? 

Lord Jesus, too often we put You in a box.  If there is anything that we have learned from this tough time it is that we ourselves control nothing.  Help us to trust You alone, no matter what comes and no matter what You ask of us.  Give us Your courage and Your strength.  Thank You, Lord.  Amen.

Another passage where God is asking something unusual:  Judges 7:3-7

  ³ Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

⁴ But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

⁵ So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” ⁶ Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

⁷ The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.”