My Birthday was Saturday. Happy Birthday to me. LOL On my birthday I always look forward to hearing from the Lord. I think of it as my special instructions, assignment, encouragement, my special God visit for the year ahead.
In the "Jesus Calling" devotional the reference verses came from Genesis 28:11-16. It's one of my favorite stories in the Bible, so I was thrilled to have the Lord include it in my "Birthday card" from Himself.
Genesis 28:11-16 Then he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”
I love that in the driest, most desolate place, Jacob discovers that the Lord is there. And the Lord wants me to remember that as well...I am never abandoned...however dark and bleak, empty or alone I feel. In work when everything is going south around me....my attitude is growing grumpier...He is there to lift me up. When I get hit with one large bill after another...the washer breaks, the car needs work and the cats all decide to need the vet at the same time...He is there to provide. When I feel like I am drifting emotionally...nothing seems settled inside or I feel mentally, emotionally spent and bankrupt....He is my anchor and my fulfillment. This is my encouragement for the year, and I wish too share it with my readers here, that you too may find the Lord to be "Him Who sees me." (That's from another of my favorite stories in Genesis 16) He sees our need, our desires, our hopes, our struggles and He is with us.
But along with this encouragement came instructions for the year ahead. My marching orders so to speak. They came from Psalm 31:20 You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of men; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
There is a lot of negative talk, gossipy tongue wagging, critical, complaining yapping going on all around me. And as the Lord as said before, He wants me to steer clear of this. So that assignment continues for me....to hide myself in Him when the "strife of tongues" is reigning the day.
And not only does the Lord want me to refrain from certain types of talking, He wants me to grow into an encourager to others. Support and inspire others to use their gifts, their talents. Applaud their growth and attempts to walk forward along the path the Lord is leading them on. A better way to use my speech, if you will.
I love all the visits of the Lord. Small little touches, amazing displays of His love....but it's the birthday one that makes my heart glow the most...because it feels so especially personal and directed. Thank You Lord for this birthday gift. I can almost see You going down the "aisles" of heaven, looking over the shelves for just the perfect present for me. When You find it on the shelf, You take it down and place it on the prettiest paper (it's got sparkles and shine, just as I like), lovingly wrap it up and tie a wonderful blue bow on it (blue is my favorite color!). It's thoughtful and just the right size.
Lord, help me to remember, to live, to grow. To remain in Your presence, and to follow Your path for me this year. Next year, I want to be more like Jesus than I am today. Thank You for Your specificity in caring for Your children, for me.
Genesis 16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.” Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” The angel of the Lord also said to her:“You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery.
He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi: it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
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