“Footprints in the Sand”

Photo by Suzi Rosenberg

Day 27

I love the poem “Footprints in the Sand”.  It reminds me that Jesus not only walks with me when I need Him but at times He even carries me.  I can depend completely on Him when I feel inadequate.

Footprints in the Sand

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.
So I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?”
The Lord replied,
“The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you.”
By Mary Stevenson
We all need someone to be there for us in difficult times.

I woke up to the sound of the phone ringing.  I looked at my alarm clock. Three a.m.

I heard my dad talking on the phone in serious tones. He was asking about my older brother, Ervan.  When I heard him ask, “Is he going to live?” I knew something terrible had happened to my brother.

For the next few months most of my parent’s time was given to visiting my sick brother in the hospital. When he was finally well enough to come home they were busy taking care of him. They had to prepare special meals for him, and feed him, and change his dressings among other things. In time he healed and became independent again.

While my brother was sick he depended on my parents. My parents never neglected the rest of us but like a shepherd caring for a lame lamb until he is healed they had to give him a lot of extra care. During this time I’m sure my brother developed a very close relationship with my mom and dad because they spent so much time together.

There are times in our lives too that as His child God has to carry us.  We depend on him completely.  Sometimes it’s as we go through a difficult time in our life, like a divorce or an illness, or a financial crisis.  When situations are out of our control and we feel lost He comes and walks the dark hills reaching His hands out to us and carries us back to that safe place close to Him.  He cares for us as we depend completely on Him.

A shepherd has to leave his other sheep as he looks for the lost or hurt lamb, and a parent is forced to neglect the healthy child temporarily because of  their limitations. Unlike the shepherd and our parents, God isn’t limited.  He is with us 100% of the time while He is with the extra needy 100% of the time.  He never leaves us or forsakes us.
“If a man has a hundred sheep, and one wanders away and is lost, what will he do?  Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others and go into the hills to search for the lost one?”  Matthew 18:12 [The Living Bible]

“God has said, ‘I will never, never fail you nor forsake you.’” Hebrews 13:5 [The Living Bible]
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I want to walk with you spiritually this year, inviting you to read the Bible through from cover to cover; from Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation 22:21.  If that sounds too difficult for you and your kids, you can join in again after you have taken a break or join us for the days you’re up to it.  We will start on Sunday, January 18th and finish Saturday, January 16, 2010.  I promise that you will understand the Bible in a much deeper way if you read it through from cover to cover in a year’s time.

Accept my challenge to read the Bible through in one year chronologically, including the Old and the New Testament.

Day 27 Today read:
Exodus 4:1-5:21
Matthew 18:1-20
Psalm 22:19-31
Proverbs 5:15-21

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Dealing with Rejection

“When you are reviled and persecuted and lied about because you are my followers – wonderful!
Be happy about it!  Be very glad! For a tremendous award awaits you up in heaven.”  Matthew 5: 11 and 12

Do you remember a time when you were rejected?  Everyone is rejected sometime or other.  If someone who isn’t special to you rejects you, you could care less.  But if someone you really like or look up to rejects you, someone you really trusted to be your friend, then you hurt.

In the Psalms David writes about someone who had gone to the temple with him to worship God with him and then this person rejected him.  In fact this person didn’t only reject him, but also betrayed him.  If someone whom you trusted in, someone you worshipped God with and fellowshipped with, someone you told your heart to, betrayed you that is most hurtful.  Because it has to do with your spiritual life you think maybe God rejects you too.  But God doesn’t reject you when you fail or when someone turns on you.  When we sin God is saddened but receives us with open arms as we repent. The Bible says God will never leave us or forsake us if we are His.

After Jesus was tempted in the wilderness He went to several cities and taught in their synagogue, their church schools. The people were happy to hear Him and marveled at Jesus’ knowledge of God and the Scriptures.  They honored Him as God’s Son.

Then He came to His home town, Nazareth.  The people there, His neighbors and the people who had seen Him grow up, crowded into the synagogue to hear what He had to say.  They had heard about the miracles Jesus had done in the other towns and cities.

Jesus stood up and read the Scriptures:
 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
   Because He has anointed Me
   To preach the gospel to the poor;
   He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
   To proclaim liberty to the captives
  And recovery of sight to the blind,
  To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

When He finished reading and sat down, He said that today the Scripture was fulfilled in their presence.  The people were surprised.  They knew that these words were written about the coming Messiah.  They thought, is Jesus saying that He is the Messiah?  Is He saying that He is the Son of God?

Some people believed Him and were blessed.  But most of the people ridiculed Him.  They knew that Jesus was Joseph and Mary’s son who had grown up next door to them.  They didn’t think He was anybody special.  They refused to believe that He was the Messiah come to help them.  In fact, they got so angry at Him that they started a riot.  The leaders of the church took Jesus outside.  A lot of people joined them.  The mob took Jesus to the top of the high hill on which Nazareth stood.  They wanted to throw him down on the sharp rocks in the canyon below. But Jesus walked through the crowd and went away.  He went to live in Capernaum, a city by the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus was often rejected.  Later he was even betrayed by Judas, one of his chosen disciples. Jesus said that if we are His disciples we too will be rejected and maybe even betrayed.  He also said that we should rejoice when we suffer because we belong to Him.  In heaven we will be rewarded for suffering because of Jesus.

 If anyone knows how it hurts to be rejected and betrayed, it is Jesus.  He knows how you feel when you are rejected.  He knows how to come close to you and strengthen and comfort you. He is that friend that sticks closer to you than a brother.

Going Deeper for Parents:

Sometimes we reject people because they are different from us and we don’t understand them or else we don’t want others to associate us with someone we might think is a loser.  Sometimes we reject even friends because we envy them.  Maybe we think they make us look inferior. We tend to associate with people who think like we do or who build us up.

The people of Nazareth lost a great deal that day.  They drove Jesus away because of their foolish pride.  To them Jesus was just the poor carpenter’s son not the Son of God.  They were used to being the leaders. They were in charge.  They wanted to be the superior ones.  They were not going to bow to the poor boy next door. They lost out. They never received Jesus’ gift of salvation.

The church leaders of Nazareth also were upset because Jesus included the Gentiles in His ministry.  The Israelites were God’s chosen people and they were not about to share their spiritual heritage with the heathen.  They felt they were superior to the people of Capernaum.

Sometimes we also reject people because we think they are so superior to us because of their wealth or their power or their wisdom.  They treat us as equals but we feel inferior so we reject them.  In this case we also are the losers.  God put them in our lives to be a blessing to us. We can learn much from them.
  
We can learn much from Jesus who as God is far superior to us in everyway but humbled Himself to come to earth so we can know Him.  He says if we are persecuted on His account, “Great is your award.” Knowing Him may lead to rejection and persecution but it also leads to the greatest of awards, salvation.