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____________________________________________________