What If?

Do you ever ask yourself “What if?”

Sometimes the “What if?” comes because of the sin of omission! That means not doing something that I should have done! For me it could be I refrained from giving a kind word or failing to say thank you. A big one was missing a funeral for the sake of one of our kids golf tournaments. Then there was the missed opportunity of not sharing my faith with someone.

I have learned to confess and accept God’s forgiveness but, to the best of my ability, allow the regret to sting so that I might not omit again. Being a fool once should be enough for me. After all, I am 52! Experience should be a great teacher.

Sometimes when I read and study scripture I allow myself to ask the question…”What if?” As I have been studying the life of Moses, I have asked myself the question: What if he had not thrown down his staff when God commanded him to? In those days a staff was carried by shepherds for protection and to rein sheep back into the fold. It served as protection/security. A shepherd didn’t go anywhere without his staff.

God told Moses to throw it down. That obedience provided Moses a view of God’s power and awesomeness. Throwing down his staff seems easier to me than having to pick it back up after God turned it into a snake! Not sure I would have reached down to pick it up by the tail! To me, as I apply this scripture to my own life, I look back and into the future and ask God, “What is it that You might want me to throw down?” Or, “what is it You might want me to pick up?” What I don’t want to do is miss God’s awesomeness in my life because of a lack of obedience…driven by stubbornness, busyness, security or fear!

God’s character, as I study the Bible, seems to ask us to do ridiculous things. For Moses the staff represented his identity and security. It was a part of who he was! That is how I view it. It makes me ask myself what I might need to throw down or pick up so that I might experience God’s perfect will for me, so that I can see God at work.

I encourage you to read the Bible. Take time to read the accounts of the lives recorded in it and see how it may apply to your life. As I have done that for myself, God hasn’t hesitated in showing me things to pick up or throw down. The result has been the amazing power of God in my life. Not leaning on my own understanding but in all my ways acknowledging him and he has made my paths straight (see Proverbs 3:5-6).

Simply today….What might God be asking you to Pick up or Throw down? It can be as simple as throwing down some time to help someone in need. It could be as big as changing jobs or moving. Only God can show you.

For me it was to study and write, to the best of my ability every day. I look back over the last four years and ask myself, What if I had not obeyed? It makes me shudder to think of all the blessings and communion with a Holy God I would have missed! Deuteronomy 13:4 gives us this charge. “You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.”

Throw it down or pick it up today…have NO REGRETS!

Deuteronomy 28:1-3, “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.”

“Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.” ~Francis Chan

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