"Obligatory" - To

"Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils." (Hebrews 7:4 KJV)

  "The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. The LORD keeps you from harm and watches over your life. The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever." (PSALM 121:5-8 NLT)

 Just to keep this real, if we really trust God will do everything that He has promised, then we need to be very sure that we trust in Him, with all our heart, not forgetting that He more than able! As it is, doubt is only something that causes us to surrender all and trust Him even more!  

 Right now, I am reading the Book of Job. I have probably read that Book at least two-dozen times or more, but now I am reading out loud, because I am reading it to my wife. We are currently going through the whole Bible, a chapter at a time, and reading it out loud has brought out certain things that I really never saw before.

 Chapters 13 & 14 are a bit much, as those are the ones where Job wants to argue his case with God! As much as I might have something to complain about, I don't think I have enough to argue about it with God; but then again, I also feel sorry for Job, knowing full well that he was being tested. 

 There are several times in the Bible when we see God testing someone; Abraham is one in particular, as God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Yet, God told Abraham very specifically that Isaac was the child through whom his descendants would be counted. (Genesis 21:12) So either Abraham believed that God would change His mind, or that God would raise Isaac back to life again; either way, God was testing Abraham's belief in Him and His promises.

 Not that I think God was testing me, because I have been the one who made the choice to give what I give; besides that, in Job's case, it was the devil that caused this to happen to Job; God allowed it to happen, because God knows how it turns out! Do you believe that? Can you receive that? More than anything else, I believe God knows everything we are going to do, even before we think about doing it, He has it all planned out, as to what to do about it!

 In that case, this new word, "Obligatory," has another meaning, which is, "to give to someone as his own." If that doesn't make you think about it, how about: "to give one to someone to whom he already belonged, to return." Oh my, the things we think are ours, really don't belong to us...

"The earth is the LORD'S, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him." (PSALM 24:1 NLT)