Life Stinks

When I say life stinks, I mean there is a lot of stinky things that we have to face in our day to day.   How we handle those things can determine how we navigate through life.  Several weeks back we had an issue with our sump pump in the basement.  It got backed up and began to leak out on the carpet.  At two in the morning, my daughter calls me to make me aware of the issue.  I went down there and as I walked on the carpet, it squished.  The next day, I remember trying to have my time with the Lord and was terribly distracted, trying to determine how we will handle this, how much will it cost, how long will it take, etc.  As I read the scripture that morning "the Lord bless and keep thee" Numbers 6:24 and dug into my devotional by Charles Spurgeon, I had to smile.  It read, "What a joy to abide under the divine blessing! This puts a gracious flavor into all things."  As I thought of the disgusting smell in the basement, I'm not so sure I would have called it a gracious flavor."  However,, in all circumstances we have to look for His blessing.  His scriptures promise His blessing.

The devotional went on to say that "if we are blessed, then all our possessions & enjoyments are blessed; yea, our losses and crosses and even our disappointments are blessed."  When "stink" comes into our life, we conclude that it is incompatible with blessing. When life gets tough, do we ask God for the mind of Christ, or the ministry of the Holy Spirit or do we ask God to bless us by giving us a life free from the pain and sorrow we are currently experiencing. Whether God in His goodness enables us to be happy, or whether His grace enables us to endure our suffering, let us realize that God is able to make use of suffering to produce blessings.The world dictates a different definition of blessings than that of our Lord.  God's truth tells us the greatest wish we can have for ourselves and our loved ones isn't that this world bless them, but that the Lord bless them.  There is nothing in this world that can compare to being blessed by the hand of God, the word of God, the nearness of God, the path of God, the protection of God, the peace of God and the love of God.  So when life stinks (and it will stink), reach out to God.  The things of this life will perish - I have seen that so much in the past months.  It is then we must cling to something much larger than life...God!  The rest of the scripture found in Numbers 6 says, "...the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."  No matter what our circumstances, God so desires to give us peace.  I know a sump pump is a silly thing to reference, however it served the purpose.  No matter what aroma the heartaches of this life might have, He can reach down and rescue us with things greater than we can imagine. "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7  "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19  "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10  "And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." John 1:16  "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Romans 15:13  "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God."  2 Corinthians 3:5