When The World is Falling Apart!

"Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!   Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven..."

Lamentations 3:40,41

There are days when life seems as though it is falling apart at the seams. We all want to know what we can do different, do over, what we can change to make things better.  We CANNOT change the past, nor can we change what HAS been done. You can’t change your parents, family, children. They are who they are and you are who you are.  You can’t change the gifts and talents God has or hasn’t given you. You can’t change a handicap you’ve been given. You can’t bring back someone who is dead.  The fact is, there are a LOT of things about life you cannot change. Peace in the midst of troubles can be found when you accept what you can’t change. Otherwise, you’ll make yourself and the people you love miserable. All of this said, there is  something important you can change: you.

The prophet Jeremiah, about 20 years of age, in the 13th year of King Josiah (Jer.1:2; 25:3), in the year 627 BC. He was active in this capacity from this time on to the destruction of Jerusalem which occurred in 586 BC. Even after the fall of Jerusalem,  he prophesied in Egypt at least for several years, so that his work extended over a period of about 50 years in all. The most devastating period of his life was when Jerusalem fell, during which time he wrote the Lamentations. To that, the verses quoted at the beginning of this article was a reflection of a breaking heart spoken about things that he could not change. His sentiment? Lamentations 3:40: “Let us examine our ways and turn back to the Lord”

We can't change the past, but we can change the present. Jeremiah's reflection shows that if he could have gone back and changed something that would have prevented Jerusalem's destruction, he would have. The same for us, we all lament when things go awry, and in wondering what we can change or what could we do; ask yourself what’s happening  in your life that doesn’t line up with what God wants? After all, God can see what we can't, and can do what we can't. To re-order your life God’s way, it’ll take some deep self-evaluation of every area of your life. You’ll need to take a look at your relationship with God, your spouse, your kids, and your co-workers. You’ll need to look at hurts, habits, and hang-ups that may be bringing you down. Nothing can be off limits in this. We cannot sugar coat this, and it is not and will not be easy. You WILL find things you don't like, and there are some things that as Jesus said to cut out of your life. It’s always tough to turn from sin even when it’s tearing us down.

Healing apart from repentance won't happen. When your world is falling apart, you can’t change everything — but you can change you. At times, that can mean everything.

What can you change right now that will make a positive impact on yourself and others? Ask yourself the hard questions about your priorities, relationships, and secret sins as you try to change your world.   "If you hear the message and don't obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror and forget what they look like as soon as they leave.   But you must never stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don't just hear and forget. (Jas.1:23-25)."

Jim

Mixing Myth and Scripture - Getting the Facts Straight

I've been searching for a topic to write on and this one happened to pop out. In a new discovery reported by DISCOVERY today, there is a title "Slaves Didn't Build Pyramids: Egypt." (http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/pyramids-tombs-giza-egypt.html)

The article states, "The mud-brick tombs were uncovered last week in the backyard of the Giza pyramids, stretching beyond a burial site first discovered in the 1990s and dating to the 4th Dynasty (2575 B.C. to 2467 B.C.), when the great pyramids were built on the fringes of present-day Cairo.

The ancient Greek historian Herodotus once described the pyramid builders as slaves, creating what Egyptologists say is a myth later propagated by Hollywood films.

Graves of the pyramid builders were first discovered in the area in 1990 when a tourist on horseback stumbled over a wall that later proved to be a tomb. Egypt's archaeology chief Zahi Hawass said that discovery and the latest finds last week show that the workers were paid laborers, rather than the slaves of popular imagination.

Hawass told reporters at the site that the find, first announced on Sunday, sheds more light on the lifestyle and origins of the pyramid builders. Most importantly, he said the workers were not recruited from slaves commonly found across Egypt during pharaonic times."

This is interesting and I do not dispute the findings. What is interesting to me is how people in general assume things, and the assumptions become scripture. People have assumed, probably because of Herodotus and Cecil B. DeMills, that because the movies show the Jews in bondage, that they must have been the pyramid builders of the past. Yet, the scripture does not mention anything about them building the pyramids (Ex.2:23; 6:5,6,9; 13:3,14; 20:2). It simply says that they were in bondage or slavery and that they made mud-bricks. It is also interesting that the Jews dwelt in Goshen in the northeastern delta extending from Succoth to Piramesse. Cairo is is along the Nile immediately south of the point where the river leaves its desert-bound valley and branches into the low-lying delta region with the city itself residing on the east bank.

Something to notice in the Discovery Article above, is that it does not deny that there were slaves during the times of the Pharoahs. So, both this article, with the scripture have shown us that the Bible accord is still correct, and the assumptions of man have been burst again. So, the next time we tell the story of the Exodus, let's not paint things into the picture that aren't there. As well, let's not jump on some discovery bandwagon and shout the Bible is wrong, without investigating what it DOES say first!