Reflecting

 1 Samuel 12:6-25

I find myself reflecting on many things, and often it seems to bring up the many-bought lessons in my life.  A time where I was foolish, self-centered, a poor dad and husband, and even not a good friend, and I often reflect on the wasted time of my youth.  But that is not what Samuel is calling the assembly of the tribes of Israel together for; it is to reveal all the righteous acts God had performed, in their lives and the lives of their ancestors.

So shall we do just that, it is early in the morning and how I feel the need for sleep, for tomorrow is the third day of VBS, and it has been a challenging first two days?  But I’m excited for I also am being reminded of the righteous acts God has performed in my life and my ancestors. 

On my dad’s side of the family, what a heritage to give praise for his cousin John R. Rice and Bill Rice, both men used by God in our recent history.  And I can only assume that our history has many who went before and have come after who God has used as world changers.  On the Rice’s and the Golden’s side we have men who were pastors and teachers.  And that brings me to how grateful I am for my mother and dad, who had little of this world’s stuff but were rich in reading the Scriptures and telling us about Jesus and His love.

I, like the chosen people of Israel, can praise God as the Psalmist has done in Psalm 139:16,17, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.  How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!”  What a blessing to have been born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and raised with the knowledge that my choices had consequences, both good and bad.  What a blessing to be taught as a child that work was a good thing and that God honored and placed us on earth to work.  And I, like the people of Israel, became a slave, not to Egypt a physical place but to my Egypt that is a spiritual place.  That my independence of God and His authority lead me into spiritual slavery and I like the children of Egypt stayed there for many years.

But God who saw my unformed body and numbered my days sent preachers and teachers and then businessmen who led me out of my spiritual slavery and I met Jesus, and He came into me and I into Him.  That is some of the righteous acts God has performed in my life.  Tomorrow we will look at what God did for his people in 1 Samuel 12:6-25.  

Do you reflect on what God has done in your past, and what He is up to in the now, if not begin to day, and give thanks.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice