Today has been a difficult day. No matter what I tried to do, it took MANY ATTEMPTS to do just ordinary, mundane tasks. And then there is that HEAT!!! Then, I found myself thinking- "Oh, that it were winter-time and COLD!!!" But, reality came back with a vengeance when I went outside to check the mail (about 3:15 pm) and I was hit with a blast of hot, humid air that seemed to come from the deepest depths of HELL!!! So, I looked on Yahoo to see the temperature and then noticed the sunset picture above and immediately thought of something that applied from the OLD TESTAMENT. After a brief search I found the following...
Deuteronomy 28:58-68 NASB
(58) "If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the LORD your God,
(59) then the LORD will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.
(60) "He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you.
(61) "Also every sickness and every plague which, not written in the book of this law, the LORD will bring on you until you are destroyed.
(62) "Then you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey the LORD your God.
(63) "It shall come about that as the LORD delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the LORD will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it.
(64) "Moreover, the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known.
(65) "Among those nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul.
(66) "So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life.
(67) "In the morning you shall say, 'Would that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Would that it were morning!' because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see.
(68) "The LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I spoke to you, 'You will never see it again!' And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer."
(58) "If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the LORD your God,
(59) then the LORD will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.
(60) "He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you.
(61) "Also every sickness and every plague which, not written in the book of this law, the LORD will bring on you until you are destroyed.
(62) "Then you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey the LORD your God.
(63) "It shall come about that as the LORD delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the LORD will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it.
(64) "Moreover, the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known.
(65) "Among those nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul.
(66) "So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life.
(67) "In the morning you shall say, 'Would that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Would that it were morning!' because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see.
(68) "The LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I spoke to you, 'You will never see it again!' And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer."
Today, I felt like verse 67 because I just couldn't wait for the day to be over, but then I realized that I made the choice to live in Florida and I have to live with the consequences of my decision. The Israelites had to deal with consequences of their actions, as do we all. Sooner, or perhaps later, we will all have to accept the results of how we have lived our lives. I only hope that those end results will find us in a pleasant place and not somewhere too warm!!! This depends today on how we understand and apply the following....
Matthew 28:18-20 NASB
(18) And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
(19) "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
(20) teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
(18) And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
(19) "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
(20) teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
In our quiet moments, in those times when the only things occupying our thoughts are moments of reflection- Do you really know that Jesus really does have all the authority in our r lives or not?
Or does verse 67 apply????