Since you all are in the responding mood (thanks for that!), I am going to ask you to do another task for me. I have recently written a few posts on "The God of Reversals." The concept came from a comment in a message Dave preached recently and it means that God is a God of change. Life can be heading in one direction but in an instant, God can reverse the circumstances and change everything. It is this concept or fact that gives sinful man hope that they can not only have a relationship with God but that their lives can truly change because of Him.
Here's the assignment: Post stories from the Bible where God reversed a situation for His glory. You don't need a narrative - just enough information so that we know which story you are listing. If you want to, include a reference, but that is not necessary as well.
Okay, don't be shy...who will be first?
(How long can we make our list? Hmmmm....)
I just posed this question to my mom, to see who she would come up with...Paul came spilling off her lips, immediately. The Lord took a man who was killing His own and then made him His own and then wrote a good portion of the New Testament.
ReplyDeleteFor me, Noah came to mind. The intent of man's heart all over the earth was only evil continually but Noah found grace in God's eyes.
ReplyDeleteEmailed from a friend:
ReplyDeleteGod has been using the story of Mary with the alabaster jar in my life.
(Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, & John 12:1-7) Mary is being obedient and doing what God has lead her to do. She is a true servant and the people sit and ridicule her. Jesus steps in and comes to her defense and reverses the circumstance and brings honor and glory to the fact that He is going to die for our sins. I love that I can count of God & Jesus to come to my rescue and has already paid the price for my sins. It totally humbles me to feel the love of God shown in these verses.
How about Jesus crucified...dead...and raised from the dead?
ReplyDeleteOr Jesus the babe born in a lowly dung filled manger wrapped in cloths now seated at the right hand of God,lofty and exalted,and the train of His robe fills the temple.
He made the blind man see...the crippled walk..the bleeding woman healed with a touch of his tunic.
when Goliath was terrorizing all and things looked grim, He sent a small boy with a rock and a sling.
Joseph the slave became one of the most influential in all of Egypt
Sarah the barren gave birth to John
Disobedient Jonah thrown into the sea and swallowed up until the Lord had his feet puked back onto solid ground where he walked in obedience.
I'll keep thinking!
Can't forget the boys in the furnace...or Daniel in the lions' den
ReplyDeleteWhat about Rahab??? She led a pretty questionable life but became a believer.
ReplyDeleteEsther - virtually forced into a harem, loved by the King, then used to save her people (Jews) from extinction.
ReplyDeleteJob - Sifted by Satan with God's permission -lost everything & everyone that mattered, but refused to curse God. Was rewarded in the end with more than he had lost.
Peter - denies Christ 3 times, then is faithful unto death in spreading the Gospel.
Abigail. Married to The Fool, then married to the King.
ReplyDeleteHey Beth, I like the Joseph reference, but I'm having a hard time finding the story of "Sarah the barren gave birth to John."
Have fun and stay busy - Luke 19:13
-The Orange Mailman
P.S. I like the Rahab reference too.
P.P.S. How about Abel the shepherd to Abel the first martyr and hero of the faith?
Whoops Orange! Let's try old barren Elizabeth instead! Snapped that off too fast!
ReplyDeleteOh dear, you-know-who just figured out how to post...we're all in trouble!
ReplyDeleteGreat list, folks! But now it gets hard. You've got the obvious ones - any others?
Ok, lets see~~~~ how about David and Bathsheba, was he a womanizer or was she a temptress, then there's Hagar, Mary Magdalene, Miriam, and the Samaritan woman at the well.
ReplyDeleteHow about 4 lepers who were starving to death. After the "reversal", they were eating, drinking, and enjoying gold and silver.
ReplyDeleteHave fun and stay busy - Luke 19:13
-The Orange Mailman
Here's what we've got:
ReplyDeletePaul
Noah
Mary (Martha's sister)
Jesus
Those Jesus healed
David
Joseph
Elizabeth
Jonah
Daniel
Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego
Rahab
Esther
Job
Abigail
Peter
Abel
Bathsheba
4 lepers (Orange - what's the reference on that story?)
Let's add:
Abraham - fighting the 5 kings of the north with 200 servants, told to sacrifice his son and then stopped from sacrificing, confronted by Pharaoh for lying and then doused with riches, taken from metropolis of Ur to be a nomad the rest of his life
Jacob - left home hunted but in God's timing welcomed back by same brother
Isaiah and Daniel both considered themselves dead when they saw God in His glory but they lived to tell about it
Solomon - wisest man on earth is blessed by God only to allow his position to turn his wisdom into folly - instead of a rags to riches story,God teaches us that we reap what we sow...
The nation Israel also was taught this lesson as well - the chosen of God was taken into captivity by major nations (Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Rome...) Because God is the God of reversals, He does not bless disobedience.
Israel also was given the land flowing with milk and honey, only to be led into the wilderness due to their disbelief.
And what about Lucifer to Satan - the most beautiful and powerful of all angels had his life reversed - had access to the Most Holy and will spend eternity in the lake of fire.
Any more???
Anyone want to throw in a personal testimony of a reversal in your life?
There have been numerous reversals in my life. I'll give one here - He took me from being a supposedly self-sufficient, I am capable of doing anything I want kind of person, and made me into a dependent on Him, desiring to do His will & knowing for a fact that I can only do it in His strength kind of person.
ReplyDeleteWould Barabbas work?
ReplyDeleteYes, in a strange way he does...
ReplyDeleteHow about Job?
ReplyDelete