The Test

I was reading in Exodus this morning and came across something interesting.  The children of Israel “tested the Lord” because they could not find water.  In chapter 17 we find, “Therefore the people quarreled against Moses and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ And Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel against me? Why do you test the LORD?’ But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”  I am sure that most are familiar with this episode in the Bible.  God goes on to tell Moses to take his rod and strike the rock and water will come out (this is not the time he struck the rock twice with anger).  It was here that “Moses called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, ‘Is the LORD among us or not?”

            Massah and Meribah means “testing” and “quarreling.”  Moses sees that the root of the problem for both was the fact the children of Israel did not understand or believe that the LORD was with them…understanding the presence of God and His working out of the details of our lives, even the times when we think we will die of “thirst” will determine whether we will have victory over our seeming overwhelming obstacles of life. God is present, and we can trust Him…He will test us…we must not try to test Him.

 

A mother's faith

“And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.”

            You may recall this scene when Miriam, Moses’ sister, kept watch over the basket where the baby Moses was placed in order to protect him impending murder. First before we highlight Miriam’s heroic actions, can you imagine what it must have taken for Moses’ mother to place her son in a basket, not knowing whether he would be delivered? Trusting God for our children’s safety and redemption is not easy, especially in a culture that exalts itself against the knowledge of God on all fronts. Moses’ mother was a woman of faith and action. I find it interesting that there is no mention of Moses’ father. The text does not address him…so we cannot make any assumptions. What we do know is that God chose to highlight Moses’ mother. Why? Because a mother’s faith and actions are the most powerful redeeming influence upon our children’s lives. What about fathers? There are plenty of places in Scripture that speak to the  importance of a father’s role in this redemption process, especially Malachi 4:6 and Luke 1:17. But not enough can be said for a mother’s influence. I believe Paul speaks about this redeeming faith of a mother in I Timothy 2:15:  “Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and holiness with sobriety.” This verse speaks of a mother’s redemptive influence upon her children—“she shall be saved (delivered) in childbearing…”  In the same manner that Moses brought redemption to his own mother and an entire nation, so each mother has the same responsibility in the raising of their children…so that they too might bring about redemption to others…if they continue in faith, love, and sobriety.  A mother’s faith and influence is a very important part in the redemptive process of our Great God and Savior. Though Christ is our ultimate redemption, a mother’s faith may be the instrument that God uses to deliver a nation.  

 

 

The Life I've Planned

The Life I Planned

 Beth Moore

 

Has someone seen the life I planned?

It seems it’s been misplaced

I’ve looked in every corner

It’s lost without a trace.

 

I’ve found one I don’t recognize

Things missing that were dear

Promises I’d hoped to keep

And dreams I’d dreamed aren’t here.

 

Faces I had planned to see

Hands I planned to hold

Now absent in the pictures

Not the way I told.

 

Has someone seen the life I planned?

Did it get thrown away?

God took my hand from searching

Then I heard Him say,

 

“Child, your ears have never heard

Your eyes have never seen

Eternal plans I have for you

Are more than you could dream.

 

You long to walk by sight

But I’m teaching eyes to see.

I know what I am doing

Til then, you must believe.”

 

He’s done so much, I felt ashamed

To know He heard my moans

To think I’d trade in all He’s done

For plans made on my own.

 

I wept over His faithfulness

And how He’d proved Himself

How He’d gone beyond my dreams

And said to Him myself,

 

No, my ears have never heard

My eyes have never seen

Eternal plans you have for me

Are more than I could dream.

 

Yes, I long to walk by sight

But You’re teaching eyes to see

You know what You are doing

Til then, I must believe.”

 

I felt His great compassion

Mercy unrestrained

He let me mourn my losses

And showed to me my gains.

 

I offered Him my future

And released to Him my past

I traded in my dreams

For a plan He said would last.

 

I get no glimpses ahead

No certainties at all

Except the presence of the One

Who will not let me fall.

 

Are you also searching

For a life you planned yourself?

Have you looked in every corner?

Have you checked on every shelf?

 

Child, you ears have never heard

Your eyes have never seen

Eternal plans He has for you

Are more than you could dream.

 

Perhaps you long to walk by faith

But He’s teaching eyes to see

He knows what He is doing

Child, step out, and believe.

 

 

 

 

Troubling Twelve Year Old

The following recommendations were given to a parent whose 12 year old was expressing his frustrations by breaking things.

 

 The Age of Opportunity by Tripp , as well as Lou Priolo’s Heart of Anger ;  ,  The Heart of Passion by Sterret video; Also Cynthia Tobias’ You Can’t Make Me.  Cynthia has a very good understanding of kids like this because she was one (and still is, I presume, she has just harnessed all of that energy differently as an adult).  Masculinity has GOT TO BE called forth by masculinity (Healing of the Masculine Soul, by Gordon Dalby);  Strong-Willed Parent or the Angry Parent, Child, and Teen audio by Hamby

I would also recommend that the follow food products be removed from his diet and examined by a nutritionist and doctor.

White sugar, wheat products/gluten—yup, artificial additives and sweeteners eg: aspartame—(often found in Yogurt) they can certainly all contribute….      

 

to view the Lamplighter counseling page, go to  http://www.lamplighterpublishing.com/AboutUs.asp