Thursday, April 21, 2016

Let God Help Turn The Negatives Into Positives

Numbers 3:5-7 -  And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:  “Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him.  And they shall attend to his needs and the needs of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of meeting, to do the work of the tabernacle.

Aaron was the high priest…with only two sons left to help him with all the duties they had to perform daily.  So Moses was directed to present the entire tribe of Levi to God…to increase the number of helpers Aaron had to complete his work.  The chapter lists every family by name…as they completed the census God commanded of them…22,273 in all.

It is one of those days when the bad could have completely overtaken the good that might have come in small portions throughout the day.  I hit the dismiss button instead of the snooze…which kept me from spending my usual writing time with God this morning. I had a very…complicated and drama filled day at the school I subbed in today…a bit of anger…and tears were a part of my aggravation….as was declining from teaching again there tomorrow. 

It wasn’t till I had the planning time allotted to the teachers at the middle school… that I began to let the positive pieces of what had happened flow into the emotion filled pockets of my mind and spirit. Instead of giving you all the details of my negative experience…let’s just say I should have called for help. I knew I could…and even had … 2 other times with these students…but emotions won for some reason and I just didn’t.

I wasn’t surprised to see the noes I wrote from Matthew Henry’s commentary when I got home and had time to reflect on what God might be teaching me from this chapter in Numbers. He said that because there was so much work appointed to Aaron and his sons…God used the other Levites to help him. What a great reminder that we all need help.  Perhaps if I had not hit that dismiss button this morning God could have taught me this before I let the negative pieces of my day bring me to an emotional halt.

We all need help.  God realized this concept when he sent his son to earth…and even though he set in motion a way for all of us to receive his help…many choose to ignore his gift.  Psalms 46:1 … “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”  And Matthew 11:28-29 could not be clearer.  It says… “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”


Father…thank you for the reminder that if I need help you are there.  Thank you for reminding me that the positive is always more important than the negative we experience. Forgive me for the many times that I let the negative keep me from seeing the positive. Help me to always stop and breathe a prayer to you when things seem to be out of my control…so you can come and help me to conquer the negative that threatened to take over my attitude.  Amen.

No comments:

Post a Comment