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On November 23, 2017 we in the USA celebrated our annual day of thanksgiving. Many cultures have a time or a day they celebrate the harvest season. This time of year is filled with celebrations. My country is not much different than others. Most cultures have their own gratitude celebrations. Ours has come a far way from its origin. But beyond our season of gratitude, each of us have gratitude stories that line our hearts. Stories consisting of surprises and blessings. Stories of miracles and madness. Stories of beginnings and endings. So let's begin with one of the verses that King David gave us in 1 Chronicles 16. "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; His love endures forever." 1 Chronicles 16:34 This verse is the 34th verse of chapter 16. It is a fantastic verse, but what is before it? What is after it? When we look into Chapter 15 we find that David is concerned about the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was built after Moses received directions from God while the Israelites were in the desert. (The Ark was a gold plated acacia chest holding the Ten Commandments and carried by golden embossed staves. The Ark was to be carried 2,600 feet in front of the Israelites as they traveled. The staves were never to be removed. A golden lid was also constructed and it held a seat which Christian tradition calls "the Mercy Seat") The Ark was always carried by the Levites and was always covered by a large veil made of skins and a blue cloth. It was never to be seen even by the Levitical priests who carried it. When the Israelite tribe stopped the Ark was placed in a sacred tent called the Tabernacle. After Moses built the Ark according to the LORD's directions at the foot of Mount Sinai, the Ark shows up in the Scriptures crossing the Jordan River and during the battle of Jericho. In the prophet Samuel's early years (1 Samuel 3:3) the Ark was kept in Shiloh. After a few years the Ark was taken into battle by the elders of Israel and it was captured by the Philistines. Upon losing the Ark to the Philistines, the elderly prophet Eli fell dead. The Philistines kept it for seven months until they realized it only brought them defeat. They took it back to the Israelites and in 1 Samuel we find it being set up in the field of Joshua. While there, out of curiosity, several people gazed upon the Ark and they were all smitten and struck dead. After that it was moved and then settled into the house of Abinadab, whose son Eleazar was sanctified and he kept it. The Ark stayed there for twenty years. [an aside: I, Robyn, love that name, Eleazar: means God helps.] King Saul misused the Ark of the Covenant and during his reign it was put aside and not used for the benefit of the Israelites. In 1 Chronicles 13:3 we find that the people were no longer consulting the Ark during King Saul's reign. King David's reign, however, brought the Ark out of misuse. He brought it out of Kirjath-jearim and sent it on its way to the City of David. There was much rejoicing during this transition, however one of the men, Uzzah involved in the transfer, reached out and touched the Ark with his bare hands to steady it. Uzzah was struck dead for touching the Ark. This created a great fear among the people and even with King David. King David took the Ark into the house of Obed-edom. It stayed there for three months instead of continuing on to the City of David. (2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chronicles 13) After three months King David heard that Obed-edom was reaping great benefit from the Ark being within his house and he realized it was time to bring it on to the City of David. He sent the Levites to carry the Ark into the Tabernacle he himself had prepared. A tent designed and meant just for God and a place to worship and glorify Him. You might have heard the story of how King David put on his linen ephod and danced in the streets with joy. He was dancing and singing, rejoicing in wild abandon. Think about how happy King David was as they brought the Ark into the City of David and finally into the Tabernacle he had designed and set up for the Ark of the Covenant. You can read about it all in 2 Samuel 6, 1 Chronicles 16, and 2 Chronicles 1. We find this wonderful song of Thanksgiving sung by King David in 1 Chronicles 16: 8-36. Can you just imagine King David with all the joy and happiness dancing in front of the LORD. So full of gratitude and thanksgiving. Singing at the top of his lungs this song which holds this verse: "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; His love endures forever." 1 Chronicles 16:34 Within that attitude of joy and thanksgiving King David went home to bless his own home. Upon returning he began talking to Nathan and had the thought that he could no longer wait. He thought to himself, I live in a fine cedar house and the LORD resides in a cloth tent. I must build a house for the LORD. He recognized the injustice and decided he, himself would build a proper house for the LORD to live in. [And here is where I find myself falling in love with the God Most High all over again.] As King David is speaking this to his friend Nathan, Nathan encourages King David to do what he sees fit to do. But that night the LORD comes to Nathan and tells him that he has another plan for King David. He tells Nathan to relay to King David all that He tells him. [Oh this is so precious. The intimacy with which the LORD gives King David these words. So very wonderful. I cannot help but type this out for you to read. It is a gift of future blessing to King David for his honest and deep desire to worship the LORD in a place he thought would be more suitable for the GOD MOST HIGH.] This is what the LORD told Nathan to say to King David: 7. "I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be a leader over My people Israel. 8. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth. 9. I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and not be moved again; and the wicked will not waste them anymore as formerly, 10. even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I tell you that the Lord will build a house for you. 11. When your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up one of your descendants after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. 12. He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. 13. I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. But I will settle him in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever."'" 1 Chronicles 17:4-14 NASB Do you see the beauty in this? King David had trusted God from the time he was a boy. He had been faithful. Granted he had shown his human character and was proven not to be a perfect man, in fact, an adulterer and murderer. But he asked forgiveness and God forgave him. Giving King David even more reason to love, honor, and praise this Majestic Ever-loving God. And God blessed King David for his entire life and beyond. How beyond? Because God promised King David that a son of his would build God a House. (King Solomon) And that son would be blessed with God's lovingkindness forever, it would never be taken away from him. If you have children of your own, you know what a great blessing this was for King David. To know that God would always be there for his son. Oh the gratitude that must have flowed.  And there you have the reason I consider these verses some of the most valid Gratitude verses in the bible. I too am imperfect. I have failed in huge ways. I stand before God on judgment day with only the Blood of Jesus Christ to protect me from doom. And God has blessed me by forgiving me and stepping in with a miracle to protect my oldest child. And for that I will never stop thanking him. And because I believe in God's goodness. And because I accept that his Love endures forever. I know that He will find me guilt free. I have the precious Jesus Christ as my Redeemer. Such a blessed assurance. I pray that you too have that blessed assurance. If you don't, I encourage you to talk to your pastor, or contact us. I have talked to many about this. Jesus waits to receive all who desire to come. It would be a blessing to share with you. I promised you last week I would:
Come back next Monday to find out what amazes me about Jeremiah 29:11-14. I will share more of my own story next week. But, I hope to encourage you to delve into the word too. Because in reality, His Word is what is more important than anything else. :-) Because He is the Great I AM, i am, robyn cox Robyn & Biff RR&BC, LLC©2016 www.readthebiblewithrobyncox.com Email: rrandbc@readthebiblewithrobyncox.com RR&BC,LL© All writings protected by copyright laws. Contact author or link to this page or website if you use or reference.
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Thanksgiving in the USA on November 23, 2017.  Where are you spending Thanksgiving? We are having family in overnight. We are really looking forward to it. I really wish I could have you over for a cup of coffee. We could share all of our gratitudes that we have been blessed in over this past year. But since I can't, I thought this might be the next best thing. This is the time of year for gratitudes and for preparations for the New Year. By encompassing both of these, I thought I could dedicate this New Year into a year of ‘Relaxing into Gratitude and Faith.’ I would like to take the next eight weeks to share some of my Gratitude passages. I hope you enjoy this tiny shift in our blog. I will begin today by sharing what they are. Next week, we will look at each one more closely and discuss some things about them. I hope you can relate to some of these. I hope you ponder why some of them made my gratitude list. I hope you come back throughout the next eight weeks and find out what makes them special to me. Over the next eight weeks I will:
Here is a list of eight verses I am thankful for. I write them here for your perusal. I lay them out before you. Could you add to them? 1. "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; His love endures forever." 1 Chronicles 16:34 2. " 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me , and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart. And I will be found by you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.' " Jeremiah 29:11-14 3. "Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him." Genesis 21:1,2 4. "See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him." 1 John 3:1 5. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1 6. "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38,39 7. "Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called "knowledge" ⏤ which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith." 1 Timothy 6: 17-21 8. "For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord , or of me His prisoner; but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. 2 Timothy 1:7-12 So, come and join me in the next eight weeks to do a little investigation of each of these passages. I challenge you to begin finding our own gratitude passages and begin a list for making '2018 the year of Relaxing into Gratitude and Faith.'©2018 Looking forward to you being here. Let's discover some gratitude in the most interesting places. Because He IS the I AM, i am robyn rochelle cox Robyn & Biff Cox RR&BC, LLC ©2016 www.readthebiblewithrobyncox.com/ Find out more about us by clicking: Reading, Reflection, and Bible Community RR&BC,LL© All writings protected by copyright laws. Contact author or link to this page or website if you use or reference. Gratitude: an attitude of thanks Faith: the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. More easily understood “trusting in something you cannot explicitly prove.”  I have learned to be overly attentive when I run across the same verse or thought several times in a short time frame. It is like God is crying out to me. He is saying, "Robyn, listen carefully. I want you to remember this, ponder this, live into this, trust me in this." This has been the case in the last few weeks with two little words: Faith and Gratitude. Of course one always anticipates the word gratitude being used in abundance during this time of year. We are, here in the USA, preparing for our Thanksgiving Day feast. It is a time of celebration and family. The most traveled time of year. That means the roads are filled with families traveling to get to their loved ones to gather for a few hours over a turkey, some dressing, and other family traditional dishes. Mine as a child growing up consisted of green beans, mashed potatoes, candied yams (with marshmallows on top), and fresh baked rolls. And don''t forget the giblet gravy and the pies. Oh my, the pies! We had them all, pumpkin, apple, cherry, and chocolate pudding pie. It was a day of abundance and a day of thanks. Gratitude oozed from my mom and dad and from each of my siblings. We often had visitors and they smiled through the year's gratitude list we would each share before eating our dinner. Often they would join in with their own gratitude list. Being the youngest of four siblings, my memories are a bit different than my older sisters. Don't you find that you had different parents than your older brothers and sisters did, or vice versa? And it makes sense doesn't it. There are almost 8 years difference between my oldest sister and me. I know that I have moved from Germany to Maryland in the last 3 years and that in itself has changed me. How much changed for my parents during those 8 years. A lifetime for some. But I found my family lived in full gratitude on those Thanksgiving days. A day set aside for remembering how grateful we all were. From new bicycles to near-death-experiences, we always had our lists. And I must admit, living in Germany for almost ten years, Thanksgiving was a holiday I greatly missed. Germany's culture has it's own form of thanksgiving, but not celebrated in the same way. And I missed my own culture's way. Not celebrating Thanksgiving for almost ten years gave me a powerful appreciation for this time of year.  Faith on the other hand is not so often heard or talked about specifically at this time of year. And yet I have had several occasions where Hebrews 11 has been referred to. And Hebrews 11 is known as the Faith Chapter of the Bible. I've even had faith and gratitude compared. Now that was when I really perked up and listened, pondered, and asked God to clarify what He was trying to say to me. I grew up with my mom calling Hebrew 11 'The Hall of Faith Chapter.' It is filled with both the definition of faith and bible characters that have earned their spot onto a fairly short list of the historically faithful followers of God. For me, these men and women have always been fascinating. I have wanted to live a life of faith from the time I can remember. And they set the bar so high. I have never felt qualified to be considered for the faithful list. Names like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob make my heart ache to join them. I've traveled with Joseph through his abandonment to his position of power. I've struggled with King David from shepherding days to his murderous confession. Between Sarah and her disappointments and Rahab's courageous acts I have found faith to always be an adventure. But not necessarily all that much to be put on a gratitude list and talked about with smiles, and full plates and slices of pie. Faith is hard.  Faith is getting a call to do something that makes absolutely no sense, yet deep inside you know you are supposed to do it. Faith is stepping out and doing that thing that you are afraid of. Faith is trusting that God will be there when you are in the midst of that hard thing. Trusting that you are being led in the right direction and that you will be given whatever is needed to conquer or finish what it is you have started. Faith is asking for things that are impossible and believing that you will be standing on the other side of that impossibility thankful that God showed up and did it. Faith is remembering that God is God and I am not. Faith is knowing that if I have asked for something and it hasn't been given to me, I can be grateful that God is always out for my best. I don't know how many times I have said to women that I mentor and to myself, "If God didn't give it to me, it must not be good for me to have." Faith is being grateful in the midst of the disappointment.  Gratitude is thanking God for what has happened. Faith is thanking God before it has happened. And that was what was put together for me yesterday in a sermon on Gratitude and Faithfulness. I'm pondering how I can enter into more faith. I want to be a faith-filled woman. I want God to get the glory for all He has done and all He will do. I want to praise Him for the miracles that He has already blessed me with and I want to shout from the rooftops in the future miracles that He will perform. I want to say He has already done what He said He can do. I want to bring an umbrella in the middle of a drought to a prayer meeting for rain. Would you consider joining me in the new year with a combined heart of Faith and Gratitude? Start praying about it now. I am. I will ask this question in December. Consider joining me in relaxing into 2018 a year of Faith and Gratitude. You will be reading more about this in the next few weeks. So glad you joined me here today. Because He is the I am, i am ~Robyn Rochelle Cox Robyn & Biff Cox RR&BC, LLC© 2016 Consider joining us in this new year as we read the bible every day with our members of RR&BCommunity. RR&BC,LL© All writings protected by copyright laws. Contact author or link to this page or website if you use or reference. Death is not the end.  Death is never the end. I wanted to write about victory and about joy this week. Since all I had to write about was the sadness of a man losing his son, I didn't. As I entered the beginning of this week, death weighed heavily on my heart and on my mind. The tragedy of the massacre on Sunday was shocking. And it came on the tailcoat of my cousin's personal tragedy. My cousin buried his son on Wednesday two days ago. I now live on the east coast and my cousin now lives in Texas. My cousin buried his son in our family hometown ⏤ a small wheat farming town in Kansas. We both lived in Texas as children. Both of our mom's (sisters) were implants to Texas from a German Mennonite wheat farming community in Kansas. Our moms were from a large family. But as small children we were cousins in a very small town in southeast Texas. As such we were only a few blocks away from each other in the late 50's early 60's. I remember spending many hours playing in either my yard our theirs. It was an idyllic childhood. Until it wasn't. We moved from that tiny town when I was in first grade. My cousin's family stayed there. Each of us had tragedy touch us in different ways at different times over those early years of life. Death was one of the tragedies we experienced. Aunts, uncles, cousins, friends the list was long. And for my cousin life changing. His mother, my aunt died in a horrific car accident and life was never the same for any of his family. My mom lost her dear sister. I lost my aunt, my uncle lost his wife and the mother of his four children, and my cousins lost their mom. My cousins have never been far from my heart. As a woman that has never lived longer than a few years in one location, they were and are dear family members of my life. My cousin left Texas and moved back to Kansas early in his life. He met and married a wonderful woman and began having children and building a family. We touched base when visiting the family place. But in reality have not stayed in contact well until facebook entered our world. But if you were to ask me who were the important extended family members in my life, I would have to say these cousins rank very high as dear family and wonderful friends. News of his son's death shocked me. My heart has ached for him and for his wonderful wife. My heart has ached for his siblings and his aunts and uncles. My heart has broken for the sadness that covers so many of my friends that have lost children, or lost parents when they themselves were children. It doesn't feel fair. It doesn't feel right. And I don't have any answers. I don't have answers for the pain, for the sadness, or even for the grief. I do know who does. But saying that to those in pain and loss. What peace does that bring in the moment of sadness? I'm sure that my cousin and his wife are walking in a fog. I'm sure his other adult children cannot believe this has happened. I know that when death or other tragedy has hit my world, I have walked in a midst of fog. But, the stabilizer. The foundation. The rock. Has never changed. God. God with family. God within. God has stabilized. Has there been anger? Yes. And I have stood with Job and been angry enough to speak my anger at God. And God has been big enough to speak His comfort to me. And sometimes the comfort has been, "Who do you think you are to question Me?" Like Job, I have had to look to the Sovereign God and be reminded, I am not Him. He is not me. He knows what He is doing. I don't. Death does not win. Christ has conquered death. Jehovah in his mercy has received his children. They are not gone. They are not lost. They are simply not with us right now. Death is hard. It is really hard for those of us left behind. But it is not the end. It has not conquered. It does not win. I love my cousin. I want to make it better. I can't. But God can. And I am sitting in this little Blue Moon trusting God to comfort and give rest to my cousin, his wife, their children. The aunts and uncles that have been touched by this sadness and others. And I pray that as I write this blog of tragedy, those that read it will find the joy that Christ's sacrifice and resurrection has brought to this world forever. I could have filled the spot with a pre-written blog. But it seemed false to me. And if there is anything I desire to offer from this blog it is authenticity. I had several false starts. On Saturday, on Sunday, on Monday. But then I stopped trying. I just moved through my days and sat with God. I didn't even enter this blog to try to write anything from Tuesday until now. As we work through the anger of tragedies, may we come back to the truth that God is God and we are not. That God is good and we don't understand everything. That death has not won. May God receive glory and honor in the midst of tragedy. My cousin's tragedy. The Las Vegas tragedy. The Southern Baptist Church tragedy. This list goes on and on and on... And may we let fear drop away and embrace LIFE everlasting. Thank you for being here. I don't apologize for not being here on Monday. But you find me here next Monday. Hopefully the post will be filled with much lighter topic. May God Bless you, right where you are. Because He is the I AM, I am. Robyn Rochelle Cox with Biff Cox RR&BC,LLC©2016 RR&BC,LL© All writings protected by copyright laws. Contact author or link to this page or website if you use or reference. |
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