How did I not see that?

Bible, Christian Study, Encouragement, God's provision, Gratitude, Humor 2 Minutes

I love them! I absolutely love them! Those “aha” moments that make you wonder how you did not see that before. You know, like chocolate is scrumptious! Like it doesn’t matter that it is 16 degrees below zero, ice cream is still a yummy, satisfying snack! Like shoveling snow is a great workout! Well, not so much on the last one.

So when I was reading to prepare for my ladies Bible study, I came across this: “Some people are so lazy that they won’t lift a finger to feed themselves.” (Prov. 26:15 [NLT]) Well you know me, as I needed time to ponder this, I went online to find jokes about being lazy.

The man told his doctor that he wasn’t able to do all the things around the house that he used to do. When the examination was complete, he said: “Now, Doc, I can take it. Tell me in plain English what is wrong with me.” “Well, in plain English,” the doctor replied, “you’re just lazy.” “Okay,” said the man. “Now give me the medical term so I can tell my wife.”

Laziness is like the number 8. Once it lies down, it becomes infinite. (You just knew I had to throw in something with math!)

The 5 signs of laziness

1.

Then the aha moment struck. I’m sure we have all heard someone say, “I’m leaving this church because I’m just not getting fed.” Wow! Too lazy to lift a finger to feed themselves by picking up they Bible and reading it during the week. If they literally did the same thing with food, not feeding themselves during the week, they’d die. Well that what happens spiritually when someone expects the pastor to feed them on Sunday, like a mama bird gathering the food and coming back to the nest to put the food down their little beaks.

Speaking of birds, I saw this in Proverbs too. “A person who strays from home is like a bird that strays from its nest.” (Prov. 27:8) When you leave your church home, you are like a bird, leaving behind your family in the nest, who are relying on your gifts to sustain the body, along with the gifts of the others in the nest.

So when we were talking about this in Bible study, the pastor told me about the Greek word, tithemi. It is based on 1 Cor. 12:18 which is discussing the body of Christ, the church, “But God made our bodies with many parts, and he has put each part just where he wants it.” That’s tithemi! God has put me right where he wants me. He has set me in place with great care and precision. He has fixed and established me in my home, my church body.

He has planted me exactly where I need to be to grow and to help those in my family grow. I am a seed that has fallen on fertile soil, where God can use me to produce a crop that can be thirty, sixty, even a hundred times bigger than what was planted! (See Matt. 13:8) Charles Stanley put it like this, “A good seed must lodge in good soil if there is to be a harvest.” You cannot have a good harvest for the Kingdom of God, if you keep uprooting yourself from the ground, and replanting yourself. You will just die spiritually.

So don’t be a lazy bird, leaving the nest where God has put you with great care and precision. Be a good seed, lodged in the good soil of your church home, producing a bountiful harvest.

Aha! Now let’s go get some chocolate and ice cream!

© 2023 Fluffy Puppy Publishing All Rights Reserved

Published by God Still Speaks

I am a prodigal daughter that has developed an insatiable hunger for the Word of God! I am doing my best to be obedient in sharing what I learn with others, with my own unique spin, using the way God made me, linear with a twist!

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31 thoughts on “How did I not see that?”

  6. How funny…I’m finishing up reading Proverbs in my daily reading and came across those same verses this week. The one about being too slothful to put hand to mouth really jumped out at me too, and the timing of your post made that even better. And I love the way you tied it in to the body of Christ, church-hopping, and tithemi. Great stuff!

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  7. Mint chocolate chip for me, please. ❤️

    As I read your post I realized, it’s easier to stray from the nest than to grow where you’re planted. Yet straying often costs us more long term.

    Your lazy eight cracked me up! And to think some folks use it as a brand for their cattle.

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  8. AHA…..combine the 2 and have…….CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM. 😋😋
    Sometimes, God has to uproot the tree to move it to a better place….richer soil, more sunlight, fresher water, whatever it needs to be a more productive tree. I’m a rescued, replanted soul and i am so much better for it!! Thank you Jesus for the appropriate move 🙏🏻🤲✝️🕊

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      2. I was thinking more about this and was saddened that it was the people put in places of trust in that church that were doing the uprooting of the trees they were supposed to tend. That does not make for good soil.

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      3. No, it doesn’t, however, unfortunately, there are vine keepers that are dishonest and unhealthy who like nothing better than to gather the plants to and for themselves. They are untrustworthy cowards who want nothing more than to “outdo” the Master. They will be put in their place by this Master, our Divine Lord God and those who have blindly followed, by their own free will, will be forgiven and and turn to God. That will be the prayer anyway.

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  9. I love love those “omg how did I not see that?!” when reading a scripture I’ve read hundreds of times.

    This reminds me of a motto that God gave me some years ago.
    “Bloom whenever you are planted.”

    This is so good!

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  11. I just love this! You don’t know how often we have heard the excuse you gave from people leaving our church. It is mind-blowing! God has definitely planted each of us right where we are to reach the people He has entrusted to us. Good word!

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  13. Given the ‘politics’ of the Episcopal Church, many seminary friends left, formed other denominations (schism is a heinous sin), and encouraged me to do the same. I stayed in TEC and will continue to do so because of what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:20; he says, “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.” That meant to me no matter how I felt about those ‘politics,’ I was called to be a part of this variation of God’s Church. God called us into specific churches and circumstances for a specific purpose. I don’t think it is about what we feel. It is about God’s purposes and sometimes–just ask Jesus–those purposes are painful and difficult.

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  14. Pingback: How did I not see that? — God Still Speaks – QuietMomentsWithGod

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