And it would seem that they are all quite different, yet as I read them a theme came to mind... a change of Heart.
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
In 1 Samuel 9:1-27-1 Samuel 10:1-16 we learn about Saul, hunting for donkeys, meeting up with Samuel and be anointed to be the next king. Two things I saw in this passage in relation to change of heart.
Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. 7 Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you. 8 Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do." 9 When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day.
15 And Saul's uncle said, "Please tell me what Samuel said to you." 16 And Saul said to his uncle, "He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found." But about the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.
Makes me mindful of the need to watch what I say and don't say. God tells us that what comes out of the mouth is a signal of what is in the heart. Knowing what comes out of my mouth sometimes makes me wonder about the darkness in my heart. Makes me aware of just how much I truly need God.
in Psalm 55:1-23 we are told to . Cast your burden on the LORD. Think about that for a moment. If you keep your burdens to yourself what does it do to you? It weighs you down and makes life difficult. But the Psalmist pleads with us to cast our burdens on the Lord. Cast them on him. To cast is to throw something away from you. It implies a purpose...it's not just tossing something, it's casting.. it has direction. Just like when you go fishing and you cast your line out. You hopefully don't cast it into the trees, but you aim to cast it where the fish are. So when we cast our burdens are the Lord we "toss them" over to him.
And that changes our hearts. We are no longer caring the burden on our own. We've handed them over to someone bigger and stronger and more sure then we are. This is what prayer is... giving our concerns over to the Lord. Our thanksgiving, our worries, our needs, our burdens of any sort. Let's give them over to the Lord shall we?
My hubby is gone all this week to a conference.
During this week I always find myself relying on the Lord more.
He is my sure rock and my salvation. Too often I don't pay him the minding I need to.
This week always reminds me to do so. To remember who my surety comes from.
Not from my hubby (though he is such a steadying influence).. but from God. God is the one who makes my hubby steady. And this is a good thing!
Cast my concerns on the Lord. He surely knows what to do with them.