Repentance is a practice, and other truths

 

Nuggets of truth I learned in a year-long study through several Old Testament books:

 

• God’s definition of success is to be faithful, and we do that by meditating on His word.
• We are on God’s team. He is not on our team.
• Sometimes, we don’t understand God’s directions. But He sees the big picture.
• The Christian life is a marathon. Jesus has already finished the race, and returned to help us through it.
• What are my gods? Where do I spend my time? What do I think about during the day, and at night? What do I worry about?
• God sometimes empties us before He can fill us.
• Kindness leads people to repentance.
• Christ redeems us, even if we are foreigners (as Boaz did for Ruth).
• What do we do with our idols when they don’t work? We often prop them up, and keep using them – to our destruction.
• Repentance: Turn away from sin, turn to God.
• We have to ask for deliverance continually. This is sanctification.
• I need to lead with confidence where God has given me influence.
• The Psalms are like a waterfall. Singular verses are good, but they aren’t a waterfall.
• The Psalms have the power to realign our hearts to God. They are cracking the vault of my buried emotions.
• God used both success and trouble to shape David’s life.
• Do I want to let God write my story, or do I want to write it for Him?
• Hopelessness is pervasive today. We look in all the wrong places for hope.
• Am I looking for relief, or relationship?
• David inquired of the Lord …
• I don’t know God’s timing.
• We are living our lives in the middle of God’s throne room. We get to join God in what He is doing.
• Win or lose, I should worship God.
• Do I reflect on how merciful God is in my life? What do I dream about? Probably about me, not God. He rested on the seventh day to reflect on what He’d created.
• Israel is a great nation because it has a great God.
• Am I willing to trade my plan for His, even if I don’t see it fulfilled?
• Many of our battles are internal – lust, greed, pride, self-centeredness. But the victory has already been won.
• Repentance is a practice. I have to get rid of sin. Otherwise, the pain stays.
• Obedience brings blessing. Disobedience brings judgment.
• Church attendance isn’t enough. A personal encounter with God changes lives.
• Israel trusted in the ark of God, instead of the God of the ark.
• God will not be mocked. He expects His people to live differently than everyone else does.
• God intends us to build each other up, even if others hurt us – the way David respected Saul.
• God rested on the seventh day – not just to rest, but to reflect on what He’d done.
• When a prophet shows up, usually there’s a reason and it doesn’t go well.
• We can choose to sin, but we cannot choose the consequences. Stop before it starts. The longer we wait, the harder it gets.
• God is just. We blow off sin. God does not. (For example, when David took a census of Israel toward the end of his life, he wanted to celebrate Israel’s size, not God’s power. God’s judgment for that cost 70,000 people their lives.)
• God limited places of worship to keep pagan practices out, but Solomon worshiped at high places of pagan gods.
• The focus is not what I need, but who I need.
• God’s gifts do not ensure that we use them wisely.
• We do not create wisdom. We discover it.
• Learn from the mistakes of others. We don’t have to experience everything to learn lessons.
• Even when we are distant from God, we can call out to Him for forgiveness.
• The central Temple building is no longer needed. Our bodies are God’s temple.
• Solomon fulfilled the Temple obligation; that was not devotion.
• Leaders are to execute justice and righteousness.
• Each day presents new opportunities to trust God or go our own way.
• Not all adversity is because of sin, but if we face adversity, a heart check is a good idea.
• Pleasure is only for a moment. God is forever.