awed / odd

Wednesday, August 17, 2011 (8:06 a.m.)

Awesome God,

Wednesday, August 24, 2011 (6:36 a.m.)

A week Lord! An entire week since I started this, got sidetracked and then refused to come back to it. To YOU!

I tried. You saw me here several days ago, but apathy took over and I was gone before I said anything in print. So talk to me, will You? Say things to me that You would have me know. Things about persistence and obedience. Priorities. Important stuff that You want me to know.

Let me start off with, I love You. Even though I haven’t been showing up here with You with any sense of regularity, that hasn’t changed. Opening my Bible one day a week (while we’re in church) is NOT my best way of showing my revere and admiration of You. While I am keenly aware of how awed I have been of You all week, it was just now that I thought of an equally descriptive word to how I had titled this entry last week. It’s a homonym to how I am toward and by You [awed J] and how I so very often feel [odd J] about myself.

Thank You God! This alternative word fits PERFECTLY in my thought process of late! Especially where it regards the title of this blog. Just yesterday I was asking myself when was the last time I truly felt ‘agog’ with You. Looking up the scripture verses mentioned in The Message concerning ‘odd’, I find the majority of the ones listed reference being ‘at odds’.

In Genesis 16:8-10, an angel of Yours told Hagar how her son Ismael would always be at odds with his family. Responding to a message from King Hiram of Tyre, the newly appointed king Solomon told how You had “provided peace all around – no one against us, nothing at odds with us” (1 Kings 5:1-3).

Job’s friends (15:16-18) continued giving their advice about the dangers of being “Always and ever at odds” with You. Isaiah spoke of it, using several examples in chapter 45 (7-9). In the apostle Paul’s explanation to the church of Rome (Romans 5:8-10) as to how Faith Brings Joy, he puts away the question of being at odds with You.

While all of these verses are giving me hope this morning that I will once again TRULY become “AGOG (rather than ‘at odds’) with God” it is Galatians 5:15-17 I am asking You to work mostly effectively in my heart this day.

It is here that Paul encourages his readers to depend on You, our Christ, alone for salvation and daily strength. Ah, Lord. I AM truly awed by You! You have called us to a free life. Sadly, I still abuse this freedom! “For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?”

Ah yes Lord! Indeed. Why don’t I? Teach me Lord to TRULY live by Your Spirit’s leading! Thank You for leading me here with You this day. Keep me coming back for more. I love You. I thank You. I AM truly awed by You. [And sometimes, more than a little, just plain odd! J] I love You, Lord! Amen.

(598 words ~ 8:03 a.m.)