{"id":285,"date":"2018-02-23T11:08:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T11:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=285"},"modified":"2019-12-10T08:44:11","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T13:44:11","slug":"gods-not-a-vending-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2018\/02\/23\/gods-not-a-vending-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"God-O-Matic"},"content":{"rendered":"

“The righteous person may have many troubles,<\/strong><\/em>
\nbut the Lord delivers him from them all.” Psalm 34:19<\/strong><\/em>
\nI was reading my devotional this morning by Rick Warren.\u00a0 He is talking about struggles in life, more specifically, why do they continue to go on and on.\u00a0 I love what he said:
\n“Here’s the lesson: When God allows a crisis into your life, He doesn’t solve it immediately.\u00a0 He lets it go on for a while because He wants to see if you’re really serious about seeking Him.\u00a0 If God answered every prayer immediately, you’d begin to think God was a big vending machine:\u00a0 Put in Prayer, Pull out whatever you Need.”<\/em>
\nHe’s got a point!
\nI’m studying the book of Ruth in my women’s group right now.\u00a0 Last week, we were studying when Elimelech moved his family from Bethlehem to Israel, focusing on Ruth 1:1-7.\u00a0 One point the author had us ponder was WHY did Elimelech move his family?
\nBethelehem was in the midst of a famine when he made the decision to move his wife and sons.\u00a0 They stayed in Moab for at least 10 years.\u00a0 During their stay there, Elimelech and both of his sons died.\u00a0 Naomi, his wife was left a widow with her two daughters-in-law Orpah and Ruth.\u00a0 She hears the famine has lifted in Bethlehem in verse 6:
\n“…the Lord had paid attention to His people’s need by providing them food.”<\/em>
\nGod had allowed a famine to enter Elimelech’s life.\u00a0 It didn’t end overnight but went on for years.\u00a0 Instead of waiting on God to provide, he moved to a foreign land.\u00a0 A land which held great tragedy for his family.\u00a0 What would have happened if He had waited on God in Bethlehem?\u00a0 What miracles did he miss out on because of his impatience?\u00a0 We’ll never know.
\nWhat miracles are you missing out on because you aren’t willing to wait on God in the midst of the struggle?
\nAre you trying to solve your current struggle yourself or are you seeking Jesus?\u00a0 Have you looked into His word to see what it says about your situation?\u00a0 Is it relational?\u00a0 The Bible has a lot to say about how to have healthy relationships.\u00a0 How about financial?\u00a0 There are more verses about money in the Bible than there are about salvation.\u00a0 God knew we would need them.
\nWhatever it is you are struggling with today, don’t try to fix it.\u00a0 Instead, turn to God.\u00a0 Seek Him in prayer, read His word, talk to wise counselors in the faith.\u00a0 He knows you’re struggling.\u00a0 He has a plan.\u00a0 All He wants is for you to seek Him in it.
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.” Psalm 34:19 I was reading my devotional this morning by Rick Warren.\u00a0 He is talking about struggles in life, more specifically, why do they continue to go on and on.\u00a0 I love what he said: “Here’s the lesson: When God… Continue reading God-O-Matic<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1564,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285\/revisions\/1564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}