Day 9 - Thursday

Day 9

 

"So stand ready, with truth as a belt tight around your waist…" Ephesians 6:14a (TEV)

 

The loins, or the waist, was the place where the Hebrews believed that the generative power of a person resided.  This belt surrounds and protects the reproductive organs.  They believed that since life came through these organs, the loins also represented energy and life.

 

With that perspective in mind, let us ask ourselves:  what is it that our life is producing? 

 

Abraham and Sarah had waited for nearly 20 years, believing God's promise of a child.  Yet, nothing had happened.  Frustrated with the situation, Sarah finally offers Abraham her maid to sleep with and father a child.  Abraham agrees, somewhat too easily I would say, and soon becomes a father. 

 

Yet this is not the child of promise.  God had said that Sarah would become pregnant and that it was through her child that he would bless Abraham and the world.  This first child's name was Ishmael and forever he and Sarah's son, Isaac, would be at odds.  To this day, Ishmael's descendants and Isaac's descendants are locked in sibling wars. 

 

Paul tells us to surround our loins, the productivity of our lives, with truth.  It is easy in times of stress and fear to take matters into our own hands and move in directions that make sense to our mind.   How many times have we become anxious in our waiting on the Lord for his promise to be fulfilled and "made something happen"? 

 

"Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own.  Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track." Proverbs 3:5-6 (TMSG)

 

God promises that when we place our trust in his truth first, and allow him to lead us, he will keep us in the midst of his will.  We must fill our hearts and minds with the truth of his Word and his Spirit.  Then the decisions we make, and the life that is produced from these choices, will be ones that bless our lives and the lives of others. 

 

Prayer:  "Father, cover the productivity of my life with your truth.  Let me only seek to fulfill your will and give me patience to see your hand at work.  Lead me and keep me in step with you.  Through Jesus I pray, Amen."