TA-DA! The winner of the drawing for a free copy of Marion Stroud’s book, It’s You And Me, Lord, is ….drum roll…Mandy! Congratulations, Mandy! And thank you to all who put your names into the drawing.

A weird thought: sometimes I wish I didn’t think I knew the Bible as well as I think. Sometimes, instead of searching and seeking inside the Bible to find what I need for a situation, I review the principle that I know the Bible has about that situation and don’t actually open the Bible itself. I believe I know the Lord’s perspective and therefore, I don’t need to explore the Bible itself. 

I think that’s a disadvantage. I would draw so much more from seeking God’s heart from actually reading a passage rather than depending upon my knowledge. I want to be hungry for the Word and be needy in sitting before the Lord asking Him to meet me there. 

I think that’s why I’m excited about reading through the Bible this year. I haven’t done that every year. But it’s time again for me to get the broad scope and hopefully also dig deeper into studying a passage also. 

I noticed again the trust in God of Abraham in dealing with Lot. Genesis 13:6-9 reads, “And the land could not sustain them while dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land. So Abram said to Lot, ‘Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left’” (NASB).

Abraham trusted God enough to know that regardless of where he settled, God would fulfill His plan for him. His success was not dependent upon the land but upon God. He relinquished control and graciously allowed Lot to choose. Such selflessness reminded me again that success or a lack of success is dependent upon the Lord’s will, not my circumstances, as long as I’m following what God wants me to do. 

May the Lord draw us ever closer to His loving heart in this following year of 2013. It stretches out before us; our confidence is in knowing God knows everything about it and will walk with us through it all.