My Online Faith Journal

   In 1 Samuel 3:7 it says, "Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him."     In 1 Samuel 3, we begin to read about Samuel's first encounters with the Lord.  Samuel was a child who was dedicated since he was weaned by his mother to serve the Lord in the temple.  She left him with a man named Eli, who was priest at that time.  Samuel grew up as Eli's assistant in the temple,  But, scripture tells us here in 1 Samuel 3:7, that he did not yet know the Lord.  The word know is the Hebrew word yada', which means that he did not know the Lord by his own experience.  He had not yet recognized who the Lord is in his own life.  The Bible tells us this because in this story the Lord was trying to speak to Samuel and Samuel didn't recognize his voice.     One thing I noticed is that when Samuel runs to Eli, Eli tells Samuel that when the Lord speaks to you to say,"Speak, Lord, for Thy servant is listening."  

    I was reading through Mark 4 today when I ran across the story of the soil and the sower.  What caught my attention was when Jesus spoke about the thorns that came up and made the Word unfruitful.   What is interesting is what type of things make the word unfruitful.  Jesus mentions three things: the worries of the world, deceitfulness of riches and desire for other things.  What struck me about this is that these are not blatant sins like murder or treason or something horrible, but sins that most of us at one time or another would be guilt of.  They are sins that may even at times seem socially acceptable or the sins of a high achiever or type A personality.  We don't lock people up in prison because they were worried or were consumed with interest in other things.  Yet, these are the things that make the word unfruitful.      Jesus said the worries of the world and I think about my own problems with worry.  Why is this such a big deal?  I think it is because it is hard to

    This last week, I was going through my bookshelves and ran across a bible study series by Charles Stanley that I never started.  It is called "Dealing with Life's Pressures".  So, I decided to use it this last week during my morning quiet times.  I did a study on how to handle adversity and how to handle guilt.  I just wanted to take a moment to share some thoughts about the lesson on guilt.     God's forgiveness is so amazing that when we ask for it it is freely given to us.  He has promised in passages like 1 John 1:9 to wash us clean from sin because of the blood of Christ.  The problem comes not from believing that God has forgiven me.  The one who has the toughest problem is when I have to forgive myself.  I really can stay in and focus on and beat myself up over faults of the past instead of letting them go.      The problem becomes, when I act as though because I have problems forgiving myself that God must also have problems forgiving me.  Turns out,