Hurry The Sun's Coming Up!                                 02-28-14

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Genesis 32:26 (NASB) ²⁶  Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
Let me tell you about a brief footnote in my week that birthed this message. I believe it was this Monday past and I was sitting at the dining room table praying. While praying, I happened to glance at the coffee pot in front of me, noticing that it needed washing out and prepared for tomorrow. After a couple of minutes more, the need to clean the pot got the best of me; I stopped praying to take the pot and used grounds to the sink and cleaned them both. As I was cleaning said pot this passage in Genesis stuck in my head. Then I started thinking that if some important person like the President or even the Mayor...heck it could even have been my boss at work; if they had been at my table talking to me, would I have interrupted the conversation to clean the coffee pot. Yet, here I was in the presence of God Almighty and didn't give it a second thought. The above verse and the word distraction came to mind. I wrote the incident down in a notebook because I didn't want to forget it.

According to Merriam Webster, distract means )1a. to turn aside:divert, b. to draw or direct (as one's attention) to a different object or in a different direction at the same time.

Listen, it doesn't take a rocket man to understand that we live in a world chock full of distractions. Technology attracts and demands our time and attention to the point that some, in the medical community, are saying is at physically unhealthy levels. I don't want to admit to you the time that I spend on the phone, tablet, computer etc., lol (<part of the new language that we have created to communicate on the above mentioned "devices." I still don't know it all) Add to that the everyday responsibilities and you're getting the picture aren't you? WE CAN'T BE STILL! There is always something to do. Or something that just can't wait like cleaning the coffee pot! We have become so adept at juggling the many requirements made on us that they have a name for it. Multitasking. And companies will pay handsomely for folks that excel at it.  

But, there is an old cliche that is blunt and relevant to the message, "If we are too busy for God, then we are too busy!" Now look at that verse in Genesis. You know people down through time have had some unkind things to say about ol' Jacob. But, he got it right this time. Get the picture. Jacob has wrestled all night long and neither had prevailed. Then the angel, or maybe it was God, told Jacob to let him go. Why? Because the dawn was breaking. The sun was coming up. A new day was breaking. New demands, new tasks, new responsibilities. You see it was a test. God wanted to see how serious Jacob was. "Jacob, you've wrestled all night, you're tired, the wife and kids are waking up and they need breakfast. The sheep and goats have to be pastured and watered. You have things that NEED taking care of. Responsibilities that DEMAND your immediate attention Let's call it a day and I'll see you next time."  Was Jacob going to pursue God or was he going to clean the coffee pot?  You gettin' my drift here? The responsibilities were valid. They truly NEEDED to be attended to. But, somehow Jacob was able to lay them aside and resist the distraction to attend to them. Look at his response.
" I will not let you go unless you bless me." Read the whole story. Jacob was in crisis mode. He NEEDED God's blessing. Esau was waiting around the corner and Jacob feared for his life.

Sometimes we have to steel our minds and hearts. In this crazy, mile a minute world we have to carve out some time for God. Sometimes it is a wrestling match and at others it is a bloody street fight. The devil and his world system is devised to keep us from getting a hold on God. That is ALL he does. he wants to destroy your relationship with God, he wants to steal your time with Him, and he wants to kill you in the process. Kill, steal and destroy. That's his m.o. Listen folks, all that you see around you; all the different 'demanders' of your time and energy, EVERYTHING that is in this world and EVERYTHING this world has to offer is going to pass away. In a flash it's all going to be gone. The meetings, the clubs, the jobs, the responsibilities are going POOF. All that will remain is those times that we chose to spend with God. No more coffee pots.

 Matthew 24:35 (NASB) ³⁵  "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.


Let's quit allowing the dirty coffee pots in our lives to steal the blessings that God has in store for us.
Amen??Amen!! Spend some time with Him.

Psalm 46:10 (NASB) ¹⁰  "Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."


God Bless