It’s obviously been challenging writing content, even at two years postpartum. Between being a new mom and learning the ropes of a new job, having no helper and both Pao and I going to work, something’s gotta give… and blogging’s one of those (plus the upkeep of our house!!!). Anyway, I’m happy I found the time and energy tonight to write, because writing helps me learn, process, and not forget.
After a few weekends of either Pao or Noah not feeling well and lots of family gatherings, it was so good to be back in our home in Makati and to hear again from our ninong-preacher, whose Sunday service we’ve attended for almost a decade (wow, how time flies!). Today was about Isaac (Genesis 26), and how his faith lived out in obedience to God. I’m now going through my notes and taking time to process this more.
Word.
God told Isaac not to go to Egypt but instead to go to a land He’ll show him. There was famine at the time and I guess the most natural and practical thing to do was to go to Egypt, but Isaac obeyed God. Isaac sowed where God told him to stay, and in the same year he reaped a hundredfold! He became very wealthy.
Unless God tells you to go, stay. I just love this and I remember saying this a lot (like last time here). This has been the course of my life since I learned more about Jesus and started out my relationship with Him. Don’t run after the blessings, run after the voice of God and His blessings will run after you, and even overtake you (Deuteronomy 28). Easy to say, difficult to do, but simple. Sure, I’ve had wrong turns here and there, but God has shown me how He works things out of my mistakes and in the end I’m where He wants me to be. There are many ways we can go, but He does make our paths straight.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5,6 NLT
Work.
At the center of God’s will for us is work that He has prepared in advance for us to do. Work is a blessing! And we are to give it our all. Isaac sowed and reaped, but not only farmers know that in between sowing and reaping there’s a lot of plowing, a lot of hard work!
Any chance I get, I tell the new guys at work that I thought working in a ministry is easy, especially coming from two multi-national companies. How hard can putting up a Sunday service be, week in and week out? I look back and laugh! I was definitely wrong. Almost a decade and I still keep saying that this has been the most fast-paced and hard work demanding job I’ve had, but this has been the most fulfilling. But this is for me, because I know this is where God wants me to be. Wherever you are—whether you’re working in the private sector, a financial adviser, a homemaker— as long as you’re at the center of God’s will for you, God deserves nothing but your hard work and it will definitely be fulfilling for you. And yes, the blessings of God will surely come.
Worship.
Isaac did not forget God. He built an altar and worshiped Him. When success comes, do we make time to worship God? Or do we only remember to call on Him when things are not going how we thought they would? I believe that worship is an outflow of a heart that’s fully surrendered to God. When we know God, when we know Jesus and what He did for us on the cross, there’s really no other response but worshiping God. We worship Him through our obedience to His Word. We worship Him through our work. We worship Him in the lows. We worship Him in the highs.
