July 2023
Nougat 17
What beautiful metaphors of God we’ve been reflecting on. Today’s Holy Nougat
“I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”” Lamentations 3:24 NLT
Dead Leff
Although dead leff can be a pejorative expression, referring to the surviving persons, inheritance, or used items (often of poor quality). Our Nougat today says however, that God is our inheritance. Of course, this makes lots of sense in the New Testament, after Jesus’ death, but in the Old Testament …
I don’t often think of Lamentations as a prophetic book but, here it is – for the only way I can conceive of God as anyone’s inheritance is through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, having access all power and the wealth of Heaven (see Matthew 28:18). Moreover, in His ascension preparations, Jesus made one critical promise regarding inheritance: we inherit God’s Spirit, our Comforter (John 14:25-26), after Jesus’ departure. With the Spirit of God also being God’s essence, it stands to reason that God IS our inheritance!
So, now that we remember that God is ‘willed’ to us, what next? Well, it depends. Having proven over the centuries that Jesus has no outstanding debts, we can readily accept our inheritance without concern for creditors. And, with that, we are at liberty to squander our inheritance, save for a rainy day or invest it.
Squandering
To squander is to waste in a foolish way. And one could rightly say that we cannot waste God. Yet, when we look around at all the resources placed at our disposal, there is little doubt that we have squandered our inheritance. I dare to suggest that the extent of our abuse of Creation is indicative of a warped sense of lack – that God is unable to provide. And, in those cases, we begin to abuse our gift. Additionally, Exodus 20, the Big 10, tells us that calling God’s name ‘in vain’ is taboo. That is where I see squandering likely. Have we been guilty of abusing our inheritance?
Savings
Of course, in our desire to please God, we may think that we should only call on God for ‘important’ things. So we don’t include God in our plans, we jump headlong into issues and later wonder why God did not intervene. Let’s get something straight – if it is important to us, it is important to God. God doesn’t intervene in every single matter without our invitation. But once we do invite God in, it’s guaranteed that God’s got us – even if it’s 21 days or 40 years.
Investment
Our best option is investment. That is, taking full advantage of all God entails – the Names, the Essence (Spirit), the nature of God, and all the gifts placed at our disposal. One songwriter says we can invest our seeds of trusting God in immovable mountains. We build a relationship with God, getting to know God and God’s ways. And, using Jesus’ name ensures solid returns on our investment. Now, God isn’t Santa Claus; however God does seek to meet us at the the point of our need.
What an awesome Dead Leff gift! For God is our portion forever, once we accept Jesus. So now we remember, where do we turn, in whom/what do we invest?
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May all we seek be found in Christ