September 3, 2001
"This is what the LORD says: I've come to savor every verse in the writings of prophets... it used to be that I rushed through them because, except for some passages, I didn't really understand what was going on... but now I see God and his heart everywhere. In these verses is again a theme that shows up repeatedly.. that God will restore & rebuild... but something that stood out especially today is that upon her ruins is where God chooses to rebuild. God never ignores what's gone before because he's not limited by it! I know when I'm working on something where I have failed, or messed in before I have a tendency to shy away from that and try something or someplace different. God doesn't have to go around or move beyond a disaster he just builds upon it, enables it to stand out and he is glorified in that. This teaches me, in working through things in my life, to look to God and what he can do. Don't try to ignore what's there, don't try to sweep the mess under the rug hoping I can get on with my life before anyone notices... God works with what is there... he can build on the ruins and when he does... he doesn't create a lop-sided shack that shows its got a faulty foundation.. he creates a palace, a magnificent structure with a strength and a beauty that defies it's past because God is the architect! This is not something I can do or create but, if I let God work in my life, if I allow him to create, orchestrate and be the architect of what is built from this point forward... I am assured of one thing... it will be something and I will be someone, that will bring him glory!!
"'I will restore the fortunes of Jacob's tents
and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city will be rebuilt on her ruins,
and the palace will stand in its proper place.
From them will come songs of thanksgiving
and the sound of rejoicing.
Jeremiah 30:18-19a