Hey God! Can you do me a Favor?
10:01 AMHeatherYou know how when you look at a word long enough it doesn't seem right? It starts looking funny and misspelled and makes no sense? Um, yeah, so we've been looking at the word favor for a couple of weeks now, and it just looks funny to me.
In case you are just joining us, let me get you up to speed. My word for 2012 is grace. And, when I looked up grace in my Bible dictionary, I saw that favor was the word first used in the Old Testament denoting grace. I think of it as a precursor. Thus this exploration and investigation into the word favor in the Bible. But, favor--it just seems funny now? All day yesterday, I kept thinking, "so what does favor even REALLY mean? What exactly am I looking at here?"
So, this morning I checked out the definition of the word "favor" on www.dictionary.com. And, I have to say--I think it brings a lot of meaning to our little journey into favor. So, today--back to basics. We're going back to the beginning to reground ourselves into this study of favor.
Here is the first definition for favor:
something done or granted out of goodwill, rather than from justice or for renumeration; a kind act
The logical part of me was kicking myself for going back to the definition of the word 2 weeks into the study of said word. But, God is bigger. Because this definition will come into play BIG TIME for the passage we'll study next week. You'll just have to wait for that one.
A kind act. Goodwill. Not because it's owed or due you. Just because of someone else's goodness. Wow. That's a pretty awesome description of our God. He is kind. He has goodwill toward YOU. He doesn't owe you a thing. His "favor" isn't due you. Sometimes, I admit, I get my thinking all mixed up and I somehow feel that God owes it to me. But, I couldn't be more wrong. Come on--you know you're with me--you go through a rough trial or even just a rough morning getting kids to school. You tend to think--"Come on, God. Cut me some slack here." As if he owed it to you. Stinking thinking because he doesn't owe us a thing.
And, speaking of God's goodwill and kindness, He literally just gave me a real life example of this definition. Not cause He had to--but just because He can. As I was blogging, my plumber arrived to fix a problem. Again. Not a good thing to call your plumber and he can recite your address from memory. But, good ole Mark took care of it quickly. When I asked how much I owed him, he said I owed him nothing. He chuckled and said no problem, we've certainly been good customers. See?! I was indebted to him. I owed HIM. But, he showed me this particular brand of favor. Just being kind.
Seriously, if we truly focus our thinking on His favor, we can see lots of times when God is just plain kind to us. Not because He has to be or He owes us. But just because He's good. Oh, we can choose to think of all the things that go wrong and see that as some personal affront--as if we are owed something better. Or, we can realize the debt we owe Him and have eyes to see His goodness. Like a great parking spot. Or a bill that was less than you expected--like a free plumber visit. Or, children who thank you for cooking dinner. Just meditate on this verse and be convicted. Don't ignore His goodness and thus show contempt for it. Look for it--and be changed by it.
You see, God is friendly toward us. God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good. It's His very nature, it's who He is. It never changes. He is not out to get us, He is not angry and vengeful, He doesn't keep score, and He isn't waiting to pour wrath upon us.
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.
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