Dividing the Spoil

Life has varied stages, and I've lived through several by now. But there was a time when it seemed as though I would be forever stuck in one never-ending repetition of diaper-changing, laundry, dish-washing, nose-blowing.....you get the picture.

My mother-in-law would tell me to enjoy those days because they'd be over faster than I knew it, and would look back on them as the best years of my life! She was right!

Being a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) was something I always wanted to be, don't get me wrong! After having worked outside the home our first year of marriage, before we had kids, I was sooo happy I could stay home with our children and do all the fun things involved in homemaking and child-rearing.

But, to be honest with you, I also struggled with wondering if I was doing enough for the L-rd. Sure, I was a pastor's wife and taught Sunday School, went on visitation, helped in the nursing home ministry. But I often felt that I really wasn't doing anything "great" for the L-rd!

It didn't help when I heard of other women who would go out on the streets passing out tracts, or doing one-on-one evangelizing with their husbands, when day after day, I'd just be staying home. Guilt swept over me. Did you know that the enemy can plague us with false guilt? I tell you, he can.

Are you a SAHM who is struggling with some of these thoughts? Do you find yourself getting frutrated, feeling that you are not doing anything for the L-rd because you remain at home with your children?

I'm sure you have been told that rearing children for the L-rd is, in itself, a very great and noble calling and ministry, and one not to be diminished in any way. And this is so true!! Being the best mother you can be; keeping a happy home; caring for your family----are all part of a very high calling of being a wife and mother. The value is immeasurable! And, if you are faithfully serving as a wife and mother, you are freeing your husband to do what it is that the L-rd has called him to do, whether he be a firefighter, a plumber, a physician, an electrician, a pastor, or whatever.

Did you know that G-d values what you do? He places great value....as much as those who are out on the front-lines serving Him in other, more obvious capacities! Does that surprise you? Let me give you some Scriptures to consider:

In I Samuel 30, we are told that while David and his men were away fighting the Philistines, the Amalekites had attacked the holdings of David's men and family at Ziklag, carrying off the women and children and all their possessions, then burning the place. When David and his 600 men arrived back home, they found Ziklag burned and plundered, and everyone gone, including David's two wives. After David enquired of the L-rd and found out who had done this, he and his men pursued hard after the Amalekites.

David's men were already tired and worn from the previous battle. In fact, 200 of his men were so spent, that when they arrived at the brook, they could go no farther, so they remained behind. The other 400 went with David and overcame the Amalekites after a hard-fought night and day battle. David and his men rescued all their people and belongings, losing nothing and acquiring much spoil.

When spoil was won in a battle, it was the custom that those who fought divided the spoil among themselves. However, there were some wicked men in David's troop, who, upon rejoining the 200 men who remained behind, did not want to share in the spoil with them.

David rebuked them, saying (vs. 24), "....but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike."

Verse 25 goes on to say, "And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day."

If you are a SAHM, tarrying by the stuff, keeping the home and nurturing your children, you are worthy to divide the spoils and reap the rewards of those who go out to battle with the Word in the world.

Do not allow the enemy to make you feel less of a servant of G-d because you keep the home fires burning.

David wrote in Psalm 68:12---"Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil."

Leaving Comments......

Announcement:

Recently, there have been several who have tried to leave comments on my blog. Just to let you know: If you do not write your name in English and if you do not write your comment in English, it will not be accepted.

I welcome comments, but if I cannot decipher them, I will not post them.

Thank you for reading! I appreciate your interest!

Beth

Fresh Starts.......

There's nothing like springtime with new grass, colorful flowers, baby animals---everything seems so fresh and new! After a gloomy winter, spring is so refreshing!

Every day in the life of the believer is to be like spring. The Scriptures say that the L-rd's compassions are new every morning! (Lam. 3:22, 23) When we think of our lost condition before we were saved, to what we now have in Christ Jesus, we can have springtime in our hearts, even in the dead of winter!

II Corinthians 5:17 declares, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new."

We are made new creatures in Christ upon salvation. As we grow older in the L-rd, we remain new creatures. The "newness" shouldn't wear off with the result that we become like old deadwood. That verse above says that all things are become new! That's present tense. It doesn't say that all things became new!

Every day, we should renew ourselves in the L-rd by immersing ourselves in the Word! Is not the Word likened to water? Ephesians 5:25b, 26 states that ".....even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word...."

I Corinthians 6:9-11 reminds us that before we were saved, we were pretty rotten folks. Even if we didn't actually commit these sins, if we had hatred in our heart, we were murderers; if we lusted in our hearts, we committed adultery. (I John 3:15; Matt. 5:28)

I doubt that there is a one of us that wasn't somewhere in this list of sinners: fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners......but you know what---verse 11 is good news!!
"And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the L-rd Jesus, and by the Spirit of our G-d."

Wow! Did you get that?! Such were some of you! This is past tense! Present tense is that now we "are washed"!

We should allow the Word of G-d to wash us every day, to renew our hearts in love for the L-rd by shining its light on any sin---any dirt and grime that has crept into the corners of our heart. Without G-d's Word revealing our heart condition, we can grow pretty calloused to sin, not realizing how dingy we've become!

Allowing the Word of G-d to do its work in our hearts will keep us humble. We won't be so prone to compare ourselves with others, thinking that we are doing pretty well, or better than we are! We won't be looking under a microscope at others in a critical way, either! Most of us have enough weeds in our own gardens to take care of without trying to pull weeds in someone else's!

Oftentimes, because we are not in the Word, we allow the old dried leaves, deadwood, old weeds and such grow in our hearts and we forget to be thankful. We get our focus on ourselves or our problems and grow dissatisfied. Covetousness creeps in, sins that we put behind us find their way back into our lives. We forget to put on our armor and the enemy's darts find their target.

When winter creeps into our hearts, bringing a frostiness there, it kills our love for Christ. The ground of our heart becomes hardened to sin; decay sets in, and we don't desire to be in the Word for cleansing. We resist the Holy Spirit, and allow our old man to take over.

The way to prevent that from happening is to start fresh every day in the Word! It has been well-said that, "Sin will keep you from this Book; and this Book will keep you from sin!"

The good news is that it is possible to have a fresh start!

Let us pray with David, "Create in me a clean heart, O G-d; and renew a right spirit within me."