By the way for those who don’t know IKEA, it is a Swedish self-assemble furniture store, not to be missed when visiting Atlanta or LA.

The Bible Says

When he had proved himself faithful, you made a covenant with him to give him and his descendants the land….Nehemiah 9:8And now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of unfailing love, do not let all the hardships we have suffered seem insignificant to you… Nehemiah 9:32

My Mind Thinks

Our track record is significant to the Lord. Our history of obedience and the chronicles of our heartaches all have bearing on the choices he makes with our lives.There are job interviews for doing God’s work. These employment interrogations do not take place around long board tables. Instead God examines the resume of our daily activity. Every moment we are under review. When we face the steep grades of life challenge how we perform under pressure makes a difference in what God has us to do next. Abraham went through just such an extensive candidacy to be the father of many nations. The encouragement of his story is that he was human with doubts and setbacks, but he kept moving on. After 25 years of job interviews, a head hunting team of three angels came to visit Abraham and Sarah and within a year Isaac was born.

There are also promotions for pain. No life pain is meaningless if we wrap it with faith. If the Lord puts our tears into a bottle, then our hardships do matter. The hardships mentioned in Nehemiah are actually all the result of the sin of the people and their just punishment. Yet even that matters to the Lord. He does not punish forever but he comes to remember us in mercy. The record of our punishment and the change of heart it brings does cause him to move our lives into better days.

My Heart Responds

I have courage to believe that all of my life matters to God and that all of it counts in what he will do next with me. He has seen my faithfulness mixed with the sawdust of my mistakes. He has seen the hardships of my life and the improvements they have brought to me. I believe God will open a door and it will be somehow connected with the track record of my life.

My Spirit Prays

Father, remember my track record and open a door for me. Amen.