Early Morning Wool Gathering
From November 2009
It's hard to tell where a nursing mama's thoughts will take her during a 4:30 a.m. feeding. Many a thought has been pondered at this early hour. Today was no exception. The beginning of today's thought is still a mystery, yet it's completion has yet to be reached.
Anyway...this morning, I was thinking about wool. (I told you it was a mystery) I considered the moisturizing properties of the lanolin in the wool as well as the wool's water resistance and warmth. These thoughts naturally progressed towards the spinning of the wool into thread and/or yarn then onto the creating of clothing and blankets.
It was at this stage in the early morning journey of thought where the path drifted slightly. I began to experience the familiar inner excitement as a revelation of God's perfect provision for His children entered the early morning reverie. For as I contemplated how amazing it is that God so perfectly designed His creation to care and provide the perfect materials for His children to use in their daily lives, my thoughts went from the warmth of wool to the cooling properties of cotton. This in turn sparked a desire for future study of other fibers used in the making of cloth such as flax and linen. Proverbs 31:13 "She seeks out wool and flax and works with willing hand [to develop it]. and 21 "She fear not the snow for her family, for all her household are doubly clothed in scarlet." crossed the mental trail as well before it shifted to another avenue of thought.
At the thought of spinning the fibers into cloth and the perfectness of God's provision, my thoughts went immediately to the creating of the various fabric in the temple that the Lord instructed the children of Israel to weave while enroute to the Promised Land. Who was better equipped to construct these veils of cloth for the temple than the Israelites? Were these not the very people who had been constructing the cloth for Egyptian royalty for several hundred years? God was working all things out for their good even in the midst of captivity that was a direct consequence of sin. Oh, God is so good! He is amazing! Nothing is too big or difficult for Him to work it out for our good! Romans 8:28
It is doubtful that the Israelites responsible for creating beautiful masterpieces of cloth for the Egyptian royals while enslaved by them had even the remotest inkling that God was going to use their skills of slavery to create His temple. Yet this is exactly what God did. He took what slavery provided and used it to bring honor and glory to His Kingdom. The words Joseph spoke to his brothers regarding his years in captivity in Egypt come to mind. "As for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good," Genesis 50:20.
God is the same today as He was then. Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8 He will take what was thought for evil against us and use it for good. We must not fear or worry about today. No matter how "evil" it seems, God may very well be using what was meant for evil to equip us with skills to serve Him and bring about good. As we enter this new week, let's consider the perfect provision of the Lord. If He used even the direct consequence of sin in the Israelites to provide needed skills for serving Him, and He did, then He can do the same for each of us in our unique situations. Even if like the Israelites, they are the consequence of our sin. Only God is powerful enough, intelligent enough, and loving enough to do that for us.
My Grandmother had a favorite song that closes out this journey of early morning thoughts perfectly. If you know this song, sing it to yourself as you go about the day God has given you as a reminder of His perfect provision.
CONSIDER THE LILIES
Consider the lilies they don't toil nor spin, yet there's not a king with more splendor than them
Consider the sparrows they don't plant nor sow, yet they're fed by the Master who watches them grow.
We have a Heavenly Father above, with eyes full of mercy and a heart full of love.
He really cares when your head is bowed low.
Consider the lilies and then you will know.
May I introduce you to this friend of mine, who hangs out the stars, tells the sun when to shine.
He kisses the flowers each morning with dew, yet He's not too busy to care about you.
We have a Heavenly Father above, with eyes full of mercy, and a heart full of love.
He really cares when your head is bowed low.
Consider the lilies and then you will know.
CONSIDER THE LILIES AND THEN YOU WILL KNOW