Legacy

Thinking about legacies.  

Job was accredited for being blameless, upright, God fearing, and shunning evil.

This is what Job's friend, Eliphaz, said to Job after Job had a moment of depression (I have no peace, no quietness.  I have no rest, but only turmoil.  Job 3:26).  [Have you ever experienced?]

Then Job's friend Eliphaz attempted to lift Job's spirits:

    Think how you have instructed many,

    how you have strengthened feeble hands.

    Your words have supported those who stumbled;

    you have strengthened faltering knees.

    Job 4:3-4

Job was known for his righteousness, for being a prayer warrior, mentioned for his perseverance in the New Testament, but Job was also well-known as being an encourager in his neighborhood!

What an example:  righteous, prayer warrior, perseveerer, encourager.

* * * 

This week I read about Noah's father, Lamech.  Lamech pronounced a blessing on Noah when Noah was born:  "He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed."  Genesis 5:28  (Obviously Lamech was a farmer - a man of the soil.)

As an aside, the thumb doctor is going to fix my thumbs this January and next January due to no cartilidge - from "labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed."  The Lord will comfort me during the healing process.  Yes, the Bible is relevant to all generations!

Many Biblical fathers pronounced blessings over their sons.  What an example to emulate!

Lamech didn't know at that time there would be The Great Flood, yet his blessing, perhaps, referred to it.

As Noah matured in faith, definitely influenced by his father, "Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord."  Genesis 6:8.  Noah was also "righteous and blameless and walked with God" (Genesis 6:9), as Job was accredited for.  And "Noah did everything just as God commended him." (Geneis 6:22)  He was obedient.

What an example:  favored, righteous, blameless, walked with God, obedient.

* * *

It has been said that fires or floods cleanse and enrich the soil.  When civilization was destroyed, as God predicted, the land/soil provided a fresh start as well.  The Bible does state that Noah planted a vineyard. Soil conditions for producing grape harvest include an ecosystem of fertile loam which includes silt.  Silt is what is left on top when flood waters recede.  One of the Great Flood's purposes was to restore the goodness of Creation.  What the land produces.

There may be something in your life that seems to be a "great flood" and you're drowning - in debt, in dissatisfaction, in depression, in d...  (I've written about the host of destructive d's.)

But, you know, the Bible shares examples of those who experienced these AND we get to read about how it turned out in the end.  How God worked it out - in His time.  

Decades ago I was diagnosed with a disability.  God gave me hope with the story in II Kings about the widowed lady who had creditors knocking.  (Thankfully I have not.)  God provided for her via jars of oil.  My "jars of oil" was in the form of decorated cakes and cookies.  Yes, there were lean times, i.e. collecting discarded cans to purchase stamps; but, there were also abundant times when orders allowed me to pay for unexpected expenses.  I became known as the cookie/cake lady.  People still say that when they see me.

I didn't know that would become a legacy.  The below photo is a 9x13 cake I made cut to make a butterfly shape.  Butterflies cause me to think of transformation.

How is God transforming your life, your purpose, your faith through struggles?  Transformation is a process.  It's a struggle for a butterfly to be born into a new life of freedom.  Its life then enhances creation through pollination, and those who view one are enchanted.  

Transformation is a learning process, for sure.  Growing in faith, trust, grace...

What will your legacy be?