Be Content with Your Glory and Stay at Home

  1. The king of Judah wants the king of Israel to face him in battle. Judah has defeated Edom in battle and is feeling confident. The king of Israel says in reply:
  2. A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. You have indeed struck down Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home, for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”
  3. The king of Israel gives the king of Judah this advice. Why bring all this trouble on you and your household, be content with your glory and just stay home.
  4. So, where’s the wisdom in that advice for us?
  5. It easiest for me to see it for mothers. Just stay home.
  6. A time will come for you to get involved and lead ministries and all the rest, but now, just be content with your glory and just stay home.
  7. I remember being encouraged toward seminary. I already had a couple of kids. I didn’t do it, just took a few classes, but they were saying how this season would pass and I would need to be prepared for the next season.
  8. One, I don’t think seminary is necessary for ministry. They learn about God and don’t ever necessarily meet Him!
  9. Two, I was convinced this season was going to last decades. It seemed I didn’t need to prepare now for decades away.
  10. The Lord, of course, prepared me for what came next. He did give me a ministry, the kind I recommend to you. Stay at home. Do something that blesses your family, not takes you away from them. Do it because it’s what you believe the Lord wants you doing, spending your time on, not for a motivation of money, and certainly not for ministry/status/purpose/glory.
  11. That’s good advice for anyone. Do what you should be doing! Don’t go trying to get something for yourself. Let God give you what He wants you to have. We start out where God’s put us and then let Him expand our “territory” from there.
  12. And if you need to work for money, and even have to leave the home to do it, still seek the same, ask the Lord what you should be doing. Let Him provide for you in every way.