{"id":366,"date":"2019-03-26T05:00:06","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T10:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crosslabyrinth.com\/JourneyNotes\/?p=366"},"modified":"2020-04-02T10:09:07","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T15:09:07","slug":"gods-chosen-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/crosslabyrinth.com\/JourneyNotes\/?p=366","title":{"rendered":"God&#8217;s Chosen Path"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<audio id=\"wp_mep_1\" src=\"http:\/\/crosslabyrinth.com\/m4a\/Journey%20Notes%2021%20Gods%20Chosen%20Path%20Accomp.m4a\"     controls=\"controls\" preload=\"none\"  >\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t<\/audio>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\njQuery(document).ready(function($) {\r\n\t$('#wp_mep_1').mediaelementplayer({\r\n\t\tm:1\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t,features: ['playpause','current','progress','duration','volume','tracks','fullscreen']\r\n\t\t,audioWidth:,audioHeight:\r\n\t});\r\n});\r\n<\/script>\r\n\n<p>Abraham had a problem.\u00a0 He\u00a0had a son, but that was not the problem.\u00a0 The problem was that he had no grandchildren, and no prospects that he would ever have any grandchildren.\u00a0\u00a0Bear in mind that Abraham was the living, breathing establishment of tradition for God&#8217;s people (later he would be the first one named when mentioning &#8220;the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob&#8221;), and he really wanted to start things right.\u00a0 He was not satisfied for Isaac to marry any of the women in the new country, so he sent his servant to find a good wife from the old country.<\/p>\n<p>The servant is a fantastic demonstration of learning by example.\u00a0 He knew that Abraham was blessed beyond measure because he obeyed God when God initiated the discussion.\u00a0 If the servant wanted to succeed in his task, he had to do the same.\u00a0 When he reached the old country, he did not look for a woman and request God&#8217;s approval.\u00a0 Instead, he asked God to reveal His choice, and the servant would simply obey.\u00a0 God chose Rebekah.\u00a0 The servant obeyed.\u00a0 Case closed.<\/p>\n<p>How often do we seek God&#8217;s approval for our choices instead of asking God to reveal His chosen path?\u00a0 How different would our actions be if we recognized that God already has a plan for us and treated God&#8217;s choices as our starting point?<\/p>\n<p>In the 1600s the church in Germany was going through a split between the Lutherans (who had already split from the church in Rome) and the &#8220;Reformed Church.&#8221;\u00a0 Tensions between clergy were quite high, and discussions were held with a thought that it would resolve issues.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the opposite occurred.\u00a0 The more they discussed and debated, the more severely divided they became.<\/p>\n<p>Paul Gerhardt was a very traditional Lutheran who participated in those discussions, but established a reputation of moderating his tongue and\u00a0promoting\u00a0fellowship.\u00a0 He sought first to know God&#8217;s will, and then to\u00a0apply it.\u00a0 The words of his hymn\u00a0<em>Give to the Winds Thy Fears<\/em> reflect an attitude that we should always have.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Leave to God&#8217;s sovereign sway<br \/>\nto choose and to command;<br \/>\nso shalt thou, wondering, own that way,<br \/>\nhow wise, how strong this hand.<\/p>\n<p>As you continue your journey to the foot of the cross, seek God&#8217;s chosen path.\u00a0 Follow that one.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Give to the Winds Thy Fears (United Methodist Hymnal #129)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3X0c3voZHQA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Follow the Path!<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><em><strong>CARadke<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>[Use with <em>Choosing Rebekah<\/em>, day 21 of <a title=\"Order your copy of A Labyrinth Pilgrimage today!\" href=\"https:\/\/www.createspace.com\/3366946\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>A Labyrinth Pilgrimage<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Abraham had a problem.\u00a0 He\u00a0had a son, but that was not the problem.\u00a0 The problem was that he had no grandchildren, and no prospects that he would ever have any grandchildren.\u00a0\u00a0Bear in mind that Abraham was the living, breathing establishment &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/crosslabyrinth.com\/JourneyNotes\/?p=366\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thoughts-about-the-journey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/crosslabyrinth.com\/JourneyNotes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/crosslabyrinth.com\/JourneyNotes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/crosslabyrinth.com\/JourneyNotes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/crosslabyrinth.com\/JourneyNotes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/crosslabyrinth.com\/JourneyNotes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=366"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/crosslabyrinth.com\/JourneyNotes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1113,"href":"http:\/\/crosslabyrinth.com\/JourneyNotes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions\/1113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/crosslabyrinth.com\/JourneyNotes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/crosslabyrinth.com\/JourneyNotes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/crosslabyrinth.com\/JourneyNotes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}