Quote from Forum Archives on September 14, 2009, 8:25 pm

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

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The Burning Bush Devotional

(A Devotional Classic from 2002)

Welcome to the 998 new subscribers since January 1, 2009

09.14.09

The Little Things

And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees of the
garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
God has said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'
Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows
that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like
God, knowing good and evil.' So when the woman saw that the tree was good
for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one
wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her,
and he ate. - Genesis 3:2-6.

In Copenhagen, they had quite a scare at the European Union Asian summit
(2002). The driver for Paivi Lipponen, the Finnish prime minister's wife,
heard a strange sound coming from Paivi's luggage. As a result a bomb alert
was sent out and the area was sealed off until the source of suspicious
noise could be determined. The Prime Minister's wife said, "It was suspected
that there might be a bomb in my bag. But there was no bomb." The Prime
Minister Paavo Lipponen said, "Over-zealous policemen checked our bags with
bomb sniffing dogs. Instead of using their sense, they used something else."
What was the source of the strange noise that caused so much trouble? It was
Paivi Lipponen's battery powered shaver, which had somehow been turned on
inside her luggage!

Have you ever noticed how little things can cause tremendous amounts of
trouble? Adam and Eve found that out the hard way when they succumbed to the
temptation of the serpent and ate a piece of fruit in the Garden of Eden. As
a result all of creation was corrupted and Adam and Eve were forced to leave
the beautiful and wondrous Garden. The serpent appealed to their jealous
desire saying, "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will
be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:5)."
Cain killed his brother because Abel was observant in following the rules
for making an offering to God with the sacrifice of "the firstborn of his
flock." Cain was jealous that God was pleased with Abel's offering and not
his offering of the "fruit of the ground (Genesis 4)." Jealousy again reared
its ugly head when the brothers of Joseph sold their brother into slavery
(Genesis 37).

Pride is a little thing that also causes tremendous trouble. The Tower of
Babel in Genesis 11 was all about pride as the people said in opposition to
what God wanted, "Let us make a name for ourselves." Pride was the source of
the rebellion of Aaron and Miriam against the God given authority of Moses
(Numbers 12). The Pharisee's thought themselves better than those they
considered sinners, and that they were not like "other men (Luke 18:11)."

Greed is another little thing that causes all kinds of problems. Judas sold
out Jesus for only 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-16). Ananias and
Sapphira didn't give all the money they received from the sale of property
to the early church because of their greed (Acts 5:1-11).

Lust is another little action of the heart that has been the source of
countless evil deeds throughout all of history (Matthew 5:28; Proverbs
6:20-35). Lust caused much trouble for King David and his son, Solomon. In
only the past decade there have many public figures that have destroyed
their lives and the lives of others by having affairs.

Then there is the tongue, which aids and abets jealousy, pride, greed, and
lust (and many other evils). James says about the tongue in James chapter 3,
"Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how
great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of
iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole
body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell."

While little things cause much trouble, little things can also bring about
much good. Only a few fish and pieces of bread given to God can feed
thousands of people. God can use those who see themselves as incapable of
being used just like He used Moses and Gideon (1 Corinthians 1:25-30). Bruce
Bickel and Stan Jantz wrote a book called "God is in the Small Stuff and it
all matters." Even the little things are important and matter to God. So
what do we do? In the Name of Jesus (another little thing but with so much
power - Matthew 1:21; John 1:12; John 16:24) we must give all of those
little things to God, and He will empower us to live (Philippians 4:13;
Romans 8:37) an overcoming life, which will bring glory to the Lord.

Copyright © 2002 - 2009. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the
devotionals on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush
website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email
version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for Malachi, Cody, and Mica who are young boys
with cancer. Malachi is very ill and in much pain. He is paralyzed on one
side because of a tumor pressing on his brain. Many prayer needs are posted
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Prayer Group (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for
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