3.062 Will We Willingly Let God Prevail?

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends, it's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve. Flashback, a blast from the past.

Here's a phrase I heard a lot as a kid: you gotta wanna. You ever heard about the you gotta wanna? Let's talk about it today.

We are reading this week Genesis chapters 24 through 33. And I am so grateful my daughter kicked it off yesterday at the start of the week with an amazing story. As we go with Abraham into Isaac and Rebecca and then into Jacob and into all the things that happens with Jacob and his renaming into Israel, I thought it'd be appropriate to look back at a talk that would be a modern talk for us, right? "Let God Prevail." He's been researching the gathering of Israel and he said this: "So imagine my delight when I was led recently to a new insight.

With the help of two Hebrew scholars, I learned that one of the Hebraic meanings of the word Israel is let God prevail." Thus, the very name of Israel refers to a person who is willing, and he put italics in his or her life. That concept stirs my soul. Now, if it's stirring the soul of a prophet of God, that could be something that could stir our souls as well.

And then the next paragraph he says this: "The word," again in italics, "willing." The word willing is crucial to this interpretation of Israel. We all have our agency. We can choose to be of Israel or not.

We can choose to let God prevail in our lives or not. We can choose to let God be the most powerful influence in our lives or not. Now that's the front end of this talk.

If you haven't read this or it's been a while, take some time to review it today in your scripture study. I think this willingness, I think as we get into the story inside of Genesis 24 through 33 here, there's a lot of moving. We seem to go really fast through this section here.

A lot of people, a lot of moving parts. But I want you to pay attention to how many of them are willing to let God prevail. And now with you in titanic Pastor Darrell Mack, I love this idea because I know there have been times in my life where my willingness has been lacking.

There have been times where I like, "Drag me!" I like, "No, no thanks. You just, you got to drag me along." And then there's other times in my life. And I hope that those times of drag me along are getting fewer and fewer.

I hope. But then there are times in my life where I want to run with it. I want to go so fast.

I want to do more. I want to amplify my voice and my message of my testimony of Jesus Christ and the Atonement and the Light of the World. I want to share it everywhere.

That's partially what Savory Salt has been doing for me for the last two and a half years, is an opportunity for me to share. My friends, are we willing? Will we willingly let God prevail in our lives?

That's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith, and let's be Savory Salt. We will be here tomorrow, and we hope