Categories: Ministry

Thanks For Nothing

Listen to this week’s devotional on The J Bar Experience Podcast!

1 Kings 12:24 – “Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the Lord, and returned to depart, according to the word of the Lord.”

To give you a little bit of background, and tell you what’s going on here, there were two young men by the name of Rehoboam and Jeroboam. And the Boam Boys had their eye on the throne. Each of them wanted to be King of Israel. And so, basically what happens here in this story is they both said “we’re going to take our tribes, our people, our part of Israel that follows us, and go to battle.”

They were headed towards a Civil war.

Then God stepped in and said, “Alright, you go to your corner and you go to your corner, everybody go home. This isn’t happening. He said this thing is from me.” And the people hearkened and obeyed the Lord

In this instance, we are given a glimpse of a time where God stepped in. And it is wonderful to know that God is always there and God is always working, but we don’t always get to see the times that God steps into in our lives.

What I mean by that is there are times in all of our lives where yes, it is nice to see the Lord work and know what’s being done, but what about the things that we don’t see?

What about the things that don’t come into our lives, simply because God chose that moment, without revealing himself or his plans to us, to step in and say this isn’t happening?

I am thankful not only for the things that God does in our lives, the things that God allows into our lives, but this morning I am thankful for the things that God doesn’t allow into our lives.

The times where God steps in and says, “No, before things go any further; before the things of the enemy are accomplished; that’s my child; I am the one who’s in control; and that’s not going to happen.”

This morning I want to encourage us to be thankful not only for the somethings, the things that we get, the things that we see, the things we are able to glimpse into and understand, but to also be thankful for the nothings. The things that we don’t see, the things that we don’t know, where God stepped in and didn’t allow something. When God didn’t give us something that we thought we needed.

So God, thank you for nothing.

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Jerry White

Staff Minister at J Bar Contractor's Services

Jerry White has been a part of J Bar since 2020, when he joined the team as a roll off driver. While he continues to work as a driver, he also leads our Tuesday morning meetings with the J Bar prayer and a weekly devotional to encourage staff to show kindness and grace in their work here, and at home. Jerry is also a pastor at Main Street Baptist Church and is all about his family - especially his new grandbaby! Jerry loves to drive in his free time, and attend car shows with his own classic cars. He also recently started a podcast with his buddy, named “Jerry & J Rob Cover It All,” which is worth a listen if you are looking for an inspirational story and encouragement. You are welcome to continue checking in to this Ministry page for Jerry’s weekly devotionals - we hope they offer you comfort, encouragement, and inspiration.