04/08/2022
CURSE, BLESSING OR BOTH?
It is common, in any contest, to have a winner and a loser. And there'll always be casualties from both sides. It is stressful to either win or lose.
The winner may feel like the most blessed and talented; and may go into frenzy. "Told you. Hmm? That's how we do it here. Any question?" Dear winner, don't celebrate to death. Don't turn your blessing into a curse. The loser may feel exactly the opposite: so disadvantaged and "cursed". And yet, that's never the case.
DON'T CELEBRATE TO DEATH | The work has just began...
Judges 15 (KJV) ¹⁶ And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
¹⁷ And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.
¹⁸ And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?
DON'T CHEST-THUMP | Don't forget it's God
Luke 12 (KJV) ¹⁶ And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
¹⁷ And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
¹⁸ And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
²⁰ But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
YOU CAN TURN YOUR LOSS AROUND
"But can anything be minimised?" You ask. And I ask, "Why not?" You don't mourn forever, do you? Turn your "curse" around. It is said that there's always the next time.
NEVER SAY DIE | Back to the drawing board
Joshua 7 (KJV) ⁶ And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads...
⁸ O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! …
¹⁰ And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?
¹¹ Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.
