The Flavour of Favour

Hello there everybody! (quick little Simpsons reference there)


So... Quite a while ago I promised a blog on favour. I'm quite late, I know (Bethany). Life has been crazy and weird...I've wanted to talk about favour for a long time now, as it's something I love and have had the pleasure of experiencing and walking in a lot my life. Forgive me if this study has a bit of a sloppy, perhaps unorganized format, I haven't planned anything and I'm just going to wing it. So here it goes.
Let's start by defining favour. Here's how the dictionary in my mac defines it:

favor |ˈfāvər| ( Brit. favour)
noun
1 an attitude of approval or liking : the legislation is viewed with favor.
• support or advancement given as a sign of approval : a struggle between competing aides for presidential favor.
• overgenerous preferential treatment : they accused you of showing favor to one of the players.
• a small gift or souvenir : good party favors include stickers, hair barrettes, or crayons.
• archaic a thing such as a badge or knot of ribbons that is given or worn as a mark of liking or support.
2 an act of kindness beyond what is due or usual : I've come to ask you a favor.

verb [ trans. ]
1 feel or show approval or preference for : slashing public spending is a policy that few politicians favor.
• give unfairly preferential treatment to : critics argued that the policy favored the private sector.
• work to the advantage of : natural selection has favored bats.
2 ( favor someone with) (often used in polite requests) give someone (something that they want) : please favor me with an answer.
3 informal resemble (a parent or relative) in facial features : she's pretty, and she favors you.
4 treat (an injured limb) gently, not putting one's full weight on it : he favors his sore leg.
PHRASES
do someone a favor do something for someone as an act of kindness.
in favor 1 meeting with approval : they were not in favor with the party. 2 having or showing approval : the appeals court ruled 2-1 in favor of his extradition.
in one's favor to one's advantage : events were moving in his favor.
in favor of 1 to be replaced by : he stepped down as leader in favor of his rival. 2 to the advantage of : the final score was 25-16 in favor of Washington.
out of favor |ˈˈaʊd əv ˈfeɪvər| lacking or having lost approval or popularity : proper dancing has gone out of favor.

ORIGIN Middle English (in the noun sense [liking, preference] ): via Old French from Latin favor, from favere ‘show kindness to’ (related to fovere ‘cherish’ ).


I love it, every definition has God and his goodness written all over it.  One of my favourites is "an act of kindness beyond what is due or usual".   Every time God has shown me favour it's been exactly that.  He takes such delight and pleasure in our delight and pleasure.  He loves to love us.  "God is love" 1 John 4:8b (NIV)

Look at the cross.  The cross was the biggest overpayment in history.   Not only did God want to wipe away all our past sins and set us free from them, but he went to the extreme of freeing of us all sin to come too.   He not only made sin extinct, but he took back the powers of death, sickness, and all the wiles of the hell.   I love the Message version of John 10:10b "I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of."  Isn't that amazing?  In my opinion, that verse is one of the biggest New Testament source verses for God's favour.  It's like, Wow.  Jesus came and died, and was resurrected for the purpose of us having the best life we could have, for all of eternity!
God's favour is all encompassing, it is grace and mercy and love and kindness and goodness and giving all in one.  Some of the times of most favour in my life were some of the times in my life where my faithfulness was not as strong as it could, but God's faithfulness is unwavering.
Lamentations 3:22-33 is an awesome passage talking about the faithfulness of God. I think it's important to remember that recognizing God's faithfulness is a key in recognizing his favour.

"22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends![a]
      His mercies never cease.
 23 Great is his faithfulness;
      his mercies begin afresh each morning.
 24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
      therefore, I will hope in him!” 

25 The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
      to those who search for him.
 26 So it is good to wait quietly
      for salvation from the Lord.
 27 And it is good for people to submit at an early age
      to the yoke of his discipline: 28 Let them sit alone in silence
      beneath the Lord’s demands.
 29 Let them lie face down in the dust,
      for there may be hope at last.
 30 Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them
      and accept the insults of their enemies. 31 For no one is abandoned
      by the Lord forever.
 32 Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
      because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
 33 For he does not enjoy hurting people
      or causing them sorrow."

Cool eh?  I'm just gonna end it up here with some Bible verses on favour, as I've already gone into a whole tonne of examples of God's favour in my life in this and/or my other blog.  So check them out and read these verses:

Genesis 39:2a  "The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered"

Leviticus 26:9"I will look on you with favour and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you."

2 Kings 13:4a  "Then Jehoahaz sought the Lord's favour, and the Lord listened to him..."

Psalm 5:12  "For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield."

Psalm 84:11  "For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless."

If you want to find more examples of God moving in favour for people in the Bible, go to Bible Gateway and search the word "favor".

See ya later!

If God Had a Facebook Status...

...  It would read, "God is God".
Please don't ask me why I'm writing this, it just popped into my head and God won't let me not write it.  I don't actually want to, I'm just being obedient and hoping that if I do, the phrase "If God had a Facebook status, it would read, 'God is God'," will leave my head.  It's starting to get annoying.  As I'm writing this, I know I have stuff to say on it that's Biblical truth, and I know Holy Spirit is giving me wisdom in it, but it sucks, 'cause I really DON'T want to.
So, here it goes...

God is God.

Matthew 6:25-26"If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds. 27-29"Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. 30-33"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. 34"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."

So yeah...  

God is good at getting under our skin and convicting us isn't he?  Father is in control, he loves us and cares for us and will not let us starve or die or anything like that.  Why do I worry?  Or am I just having a pity party?  Probably the latter.

I'm going to end this now I think, because I've put it out there, as God has so strongly enjoyed making me do.  He just loves to stretch us.  Loves to take another issue to the cross.  Well Lord, if you're going to kill me, you're going to resurrect me better, so bring it, okay!?  Garsh!