2022-12-02
Good Morning Dear Ones,
One of my classes is finishing reading the book of Job. Those of us who know the story know that Job goes through every kind of loss or challenge that one can imagine. This situation results from a bet that the devil makes with God. Job is a wealthy, respected, pious, and generous man in his community. The devil bets that he can cause Job to lose his faith. God agrees to the bet with one proviso—he may not kill Job. Chapter after chapter we see Job losing his family, wealth, health, and everything but his very life. Three friends and a young upstart dialogue with Job, all mistakenly judgmental. Finally, God enters the discussion, asking deep questions that bring the reader to ponder his omnipotence and proper place in our relationship with Him. I won’t spoil the ending, but at the very end, Job experiences restoration. If you haven’t read this book, please do, so you won’t miss the juicy details. this OT book has many lessons for us in it. In the bigger picture, this story deals with why our fallen world needs our Lord Jesus’ Atonement, the only way to redemption.
Last week, I cited 1 PET 5:8-9, which tells us what Satan is doing as he roams the earth. “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. You’ll remember that in 1 COR 10: 13, God told us that with faith in our Lord Jesus, God gives us a way out of our troubles and never gives us a challenge too difficult to work through with His help. It’s during these times that God is using a prime opportunity to teach us what He feels we need to know.
We are living in a fallen world that is getting more and more hidden from what must be done to bring it to peace. Isaiah lived three hundred years before Christ was born, and yet his handle on our modern-day problems is as applicable today as it was in his time. In IS 59: 2-7, he tells us, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God…so that He will not hear. Your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt, your lips have spoken falsely; no one calls for justice; no one pleads for integrity…they conceive trouble and give birth to evil and violence.” IS 59: 8, “The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads, no one who walks along them will know peace.” Greed for land and wealth has led to war, murder, repression, and devastation. The same can be said for warring parties throughout mankind’s history with their evil schemes designed to assimilate or destroy various cultures. The question is: When will we learn the lessons history has to teach us?
God’s love and peace are still available to us, if we will make the right choices, meaning choices that would please God. During his extraordinary suffering, Job made some statements out of the pain he was feeling. But he never lost his faith in God, as seen by the many statements he directed at God. Joseph, one of Jacob’s sons, was the victim of some cruel treatment by his jealous brothers. However, God was with this young man, giving him the ethics of a man not giving in to the advances of Mrs. Potiphar or coming against God during his imprisonment in Egypt. God imbues Joseph with integrity and the ability to interpret the pharaoh’s dreams and to come up with a solution that saves many lives during Egypt’s 7 years of famine. When his brothers, who didn’t recognize him came to Egypt, Joseph showed them compassion rather than judgment. These stories can be found in GN 37-48, well worth your time to read. Our God does amazing things to bring us back to “the rocky path that leads from the narrow gate” [MT 7: 13-14] that leads to salvation and eternal life. Praise be to Him!
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before Your mighty throne to acknowledge what our relationship with You should be. At the same time, we are looking at our own ethics and life as they are. We see that our sinfulness leaves a gap between what we should be and what we are. Dearest Lord, we pledge to realize what we think or do that is sinful and confess those sins to You. People like Job and Joseph show us the importance to us of expunging our sins, so that the gap above can be made smaller and smaller. You are a loving and patient God, and we must extract every lesson You give us as we study Your word. We know The Scriptures are beneficial from 2 TIM 3: 16-17 and acknowledge our need to answer Your Son’s call to mission that You give us in MT 28; 19-20. Help us to recognize even our most subtle sins and rid ourselves of them. Your joy and peace are gifts of Your Spirit when we do this, and we are eager to have them in our lives. Praise and thanks for all You are and all You do, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I am directed by the Holy Spirit to define “turmoil” and discuss my own journey in seeking peace and joy. The Scriptures I am to share may help us all to be overcomers of the lack of peace and joy. We all need to do what we can to move our lives from chaos to peace and joy. Our loving God gives us wisdom through our Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit which can do the job of lifting us out of that slimy pit expressed in PS 40: 1-3, “I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heart my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a Rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in Him.” We’ll take a common -sense approach to discussing what God can and will do for those who love Him. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn, JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2022. All Rights Reserved.
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