July 31, 2022 – Ps 38, Pr 29. Job 26

Those who repay my good with evil lodge accusations against me, though I seek only to do what is good.
Psalms 38:20 NIV

I have had times that I feel this way.

He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing. He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it. He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness. The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke. By his power he churned up the sea; by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces. By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the gliding serpent. And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”
Job 26:7‭-‬14 NIV

Here I see Job stating what he knows to be true about God. He knows God well enough to be able to confidently talk about all these truths about Him. And he acknowledges that all that he understands and knows about God is only the “outer fringe of his works”. No matter how well we think we know God it is only a tiny glimpse. A shadow of His greatness. Again, he expresses that because of these truths he accepts that he will never fully understand “the thunder of his power”. He does not need to know why to trust God through it all.

I so look forward to the day when we will be able to see ALL there is to see. When we will be able to fully understand God and know Him completely. To be able to see Jesus face to face and run into His arms.

July 30, 2022 – Ps 37, Pr 28, Job 25

Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: “Dominion and awe belong to God; he establishes order in the heights of heaven. Can his forces be numbered? On whom does his light not rise? How then can a mortal be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure? If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes, how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot— a human being, who is only a worm!”
Job 25:1‭-‬6 NIV

Again I see this pointing me to Jesus. All these things are true. From a divine perfection perspective we are nothing. “How can one born of woman be pure?” There is only one who was born of woman who can be pure. That is Jesus.

Job knows that he does not compare with God. Surely Job has sinned and would continue to sin. But from a worldly perspective Job did all that he could to be righteous but of course he still sinned. However, through all this he never blamed God. The reason he didn’t blame God was because he knew all the things that Bildad was saying is true. He knew God and had a faith in him that allowed him to trust that for whatever reason it was not God’s fault for his suffering, even if he could not understand why it was happening. This is the example we are given for when we suffer difficulties. Again, I say I don’t know how people who do not have a relationship with Jesus can make it through such difficult times. Perhaps that is why we have such a pandemic of overwhelming mental illness, suicide and addictions. I am not saying that every person who has a mental illness is lacking a relationship with God. Or that the cause of mental illness is a lack of relationship with God. I know many who suffer from mental illness who have a deep personal relationship with God and they have shown me time and time again that the right medication and the right counseling, support from family and friends, and honest communication about what they are going through are all important and they work. But those whom I see having the most success in dealing with their most difficult times are those who make their relationship with God a top priority without neglecting all the other stuff. They are less likely to be overwhelmed with their illness when they are keeping him in the right place of priority. I have also seen through them how Satan will do all he can to distract them from all the right things they need to do. He does that to all of us. As soon as we begin to drift from our one-on-one relationship with God we start to drift from the other important relationships in our lives. We listen to the whispers of the evil one whatever they are. “You don’t have to spend time reading the bible today you can take a nap instead or watch TV”, or “People are so tired of hearing about your struggles you should just shut up and suck it up”, “What is the point in working so hard to get better when you know you are just going to fail again”.  Then we withdrawal even more from God, family and friends and stop communicating about what we are experiencing. That is when you begin to feel the overwhelming weight of mental illness. But God who is faithful never leaves us. Just as when Job could not see God in his dark places God was still there and because of his relationship with God he knew that. Even in the darkness.

I recently had a family member who said “God must be punishing me. I keep praying but things keep going wrong.” That is what blaming God looks like. Praying to God about your problems is not bad, but that alone does not make relationship. Relationship is spending time with God no matter what your worldly situation looks like. In doing that you get to know Him in a way that when the struggles come you don’t think those kinds of things because you know from experience that He loves you. You learn from experience that when things are not going as you had planned it’s because God has a better plan. Then you are able to genuinely pray “Thy will be done” and mean it.

How can you deepen your relationship with God so that when things are tough you can lean on Him and shut out the lies?

What are the lies that Satan uses to distract you from God, family and friends?

Now replace those lies with truth. And as Marcy would advise, say “Suck it Satan!”

And run into the open loving arms of Jesus and trust in His goodness, His greatness, and His power and trust His will.

July 28, 2022 – Ps 35, Pr 26, Job 23

Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down.
Proverbs 26:20 NIV

Even when a fire goes out the coals stay hot. As a Fire and EMS person I know that when the flames are extinguished in a burning building the work is not done. After they are out you must go inside and look for hot spots and tear down walls and ceilings that hold heat so that there is not a rekindle. If this is not done properly there is always a rekindle. And even when you think you hit all the hot spots a rekindle is a possibility. Same goes for a quarrel that comes from gossip. Not only do you have to stop gossiping you need to tear down anything that will cause hot spots. Remove the people and things in your life that will fan that sleeping ember into a raging fire. Quench the heat of gossip with the cool refreshing water of Jesus. Jesus is love and if we throw love and concern on the fire of a quarrel we can get rid of the hot spots and keep the battle from rekindling.

“But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
Job 23:8‭-‬9 NIV

Job talks about not being able to see God no matter where he looks. As though He is not there but we know that God is always there. Job knew that also.

Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.
Job 23:17 NIV

He knows that no matter how dark and alone he feels God is still there. He does not give up on his calling out to God. We can do the same. Just because we do not see and or feel God’s presence in our struggles we should not give up calling out to Him. He is there and He does hear and is listening.

 

July 26, 2022 – Ps 33, Pr 24, Jn 16

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
John 16:13‭, ‬15 NIV

Yesterday I talked about recognizing the prompting of the Holy Spirit. One of the steps of discerning if you are hearing from the Holy Spirit is to recognize that the Sprit will guide you in truth. Jesus is truth the bible is truth. Anything that comes from God will be able to be supported by scripture and will NEVER contradict scripture. There will be no changes to it and no new revelation. Truth now is the same as truth from the beginning of time.

Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.
John 16:19‭-‬22 NIV

This is the first time reading this that I see that even though Jesus is taking about His second coming, the disciples did weep and mourn when He was crucified and then in a little while, 3 days, their grief was turned to joy. And no one was able to take their joy away. They joyfully shared the Gospel until their deaths. Even singing song of praise while in prison.

July 25, 2022 – Ps 32, Pr 23, Jn 15

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
John 15:4 NIV

As I reflect on this I think it does not just talk about non-believers who are not grafted into the vine. There are times that I am not remaining, staying, connecting to Jesus. I allow myself to be distracted, pulled away, disconnected from Him. Those are the times that I do not see fruit in my life. Those are the times that I don’t recognize His work going on around me. Sadly, in those times I often don’t recognize that I am missing Him, His works, or my fruit production. I can get so caught up in life that I don’t even realize I am drifting away from my connection to Him. In the past it would be for long periods of time. But now it is thankfully shorter periods of time. Now it may start with me being rushed in the morning so I don’t do my bible reading as soon as I get up. And then throughout the day I forget to do it because I haven’t placed time aside to make God a priority. Then because I didn’t do my bible reading I don’t do my blog post on time because I have nothing to think about and write about. But I believe this blog is one way God helps to keep me connected to Him. I normally write my posts a day ahead and schedule them to post at 6 am. Today I am writing this at 9 am the day it of so I am a day late. But it has helped me to see these things. Amazing how God can use what He knows is going to happen to reach us before we even do it.

I also see how remaining in Him helps us to grow an to flourish. There was a time when I prayed through a prayer journal every day and it would take up to an hour and I did it for at least a couple of years. Doing that made it easier for me to hear God’s voice and see all that He was doing in the world around me and deepened my faith. And when I saw where He was working, I would join Him there. (I strongly recommend the Experiencing God study by Henry T Blackaby). I am seeing that time was part of my life for a growth spurt. Because I have tried getting back into prayer journaling and it has not been “right” for me and I still can see God working in and through my life. So I think that connection helped me to be firmly grafted into the vine so that I would not need as much tending to be fruitful. I don’t need as much care and attention to stay strong as I did then. So the longer we remain in Him the stronger we become and the easier it is to bear fruit. The easier it is to hear His voice and recognize the prompting of the Spirit.

So if you read this and are thinking I don’t know what she means by hearing God’s voice or recognizing the prompting of the Spirit, and you really want to experience God in that way, I encourage you to talk to God. Ask Him to help you find out what kind of fertilizer you need to experience a growth spurt. Maybe it is daily deep personal one on one bible study. Maybe it is frequent and consistent group bible study. Could be journaling on the bible and or prayer time. Then, REMAIN IN HIM and watch for the FRUIT!

 

July 24, 2022 – Ps 31, Pr 22, Job 21

Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me. Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
Psalms 31:2‭-‬3 NIV

This is Us…on The Rock!  Our next conference title. Looks like a perfect tag line verse.

I am forgotten as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery.
Psalms 31:12 NIV

When I read this I thought of Job and the fact that he used broken pottery to scratch open his sores.

 

July 23, 2022 – Ps 30, Pr 21, Job 20

Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me.
Psalms 30:2 NIV

I have done this, and he has healed me for many small problems, but I know so many people who have called out to Him and He has not healed them. People who from our worldly perspective “deserve” to be healed. As we read Job we see over and over again Job calling out to God but he is not healed. It is difficult for us to understand but for those who have a strong faith there is trust in God’s sovereignty.  Job never blamed God. Not when he lost his property, his children, and finally his health. He still called out to him and poured out his feelings and thoughts, but he knew God well enough and trusted him enough that he did not blame God.

To you, Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: “What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me; Lord, be my help.”
Psalms 30:8‭-‬10 NIV

In suffering, like David and Job we can cry out to God for mercy. In fact, we see here that we should cry out for Mercy. What do we have to gain if we are silent? Our silence should not be broken just with our crying out, but we should be proclaiming His faithfulness and praising Him. My friends who suffer with their own physical and emotional difficulties who have the most success in dealing with it all, are the ones who have a strong faith. They trust in God’s faithfulness and praise Him in the midst of their pain. I admire them so much and thank God for the example they set in the world today. I thank God that He has revealed these truths to us from the beginning of time and over and over again in His word and He continues to reveal it to us in the world around us in other people of faith.

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.
Psalms 30:11‭-‬12 NIV

Again, this reminds me of Denise one of those friends who God has used to teach me and inspire me. When things get tough, she likes to turn to her “Jesus jams” and dance it out. The joy in her heart when she turns her heart to Jesus is contagious. I look forward to praising God with her forever!!

July 22, 2022 – Ps 29, Pr 20, Job 19

I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
Job 19:25‭-‬27 NIV

There is such beauty and hope for me in these words. It reminds me of Denise, even as he suffers, laments and complains he has such trust and hope in God. Just like Denise. He knows that our time on earth is limited and that there will come a time where there will be no more pain or suffering and on that day when Jesus stands on the earth again we will see Him face to face and we will be restored and Job years for that day. So should we. Come Lord Jesus