Every day God signs the skies.
His Signature.
Job wanted to write his signature on his words to God.
Have you ever thought you were that right? I mean really right! And more right than God.
Save us, God, from ourselves.
Job visits the past: "when the Almighty was yet with me,
when my children were all around me,
when my children were all around me,
when my steps were washed away." The devil gets us to live in the past or in the future. He does not want us to live in the present. God is driving out the evil from all of us self-swindlers. Job's signature wanes. Job stands tall against the enemy of his soul. We look back into Job's story. Job is looking forward thinking that probably his suffering will not end but Somehow--- Evil will not win in this.
COME BOLDLY: Timeless p. 147
John Bunyan writes that it is not the power of the pen or the spoken word but the very spirit of God Who changes us. "Nothing less than the Spirit of God" can make us praying women. Father, as we see Your Signature over the stories of our days, our lives, help us each one to ask for Your Wisdom and Your Power to for what it is that we face this present moment. Help us to be present and name what is not of You.
PHOTO: The sun sets on Waco, Texas. It's the same sun wherever you live. But it sets on our stories from every kind of wrestle. This sun set on my aloneness---what will I do with it?
COME BOLDLY: Timeless p. 147
John Bunyan writes that it is not the power of the pen or the spoken word but the very spirit of God Who changes us. "Nothing less than the Spirit of God" can make us praying women. Father, as we see Your Signature over the stories of our days, our lives, help us each one to ask for Your Wisdom and Your Power to for what it is that we face this present moment. Help us to be present and name what is not of You.
PHOTO: The sun sets on Waco, Texas. It's the same sun wherever you live. But it sets on our stories from every kind of wrestle. This sun set on my aloneness---what will I do with it?
Job thinks God has accused him and wants his day in court. He wants answers. Our questions can reveal much about our heart's condition. Job is dying. Job is afflicted. Job is exhausted. Job longs for earlier times where all was "right" with his world. He pleads his case thinking he's done a pretty good job of being a good man. But the rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous. And Job can’t figure it out. Job questions the goodness of God. And finally, I think I’m to my point—Job’s questions might seem disrespectful of God. His questions reveal how much he feels that he has been unjustly punished, unfairly treated by God.
ReplyDelete1. Job’s questions didn’t stem from an unrepentant heart. He examined his life in every area.
2. Job was asking the right One. He still was pressing in to find his answers.
3. Job was tested in every conceivable way, yet he still served God.
So can we take our questions to God? Or even question His Will? It seems as in the case of Job, Moses, Gideon, doubting Thomas, etc. that we can if our heart is sincere, and (though I am not seeing here with Job,) humble. It seems to me that we should be careful of our motives though. Seeking God’s wisdom and understanding His ways is far different than trying to validate our own cause.
This is our 8th time reading this and I am in seeing it in such a way I haven't before. Here we go again. It's because we are more alive than ever. I'm seeing how seeking God's wisdom and understanding is greater than validating ourselves. Oh, I wish I could put it into words. I had an incident today where all I could do was try to validate my point---and I was terribly right that someone had violated our trust---but in all of today's doings, I never thought about the wisdom of God in it, nor tried to understand what God was doing in my own life.
DeleteIn today's reading Job reminds me of myself when I pled my case to my parents. I think I even compared myself to my cousins on occasion which did not sway my parents in the least when I let them know I was so good that I was better than my cousins, except Job was contrite I was not. I wanted to be found innocent however my motives were impure. Job's motive was seeking answers while He still loved God. Oh that I approach the throne with a contrite heart and godly motives.
ReplyDelete