March 3 – Finding God in Job Part 1

“I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.  I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me. ”  - Job 10:1-2 

“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:  “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.” – Job 38:1-3 (ESV)

Do any of us understand why we encounter trials in our lives as Christians?  When they come we all have a hasty conversation with God about them. We send up a few “why?” statements. The best place to learn is the book of Job. For a few days, we will take a brief and light look at Job. He asked God a few such questions and God’s answered eventually.  In the book of Job the Holy Spirit provides a clear lesson on God’s sovereignty. Job is put to the test as he experiences the most severe catastrophes and disasters to test his faith in God. God gave permission, with limits, to Satan to afflict Job. Satan claims Job will deny God. God says, Job will remain faithful.  In the account, Job lost nearly everything including his family other than his wife. Job asks, “God, let me know why you contend with me?” All of us would identify with Job’s question. God’s answer to Job is for us as well. For each of us who have encountered a devastating event, whatever it may be. It’s the question we might ask; “If God is God, then…why?”  He speaks to us.

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The book of Job is not easy to read or to understand. When trying to grasp its truth as a whole, it seems nearly unreachable. Thanks to the daily devotional “All Up Words” by Max Lucado. Acknowledgement and thanks for some of these ideas is given to his words        https://maxlucado.com/listen/he-speaks-out-of-the-storm/ 

August 28 – Not Condemning But Praying

“Who is the one who condemns?  Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.” Romans 8:34 – (NASB)

Can we imagine that the One who has the right to condemn us for our sin is the One who willingly gave His life and died in our place?  He took on the condemnation we deserved because of our sinful rebellion and rejection of God.  All the fault and consequence of our sin was placed on Him.  And He remains the one who has the right to condemn us but does not because we have believed and accepted by faith, His sacrifice that was for us.  Because He died for us and was raised up to a new life, and then He returned to heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father as Jesus, the Son of God, He is the one who intercedes for us on our behalf. The intercession is on-going because Jesus is involved in our lives every day.  He knows the challenges we do and will encounter, and the difficulties and disappointments we face. He is intimately familiar with our failures and on our behalf, He prays for us to God our Father.  We are redeemed by His grace and mercy we are protected by His mighty hand.

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August 11 – Confidence in Confidence

“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God  and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.”  James 1:6 (NIV)   

We do have a wonderful God and we can depend on Him to respond when we pray to Him.  Our verse today reminds us that we need to always live before God with the confidence that He has forgiven us when we have asked for His forgiveness. And we need to live with the confidence that He will provide the wisdom when we ask for it in faith believing. These are His promises to us an we need to trust Him to do that each time that we ask Him.  So if we have that confidence that whenever we have ask God for forgiveness He has forgiven us then we can approach Him and trust Him to respond to our requests for help in our lives whenever we ask.  This is a wonderful confidence with which to approach our great God with thanksgiving in our heart.  This is what pleases God. 

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