Thursday Devotional - All-Knowing God and Job’s Vindication (10/3/24)

God’s visit was surely life-altering for Job and his friends! God’s response was purposeful, even though it didn’t answer all of Job’s questions. God did not explain why Job experienced one tragedy after another. However, God did vindicate Job before his condemning friends.

Job 42:7-9 After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. ⁸ So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” ⁹ So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

Where are you and I wanting to see vindication (whether for ourselves or for others)? Let’s trust God’s timing, without running ahead and taking things into our own hands.

Faithful God when His Answer is Confusing (5/11/23)

When Habakkuk asked God about the injustice in Judah, God answered by stating He would use Babylon to address Judah’s injustice and wickedness! 

Habakkuk 1:6-11    I am raising up the Babylonians,
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
    to seize dwellings not their own.
⁷ They are a feared and dreaded people;
    they are a law to themselves
    and promote their own honor.
⁸ Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
    their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
⁹     they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes advance like a desert wind
    and gather prisoners like sand.
¹⁰ They mock kings
    and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
    by building earthen ramps they capture them.
¹¹ Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—
    guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”

God knew Habakkuk would be confused, so He up front acknowledge all the wickedness of the Babylonians. They were ruthless, arrogant, violent, haughty, and prideful! It would be like God saying He is going to use totally evil terrorists to judge the wickedness in our country. Yet, that was His plan.

Habakkuk pleaded with God to address the violence and injustice (as we saw a couple weeks ago). God graciously answered him with specific details. He would be faithful to avenge injustice, but it wasn’t going to be the way Habakkuk would expect.

Have you ever been confused by God’s answer? Like Habakkuk, we are finite and can’t see the big picture. We can trust God and His plans and His timing. We can be thankful for His personal responses, even if it doesn’t make sense to us. He is Faithful!

Alice

Faithful God when He seems silent 4/27/23

Is God listening? Why does God tolerate injustice? Why doesn’t God do something? Do you ever ask God those questions? Habakkuk did. He wondered why God continued to seemingly sit back while Judah continued to get more and more wicked.

Habakkuk 1:1-6    The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.

Habakkuk’s Complaint

² How long, Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not save?
³ Why do you make me look at injustice?
    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    there is strife, and conflict abounds.
⁴ Therefore the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice is perverted.

The Lord’s Answer

⁵ “Look at the nations and watch—
    and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe,
    even if you were told.
⁶ I am raising up the Babylonians,
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
    to seize dwellings not their own.

God was working and had a plan, even though Habakkuk couldn’t see it yet. Today, we may think it looks like God is silent, but He is working and has a plan.

Where do we take our questions? Do we talk to everyone else about our frustrations and the continued evil around us? Or, like Habakkuk, do we talk to God about it and expect and look for His response? As we study the Bible, we will hear some of His answers! He already has a plan in place through the very end!

Alice

Thursday Devotional - Perfect Priest

Do you ever get frustrated relying on imperfect humans? Whether it’s for accurate work or accurate medical diagnosis? People make mistakes.  

My Dad and my friend’s husband need to some important medical resolutions this week. It can be worrisome to rely on other opinions and the ability to ask the right questions in order to make the best decision. We do have someone we can rely on perfectly, though, who is in heaven and sees everything!

Hebrews 7:28-8:2 ²⁸ For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever. Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, ² and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

Jesus is in heaven at the right hand of God! As we read last week in Hebrews 7:25, He is interceding for us. We can trust Him for perfect solutions. Let’s go to Him with all our needs and pray for ears to hear His answers.  

Alice

Thursday Devotional - God's "No" to Jesus

Do you ever feel like God isn’t listening because you aren’t getting your desired answers to prayer? Did you ever think about the fact that Jesus didn’t get a “yes” answer to all His prayers, either, even though God definitely heard Him?

Hebrews 5:7-9      ⁷ During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸ Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered ⁹ and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. 

God heard Jesus’ prayer to spare Him from death:

Matthew 26:39a    Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.”

God answered Jesus’ prayer “no.” However, Jesus acknowledged that might be the answer and ended His prayer praying for God’s will to be done instead of His own. (Matthew 26:39b “Yet not as I will, but as you will.”)

Just because we don’t get the answer we want doesn’t mean God isn’t listening. He has a better and more perfect plan, even if we don’t understand it at the time. (Like God’s answer “no” to Joe and I wanting children early on in our marriage, but later providing them almost a decade into marriage in a very unique way.)

What other “No” from God do you and I need to accept? Let’s submit to His will, like Jesus did. When we pray for His will to be done, the answer is always “yes!”

Alice

Thursday Devotional - Pressing Questions

What is the one thing you want to know right now? Do you have a pressing question or dilemma?

Right before Jesus ascended back to Heaven, the disciples had a pressing question.

Acts 1:4-9            ⁴ On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵ For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” ⁶ Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷ He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

The disciples wanted to know if Jesus was right then going to restore the kingdom to Israel! He didn’t directly answer their question. He didn’t answer it the way they wanted, but gave them far more than they asked! He gave them what He knew was best for them to know right then. He does that for us today.

I’ve had several pressing questions over the years. After our miscarriage and years of infertility, Joe and I wanted to know if we were to have children, when, how, etc. God didn’t answer all those questions at once, but through the guidance of the Holy Spirit gave us what we needed to know for the next step.

           

God provides what He knows we need to know (and not always what we want to know).

What part of your and my life is confusing right now? If we are seeking His direction and desiring to follow Him, He will give us what we need, when we need it. We can trust His purposes and plans. He will prepare us for the next step, just as He did the disciples!

Alice