Thursday Devotional - All-Knowing God and Bungled Bildad (8/8/24)

Here comes Job’s second friend, Bildad! He doesn’t start out as encouraging as Eliphaz, Job’s first friend to speak (back in chapter 4). He’s just as ignorant as Eliphaz, though, and goes even further in claiming to know what God will and won’t do! 

Job 8:1-7   Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

² “How long will you say such things?
    Your words are a blustering wind.
³ Does God pervert justice?
    Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
⁴ When your children sinned against him,
    he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.
⁵ But if you will seek God earnestly
    and plead with the Almighty,
⁶ if you are pure and upright,
    even now he will rouse himself on your behalf
    and restore you to your prosperous state.
⁷ Your beginnings will seem humble,
    so prosperous will your future be.

Bildad was correct that God doesn’t pervert justice. However, he was incorrect to assume that all suffering is a direct result of a person’s sin. He also preached a prosperity gospel – that if Job was truly upright, then God would lavish prosperity on him.

Only God is all-knowing. We can’t speak for Him. We can speak about Him. We can share about the truths from His Word and His unchanging attributes. God doesn’t need us to defend Him. He can defend Himself. He does desire us to declare Him.

I don’t want to be a bungled mess, like Bildad, but a faithful proclaimer of God’s truths.

Lord, help us not try to speak for you, but to point others to earnestly seek you for your unique purposes for them.

Thursday Devotional - Words and Warnings Ignored

Have you ever felt led to boldly speak up about something, but it didn’t seem to make a difference or have an impact?

I felt like that recently. In an outside organization, we needed to fill a particular position. As I was praying about it one night, God brought someone to mind. I mentioned it at my next meeting, including the reasons why they might be a good fit. However, no one else seemed led in that direction or even willing to consider them.   

I wonder if Paul felt ignored over and over again. Not only did he not seem to get anywhere when he talked in front of the Jews, Felix, Festus and Agrippa, but his warning about sailing to Rome was ignored, too!

Acts 27:1-2a, 8-11   When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment. ² We boarded a ship… ⁸ We moved along the coast with difficulty and came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.

⁹ Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Day of Atonement. So Paul warned them, ¹⁰ “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.” ¹¹ But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship.

As we’ve talked before, we aren’t responsible for convincing people. We are responsible for being obedient to speak when and what God says. The results are left to Him. He may have different purposes for what He leads us to say. If you read the rest of chapter 27, you’ll see how God used Paul’s warning to give him credibility when disaster did strike.   

When have you prayerfully spoken up and seemingly been ignored? Let’s trust the results to God. Instead of throwing our hands up and getting frustrated, lets continue to pray about any future words or actions that would align with His plans and purposes.

Alice

Thursday Devotional (for 12/5/19) - God's Purposes in Persecution

We saw Peter and John released from prison a few weeks back, but it didn’t take long for the religious leaders to arrest them again.

Acts 5:12, 14, 17-21             ¹² The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade… ¹⁴ Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number…

¹⁷ Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. ¹⁸ They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. ¹⁹ But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. ²⁰ “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”

²¹ At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.

God could have prevented them from getting arrested in the first place, but He had a purpose in allowing it. His power and presence was seen and felt as His angel released them. Then, the testimony of the apostles in the temple courts was that much more powerful! The rest of chapter 5 also reveals many other purposes God had for their arrest.

My son, James, asked many of the boys in his gymnastics class the other day if they knew God. No one responded positively. They either said God didn’t exist or just made a silly comment (including one of the coaches saying God was just like sand). Like James, I haven’t been arrested for my faith, but I’ve certainly been laughed at and opposed.

Maybe some of you have truly been persecuted for talking about Jesus. Or, maybe our biggest challenges are being bold in the face of laughter and opposition. We have access to God’s unstoppable power! How will you and I trust His power and recognize His presence in spite of opposition, challenges, hardship, and distractions? We don’t need to look at persecution or opposition as a negative thing. God works His purposes through it. Like the apostles, we’re called to obey.

Alice

Thursday Devotional - Who Has Power and Control?

Last year Sarah enjoyed “riding” a tricycle at my parents’ house that had a long pole out the back. At 2, she felt independent steering and pedaling, all the while someone was giving her power from behind.

Like Sarah, Pilate thought he had power and control, but the only power and control he had was given to him by God.

John 19:5-11 ⁵ When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

⁶ As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”

⁷ The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

⁸ When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, ⁹ and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

No one has power or control unless God allows it. Like Pilate, you and I might think we are in control, but God is the only Almighty One who has absolute and unlimited power over all.

And when things seem out of control, we can remember that God’s purposes will prevail in spite of the chaos and evil. What comfort does that give to you and me today?    

Alice

Our Journey to Adoption, Part VIII - Glory from Delay

The delayed process to adopt James and Sarah was frustrating. However, looking back, we can see how God received greater glory through all the delays! He made it more and more clear He intended us to adopt and that He was in control to bring it about.

Last March and April we continued to keep James and Sarah on weekends as we awaited the outcomes of other possible families for them. First, their biological mother said she appealed the termination, but she only thought she did (or wished she had, or wanted to believe she had). No record of an appeal was found, so the termination of the rights was not reversed.

Second, the uncle that said he was interested in the children didn’t have enough money to come up from Texas to even meet the children. He already had three of his own children, and didn’t have a permanent residence at the time. So, he relinquished his interest.

Third, one of James’ former foster families turned out not to be interested in adopting the children themselves, but wanted a relative of theirs to adopt. The relative didn’t have any recent connection to the children, so they were also scratched off the list. That left us and the current foster family.

God’s seeming delay is always for His purposes and His glory. As with the raising of Lazarus, Jesus delayed for God’s glory and the benefit of his disciples.

John 11:1, 3-6, 14-15  Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha… ³So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick." ⁴When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." ⁵Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days… 

¹⁴So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."

Can you think back over your past situations and see how God received greater glory and grew your faith through seeming delays? Let’s remember that as we face new situations that don’t seem to be working out in the timing we think is best.

Alice 

Thurs Devo: Childbirth Concerns

My youngest sister, Mary, is about to give birth to her first child. She’s due on Monday! As exciting as it is, there are still fears and concerns over the many unknowns. When will she go into labor? How bad will the pain be? Will there be complications? Will it be a girl or a boy?
Well, take a look at this delivery situation pictured in Revelation 12: 
Revelation 12:1-6     A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. ² She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. ³ Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. ⁴ Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. ⁵ She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.⁶ The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
It’s a terrifying picture. There are enough concerns and pains during delivery, without having the added worry that someone is waiting to snatch your baby away. However, God took care of both the baby and the woman! (The baby probably represents Jesus the Messiah and the woman could represent the nation of Israel (inclusive of Mary) or more broadly the people of God). The dragon (definitely Satan, from vs. 9) is no match for God.
This encouraged me to remember that no matter how bleak a situation may seem, God will accomplish His purposes. He sees everything and Satan can’t do anything unless God allows it.
Also, God takes care of His own. Our times in the “wilderness” may be for our protection, and our times of pain may be necessary for the times of blessing to follow. I hear the pains of childbirth are often quickly forgotten when you hold the new precious baby in your arms! (Remember that this coming week, Mary!)

What other encouragement do you and I take from all this?  
Alice