Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of one of my favorite Christian songs, written and sung autobiographically by Laura Story … Blessings, expresses the reality of God giving us His hidden blessings in the pain we experience in the school of life.
Highlight Passage Psalm 119: 71 & 75 [NKJV] …
71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. …
75 I know, O Lord, that Your judgements are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.
… The Psalmist trusted God’s judgment coming through the challenge of life.
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Highlight Context - Psalm 119: 65-80 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Life is our school of hard knocks … that we might learn from God’s primary teachers … His Spirit and His word
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Reference Passage #1 - Proverbs 3: 5-6 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Holding on to our trust in God, … despite the school of hard knocks, which is life.
Reference Passage #2 - Habakkuk 3: 17-18 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… The Prophet discovered how to retain the joy of the Lord in spite of his circumstances, … his joy learned in the school of life
Reference Passage #3 - Romans 8: 28 [NKJV] …
8 ALL things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose.
… The school of life can be a hard teacher … but it’s ALL for our good! … Believe that?!!
Reference Passage #4 - 1st Peter 2: 21 [NKJV] …
21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: …
… Peter also taught that God did the ultimate “show-n-tell” by dying on the cross for our benefit … that we would follow Him in suffering to learn the lessons of life.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Dennis Fisher, begins his entry with a hard truth. He writes … “In his book The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis observes that ‘God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.’ … Suffering often helps us to redirect our focus. It shifts our thinking from immediate circumstances so we can listen to God concerning His work in our lives. Life as usual is replaced by a spiritual schoolroom.”
Today I’ve retitled the ODB entry as “The School of Life,” because life is just that - a school of hard knocks (please forgive the humor in the attached photo). But I think most - if not all - reading here with me would agree that we learn our most powerful lessons when we face adversity in the school of life. Laura Story, who wrote the song linked above, certainly learned that when her husband faced several surgeries for a life-threatening brain tumor shortly after they were first married. And it led her to write that poignant song, Blessings, which really says all that needs to be said here today in my journal entry.
So, I’ll just ask you to take in the song and all the Scriptures above and realize that God puts us through the life school of hard knocks … not for His benefit … but for ours!!! … So, … let’s go to school today and learn from our Lord.
My Prayer Today: Oh Lord, … teach us though Your school of life. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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