Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of Hilary Weeks singing her song … Beautiful Heartbreak … poignantly singing the reality that many of our life transforming times come from the trials of life. … AND THEN TO THIS LINK ... with Laura Story singing her song Blessings also relating that many of God’s blessings are disguised as heartaches.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Job 2:10b [NLT] … 10b “… Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
… Job, in the midst of his pain and privation accepts God's trial.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Job 2:1-10, 23:10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Job’s faithfulness and trust in God during extreme trials.
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … Habakkuk 3:17-18 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Praying for our kids shows them that we love them and God loves them even more.
Reference Passage [NLT] : …1st Corinthians 10:13 [NLT] … 13 No temptation [can also be translated “testing” or “trial”] has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted [tested] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted [or tested], he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
… God promises His faithfulness and help in the midst of trials.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … 2 Corinthians 12:9 [NLT] … 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
… Paul, encountering extreme pain, remembers Jesus’ promise of grace to handle the pain.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Philippians 4:6-7 [NLT] … 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
… Prayer is an antidote in the midst of pain and privation to produce peace.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Xochitl Dixon, uses a personal story of her child desiring and eating lemons to illustrate that we can actually find joy in the midst of bitterness and testing. The ODB author wrote: When our toddler first bit into a lemon wedge, he wrinkled his nose, stuck out his tongue, and squeezed his eyes shut. “Sow-wah,” he said (sour). [See photo]
I chuckled as I reached for the piece of fruit, intending to toss it into the trash. “No!” Xavier scampered across the kitchen to get away from me. “Moe-wah!” (more).
His lips puckered with every juice-squirting bite [again, see photo]. I winced when he finally handed me the rind and walked away.
Our girls used to do that too. We first thought there would be no way they’d want to eat a lemon; but they would chow down on as many pieces as we gave them, wincing at the sourness each time they ate a slice. And that’s the message of today’s ODB illustration, isn’t it; … that, as Christians, who believe in the redeeming/restoring grace of Christ, we can, as did Job, be able to find joy, and even satisfaction, in the midst of the trails or temptations of life (see highlight passages)?
I love the two songs linked above by Hilary Weeks and Laura Story, both of which convey the message that many of God’s greatest blessings and life lessons come from the darkest and most painful times in our lives.
That was the lesson Job and Habakkuk realized in the OT [scriptures above]. And it was the NT message brought by the Apostle Paul in the reference Scriptures, also above. And I only pray that we have learned that lesson and apply it in our lives when we’re tested by the trials of life.
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … King Jesus, … Dear Lord, … help me to find the sweetness of Your love and grace in the midst of the sour times 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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