Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube of images and lyrics from Keith and Kristyn Getty singing … Speak, O Lord … poignantly singing of our desire to hear God’s word to speak to us and build our faith in His presence and providence.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Job 38:3 [NLT] … 3 Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.
… God challenges Job with questions that lead Job to realize Who God really is and why Job must have faith in God in spite of Job’s challenges and trials.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Job 38:1-11 [NLT]… USE THIS LINK …
… Job had so many “WHY” questions; but when God finally comes to Him it is God who asks the questions to show Job the way back to faith.
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Reference Passage : … Job, Chapter 1 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Even after great pain/loss, Job’s faith remained steadfast … at least for a time.
Reference Passage : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… It’s our trust (i.e., faith) in God which provides us with His guidance, not our questions about the inexplicable things in life.
Reference Passage : … Isaiah 41:10 [NLT] … 10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
… When we feel weak and threatened, God promises to give us His strength.
Reference Passage : … Romans 8:38-39 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… It is our surrendered faith in God which shows us that nothing in this life can separate us from His love/grace.
Reference Passage : … Hebrews 11:6 [NLT] … 6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
… So may thinks can’t be explained beyond our faith in God’s presence and providence.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Phillip Yancey, used Job’s dilemma and his dialog with God to challenge our faith. The ODB author wrote: We can find nearly every argument in the book of Job about why there is pain in the world, but the arguing never seems to help Job much. His is a crisis of relationship more than a crisis of doubt. Can he trust God? Job wants one thing above all else: an appearance by the one Person who can explain his miserable fate. He wants to meet God Himself, face to face. …
No one—not Job, nor any of his friends—is prepared for what God has to say. Job has saved up a long list of questions, but it is God, not Job, who asks the questions.
I think all readers here have had, as did Job, “Why God” questions. Perhaps our challenges have not been as painful as Job’s (or perhaps they have); but it is so easy in our very human weakness or confusion to have our faith in God challenged by life’s trials/troubles.
That’s what happened to Job, didn’t it [see link to Job 1]? He had great faith early after God allow Satan to bring all that pain/loss into his life; but finally as the pain and confusion wore on, and even Job’s friends challenged his faith, Job waned into a “Why, Lord” attitude. But finally God showed up, not with answers to Job’s questions, but rather with questions to Job, which, when Job realized God was the only One with the answers, he surrendered to God’s grace with the faith to go on.
And in God’s questions [see highlight passage], we should realize that God does give us the answers to our questions … thru His word; and when we believe what He speaks to us, and we listen to His truth, our faith can give us the strength to handle even Job-like challenges.
And that’s why one finds me here every morning, coming to God with the prayer spoken by the Getty’s in the linked song today, … desiring to hear God speak to me thru His Holy word. And when I listen to God’s truth, spoken to me thru His word, I can move on with renewed strength and faith.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Lord, Jesus, thank You for Your word which challenges me to hear Your truth, which then guides me in my times of confusion.
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My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … O Lord, help me to deal with the “Jobian” challenges of life with the faith you give to me thru Your Truth. … 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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