Update:
Not much to report today. I did
my light exercise workout on Tuesday morning (1 hour), took a quick shower, ate
lunch and then went to the church office to work all afternoon. Karen picked me up about 6:30 p.m. and
dropped me off at home and she headed in Eau Claire for play practice. I fried up some hamburger that needed to be
cooked, along with a lot of onions and garlic sautéed in olive oil. It made the basis for a very yummy dinner. I watched some TV while I ate. Now it is on to the computer. I have a letter of recommendation that I need
to finish and then I’ll work on the Update and do some of my inspirational
reading before bedtime.
On Wednesday morning I’ll be leaving to go to a church Elders’ meeting
so my normal morning routine will be disrupted.
I plan on doing my heavy workout on Wednesday afternoon and then start
working on my sermon for Sunday morning.
I have to say that I am really blessed by three men from the church who
are home in Fall Creek during the day.
They are always willing to come over to my house to help me do what I
need at the time whether it is giving me a ride, putting wood into my
woodstove, carrying something up from the basement that I need, or
whatever. I know that many people are
willing to help however they can; but many things occur during the day when no
one else is around and these guys are available. Even spur of the moment calls don’t seem to
bother them. I am very grateful for Dick
K., Dick B., and Milt D. They are the
best! They’ve got servants’ hearts and I
am very grateful for the time they give me. Many have helped me on occasion and I am
grateful for every act of kindness. But
these three…Wow! I thank God for
providing them for me during this season of need.
Thought for the Day:
In the Biblical Book of Job, Satan attacks the character of Job and of
God. In essence Satan confronts God,
“You claim that Job serves you because he loves you and trusts you. But have you ever dared to test him to see
whether or not your evaluation is correct?”
Satan believed that Job only worshiped God because of all the blessings
God had provided him (family, wealth, health).
If God took it all away, Satan bet that Job would stop worshipping
God. So God allowed Job to be tested and
his “blessed” life destroyed.
“Satan’s accusation cuts at the very heart of worship and virtue. Is God worthy to be loved and obeyed even if
He does not bless us materially and protect us from pain?... Is it possible for
us to serve God and our fellow humans from a heart of love, regardless of what
we may ‘get out of it’?” [Warren Wiersbe, Looking Up When Life Gets You Down]
Job’s response was to continue to worship God and never waiver in his
faith. Job wonders why all this
heartache has rained down up him, but Job never did forsake God; He continued
to worship Him.
Job 1:21 “And he [Job] said, ‘Naked I came from my
mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken
away; blessed be the name of the LORD.’”
If we only worship God when everything goes our way; when all our
prayers are answered; when everyone we love is safe and healthy; when our bank
account is full and we have our material needs met, then something is
desperately wrong. If we quit
worshipping God during the hard times then we haven’t really been worshipping
Him, we’ve been worshipping what He provides; we are worshipping the things He
gives.
“Our faith and obedience must not be a ‘commercial’ relationship
between us and God. We must love the
Giver and not just the gifts; for to love the gifts and not the Giver is the
essence of idolatry.” [Warren Wiersbe,
Looking Up When Life Gets You Down]
How well do you respond when things don’t go well in your life? What if you endured the loss of every
physical thing that you value in this world?
Your health? Your savings? Your belongings? Your loved ones? What if it was all gone? When you had nothing left but God would He be
enough? Or would you turn your back on Him?
Thankfully none of us ever faces a “Full-Blown-Job Event” where all
aspects of our lives are destroyed. But
we often encounter “Mini-Job Events” where one or two things go horribly
wrong. If we are going to continue to
worship God throughout our lives, we will have to get beyond a “genie in a
bottle” concept of God.
One of the humanly frustrating things about the Book of Job is that God
never explains Himself to Job. Job is
reminded of God’s great power, His absolute sovereignty, and His unsurpassed
wisdom and knowledge. Although we got a “behind-the-scenes”
peek into why it all transpired, as far as we can tell, the only answer Job got
was “I am God Almighty.” And that ended
up being enough for Job.
When we are faced with disaster and destruction we may never understand
“Why.” At that point all we can do is
hang onto “Who.” Remembering God’s love and mercy towards us. Recalling His power and might. Calling to mind the promises that He has made
to us. And then trust Him and take our
place along side of Job and worship Him, the Lord God Almighty.
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