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UNJUST AND UNCLEAN

 Job 25:4 “‘How then can a man be just with God? Or how can he be clean who is born of woman?’”

MADE JUST AND CLEAN

 The shortest man in the Bible is talking to Job here.  This is Bildad the Shuhite (shoe height, get it?  You will later, lol).   Bildad is telling Job, “There is no man who is just before God, including you!” Oh, what Bildad didn’t know.  He assumed Job’s guilt.  He assumed Job had sinned some terrible sin or sins.  But he didn’t know the real story. Continue reading →

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I CAN’T SEE

 Job 17:7a “‘My eye has also grown dim because of grief,’”

 BLINDED BY GRIEF

Job’s days aren’t getting better. He said he is grieving so much his eyes are getting weak.  Have you ever wept so much your eyes swelled up?  I have. I remember one time I cried so hard and my eyes swelled so big that someone thought I had been punched.

Grief is a horrible thing and a wonderful thing.  Grieving, in and of itself, is not a bad thing.  Grieving allows us to vent emotions over the loss of something or someone. These emotions need to come out for us to remain healthy.  But too much grief, unresolved grief, will lead to depression and worse.  Give your grief over to the Lord, which Job has not done yet in chapter 17.

TEACHING MOMENT

Have you seen your child grieve yet? It’s a horrible sight for a parent. It’s a helpless feeling to see them hurting and crying.  There is literally nothing we can do to stop it.  All we can do is pray with them and for them and hold them.  If you haven’t experienced this yet, you probably will sooner or later.

How to we teach “proper” grieving? How do we teach godly grief?  Only by modeling it to them and taking them to the Word.  Kids learn by example.  If they see us holding on to our own grief, they won’t learn to let go of their grief. If they see us using grief as an excuse for behavior, they will learn to do the same.  Like I said earlier, grief can be healthy if handled correctly.  But it must be given to Jesus. He understands your grief.

Are you grieving right now over something in your life?  Do you have unresolved grief?  Hand it over to the Master.  He gave you that heart, and He knows how to ease the pain.  Trust Him with your emotions.

 Heart Maker, take my emotions and turn them Godward.  Take my hurt and grief and turn them into joy.  Help me the kind of example of godly grief that others can turn to.

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JUST LOOK AROUND YOU

Job 12:7-8 “7 ‘But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; and the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you. 8 Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; and let the fish of the sea declare to you.’”

 CREATION SPEAKS

 I have had the privilege to travel to some pretty incredible places.  When I see nature in all its beauty, I can’t help but wonder how someone cannot believe in God.  A couple of years ago I got to see thousands and thousands of pink flamingos feeding, wading and flying at a lake in Kenya.  The sight was beyond description.  God’s creation at work.  https://www.facebook.com/cwilliamwillis/videos/vb.100000159657052/1522292691119371/?type=3

Job is telling his “friend” here that even the beast, birds, fish and the earth teach us about the Lord.  He didn’t need his friend to try to enlighten him about Jehovah.  He could simply look around and see Him.  That should be true for all of us.

 TEACHING MOMENT

 Kids love nature, at least most do. Take a nature hike with your kids and make a list of all the creatures you see.  List the bugs, birds and animals.  List the trees and flowers.  And then when you get home look them up on your computer.  Talk about them.  And then take your kids to these verses.  Ask them how these things they just saw point to God.

I bet you will get some pretty amazing answers.  God made everything to point to Him in some way.  Everything He created gives Him pleasure.  After all, He said “it was good.”

Have you stopped lately to enjoy God’s creation?  Take a break today and do that.  Enjoy nature. Enjoy the flowers and trees. Enjoy the birds and squirrels. Enjoy God.

Thank You, Master Creator, for your magnificent creation. I marvel at Your detail of each creature.  Let my eyes be open to all that is around me.

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JUST DIRT

 Job 10:9 “‘Remember now, that You have made me as clay; And would You turn me into dust again?’”

 WORTHLESS

You could say Job was having a bad day. Now his “friends” are giving him spiritual advice, and he is feeling like a complete failure.  This is all new for him.  He had been living at peace with the Lord and men.  He had not experienced these kind of trials before, as far as we know.

He looks up to the Lord and asks, “Are you just going to grind me into dust here?”  He is feeling worthless.  He is feeling hopeless.  He is feeling beat down and thrown away.  Have you ever felt that way?  Have you asked the same question?

TEACHING MOMENT

These are the moments when our faith grows the most.  These are the moments when our kids’ faith is built.  When they are struggling with the pressures of life, struggle along with them. Lean on Jesus.  He can take it.  Your children need to learn that at an early age.  There is NOTHING He can’t handle.

Now, I have to admit that most the “major” issues our children face aren’t really major issues.  But they are to them.  And as they learn to trust the Lord in these struggles, they are building the faith necessary to trust the Lord later in life when they are facing those real life struggles like the loss of a child or the loss of a job or the loss of a home.  The struggle of faith is not for the now as much as it is for the future.

Are you there right now?  Are you facing a day in which you feel like dust? Shake off that dust.  Fall on your face before a holy God and say, “Through it all, Lord, I trust You.”

Father, I don’t understand all the trials that come my way. I don’t like them either.  But I trust You.  I know You know me best and will allow only those things that will make me better to touch me.

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