FWD: Morning Manna (June 30); BP: Job 42; RBTTY: Acts 10:1-23; Job 17-19

 I hope all well with all of you.  Have a good short week and Blessed July 4.  God Bless

Samuel D. High
sdhigh@aristotle.net

 

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-----Original Message-----
From: Apostle Tom <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Sent: Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:55:23 -0500
To: <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Subject: Morning Manna (June 30); BP: Job 42; RBTTY: Acts 10:1-23; Job 17-19
 

June 30                                                                                             “God’s Faithfulness and Our Response”

 

“And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends. . .”

                                                                                                                                                            Job 42:10a

     Our response to the Lord determines which one we’ll experience.

     Bondage?  Or blessing?

     Today’s Manna is an intriguing one indeed.  Job’s story, in reality, is Everyman’s story; that’s why we should savor every morsel of it and ask the Heavenly Father to help us respond the way he did.

 

     We know of Job’s suffering of body, mind and soul (1:1-2:10).  We know of the inward anguish of heart he felt when his wife said “Why don’t you curse God and die?” (2:9) and his “friends” continually rebuked him and told him he was simply “getting what was coming to him” because of some apparent hidden sin.

 

     And, when we read of Elihu’s strong indictment of his having “justified himself rather than God” (32:2) and God’s reminding him of Who He was/is (38:1-41:34), no wonder he cried “Behold I am vile” (40:4a) and “abhorred himself as he repented in dust and ashes” (42:6).

 

     We should never forget that both “humility” and “humiliation” come from the same Latin root word “humilis.”  So often, it takes humiliating situations in our lives to pierce our pride and break open our hardened hearts.  Neither should we be surprised that our Lord will always keep certain type personality types that irk and irritate us in our lives until we can learn to pray for them (Mt. 5:44) and “count it all joy when we fall into various difficulties, knowing that the trial of our faith produces patience, character and hope” (James 1:2-3; Rom. 5:3-4).

 

     At first glance, it seems Job’s change-of-circumstances came when he finally overcame his bitterness toward his “friends” who’d falsely accused him.  However, on closer examination we discover that he was praying for them because the Lord God had commanded them to come to him for that reason (42:7-8).

 

     In many ways, Job’s praying for them is like Joseph’s forgiving his brothers after Jacob’s death (Gen. 50:15-21) and Jesus’ praying for us from the Cross (Lk. 23:34).  In all three situations the Heavenly Father was teaching much about what it means “to learn obedience through the things we suffer” (Heb. 5:8).

 

     The question is, “How well are we learning this lesson?”

     Dear Pilgrim, are you having a difficult time “letting go and letting God” and saying “Yes, Lord” in what you’re going through?  Could it be you’ve been “praying amiss” (James 4:3) by demanding God to “do something” instead of praying “Father, into Your Hands I commit my life” (Lk. 23:46)?

 

     The clay should never contend with the Potter and His will for our lives (Jer. 18:1-6).  Instead, we should lie quietly upon His wheel, allowing Him to mold and make us as He sees fit.  Only in so doing will we be changed—both inwardly and outwardly.