Tag Archives: trial

Sing

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There are people in life that are simply fun to be around.  They seem to always be upbeat and happy.  They encourage others in spite of their own situations.  They even seem to always have a song in their heart.

When someone is like that you know when something is wrong.  They might seem unhappy.  They might even lose their smile and their song.  I was reading Oswald Chambers’ daily devotional the other day and something jumped out at me.  Look at what he asks, “Have we learned to sing after we hear God’s key-note?”  It is so easy to sing when everything is going our way.  Life seems to be good.

What happens when life turns upside down for us?  We seem to lose our song and our smile among other things.  I looked up the word keynote and on of the meanings is “The principal theme in a speech or literary work” according to the Word Web dictionary.  It reminds me of Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  All things are not good; but, God is working them for our good and His Glory.

So, how are you doing?

Trials and Temptations

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Trials are a part of life no matter who you are.  If you never experience trials you are either dead or your are way ahead of the rest of us on this earth.  I know that it seems like life would be better if everything would just go along smoothly.  This is not the truth.

Think of it this way.  When someone begins taking guitar lessons their fingers are soft and the muscles in their hands are weak.  At first lessons are painful to say the least.  Then something happens. They begin to see callouses build up on the finger tips .  The muscles in the hands begin to strengthen.  Now, the lessons and practice seem better.  Why?

As the callouses build up on the finger tips they do not hurt pushing down the thin strings.  Instead of cutting into the tender flesh of the finger tips the callouses prevent the strings from penetrating the now toughened skin.  The muscles in the hands will strengthen also.  More strength means longer durability.  The strong the muscle the longer it will allow you to press down on the strings which means you play longer.

In life it is much the same way.  At first a person is tender.  Things people say and do seem to cut deeply and hurt deeply.  As you experience this over and over you seem to become almost calloused toward it.  This is good and bad.  It is good because you can go on and live life.  It is bad because the potential is there for you to become so calloused that nothing will penetrate your hard heart.  That is where the Holy Spirit of the Living God comes in.  He can penetrate the hardened heart.

So, what about trials?  Look at Job 1:8, “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”  God knows just how much you can handle.  God allows trials and temptations to come our way.  With every trial or temptation we become stronger.  It will build our character.  As much as I don’t want to admit it, we need trials in our lives.  Yes, it is unpleasant; but, it will strengthen us.

So, how are you doing?

The Patience of Job

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Growing up all of my life I have heard different people make a statement to the effect of, “He/She must have the patience of Job.” I don’t know where this came from.  One thing I do know is that Job had a relationship with Jehovah.  There is no way he could have responded the way he did without it.

Someone said, “What does not kill you makes you better.”  If ever there was an example of extreme testing it is Job.  He lost his ten (10) children and many possessions.  Have you ever wondered why?  I know I have.

Then it dawned on me one day.  Look at Job 1:8, “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”  As the LORD threw Job under the bus so to speak He knew something.  He knew how Job would respond.  The LORD is omniscient.  He knows all.  He knew how Job would respond.  Job on the other hand may not have known how he would respond.

Trials are a part of life.  Our response to them is optional.  Many Pastors, Preachers and people have jumped all over Job’s wife for her “curse God and die” statement.  Maybe; just maybe, it was made out of love.  If Job cursed God and died his suffering would be over.  I don’t believe this is the context of her statement; but, it is possible this was her motive.

The next time life caves in on top of you remember that God is more concerned about your character than your comfort.  He wants to conform you into the image of Jesus Christ.  He is allowing this (He is not doing it to you) to mold you and make you into the person He wants you to be.  That is God’s purpose in trials.  Your response is; again, optional.

So, how are you doing?

Evildoer Beware

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When you think about Esther I am guessing you think about the words of her uncle Mordecai.  You know the line that she has been prepared “for such a time as this.” (Esther 4:14)

As I began to ponder this I thought about how Esther’s life probably did not follow the path she had picked out.  Many; if not all of us, experience this.  We would not pick the tough things of life if given the choice.

Here is the thing.  It is the tough things of life that mold us and make us into what God desires us to be.  We may not like what we have to endure to get there.  Yet, when we get there the rewards are unfathomable.

On the other side of the coin are those who plot and plan against us.  The enemy so to speak.  God can; and often does, thwart their plans.  Thinking about the account of Esther I was reminded about how Haman tried to get Mordecai and the Jews killed.  The results were found in Esther 7:10, “So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.”  Hang on because God is still in control.  He always will be too.

So, how are you doing?

Thou God Seest Me

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We all know the account of Abram and Sarai.  Sarai felt like God was punishing her by not allowing her to have children.  In their day and time the more children you had the more you were respected as a woman.

Sarai was in dire circumstances she thought.  This led her to make decisions that turned out badly.  Sarai told Abram to take Hagar Sarai’s maid or slave and have relations with her to raise up a son.

There was a big problem with this plan.  It was not God’s plan.  This is why you have this plan backfiring.  Sarai begins to blame Abram.  Then Sarai gets mad at Hagar and persecutes her.  This causes Hagar to leave.  Hagar runs off into the wilderness to hide from Sarai.  There she is found the angel of the LORD.  He tells her what she needs to do.  In this process Hagar proclaims in Genesis 16:13, “And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?”

It does not matter how dire or bad your situation seems to be.  You can rest assured that God know your situation.  He is working this for your good and for His glory.

So, how are you doing?

Obstacles

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The other day I was working in the field.  Where I was working had some very wet areas in them.  One place was so wet that the tractor sank in the mud and then began to get a hold and take off.  It was an interesting feeling.

Then last night I was moving another tractor and disc from one field to another.  I over shot the entrance off of a busy state highway.  I sat there trying to back up the tractor with a disc and rolling baskets behind.  There was no backing up.  I managed to put tractor into the middle of the ditch between the road and the field I needed to be in.  I sat there for a few seconds and prayed.  I switched the tractor’s front wheel assist on and I turned right going up the side of the ditch.  As I did I felt the tractor shifting it’s weight toward my left.  I prayed harder that it would not roll over as it was a huge possibility.  I felt all six tires grab hold and begin to pull.  In a few short seconds I was in the field.  It was the longest few seconds of my life.

In life we will come across obstacles.  Moses and the Israelites were faced with the Red Sea in front of them and the Egyptian army closing in behind them.  What were they to do.  Look at Exodus 14:15, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:”  Just two verses prior to this God tells them to stand still and see the salvation of the LORD.  Now, He says to go forward.

We have some choices in life when we find ourselves against obstacles.  We can try to go around it.  We can attempt to go over it or we can just go on through it.  What is your response?  Better yet, what is God directing you to do?

So, how are you doing?

Go Out

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Yesterday I posted about the strong arm of the LORD.  I found that to be very encouraging and uplifting.  Today I would like to continue along those same lines.

Thinking about the strong arm of the LORD and the reality of it should bring us great joy.  Yet, we go through life looking like we were baptized in vinegar and lost our best friend.  This is usually a tell tale sign that our focus is wrong.  We get focused on the storms of life and we seem to forget the Saviour who commands the storms.

My wife had the privilege of being the keynote speaker for a ladies conference recently.  Their theme verse was Isaiah 55:12, “For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace:  the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”  This ladies conference was all about going out with joy.

Going out of what?  For you and I it would be going out of our trials and temptations with joy.  You might be wondering how this can be.  Well; it is simple really, you have to change your focus.  It is somewhat like photography.  If your subject is out of focus you need to make adjustments to the camera.  You do not throw the camera away and buy a new one.  Let me know if you do and I will take your old one.  No, if we are going to go out with joy we must put our focus on our LORD.  When we focus on Him all the background and foreground will go out of focus and we can go out with joy.  There is no big secret to this thing.  You simply make King Jesus your king by trusting Him for salvation and then you just keep focusing on Him and let the rest of the world blur and be out of focus.

So, how are you doing?

Turned

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The other day I was thinking about the passage in Jeremiah that speaks of the potter and the clay.  I thought about this turning of the clay.  The potter applies water to the clay to make it more pliable and as it turns the potter applies pressure to begin to mold the clay into a piece that the potter or some one else will find useful.

Take a look at this verse I was reading in Isaiah 34:9, “And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.”  You might be wondering what this verse has to do with my thoughts.  Well it goes right along with my thoughts for today.

When trials come into our lives the first thing we do is cry out to God and ask Him to deliver us from these trials.  Now let me dig a little deeper.  Have you ever considered the thought that maybe you and I are wrong in asking God to deliver us from this trial?  Maybe; just maybe, we are wrong in asking for deliverance.  Why?  Well, there is nothing that touches you and I that did not come from God.  Take a look at Job.  So; this being true, then God has planned from the foundation of the world for this trial to be a part of our life.  Yes!  A thousand times yes.  When we just sit around and beg for relief we are wasting this particular trial.  You see God is taking us through trials and such for a purpose.  He is using these trials and mold us into the person He created us to be.  Like Him.

So, how are you doing?

Giant After Giant

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There are days that our lives are smooth sailing.  There are those other days that are far from being smooth sailing.  When we face problems they can appear to us to be much larger than they really are.  I am guilty of looking at things and thinking that there is no way that I can make it through whatever it may be.

When we face these trials we can really relate them to the giants of king David’s day.  We seem to face more than one problem.  There were more than one giant.  Just like trials are a part of life so were the giants a part of life for God’s people for at least a certain amount of time.  A lot of times our problems seem so large to us.  When the spies returned from spying out the promised land they said that they saw themselves a grasshoppers in the eyes of the giants.  That makes them pretty big.

As long as we are alive on this earth problems will come our way.  Sometimes they will come wave upon wave.  Just like these giants, trials can seemingly come wave after wave.  We must keep our focus on God and His deliverance.  Look at II Samuel 21:22, “These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.”  I can imagine that it seemed like these giants would never be wiped out.  Yet, one day they were obliterated.

It is the same for us and trials.  One day trials will cease.  We will step out into eternity and I hope you are prepared for this.  If you do not know Jesus as your Saviour then contact me and get that settled quickly.  This way you can know for certain that heaven is your home and that Jesus is your Strong man who fights the battles for you.

So, how are you doing?

Love Of People 4

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Yesterday our Pastor told the following story about a farmer and his stubborn donkey.   The donkey was so stubborn that even the farmer who owned him could do nothing with him.  One day the farmer heard the donkey bray in a manner that said he was in trouble.  The farmer began to look for him.  Eventually he found the donkey.  It had fallen into a well.  This made the farmer so mad that he decided to bury the donkey alive.  He called all of his farmer friends to help.  They began to shovel the dirt into the well.  After a while of shoveling one of the farmers looked into the well.  To his amazement the donkey was not buried at all.  The farmer decided to watch and see what the stubborn donkey was doing.  Another shovel full of dirt came falling into the well.  The donkey stepped aside as the dirt fell.  He then stomped the dirt down with his hooves and waited for the next shovel full.  This mission of death then changed to a mission of rescue.  Eventually the well was filled up enough that the stubborn donkey walked out of the well under his own power.

This story caused me to think.  When someone is shoveling dirt at someone I know and love what is my reaction?  I can either participate at throwing dirt at the targeted person or I can not take part.  Maybe we need to be a friend to them and help them walk out of the well so to speak as others are filling the well with dirt in an attempt to bury the person.

Isn’t it funny how what others meant to kill was actually used to “build up” that person.  It is all in how you see the dirt being slung at you.  Remember the trials that do not kill you will make you better.  Look at I Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”  As my cousin Pastor Dale Byers would say, “Keep going for the LORD.”

So, how are you doing?