If you listened to your radio in the seventies, no doubt you remember a song by the group "The Fortunes" called the Same Old Feeling and who knows, maybe you heard me introduce it! If you and I were to talk to believers about hard times they experienced, no doubt some would say "God allowed it because I was a horrible sinner!" (as if none of us are horrible sinners, right)? That's the same old feeling many believers have! Yes, sometimes God does punish us physically to get our attention because of sin and notice I did say, "sometimes". So then, how do you explain Job? Job was a good man, there's no doubt about that and yet he suffered tremendously and God allowed it!
The entire narrative of Job's story is much too deep to get into here but there's one verse in the book of Job which should be written in bold face, bright color, large font and its in the last chapter. Its Job 42:10. Despite having a horrible physical condition, losing everything including his family, Job could have complained and complained but what does verse 10 say he did? "....he prayed for his friends."
You and I have a fork in the road as we walk down the path of continued difficulties. We can complain to God, we can ask Him why He is allowing it, we can complain to others...or...we can provide the Christian response. We can trust in God and we can stop standing in front of a mirror and focus on others who need our prayers and that's what Job, a man of God did! We may never get an answer to why God allows certain things but what if we did? We would still have the problem. No matter what the difficulty you or I have in our lives, we know others who need our prayers. No, this is not some worn out cliche' like our parents used, its what a Godly person does. A good starting point is to find out if your church has a list of those who need prayer, especially the sick. I carry in my pocket a little folded index card which has examples of those healed in the Bible which I sometimes use when praying for the sick. There are people in your family and circle who need prayer and you can be the person to provide it. Focus on God and do what a Godly person does!
One final note regarding music...yes there were/are plenty of ungodly songs in popular music but correspondingly, sometimes what makes them ungodly are what meaning others attach to them. A song about love does not necessarily mean its about lust. For example, a song by Davy Jones, "I Really Love You" is fantastic in the correct pretense. Another was a song which at times, woke me up in the middle of the night as I used to sleep with a radio on to listen to a man playing Christian music so that I could fall asleep making fun of him in my mind! The year was 1979 the singer was Dan Peek (formerly of America) and the song was "All Things Are Possible!" You're on a computer reading this right now. Go to You Tube and please listen to this Dan Peek song!
Keep in touch!
The entire narrative of Job's story is much too deep to get into here but there's one verse in the book of Job which should be written in bold face, bright color, large font and its in the last chapter. Its Job 42:10. Despite having a horrible physical condition, losing everything including his family, Job could have complained and complained but what does verse 10 say he did? "....he prayed for his friends."
You and I have a fork in the road as we walk down the path of continued difficulties. We can complain to God, we can ask Him why He is allowing it, we can complain to others...or...we can provide the Christian response. We can trust in God and we can stop standing in front of a mirror and focus on others who need our prayers and that's what Job, a man of God did! We may never get an answer to why God allows certain things but what if we did? We would still have the problem. No matter what the difficulty you or I have in our lives, we know others who need our prayers. No, this is not some worn out cliche' like our parents used, its what a Godly person does. A good starting point is to find out if your church has a list of those who need prayer, especially the sick. I carry in my pocket a little folded index card which has examples of those healed in the Bible which I sometimes use when praying for the sick. There are people in your family and circle who need prayer and you can be the person to provide it. Focus on God and do what a Godly person does!
One final note regarding music...yes there were/are plenty of ungodly songs in popular music but correspondingly, sometimes what makes them ungodly are what meaning others attach to them. A song about love does not necessarily mean its about lust. For example, a song by Davy Jones, "I Really Love You" is fantastic in the correct pretense. Another was a song which at times, woke me up in the middle of the night as I used to sleep with a radio on to listen to a man playing Christian music so that I could fall asleep making fun of him in my mind! The year was 1979 the singer was Dan Peek (formerly of America) and the song was "All Things Are Possible!" You're on a computer reading this right now. Go to You Tube and please listen to this Dan Peek song!
Keep in touch!
