A Weekly Devotional – Endurance – Personal Meditation

A Weekly Devotional – Endurance – Personal Meditation

Comment: Have you ever heard of a man named Elihu? His father was of the family of Ram. Well if you have read the book of Job, you would know of him like I do. Elihu waited in silence to speak to Job because Job’s three friends were elderly and Elihu showed respect to the three, he expected them to help Job in his suffering and loss. If you take the time to read this book you will see that Elihu noticed that Job’s friends, even though they expressed wisdom and knowledge of God, they failed to establish a clear cut personal faith in God as they sought to assist or help in Job’s anguish. The first to speak; Bildad judged that Job’s sons and daughters sinned and Job went along with it. Second to speak ‘Zophar’ explained that Job had sinned and needed to repent. The third ‘Eliphaz’ accuses Job of a lack of knowledge before God and that Job treated God’s wisdom with folly. Thirty chapters (7-37) in Job reveal the misapplied knowledge of God in these four men who sought only to comfort Job while he endure the loss of family and health.

Devotional: Now there is a lot more laid out in the book of Job than we have time for, so I have chosen to write about endurance; “Endurance by Faith” and for this we will move to the Book of James 5:7-12. We do not know the length of time that Job listened to his friends. Nor do we really understand the suffering that Job experienced, but we do know that he was patient and persevering. He, like the prophets of old are examples for us to consider and follow.

All the false religious ideas of God’s dealing with Job were hurled at Job and all of the accusations about Job’s conduct before God are thrown in Job’s face, yet Job remain patient. While Job grumbled over his circumstances, he did not blame God. The details of living life are the result of living life fully and this happens while we wait for the LORD’s return. God is Judge over all the earth. Believers understand this, unbelievers do not.

God is standing at the door of enduring life, He is waiting for you and me to cross over the threshold. Our examples are men like Job and the prophets, not men like Bildad, Elihu, Zophar and Eliphaz. God is compassionate and merciful, while some men who are performance oriented are bitter. God’s plan for all His children is for us to receive the blessing (crown) of endurance. While there is still time, I challenge all of us to endure. Read the book of Job and be blessed. God has some very compassionate words for Job, see chapters 38 through the end 42.

A Weekly Devotional – Life – Personal Meditation

A Weekly Devotional – Life  – Personal Meditation

Comment: I am beyond three quarters of a century in age, I remember when I was just ‘two bits’, most people fifty years and younger do not know what ‘two bits’ is. Two bits is 25, four is 50, six is 75 and eight is 100. I have taken a term which is applied to money and used it as a symbol of time, only to show that what was a common term in days gone by, can be but a vapor in the mind of the elderly today. And of course, because I am elderly I can use this version of ‘bits’ as an illustration for anything I wish since life is less than an eight-bit VAPOR. 

If you wish to think about life, you can seek to agree with the evolutionist, that the earth is billions of years old. Yet these folks do not live longer than eight bits and what is left in the mind after 100, but a vapor! (see Psalm 90:10) Or, you could agree with God who is eternal, Who is, Who was and Who will always be. God has placed eternity in every heart of man, it is called the soul, it is the image of God, thus we all look for eternity. However, as Ecclesiastes 3:11 reveals, eternity is past finding out and so is the longevity of time, which again, is but a vapor. Also, in the book of Isaiah, chapter 64 verse 10 says that it is God who gives counsel of time and eternity because He knows the very beginning of time as well as He knows the very end.

Devotional: Meditate on these verses today and allow the Living Word of God to bless you and keep you.

Psalm 39:5 – Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah 

Psalm 39:11 – When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity, You make his beauty melt away like a moth; Surely every man is vapor. Selah

Psalm 62:9 – Surely men of low degree are a vapor, Men of high degree are a lie; If they are weighed on the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor.

James 4:14 – whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

A Weekly Devotional – The Times – Personal Meditation (4)

A Weekly Devotional –  – Personal Meditation

Comment: How many Bibles do you presently own? No doubt you have more than one! Some of us; like myself, have seven Bibles that I can see here in my office, this does not include my wife’s Bible. I have a Bible on my phone where I can review ALL the versions ever published. If someone is preaching or teaching from a Bible version I do not have, the app on my phone will bring it up immediately. Now if I were alone in this it would be one thing, but I am not alone, here in the U.S.A. the average family has at least one, while those who claim to be saved have at least one for every family member. So, now the point!

Devotional: The apostle Paul while writing to the Romans begins a discourse about Israel, Paul’s countrymen. Starting in Chapter 9:1 and finding a resting place for this discourse at Chapter 11:36 the apostle laments over his beloved nation. Israel rejected their Messiah – 9:1-5; Israel’s rejection was within God’s Purpose and Plan – 9:6-13; Israel’s rejection clashes with God’s Justice – 9:14-29; and Israel’s present condition – 9:30-33.

God’s Plan for the Nation of Israel now, like the Nations of the Gentiles is for all (both the Jew and the Gentile) to be saved by grace through faith. Israel is lost, in the same way the Gentile is lost through sin. The nation Israel is NOT replaced by the church. Chapter 11:1-10 – Israel’s rejection of Messiah is not TOTAL rejection, 11:11-33 – Israel’s rejection of the Messiah is not FINAL. 

The concluding point! Israel at the time of Paul’s writing of this epistle did not have a Bible in every family, nor did the average Gentile. If they went to the synagogue they would HEAR the Old Testament read to them. Being able to read and write had nothing to do with this, since it was the NORMAL way to hear the WORD in those days. Bibles were not widespread as they are today, and there was but one version, “GOD’s WORD”. 

Now you no doubt have read this verse a time or two, but as you read it now, HEAR what the apostle says; Romans 10:17 – Faith comes by HEARING and hearing by the Word of God. See too Colossians 4:16 and 1 Thessalonians 5:27. There is POWER and FAITH with the hearing of the Word. Sadly, today we “field strip” every word in the Bible, adopt versions that DUMB down the Truth, we believe the study notes of some professor over “Thus saith the LORD” and when it comes to obedience to God we would rather apply the Word to our circumstance.

With all of this going for us today, we are no better than Israel when they rejected their Messiah. Israel did not hold on to its confession of Faith, nor have we! We ought to have boldness to enter the Holy of Holies, are we not redeemed by the Blood of the Messiah? Are we not sanctified by a new and living way which He (Jesus) consecrated for us? His sacrifice (that is His flesh) split the veil in half. Study today Hebrews 10:19-25 and meditate on verse 25, so much more as you see the Day approaching. He, Messiah is coming again and soon!