The Boy Scout motto is “be prepared.” It’s a code to live by, because urgent situations come up that require preparation. The moment when someone’s heart stops is not the moment to learn CPR. What will you do when you witness a car accident? What if your house is on fire? Being prepared means havingContinue reading “Be Prepared.”
Category Archives: Adversity
Bittersweet: Joy During Pain.
“Bittersweet” indicates the odd mix of pain and joy. The death of a loved one may be bitter, but if death follows a long illness, the grieving sometimes consider it sweet that the suffering is over. God can bring sweet satisfaction during suffering. Just ask the persecuted. They sometimes experience an intimacy with God theyContinue reading “Bittersweet: Joy During Pain.”
Have You Been Desperate for Rescue?
The people of Israel were desperate. Pharaoh was cracking the whip, forcing them to do hard work for long hours. Those who resisted endured the lashings—and then had to get back to work anyway. Pharaoh put cruel slave drivers in charge. The usual rule: be as cruel as you have to be, but don’t injureContinue reading “Have You Been Desperate for Rescue?”
God Will Rescue You–But Not Always in the Way You Might Have Hoped.
A friend turned his back on God thirty years ago. Today he is suffering a terminal illness. Another friend is convinced God may be using the illness to reach Doug, to bless him, in fact. What do you think of that? Can God “Bless you” with a disease that kills you? Can a terminal illnessContinue reading “God Will Rescue You–But Not Always in the Way You Might Have Hoped.”
Mutually Exclusive.
“Mutually exclusive” refers to two things that cannot both be true. Each one excludes the other. For example, result A may happen, or B may happen, but not both. A single coin toss may result in heads, or tails, but not both. Faith sometimes requires us to accept two possibilities that appear mutually exclusive, suchContinue reading “Mutually Exclusive.”
Job Encouraged Himself in His Faith.
Job is famous for his patience. James writes, “You have heard of the patience of Job” 5:11. A better translation of “patience” is the archaic word, “longsuffering.” The man endures. Job is also a gifted administrator, running a massive farming and trading enterprise. He is RICH. Moreover, he is godly, wise, and a devoted fatherContinue reading “Job Encouraged Himself in His Faith.”
Your Arm’s Too Short to Box With God!
Job lost his riches, his ten children, and his health. And Job was a man so righteous that God told Satan there was no one like Job on the whole earth (Job 1:8, 2:3). Clearly a man that righteous deserved an easy life. But God had other plans. So is God unjust? Job’s friends wereContinue reading “Your Arm’s Too Short to Box With God!”
You Can’t Stay Mad at God. Job 19.
Five men circle a tiny flame in the desert. Four sit on rocks. A fifth sits in the sand, stripped to the waist. He is covered with oozing sores, boils swollen and bruised like berries beneath the skin. He rubs ashes in the wounds, listening to a friend: “The light of the wicked is snuffedContinue reading “You Can’t Stay Mad at God. Job 19.”
Have You Ever Been Mad at God?
Have you ever been mad at God? Job actually wants to file a lawsuit against God! “If one wanted to take Him to court, he could not answer God once in a thousand times. God is wise and all-powerful… I could only beg my Judge for mercy. If I summoned Him [to court] and HeContinue reading “Have You Ever Been Mad at God?”
Courtroom Drama.
Like so many of the rich and powerful, Job seems to have spent his share of time arguing before judges. Then after his life has been all but destroyed, he repeatedly complains there is no judge to hear his case. Why not? Because it is God whom he wishes to sue. “If one wanted toContinue reading “Courtroom Drama.”
Household Words: 