"For affliction does not come from the dust, Nor does trouble spring from the ground,
Yet man is born to trouble , As the sparks fly upward." The words of Eliphaz, the Temanite quoted from Job ch. 5 vs. 6 & 7.
Trouble just doesn't spring from the ground he says but we are born unto it. Sometimes I think old Eliphaz might have been on to something. It does seem ,however to spring up when you least expect it. I find that many times my troubles are self inflicted. The epistle of James in the New Testament talks about the power of the tongue and the devastation's it can bring
James 3:1-6 (New Living Translation)
James 3
Controlling the Tongue 1" Dear brothers and sisters,[a] not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.
3 We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. 4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.
But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell."
As I said many times I am the author of my own troubles and it's because I have said an unkind word or hurt someone else because of something I have said, foolishly, or in anger and even though I may have repented of it I can never take it back. More often than not it is to a loved one that we say some of these hurting words. And as you read the book of Job you will find that Eliphaz the Termite, that should read Temanite, got himself in hot water by saying things he shouldn't have said concerning Job, his friend. James says in verse 16 of ch. 3 "where envy and
self seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. Herein is the answer to much of our trouble, we lack wisdom...but James has an answer found in ch. 1 verse 3 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given him." Ask for wisdom from God so that you will say the right things even if provoked. Maybe you will have less trouble in your life. This is good advice for me also.
About Me
Friday, June 19, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
When trouble comes
The man James who wrote the epistle or letter that bears his name is considered by Bible scholars to be the same man to whom Paul refers to in Galations 1:19 as the Lord's brother. If this is true, and there doesn't seem to be any forcible argument to the contrary then we know that he had the best possible example to help him understand what life is all about. Life is about trouble...now I know that you probably do not want to hear about that subject, but let's face it, if there is one thing that is common to man it is that we all face at one time or another...trouble.
What do we do with trouble? James says: rejoice; count it all joy. Now the first thought that comes to mind is that James has spent too much time on his knees and has not been smelling the coffee. And he missed out on the roses also. (It was said of James that his knees were as those of a camel, he spent so much time on them.) Some would say that he was too heavenly minded to be any earthly good...some might say that. But James had a personal relationship with his heavenly Father and a divine revelation of who Jesus really is. And he says here in ch.1 verse 2, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials." That's how trouble comes doesn't it? You sort of fall into it. "So and so is always falling into trouble." Yeah, you fall into it, you don't look for it. James says continuing on in verse 3, "knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. vs. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete , lacking nothing." The test of faith...Enter Job, I've talked about Job in either this blog or the moreaboutHisWord blog that I have done previously. Job was a good man, in fact there was no one like him in all the earth, he was blameless and upright and he feared God, that reverential kind of fear, and he hated evil. He was the greatest man of all the people of the east, and that would mean that he was the greatest man in the known world at that time. Here is an example of the kind of man he was; He had seven sons and three daughters and by the way he was the richest man alive, his sons would have these feasts in their own houses, each having a special day for it (they might have declared it a holiday) and they would invite their sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would offer burnt offerings for them because he said, "my sons may have sinned and cursed God in their hearts The Bible says this did Job regularly
Enter Satan...Trouble (note the capital T.) Read it for yourself in chapters 1&2 in the book of Job. A quick summary says that Job lost everything that was dear to him; the only thing he had left was life itself, he even lost his health, and on top of all this for reasons that I can't quite understand...God allowed it to happen. To say that I know why would not be true. Even his wife turned against him....for better, for worse, 'til death do us part? Richer, poorer, all that stuff?
Enter Eliphaz the Teminite or perhaps he should have been called the Termite. He is supposed to be one of Job's best friends and he is there to comfort him, so what does he do? He says that Job has sinned and God is punishing him for it..."Job you are a sinner, you deserve what you get" ( That's my paraphrase.) So James, if Job had been listening to you, he should be rrejoicing right about now.....this is gonna be a long series I think. "But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."That is just what happened to Job; his patience is legendary. More later.....RC
What do we do with trouble? James says: rejoice; count it all joy. Now the first thought that comes to mind is that James has spent too much time on his knees and has not been smelling the coffee. And he missed out on the roses also. (It was said of James that his knees were as those of a camel, he spent so much time on them.) Some would say that he was too heavenly minded to be any earthly good...some might say that. But James had a personal relationship with his heavenly Father and a divine revelation of who Jesus really is. And he says here in ch.1 verse 2, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials." That's how trouble comes doesn't it? You sort of fall into it. "So and so is always falling into trouble." Yeah, you fall into it, you don't look for it. James says continuing on in verse 3, "knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. vs. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete , lacking nothing." The test of faith...Enter Job, I've talked about Job in either this blog or the moreaboutHisWord blog that I have done previously. Job was a good man, in fact there was no one like him in all the earth, he was blameless and upright and he feared God, that reverential kind of fear, and he hated evil. He was the greatest man of all the people of the east, and that would mean that he was the greatest man in the known world at that time. Here is an example of the kind of man he was; He had seven sons and three daughters and by the way he was the richest man alive, his sons would have these feasts in their own houses, each having a special day for it (they might have declared it a holiday) and they would invite their sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would offer burnt offerings for them because he said, "my sons may have sinned and cursed God in their hearts The Bible says this did Job regularly
Enter Satan...Trouble (note the capital T.) Read it for yourself in chapters 1&2 in the book of Job. A quick summary says that Job lost everything that was dear to him; the only thing he had left was life itself, he even lost his health, and on top of all this for reasons that I can't quite understand...God allowed it to happen. To say that I know why would not be true. Even his wife turned against him....for better, for worse, 'til death do us part? Richer, poorer, all that stuff?
Enter Eliphaz the Teminite or perhaps he should have been called the Termite. He is supposed to be one of Job's best friends and he is there to comfort him, so what does he do? He says that Job has sinned and God is punishing him for it..."Job you are a sinner, you deserve what you get" ( That's my paraphrase.) So James, if Job had been listening to you, he should be rrejoicing right about now.....this is gonna be a long series I think. "But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."That is just what happened to Job; his patience is legendary. More later.....RC
Monday, June 8, 2009
Calgary
We are in Calgary, once known as Cow Town. A nice city Calgary is; driven by the oil industry it has it's ups and downs but by and large it is a fairly prosperous city I would say. Nice homes, fancy and expensive cars...all the earmarks of comfort. In my minds eye I have envisioned what the world must have been like in Noah's day, they were buying, selling, marrying and giving in marriage... until the day the flood came and they all perished exept eight persons...Noah, his wife and his three sons and their wives. Now I don't know how large the world population would have been at that ime but that doesn't sound like a very large percentage of the population does it? And
Noah was a preacher of righteousness and he preached to this material society for 120 years a gospel of repentance, however only 8 made it into the ark. They were probably too busy for God, but they got a few laughs at the expense of this crazy preacher. And Jesus said " as it was in the days of Noah, SO SHALL IT BE IN THE DAY OF THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN. What a sobering thought. They weren't all party goers, many of them were just honest hard working citizens, no doubt but they were too busy for God. What will it be like when He comes again? Will you be ready?
\ that time ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,j,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Noah was a preacher of righteousness and he preached to this material society for 120 years a gospel of repentance, however only 8 made it into the ark. They were probably too busy for God, but they got a few laughs at the expense of this crazy preacher. And Jesus said " as it was in the days of Noah, SO SHALL IT BE IN THE DAY OF THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN. What a sobering thought. They weren't all party goers, many of them were just honest hard working citizens, no doubt but they were too busy for God. What will it be like when He comes again? Will you be ready?
\ that time ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,j,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Friday, May 29, 2009
When the salt loses its savour
Jesus said,"You are the salt of the earth" We live in a port city on Canada's east coast and as I look out of my window, I can see the harbour and port facilities from an excellent vantage point and as I do, I see what looks to be a huge pile of raw salt(unprocessed) No doubt it is waiting to be shipped all over the world. While I was looking at this huge pile of salt I began to reflect upon what Jesus says here in Matthew ch 5 verse 13, He said "if the salt has lost its savour(flavour in the modern translations) how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men."
If the salt has lost its flavour...now I probably am one who uses too much salt but I cannot stomach bland food. And neither can God stomach blandness in HIS CHILDREN. It happens in marriages; the flavour goes out of the marriage...people get tired of each other. It happens in churches, just look at the church at Ephesus, they did everything right, they lived right, they laboured right, they were patient, they could not put up with evil, they even put some so-called apostles to a test and proved that they were lying, they persevered and worked for Jesus' name's sake, but the love had gone from their worship, they had lost their first love their passion for God; the salt had lost its savour. Sometimes we take each other for granted....too many times we do that. And all too many times we take our soul's freedom for granted. In a marriage you need passion; I have been married to the same girl for almost 46 years and I can say unashamedly that my passion for her is as great as it has ever been maybe even greater. We need to be passionate about God and love Him first of all and foremost of all. The salt will lose its flavour if we don't take the necessary precautions.
If the salt has lost its flavour...now I probably am one who uses too much salt but I cannot stomach bland food. And neither can God stomach blandness in HIS CHILDREN. It happens in marriages; the flavour goes out of the marriage...people get tired of each other. It happens in churches, just look at the church at Ephesus, they did everything right, they lived right, they laboured right, they were patient, they could not put up with evil, they even put some so-called apostles to a test and proved that they were lying, they persevered and worked for Jesus' name's sake, but the love had gone from their worship, they had lost their first love their passion for God; the salt had lost its savour. Sometimes we take each other for granted....too many times we do that. And all too many times we take our soul's freedom for granted. In a marriage you need passion; I have been married to the same girl for almost 46 years and I can say unashamedly that my passion for her is as great as it has ever been maybe even greater. We need to be passionate about God and love Him first of all and foremost of all. The salt will lose its flavour if we don't take the necessary precautions.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Riding the crest
Some people seek popularity like a surfer would ride the crest of a wave. They have this thing that drives them and they have to be on top at all times. The problem with that is it is only a temporary condition, the wave breaks and down they come. In the book of Proverbs ch 18 verse 24 states "there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother"; backing up to ch 17:17 "a friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity" True friends are hard to find especially if you don't ride the popularity wave. We have some close friends and you can depend on them in time of need but there is one Friend Who you can depend on at all times, even when other friends may fail you. For one thing He always knows just what you need . His name is Jesus and the Bible says that He will never leave us nor forsake us. You can find Him if you seek for Him with all of your heart, soul and mind nd strength. If you need a friend today He is waiting to hear from you. Who is Jesus? He's that Friend that sticks closer than a brother.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Who is Jesus?//a series
Just who was Jesus anyway? Some say He was a man, better yet a few say that He is still a man...a good man but just a man. The Bible says, and you may be one who questions the Bible as to whether it is relevant today, that He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I prefer to believe the Bible rather than some flaky TV personality who can't even keep their own life straight. In fact it says in 1 Timothy 6:13-15 "I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession beforePontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing , which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the King of kings and Lord of lords," verse 16 says "who alone has immortality, dwelling in unaproachable light, whom no man has seen nor can see, in whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen."Rev. 19:16 says, "And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." I am not about to prove that the Bible is true...it will prove itself without my help. But I believe it with every fibre of my being. Jesus is the One who deserves all praise. He has given me eternal life...As the King of Kings and Lords of Lords, He is also the Image of the Invisible God. My next blog entry will talk about that title. Your comments are welcome on this blog or any other blogs Ihave prepared -
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
A forgiving nature
"Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; that your father in heaven may also forgive your trespasses." (Jesus in Mark 11:25 NRSV)
Jesus had just finished giving His disciples a practical lesson about faith, faith that can move a mountain but He concluded this by inserting into His faith message the necessity of forgiving anyone to whom the praying person had something against. Unforgiveness will hinder receiving answers to prayer. It will prevent you from removing the mountain that Jesus refers to in this passage. In fact unforgiveness may very well be the mountain that He is talking about. And it takes faith to remove the mountain of unforgiveness that is hindering your prayers. I have been in these situations, one in particular where a certain individual caused me much grief and has never said that they were sorry and usually avoids me and I find that tendency myself and one day I made it a point to go and shake that persons hand and every time I see them, I do just that. I have found that it works. It is a God like thing to do; it is a God quality. Forgiveness to another person gets the albatross off your back. Remember what Jesus said about forgiving your enemy and thereby heaping coals of fire on their heads? It will cause your enemy to become defenseless and you might even gain a brother. You will get an answer to your prayers. Try it...you might like it. RC
Jesus had just finished giving His disciples a practical lesson about faith, faith that can move a mountain but He concluded this by inserting into His faith message the necessity of forgiving anyone to whom the praying person had something against. Unforgiveness will hinder receiving answers to prayer. It will prevent you from removing the mountain that Jesus refers to in this passage. In fact unforgiveness may very well be the mountain that He is talking about. And it takes faith to remove the mountain of unforgiveness that is hindering your prayers. I have been in these situations, one in particular where a certain individual caused me much grief and has never said that they were sorry and usually avoids me and I find that tendency myself and one day I made it a point to go and shake that persons hand and every time I see them, I do just that. I have found that it works. It is a God like thing to do; it is a God quality. Forgiveness to another person gets the albatross off your back. Remember what Jesus said about forgiving your enemy and thereby heaping coals of fire on their heads? It will cause your enemy to become defenseless and you might even gain a brother. You will get an answer to your prayers. Try it...you might like it. RC
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