The Small Branch

  I live in the woods.   There is a ring of grass around my house and then woods, including lots of weeds.   There are cacti around, which seems odd based on the climate and makes me wonder if someone dumped them out at one time.   There are also some weeds that have weird silvery leaves with spikes on the edges.   Today, I looked out of my window and one of the cacti has a beautiful yellow flower on top.   The spiky weed just a few feet away has a lovely purple bloom.   Isn’t it amazing how something so harsh, even painful, can have beauty come from it?   I am reading a book of Charles Spurgeon’s sermons from the book of Job (I’ll get to a book review on it when I finish).  Job suffered a lot and not because of anything he did or didn’t do.  Sometimes life is just hard.  Sometimes, God allows us to suffer so that we will have all the extra and unnecessary stuff stripped away and He can bless us with better.   That’s wh...

  121   (Biblical text in italics)   Compare this Psalm to Psalm 91 1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? 2 My help comes from Yahweh, Our help comes from the Lord through   His Word, His people (see Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, 2 Corinthians 1:10-11, and 1 Thessalonians 5:14), His Spirit, even His   arranging circumstances.  It does not always come in the form of a miraculous interventions.  Sometimes (often) we stay in the trial, but God gives   us what it takes to get to the other side of it.  God knows, better than we do, how these trials sanctify us and draw us closer to Him.  Who made heaven and earth.   The Lord is Creator and Sustainer (see Colossians 1:15-17) 3 He will not allow your foot to stumble; He who keeps you will not slumber.   This is unlike human guards who will fail because they must sleep. 4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Will not slumber and...

 The other day I was talking with someone who has been struggling for the last few years.  He wanted to present a theory.  He thought that perhaps God was very distant and didn't deal with the things on earth much.  His example was the holocaust.  How could God be involved and still allow things like that to happen?  Needless to say, I pointed him to verses about how God has numbered the hairs on our heads and takes care of us even more than the sparrows which He carefully watches over at all times.  But this morning, as I was reading in Acts, I found another example of God allowing tremendous persecution, including death.   Acts 8:1 says, "Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him (Stephen) to death.  And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles."  Verse 3 continues, "But Saul began ravaging the church, entering...

  2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (ESV) "7  So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.   8  Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.   9  But he said to me,  “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.   10  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." A lot of people quote verse 9 when others are struggling, but let's look at the context.  Paul has been given some kind of "thorn in his flesh" to torment him.  We don't know exactly what this means.  Some have proposed it is...

 A few weeks ago, God brought together the perfect storm of conviction for me and I began exercising again.  So far, I have worked out every day for just over two weeks.  Not much, I know, but it is a start.  While I am on the treadmill, I usually read, listen to sermons, or watch videos on RightNow Media.  This morning, I was reading Shepherding Women in Pain  by Bev Hislop.  In my exercises after the treadmill, I was pondering the chapter I had just read, all while sweating and groaning as my muscles struggled to work.  The author had made a very good point about the Western view of pain.  We always look at pain as something to avoid.  Something to be fixed.  Something that is just plain wrong.  This viewpoint often leads to very unhealthy reactions to pain.  As I was feeling the pain in my workout, I realized that this is true, except in the gym.  Anyone who exercises will tell you "no pain, no gain."  We all ...

 Have you ever thought that?  Said it?  Turned your back on God because you believed it?  Looked for life in other places because you were sure you had blown it too badly?  Today I want to look at one example that might help put some of those lies to rest. Acts 7:23-24 says, " When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites.    He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. "  So Moses is a murderer.  He was defending someone else, but still, he killed someone.   But then Stephen continues in verses 35-38, " This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.   He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years i...

 Life is rough.  There is never a doubt in anyone's mind about this truth.  Life is hard.  Sometimes, we get knocked down by circumstances completely beyond our control.  Sometimes, we get knocked down as a consequence of a bad choice.  But, no matter what knocks us down, God is faithful.  No matter how we suffer, God is faithful.   Psalm 119:75 says, "I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me."  Even when the turmoil is a direct result of our own actions, God faithfully allows us to suffer in affliction to bring us back to Him.  It is the discipline of a good, good Father (Hebrews 12:10).   When we are suffering because of circumstances out of control, He is also faithful.  Psalm 119:49-50 says, "Remember the word to Your servant, In which You have made me hope.  This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your word has revived me."  We are revived by the Word of ...

 Have you ever felt like asking God why something is happening to you?  Why are you suffering, when you are trying to be obedient?  Why does it hurt?  The world has filled us full of lies about suffering.  The world tells us that, if we are good enough, we won't suffer.  But that just isn't the case.  This morning I was reading Luke 23:32-43.  Take a moment to read that passage. Do you see the different ways Jesus, the women, the crowds, the soldiers, the religious leaders, and the people in general look at suffering?  Followers of Jesus are asking "Why?"  The rest of the people are mocking Him, saying that He couldn't possibly be Messiah because He is suffering.  But how does Jesus look at it?  Jesus sees the purpose of His suffering, so He can suffer with humility, dignity, and honor.  He knows that there is a reason He is suffering, and it is love for us that allows Him to see that reason, the joy of it all (Hebrews 12:...

     We are doing a study called Job: A Story of Unlikely Joy  by Lisa Harper (Lifeway Press 2018) in our Bible study at church.  Job is a book about suffering.  It tells us that the "health and wealth" gospel has been around for a long time and was just as much a lie then as it is now.  This week, we have been looking at "wound care" using Elihu's discourses from chapters 32-37.      I have been struggling with one main thing this week - what is suffering?  Job suffered the loss of his children, his wealth, and his health, not even to mention the loss of respect and friendship that seems to go along with those.  His were huge, obvious sufferings.  Lisa Harper mentions some huge, obvious traumas in her life as she discusses these sufferings.  But what if we haven't had the huge, obvious sufferings?  Personally, I think I have lived a pretty charmed life.  I was never abused in any way.  My parents love...