“If you have money, power, and status today, it is due to the century and place in which you were born, to your talents and capacities and health, none of which you earned. In short, all your resources are in the end the gift of God.”
― Timothy J. Keller
JOB 29-30
26Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, then came darkness.
27The churning inside me never stops;
days of suffering confront me.
28I go about blackened, but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29I have become a brother of jackals,
a companion of owls.
30My skin grows black and peels;
my body burns with fever.
31My lyre is tuned to mourning,
and my pipe to the sound of wailing.(30:26-31)
ACTS 12
Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. 20He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply.
21On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” 23Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
24But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.
JOURNAL
Suffering and fortune really seem to have no preference for who they visit. Job is a righteous man while Herod is full of himself and seeks to be worshipped. Part of the lesson from Job is that righteousness does not guarantee immediate success, just as evil does not guarantee immediate punishment.
Righteousness is really its own reward. God blesses in ways that the world cannot understand. For there is a peace in knowing God, knowing his spirit and experiencing his love. This is his kingdom come...God is the greatest gift and his gift of life is a gift which should never be taken for granted. If you have been born and have taken a breath on this earth then you are blessed. Too often I fall victim to comparisons and thereby miss the blessings right in front of me.
Today, we celebrate something that for many seemed impossible. To win independence from what at that time was considered the most powerful country and military in the world, was a ridiculous dream. “The reflection upon my situation and that of this army produces many an uneasy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep. Few people know the predicament we are in. January 14, 1776.” - George Washington. Yet it happened and 246 years later we are continuing to celebrate this unlikely reality.
Righteousness is really its own reward. God blesses in ways that the world cannot understand. For there is a peace in knowing God, knowing his spirit and experiencing his love. This is his kingdom come...God is the greatest gift and his gift of life is a gift which should never be taken for granted. If you have been born and have taken a breath on this earth then you are blessed. Too often I fall victim to comparisons and thereby miss the blessings right in front of me.
Today, we celebrate something that for many seemed impossible. To win independence from what at that time was considered the most powerful country and military in the world, was a ridiculous dream. “The reflection upon my situation and that of this army produces many an uneasy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep. Few people know the predicament we are in. January 14, 1776.” - George Washington. Yet it happened and 246 years later we are continuing to celebrate this unlikely reality.
PROVERBS 24:1
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