God Speaks to Job*

I have come to the last chapters of Job. After all this time God speaks to Job and his three friends. Here there is no mention of Elihu. God speaks to Job out of a storm. God tells Job of some of his majestic creations the Behemoth and the Leviathan. Is the Leviathan a crocodile or a whale. it really doesn't matter, or the Behemoth, is it a rhino? Who can match God's creations? God is angry with Job's friends and tells them to sacrifice seven bulls and seven rams and have Job pray for them. God says he will accept Job's prayer. Who can imitate God's creative ability? I see some of the beautiful scenery different ones post on Facebook, who can match God''s creative ability? If we look at the universe, the galaxies and solar systems all held in place by God's command. Man tries to duplicate God, we try to clone a sheep but think of God's creation made from nothing. A clone starts with something, God created all from nothing. We make millions of identical items as we create on an assembly line, God's creations, including us humans are individual, no two alike. If it's the trees in the forest or the animals on the plains, no two are identical. Even identical twins have differences that we do not always see. God's creations remake themselves in some manner.  God brings us low, once again we see God desires humility.

7“Brace yourself like a man;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me.

8“Would you discredit my justice?

Would you condemn me to justify yourself?

9Do you have an arm like God’s,

and can your voice thunder like his?

10Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor,

and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.

11Unleash the fury of your wrath,

look at all who are proud and bring them low,

12look at all who are proud and humble them,

crush the wicked where they stand.

13Bury them all in the dust together;

shroud their faces in the grave.

14Then I myself will admit to you

that your own right hand can save you. Job 40:7-14

11Who has a claim against me that I must pay?

Everything under heaven belongs to me. Job 41:11

Who can do what God does? This is God speaking out of the storm. Can we speak out of a storm, or a burning bush?  Can we send a Whale to save Jonah? Can we turn bad into good as God can? God blesses Job once again and he lives another 140 years and is blessed beyond what he had at the beginning of his trial. God is sovereign, God desires humbleness of heart when we come to him. Can we look at God's creation and recognize there is a God that created us all.  God bless, LVZ.

Elihu Speaks

10“So listen to me, you men of understanding.

Far be it from God to do evil,

from the Almighty to do wrong.

11He repays everyone for what they have done;

he brings on them what their conduct deserves.

12It is unthinkable that God would do wrong,

that the Almighty would pervert justice.

13Who appointed him over the earth?

Who put him in charge of the whole world?

14If it were his intention

and he withdrew his spirit ^a and breath,

15all humanity would perish together

and mankind would return to the dust. Job 34:10-15 
When God speaks at the very end, he does not include Elihu in his corrections. It seems to be be that Elihu's words were correct. The other three friends are told to sacrifice animals and have Job pray for them. Elihu seems to have been listening and he tells them they are both wrong. God does not do evil. When God allows sickness on individuals it is to correct spiritual errors. Someone once said God does not waste a trial. He uses all for our good. Once again we hear God is sovereign and if he with drew fromus we would die. God gives breath and life.  It is not over until God says it is over. I think of my mother who wanted to go so badly, the last year of her life bedridden. In God's time God took her. I think of a man locally that wanted to take his own life but sitting on the train tracks. He survived. The cattle guard thing at the front of the engine threw him off the tracks. he is crippled but still alive.  It is not over until God says it is over. I think of different people I know, It seems to be so much easier to see error in others than in our own selves, it seems God is using sickness or affliction to correct  spiritual problems. Pride, is a big issue with some. Often I will ask is there  something I am not seeing in my own life that God has allowed affliction to come upon me. Is God correcting me? Sometime we are blind to our own sin. Or perhaps we always consider our sin to be smaller than others sins. God is righteous in his judgments.When God allowed Joseph to be sold into slavery by his own brothers, at the the end in Genesis 50:20, what Josephs brothers meant for evil, God meant for good. He used the selling of Joseph into slavery to save even the brothers from starvation in a seven year famine. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17.
The good that we receive in this life comes from God above. God does not change, he is always good. I don't understand everything God does, but I trust God, he has shown himself to be faithful and always does things for my good. God has a view that ranges far into the future that we cannot see. And often as we live longer, we later understand as Joseph did, God meant it for good. 19But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:20. God bless, LVZ.

Its the Haystack, Not the Needle

17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17.  I am still reading in Job but I had to write about this while it was still in my mind. Have you ever wondered whether you are in the will of God? Pastor explains things so well. I have many times, in fact all my life I wondered if I was selfish by working at a secular job. Not everyone is cut out to be a Pastor or an evangelist or teacher of the word. I certainly don't explain things like my Pastor. But sometimes searching for the will of God is like looking for the needle in the haystack. Am I doing the one thing that God had planned for me? In fact even more recently I wondered, have I missed God's will when I moved to Mississippi. Especially when something goes wrong. In life things just go wrong.  So I guess I can still relate this to Job a little. Things went wrong in his life and especially when his friends were  telling him he was wrong and that is why the troubles befell him.  This scripture above makes sense. Its the haystack we should be paying attention to, and not always looking for the needle.  "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus." There it is, don't look for the needle in the haystack. But in everything you do, do it in the name of the Lord. All through life, your job, where you live, your hobbies, everything, the haystack man. Do it in the name of the Lord Jesus.  So many times we spend too much time looking for the needle when it is the haystack God is after. God wants to be part of all of our life.  Yes we do need to seek his will and ask for guidance. But whatever you do, do it all in the name of Jesus.  God wants to be sovereign in our lives. When you see the bumper sticker, "God is my co-pilot", they have it wrong. God wants to be the pilot where ever we go. He wants to direct us not just go along for the ride. When thinking about the needle in the haystack, it made it so clear, God is after our whole life.  When we become a Christian in that instant when we confess our sins and repent of our sins. When we ask God into our hearts and direct our lives. It is not just about that one instant.  It is a life long journey. We don't know it all at the start, in fact we are learning our whole lives. It is a lifestyle of submitting our will to God. Do everything: whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.  We repent more than once. Every time as we live and see something in our lives that shouldn't be, we repent and submit it to God. It is the Haystack and not the Needle God is after. God bless, LVZ.

Job Continued*

It seems a fourth friend of Job has shown up in chapter 32.  Job has maintained that he lived by the word of God. He does not accept his friend's judgments against him. I really don't know what to make of the book of Job. Here is a good man by God's own words. God is proud of Job, but God allowed Job to be tested, not because Job did anything wrong. Yet each of his friends seems to think destruction is from the Lord because of sin. I would not know where to put Job in a timeline but it seems he has had some of God's words to live by, at least parts of the Old Testament. He says he has opened his home to the traveler. Widows and fatherless are mentioned in these chapters, and it seems Job has helped them. It seems to me that these so-called friends of Job would be more of a discouragement than a help. None of these friends seem to have words of encouragement. Just trying to tell Job what he has done wrong for these troubles to come upon him. Job is down and in the bitterness of soul.

14If it were his intention

and he withdrew his spirit ^a and breath,

15all humanity would perish together

and mankind would return to the dust. Job 34:14-15
These are Elihu's words chapter 34. What would happen if God withdrew from us? He is uninvited to our schools, and then we wonder why the bad that is happening. The Freedom From Religion sent a letter to the Lee County schools with a couple of pictures taken from within one of our schools. One was a picture showing a Lion or Tiger and some other animals with six words on the bottom. You would have to be a person that attends Sunday School to even know those words came from the Bible. There was no chapter and verse given.  How ridiculous to control our lives in such a manner. It makes me angry and I think we should stand up and say no more. Fill the courts with cases across the land. What would happen if we told God to get out? God is a sovereign God.  Yes, we know he allowed this to happen to Job via Satan's work. But why should God not withdraw himself when we tell him to get out? We Christians have made a mistake when we did not stand up when prayer was taken out of schools. We allowed a minority to dictate their beliefs on all of us. Our country was founded on the principle of Freedom of Religion, not this freedom from religion garbage. They did not make a state religion at the beginning of our country but even Ben Franklin, considered to be the most nonreligious of our founding fathers asked why they did not pray when their work to establish this great nation was facing difficulty. Our founding fathers believed in God and asked for his help in establishing this great nation. We make a mistake when we ask God to get out. Think about a world with no moral code, who will tell you it is wrong to take what is mine?  God's ways are higher than our ways, and his commands are for our benefit. O that we could learn from the mistakes of the past and do better. I think we should think this through, what would the world be like with no moral code to guide us? Is there honor among thieves?  Is there respect for others without a moral code? We have watched what happens to those that want to dictate every aspect of our lives in socialist countries around the globe. They destroy, it may sound good in the beginning but look what happens after just a few years of Socialism. Take a look at what happens when there is no moral code only a government to guide us. In recent history, they destroyed help sent to feed their starving. Tell me how this is better than what we had from the beginning of our country. Christians have started countless hospitals and schools across our nation. Food pantries and all sorts of help have been started by God's people. We do not go to foreign lands and behead people that don't believe like us, like the followers of Allah. Destroy the infidel that does not believe like us. If we were like that you would not see groups like Freedom from Religion. Take that group to a Muslim country and see what happens. We won't know how good we have it until it is taken away.  They kill the infidel which is anyone that does accept their religion, Christians are told by scripture to love even our enemies. Do you really want socialism or worship Allah?  We will not realize what we have lost until it is gone. Think of groups like Samaritans Purse that go around the world to help in disasters. Or look up Eight days of Hope and other groups like them. Started by Christians to help any and everyone. Yes during their help they may pray with others and tell them about the God they serve. Do we really truly want a godless nation? There is a big difference between a nation that will behead you if you don't believe like them and a nation who's God tells you to love even your enemies.   God help us. God bless, LVZ.

Friends?

As I am reading Job I am amazed at his friends. Chapter after chapter they critique Job's life. We know having read from the beginning that God was pleased with Job. But they do not let up, again and again they tell Job his trouble is because he has done wrong. As I am reading this I think they are part of Satan's plan to destroy Job. We need friends, but friends that give bad council, we do not need. Several times Job has told them to stop and leave him alone, but they do not. We too if we are not careful can listen to the wrong voice. We often see the little cartoon characters sitting on our shoulders, the little red devil with his pitchfork on one side and the little white angel with his halo on the other. Both whispering into our ears their council.  It is a lot like that in life, we have influences. I remember a Christian lady I worked with, giving me advice when I went through my first divorce. That advice did not agree with the word of God. I had good intentions to follow God faithfully but sometimes we do listen to the wrong voice. How do we know God's voice? It agrees with the written word of God. We walk with God awhile and as we walk we learn his voice.  Sometimes in life we need to lose well meaning friends when their advice is not good.  We need to surround ourselves with those that will tell us when we are wrong and not just be yes men, but also encourage us in the right way. Encourage us in the ways of God. There is no truer friend than God. We need to walk with God and like young Samuel, say speak Lord for they servant is listening. I am up to chapter 22 in Job and the friends of Job are still at it, tearing him down. With friends like that who needs enemies? God bless, LVZ.

An Object Lesson

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? Matthew 18:12.  The children's minister was using this story as her lesson for Hope Town Kids. I don't remember if she was using the scripture from Luke or this one. There are a lot of Kids and with the helpers they divide them into two groups. As the two groups were traveling from one room to the other one little orange shirt boy left the group. I was just sitting there on safety patrol that morning. I thought perhaps he just went to the bathroom so I didn't stop him. He didn't come back. As the children's minister walked by, I said you lost one. A little boy in an orange shirt went that way but he hasn't come back. A concerned look came over her face and I realized I should have stopped him. We got the safety team involved looking for the lost boy. We checked everywhere, bathrooms, other rooms, around the outside of the building. Finally I went into the sanctuary and towards the back I saw two different orange shirted little boys. I told the children's minister I found two but since I don't know these kids that well. I'm not sure if it is him. She had her helper continue with the lesson as she checked to find the lost little boy. It was him, he wasn't feeling good so he just took off to sit with his parents, but he didn't tell anyone, he just left the group. I almost felt like this was orchestrated by God as leaving the group to find the lost one was the actual lesson for that Sunday. And that is what the children's minister did.  The group was safe in the hands of her helpers, but she needed to know where the lost one was. And she went to find him. The children saw her leave the group to find the lost one.  I was that little lost sheep some years ago. I had become disgruntled with what I perceived to be wrong and left church. I had a bad attitude and everything. But God didn't let me go. He went after me. I had not been to church in years but one Sunday night my first Father-In-Law called me and asked if I'd bring Jenie up to sing a song at his revival. I said sure no problem. I thought to myself I can sit through another church service. I took her and went, I sat on the very back row. The serviced progressed, all the normal church service stuff, like the song service, the offering, the special song etc. Then the evangelist got up to the pulpit to start his sermon. He said: Leon, someday you will stand before God and give an answer for your life. God is not going to ask you who hurt you or who did what to you. He will have one question, have you accepted or rejected his son Jesus. That is the only thing that will matter on that day. God had been dealing with me even before that service, but I made my way to the altar and repented of my sins. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since that day. But something changed that day. I still went through a lot of troubles, divorced four times, but never quit. I saw challenges on the job where I really did want to quit but kept going. God changed my life that day. It didn't happen over night but a lot of healing took place in my heart since that day. I was that lost sheep many years ago but Jesus sought me and brought me back into relationship with him. My troubles didn't end, but Jesus walked through them with me.  God bless, LVZ.

What Makes Me A Christian?

I can count the Sundays I missed church in the past twenty years on my hands. That doesn't make me a Christian, I served three years as a deacon at my church. That doesn't make me a Christian.  I attend Sunday School, maybe not as much as I attend regular church but it still doesn't make me a Christian. I pay tithes on my income and have done so for many years, but that doesn't make me a Christian. I pray and read Gods word everyday, but that doesn't make me a Christian. Over the years I have preached sermons in the house of God, but that still doesn't make me a Christian. I write this blog about what I read in God's word on a daily basis, or pretty regular, but that doesn't make me a Christian. Some may look at those actions and say it sure looks like a Christian to me. I can do any of those actions without actually being a Christian.  I ask a blessing over my food, but it may be commendable but it doesn't make me a Christian.  Even adding all these works up over the 35 years doesn't buy me entrance into heaven. Then what does make me a Christian?  Over thirty five years ago I came to an altar and repented of my sins. I asked Jesus to come into my heart and life that night many years ago. I do these things because of what happened that night. If I told you I haven't sinned since that night, I'd be lying. A few weeks ago on a road trip in Texas a man asked me when was the last time I repented,  I said probably last night. It is a free gift of God, that he gives when we ask. I cannot earn it, I cannot work my way into heaven.  7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.  1 John 1:7-10.   For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, Ephesians 2:8,  It is simply through faith, confessing our sins to him and asking Jesus to come into our hearts. All these works don't buy me anything. I am a Christian simply because I asked  Jesus to come into my heart and life. I haven't come through my trials squeaky clean but I have repented many times. It is because of what happened 35 years ago, I do these things. It is a way of life that started because of what happened at the cross 35 years ago. I will not tell you life has been perfect, it hasn't, but Jesus walked with me through every difficulty I have faced since that day.  I can say with Job:  25For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.  Job 19:25
  God bless, LVZ.

Job 13

In Job 13 we read these verses. Job has incredible faith in God.

15Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;

I will surely ^a defend my ways to his face.

16Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance,

for no godless person would dare come before him!

9Would it turn out well if he examined you?

Could you deceive him as you might deceive a mortal?

Though he slay me yet will I hope in him. Job was not there when God and Satan talked about him. He didn't know God was allowing him to be tested. Yet in his misery he says though God slay me yet will I hope in him. Job has no other hope, he feels he could stand before God and defend his ways. His friends are not being helpful, Job tells them so and they can leave, he will put his hope in the God he knows.  Verse nine Job asks his friends, would it turn out well for you if God examined you. You cannot deceive God as you can deceive a mortal.  God sees into the heart, into our inner being. There is nothing hid from God. We cannot fool him with our words, he sees to our motives and our hearts. Many times over the years God has shown me false motives in my heart. Some times difficulties would show me things in my heart that I didn't know were there. It is good to come before God and examine ourselves periodically. That is the purpose of communion, we eat the bread and drink the juice and examine our hearts. God is there anything I need to correct in my life.  Job in spite of his great trouble did not charge God foolishly. Remember everything is taken from him, his camels, his donkeys, his sheep and goats. His children were all killed on the same day. His wife tells him to curse God and die. His friends call him a hypocrite, but yet he says though God slay me yet will I hope in him.  God bless, LVZ.

Job Continued

Now all three of Job's friends have spoken and seem to think Job is guilty of something.  Job maintains his innocence. As far as Job knows he has done nothing to deserve his calamity. We being on the outside of this conversation know from the beginning that God allowed Job to be tested. In Jesus day there was a blind man that came to Jesus and the disciples asked who sinned, the man or his parents that he was born blind. Jesus replied neither, this was so God could be glorified.
1As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. John 9:1-7
This calamity did not come upon Job because he sinned. Many times we perhaps also look to material or physical things to judge the spiritual. God makes it rain on the just and the unjust alike. Job's friends are looking on this calamity and accusing Job of sinning and being a hypocrite. Some times God uses things and situations to show his power his sovereignty. We do not see as God does. God does not look at our stature or our good looks or lack of it. God looks on the heart. O that we could in this day and age learn to look on the heart and judge people not by what they possess but by the content of their heart.  Integrity is so important, do we just talk a good walk or do we live it. All of us have a history. It seemed history of an individual did not seem so important till recent days. Now all of a sudden we are looking back even 40 and 50 years to condemn people. All of us have a history, and I am not proud of my history. If we repent before God and live righteously today isn't that what matters. It is not where we have been that counts but where we are headed. Since Trump has been in office and even before he has been scrutinized and still is.  We have never  in my lifetime seen anyone's life so examined as Trump. In the not so distant past the same people that are finding fault in so many today were the same ones that gave Bill Clinton a standing ovation when he survived his impeachment proceedings. God continues to look on our hearts and not our past. When God forgives, he removes our sins as far as the east is from the west, to view them no longer. The blind man nor his parents sinned to cause him to be blind. The calamities that befell Job were not because he sinned. One thing that seems to stand out is God is sovereign and we do not always understand his ways or see everything he is doing. It was said by someone that God does not waste a trial, he is at work in our hearts. One thing is for sure God knows us better than we know ourselves, and he sees into the hearts and the motives. God is sovereign, whatever happens is the message I hear over and over.  God bless, LVZ.

Job 4 and 5

I think we can learn from Job. Not being in the middle of Job's pain and seeing it from the outside. Knowing in the first couple of chapters God was proud of Job, allowed this affliction to come upon him to show Satan that Job was a man of integrity.  Job lived his life in plain view of everyone, he did not hide his belief in God. We make false assumptions when we equate prosperity with Godliness.  God does not put on us more than we can bear.  Why would a loving God bless us to our downfall? I remember a preacher of many years ago stating that fewer can handle the cup of prosperity than the cup of poverty. We become self sufficient, we don't need God, yet many a time those in poverty depend upon God. In reading the commentary it seems the first of Job's friends to speak is calling Job a hypocrite. I grew up in a legalistic environment and we were taught holiness and perfection. I did not see it in m own life. I believe I could identify with 1 John 1: 8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.1 John 1:8-10.
It is not our works that define us, our perfection is found in God, If we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us. It was troubling for me to hear perfection preached and not see it in my own life. Yet I find comfort in the scripture above. I have an advocate with God the father, when I sin, I can take it to him and he will forgive and cleanse my heart. Christians are not perfect, they become a Christian in an instant when they give their heart and life to God through a simple prayer of repentance. But we learn over a life time of how to live before God. A baby doesn't take one step and them he can walk like an adult. It takes effort and many falls and soon we are walking everywhere. We grow, we use our muscles and our skill at walking and many other things develop over time. Our perfection is in Christ. When God looks at a life given to Jesus, he sees Jesus. God doesn't see our sin, we are forgiven.  But we do not practice sin, we work to overcome it, through repentance. If we sin, it should bother us and we should take it to God. It is not my works that have saved me, it is simply the grace of God who forgives all our iniquities.Job didn't understand why this calamity fell on him, yet he trusted God. I don't understand everything I have been through, but I believe it is God that brought me through it. Lynda Randal sings a song God on the Mountain is still God in the Valley. When things go wrong, he make them right. The God of the good times is still God in the bad. The God of the day is still God of the night. Job maintains his integrity and so must we, trust God through it all.The good, the bad, the mountain top and the valley, they all belong to God. God is sovereign. I think perhaps that is the key, God is sovereign, he is always on his throne, what ever happens. We may like Job not understand, but like Job must continue to trust. God bless. LVZ.

Job 3

Here Job and his friends that came to comfort him have been sitting for seven days and seven nights without saying a word.  Then here in chapter three Job speaks.
20“Why is light given to him who is in misery,
and life to the bitter in soul,
21who long for death, but it comes not,
and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
22who rejoice exceedinglyand are glad when they find the grave? Job 3:20-22.
Job questions his very birth. He is in torment with sores all over his body and and he longs for the grave, just to be over his misery. Job does not understand what is happening to him. He finds no joy in his affliction. He does not know that God has allowed this upon him to show Satan and the world, even us to day. Job did not have the book of Job to read in his day. Perhaps he was familiar with the law of Moses, he eschewed evil.   We do see people today, and I remember my mother, so longing to go to leave this earth. The last year of her life was bed ridden, and she just wanted to go. My Grandfather, Christ Hauff, in his eighties, just wanted to go. They could have put in a pace maker and extended his life, but he said: I have had a good life, just let me go. He didn't want any more days, and God indeed did take him. And so it seems in the end of our days, as health fails us, perhaps we too long to go. Life has been good but we don't want to suffer. That is the way with Job here in the third chapter.  He don't understand but he does not charge God foolishly. If we have been forgiven of our sins, we have our ticket bought to our eternity in heaven. One man says it is like having a bus ticket but your hoping the bus doesn't come, at least not yet. O that we could trust God in everything as Job did. God bless, LVZ.

Job

As I continue to read in the Old Testament I come to the book of Job.  Here is a good man that loves God and God has blessed him. Satan presents himself to God with the other angels. God asks what Satan is doing. Satan replies going up and down, to and fro in the earth. Have you considered my servant Job, God asks? Satan says, you have him protected, removed your hand and he will curse you to your face. God allows Satan to afflict Job. In one day all his sheep, oxen, camels, donkeys and all he had is either taken or destroyed. Even Job's children are killed and taken from him. Job gets word of the disasters and he kneels and prays: 20Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:20-21. Job still blesses the the name of God in spite of all the calamity that has come upon him. God is still sovereign, and we need to recognize God no matter what happens to us in life. Bless God in all things. In all they ways acknowledge God. In everything that happens in life, acknowledge that God is sovereign. As Job says, the Lord gives and the Lord can also take it away.  Bless the Lord.
5Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
6In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
7Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
8It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones. Proverbs 3:5-8.
We are taught here to acknowledge God in everything, in the good and the bad. God is sovereign. God has seen everyone of our days before one of them happens. Nothing is hid from God. I don't think it was anything great that Job had done. He just trusted God,  We saw in Genesis where Enoch walked with God and God took him. We saw in 2 Kings where God took Elijah in a whirlwind. There was something about them that pleased God and here is Job and God tells Satan there is none like him. God was pleased with Job so much that he held him up as an example to Satan.  Job trusted in God so that even when everything as far as the wealth of this world was taken, he trusted God. Before that, when he was wealthy, he trusted God. Then when his health failed because of Satan's attack, he still trusted God.  That is what we are to learn here, to trust in God even when things go so terribly wrong and we don't understand why.  God bless LVZ. 

God bless, LVZ, 

Esther

And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? 3For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people. Esther 10:2-3.  I have finished reading the book of Esther. This is during the time when the Jews have been taken captive to Persia. You can see the mighty hand of God at work to protect his people during their captivity. Esther is a Jew that was one of those taken into captivity. She is being raised by an Uncle Mordecai. King Ahasuerus is throwing a party and he requests his queen to come to the party so he can show her off. She is a beautiful woman. Queen Vashti refuses and the King consults his advisers as to what to do. The king must remove her from being queen, it is a bad example to all the women in the kingdom and the king must select a new queen. Esther is chosen of all the beautiful women that come before the king to be the new queen.  It is not known that she is a Jew. One of the top officials in the kingdom wants to kill all the Jews and to kill Mordecai the Uncle of Esther. But Mordecai  some time earlier had overheard a plot to overthrow the king and reports it. It is investigated and found to be true.  Haman the high official in the kingdom who is plotting to kill Mordecai and all the Jews in the kingdom is ordered by the king to parade Mordedai through out the city in royal robes to honor Mordecai for his faithfulness to the King. Haman does as is ordered and is humiliated and angry. He plots to kill Mordecai and builds a fifty foot tall gallows to hang Mordecai on.  Mordecai and the Jews fast and pray to God when they hear of the plans of Haman. Mordecai tells his niece the queen what is happening and asks her to intervene. Queen Esther has a royal banquet prepared and invites the King and Haman to the banquet. After the second night of the banquet, Esther asks that her life and the lives of all Jews be spared. The king asks who has done this, and Esther replies it is Haman. Haman is hung on the gallows he prepared for Mordecai. A decree is issued and the Jews are allowed to kill those that were going to destroy them.  God is sovereign and he turns around the plot to destroy his people and the very gallows built for Mordecai is used to hang the man that plotted to destroy the Jews. Over and over again, we see a sovereign God manipulating situations even in governments to protect his people. I believe we saw the same at work in our nation today. Remember never Trump during the last election? The media and everyone seems to be against him. It turns around. And it still seems to continue. 90 plus percent of the main line news media is against Trump. But God is sovereign and he can use what is meant for evil against his people and turn it against their enemies. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. Genesis 50:20. Here are the words of Joseph found in Genesis 50:20. Josephs brothers meant to harm him, but God turned it around to save them all.  God is sovereign.
 God bless, LVZ. 

Road Trip

I went on a road trip and just returned. My laptop broke so I was out of commission until I returned. There is a lot of beautiful country and even though I take pictures, they are never as good as what I saw. Many are the things I would like to take pictures of and the animal or bird disappeared before I was ready. I spent a lot of time in Texas along the southern coastline and the border with Mexico. I meant to get all the way to El Paso, but didn't make it that far. There is a lot of variety in Texas from Prickly Pear cactus to sage brush and nice forests in the eastern side.  I talked with a couple of people about their thoughts on the border. Three were of Mexican decent.  One said his mother came across and he was born here. They went back and came again when he was nine. He was a young man in his twenties and didn't think we needed a border fence. He was working at a Laundry mat where I washed some clothes. It was done on an app on your IPhone. Select the machine and pay with your phone app. Another man was drinking a beer at a home near the border fence and didn't like it either. He used to go back and forth, now you need a pass port. The third was a retired Police Officer who was on the  Corpus Christi Police force for some 30 years. He was born here. He believed we need the Border Wall \ Border Fence, what ever you call it. It is mainly to cut down on the drugs and the bad guys coming across the border.  I saw many areas where it was easy to cross and plenty of scrub trees and terrain to hide. I did see border fence in a couple of City areas. I believe they are needed. I tried to talk to another Mexican, an older man, No speak English, he said. He was chopping what looked like sunflower plants and other weeds in an area near the border and throwing them into the back of his truck. He also said Cheep Eat. Some how he was planning on eating the weeds he was chopping off and throwing into his truck.  I feel blessed. I saw a lot of poor people. I wonder what life could have been like if I had not been blessed with a good job most of my life. I understand that there are a lot of under privileged people in the world. But I still think we as a nation need to protect our borders just as we do our homes. I would not be safe if I let anyone that wanted to to come in my home with unlocked doors. Soon I would have nothing. So it is with our country. I don't think I am better than anyone. It rains on the just and the unjust alike. If you really think about it, even the people in congress that are so against the border wall now, were for it before. There was no issue with Obama or others building sections of border walls. Anything Trump does is a fight, one man suggested it is because those that are politically opposed to him, wish to keep him from winning in 2020. I saw poor and I saw rich. I see Hispanic influence all along the south, from the names of streets and businesses and to many speaking Spanish.  But I also saw German influence in an area near Austin. There was a German restaurant in Walburg TX. We are a nation of immigrants, we are not against immigrants, we just desire they come across the border with permission just as my ancestors have done. I built a sun shower on my camper van, made of 3 inch PCV pipe and painted black. I tried it, at best it was luke warm. If the temperature got warm enough for the sun shower it was too warm to sleep at night.  Even though the water was cool. I fell refreshed even taking a short shower. Perhaps I will reserve it for the days I can't find a truck stop to get a shower.  This could have value in an event the power is out for some reason here at home. It did not work as good as I had hoped. Using two 10 foot lengths of PVC pipe and then the connecting pieces, I believe my sun shower holds about eight gallons of water. 
God bless, LVZ.

Nehemiah

I am reading in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a cup bearer to Artaxerxes, the King in Persia.  Nehemiah got word from someone traveling back from Jerusalem of the sorry state of the city. He mourned for Jerusalem. Nehemiah prayed to God about what he had heard.
 5Then I said:

“Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. 7We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. Nehemiah 1:5-7.

Nehemiah's countenance had fallen when he went to work as a cup bearer for King Artaxerxes. The King noticed his countenance and asked what is wrong.  The King gave permission and wrote letters authorizing Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls.  So what can I learn from this reading?  Jerusalem was the city of the temple of the True God. We are the temple, our bodies are the temple of the Living God. He dwells in us.  We need to make repairs to the walls of our temple. Remember God looks on the heart, so it is in the heart that we need to do repairs.  Notice Nehemiah repents, confesses for the sins of the people of Israel, for himself and his fathers family. They have acted wickedly before God. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 which I have quoted and blogged about several times,  we are instructed to turn from our wicked ways. We as a nation need to turn from our wicked ways, and as individuals.  I noticed in this reading the different occupations of the workers on the wall. High Priests and Levites , the temple workers were included.  Merchants, goldsmiths, guards, Priests, rulers, perfume makers, and even Shallum and his daughters were mentioned.  Once place it was noted that the nobles did not put their shoulders to the work. Another place it mentioned some that were very zealous.  What I take from this is everyone from all walks of life, male and female need to work on their hearts.  As we continue reading the people from the surrounding areas came and fought against them as they were working on the walls. When we try to repair our hearts, it can be a battle. Those against us, Satan in particular will fight against us. Some watched and some worked. all had their weapons with them. Even to get water they carried their sword with them. The word of God is our sword. We need God's 

guidance in everything we do. 

We have a group of men at our church that meet one day a week to work on the church. We call it Nehemiah's men.  We replace light bulbs, light bulbs are constantly going out. We replace and paint ceiling tiles.  We paint walls. We hung a new curtain on the stage in the gym. Recently we painted and put down new trim along the walls in an area that was remodeled. We added pockets to the back of seats in the sanctuary for visitor cards and tithe envelopes.  Even our Pastor has joined us in the remodel of the kitchen area and did most of the spray painting in the rooms being remodeled. What ever our hands find to do, we will do it. God bless, LVZ. 

Progressive Lifestyle

I was talking with someone recently and  realized how influenced they were by the new progressiveness of our society. Another thing I noticed is a couple more fatherless and motherless children, once again being raised by a grandparent.  Don't know where the father is but the mother sees her children for a couple hours a month.  Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. Psalm 68:5   We are greatly influenced by our culture. The Jews strayed from worshiping the one true God during the reign of kings. There were some good kings and more bad kings it seems. They were influenced by the cultures around them and strayed from true worship of the creator God. As I continue to read in the Old Testament, right now I am in Nehemiah, having finished Ezra. I am not sure what to make of  these books or write about them.  I see where in our nation we too are walking away from God. I was recently listening to a young lady, in her twenties talking about her life style. It is very progressive. It is not following a biblical standard as we see much in our culture today. We see acceptance of life styles the Bible calls sin. When the leaders of Israel and Judah stopped following God so did a majority of the people. I have known of Nehemiah and his work to restore Jerusalem, but did not know that Ezra was also working to restore worship of the one true God in Jerusalem.  In reading stuff on google, am read conflicting accounts as to who came first, Nehemiah or Ezra. They both got permission from their foreign kings they served to come to Jerusalem to do a work of restoration. It was a battle to fix and restore a lost culture. I guess I should expect no less today in our nation.  It is a spiritual battle.  We as modern day Christians need to stand for Biblical truth and values. First our place in eternity depends on our relationship or lack of it with God.  Our culture, our nation suffers from the sin and its effects on our families. Just like this history shows in a time long ago.  They did not keep the linage pure as God's chosen people.  With the birth death and resurrection Jesus we as gentiles have been included as God's people if we accept and believe in Jesus. My Pastor recently spoke about we have choices in this life and our current culture. We can sit down and accept it. We can also engage and tell the world around us about God and his plan for each of us. I believe that is what I am doing as I read the word of God for myself. I write about what I read and what I see  as I live. I want to engage and affect this culture for God. I can't change the world, but perhaps I can change one mind to turn to God and look to the God of creation for guidance. God's ways are the best for us as a culture and as individuals. God's ways are better for our culture. The morality of our nation has declined greatly. It does affect the quality of our lives. We need commitment to marriage partners, to families, which seems to be greatly lacking in our culture. Mixed families and alternative lifestyles are the norm and it is destroying our children. When I say mixed, I mean blended families. Where are children are no longer being raised by blood parents. Our culture is teaching it takes a village. No it takes parent that are committed to their families and their children. These new lifestyles are hurting us as a nation. We need to be committed to our families. God's plan always was and still is, one man / one woman for life. Men with men and woman with woman is not God's plan. Nor is infidelity and living together outside the bonds of marriage. Our Culture says it is OK, but God's word has not changed. Just as the Jerusalem walls and temples were tore down and destroyed so is our temple, our bodies are to be the temple of God.  Just as the Jews intermarried with other cultures and strayed from God so have we. We have not kept the faith, we have allowed sin into our lives and call it good and progressive. We as a nation and individuals need to repent and turn back to God. The morality taught in the Bible is for the good of mankind. God has our best interest at heart with his ways, his commands. We as a nation need to return to God. God bless, LVZ.

Prejudices

I have been reading in the book of Ezra. Many of the exiled Jews have returned to Jerusalem. They have met opposition as they rebuild the temple. But the work continues and the temple is rebuilt. Israel begins offering sacrifices to the Lord God in the rebuilt temple. Ezra is about 16 generations after Moses and Aaron if I am understanding this correctly.  There are just under 1500 people in the group with Ezra that return to Jerusalem. As I am reading in the Old Testament I have been thinking about prejudices I have dealt with in my life.  I have been thinking about this for several days. The Church I was raised in believed and taught that they were the true church. There were some works that they did that they pointed to claiming to be the one and only true church. They described themselves as a full gospel. They would point to a practice of washing the saints feet, one of a few churches that observed that practice. Most of the churches I attended were small, very small in number. I know that it is the condition of the heart God is looking at and not the numbers. Somewhere it was taught or conveyed that large churches were large because they watered down the gospel. Maybe it wasn't taught directly but because of the small congregations I was in for the first half of my life.. I just developed this thought. I am really not sure how I developed this thinking.  Many of the congregations were 25 to 40 people or less. Anyway I had a prejudice against large churches. I have attended several large churches and found that I have heard a good word from the pulpit. I don't think I have been to what we call a mega church, but have attended  several large churches with attendance in the mid to upper hundred in their pews, and even larger.  I heard a good word from the pulpit at CFAN in Tacoma. Earlier than that I received a good word from the pulpit at Northshore Christian Church.  I have heard a good word from the pulpit in Hope Church Tupelo.  That prejudice against large churches has been proven to be false in my life. In those small churches from my beginning, I remember many Sunday School classes where we read word for word Sunday School literature from headquarters of that denomination. In my later years, I have experience Elders teaching from the Bible without the aid of Sunday School literature. I have received good instruction, without the aid of Sunday School literature. It seemed like I grew up thinking it was our denomination or hell. Some went so far as to not call it a denomination, we are not a denomination they would say. What I have learned is we need to follow God and not a pastor or a particular church. God uses Pastors and Churches to instruct us and guide us but it is God we want to follow. I have had some good ones over the years, both pastors and churches that have guided me to this point in my life. Some in large churches and some in small churches. That is a prejudice that has proven false in my life.  I am thankful for the instruction I have received. God looks upon the heart of an individual.
    I grew up poor, and I developed a prejudice against rich people.  What I have seen in my life time is some poor people who are selfish, not all but some. I have seen some rich people that are generous and always looking to help those in need. Once again, not all but some. Much of it depended on the condition of their heart. I have met some rich people that really have a heart for God. I have met some poor people that have no time for God or his house of worship. A condition of the heart seems to drive them in the direction they move. I think I have learned it is time to look at the heart of an individual and not judge by the outward appearance. As God does, God looks on the heart. God is not partial to either rich or poor people.
   Race prejudice: one of the biggest problems in our nation. I have seen where some think that just because I am white, I am rich. I do admit that God has blessed me, but I do not consider my self wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. In fact I think I have not been wise in many financial decisions in my life. But I can point to people that have been. Some of the richest people I know, you would not know it if you passed by them on the street. But it is in race relations that I am baffled by the most. When Tupelo went through a difficulty, the community needing prayer, it was the black Churches that did not want to meet with the white. I always thought that whites were more prejudice than blacks. I can offer to take black people to the doctor that need transportation, they will not go with me because I am white. Once again this is not every black person, just certain ones.  I go to a Hardee's for coffee many mornings. I see a group of white men sitting by themselves and a group of black men by themselves. I wonder when will we start acting like one race? We will talk back and forth at times between the two groups but I wonder why we cannot sit together? I firmly believe God created one race, the human race since Adam and Eve or even closer in Bible History, the family of Noah after the flood.  I don't know how these divisions were created, but it is only us that can fix it, by acting like one race instead of two or more. God help us. In all these areas, God looks on the heart. It is sad but it seems many have to recover from their upbringing. As well intention-ed as we might be we live in a fallen world, we all sin. God wants to fix our hearts and if we will put our trust in him, he will. I think a lot differently about many things today and I hope I look at the heart and the content of a persons character as I look at people. Prejudice is not limited to one race or even one issue. We need to look to our creator for guidance. God's word says we are created in his image, in his likeness. God's word will show us the dysfunction that has plagued man from the beginning and it also shows us God and what he is like. Perhaps there are other prejudices that I have developed that I have not addressed. But it seems to me it is a condition of the heart that drives these prejudices. We need to look at the character of individuals and not external attributes. It is not the wealth or lack of it that is important. It is not the color of skin that we should focus on. It is not the size of the church that is important but do they have a heart after God. There has been a shift in my life from many things I once thought in my growing up years. We need to develop our thinking from the word of God. It is important as it has ever been as our society shifts to progressive thought and what they call progressive lifestyles.  We see new thought forming as people think if you don't agree with them then you hate them. If you are not liberal or conservative in your thinking than you are wrong. Our guidance once again needs to come from the Word Of God, and not society or our political parties. God is impartial when it comes to matters of race, economic status, physical and beauty status. We are all made in the image of God. Some people are not blessed more because of their right standing with God. Or what I mean is just because you are rich does not mean you have an inside track to God. God does bless but in many ways other than just wealth.  But it is on the heart, the condition of our hearts that God is most concerned with. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23.  But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man.  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. Matthew 15:18,19.  Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course. Proverbs 23:19.

   God bless, LVZ.