For I know that my Redeemer Lives

Hello Friends. I have chosen the following verse in Job 19:25 as our promise for today, April 29, 2019.

For I know that my redeemeth liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.

If anyone had the right to be angry with God, perhaps it was Job.  Satan had bartered for his life. And God had given him permission to do what he would with Job, except take his life. And so it began. He had lost just about everything. His children,  many of his servants, his animals, his property And his wealth. Satan was even allowed to strike him with boils all over his body. That would be enough to make him angry. Right?

Why did God allow it? In verse one of Job 1, it says that he was a perfect man, an upright man and that he stayed away from what was evil.

Didn't he have a right to be angry with God? After all, his wife and some of his friends thought that he should turn away from God and curse him. For sure Satan thought he would curse God.

But he didn't curse God. He said that he came into the world naked, and he would leave it that way. He knew that what he had came from his God. In verse 22, it says that "in all this, he sinned not." And he did not charge God with wrongdoing.

And so what happened when he refused to curse God? When he didn't sin or blame God for his troubles? God gave him back much more then he had in the first place. And that included children.

Wow. How many people can say that they don't get angry about their situations? So many have bad things happen to them and they throw the fist up at God in anger.

There are always reasons why he does what he does. Why he allows the things he does in our lives. Always. Never anywhere in the bible does he promise us a rose garden....as the old song goes. He doesn't owe us one. He doesn't even owe us an explanation. And that is why we need to learn to trust him and his judgment. Because he does know best, and someday he will reveal it to us. When he allows us to know.

Do you get angry at God because things are not going your way? Or because something bad has happened to you or your family members? I know I have. God isn't surprised when we do it. But he wants to forgive us for not trusting him. And really, as I heard someone say the other day; Given a choice to trust in God and have the peace that he is doing what is best for us, or being angry and living in bitterness, what would you choose? I choose peace because all too many people live in anger and hate and believe me, that is no way to live. How about you? Which way would you choose?

Have a blessed day, Friends!

Special People/Amazing Women/Rehab the Prostitute

The Bible is full of people that you would never have thought would make it into a Holy Book of God. Take Rehab the Prostitute. Who would have thought someone like this woman would have been given an important mission?

But think again. Really. What kind of people did or does God have to work with except sinners from the beginning of time in the Garden of Eden.

So why not include Rehab if he needed her? And obviously, he did.

So this is how it went. Joshua 2 tells us that Joshua secretly sent two spies to check out the land in Shittim and Jericho because God was going to give it to the Israelites. The two spies went to the house of Rehab and stayed there. Someone gave the king of Jericho a heads up that the spies were there checking things out and were at Rehabs home. The king sent her a message telling her to give them up. But Rehab had hidden the two men on her roof under stalks of flax. And she told the king that yes they had been there but they had left as it was getting dusk and if they hurried, they might catch up with them.

The men trying to catch the spies left in hopes of getting them.

Rehab told the spies that she knew that their God had given them the land, and because Joshua had done some things prior to then, the people of that country had become very much afraid. And she asked them to be kind to herself and her family since she had not handed them over to the king. And so the deal was struck up. and a scarlet cord was hung in her window. A sign that she and her family would be saved.

Rehab had believed God. And even though she was risking her own life, she trusted him to protect her and her family in the impending attack on her country.

And God forgave her of her sins.

All of humanity's sins are as scarlet as the cord that hung in her window. But because of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, they become as white as snow when we ask him into our lives and trust him.
It does not matter the sin. Sin is sin and her sin was no greater than anyone else's just because of her trade. Just as sin today in one person is no greater than another. Sin will lead us to hell no matter how it is branded. That is unless and until we let God wash us white as snow.


April 28, 2019 Promise:  For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ our Lord. Romans 3:23

Thanks for stopping by today Friends. Have a peaceful and blessed afternoon and evening. God bless

Christian Humor

Hello Friends. Just a little humor in today's blog as we are about to get outside in the sun, albeit is a bit chilly. But the sun is so bright that it makes us want to be out there in it.Anyway, here are a few things I have picked up for today"

Church Sign

   

Boy, isn't this the truth.

Frankly, living in the midwest, I am thankful the snow is over. (Hopefully?)

April 27, 2019 Promise: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us. Romans 8:18

So that is it for today Friends. Tomorrow's blog should have a little more substance. I hope you will be back then. God bless.

Special People/ The Baby in the Basket

Moses became Pharaoh's daughter's son by coincidence. Right? No. The fact is, if it hadn't been for his mother disobeying the Pharaoh's order to throw all baby boys into the Nile River, he would have not grown up in Pharaoh's palace.

Pharaoh's daughter had been instrumental in saving his life as was his mother. And consequently, she had adopted him as her o own. (It makes me wonder how she pulled that one off as her father was trying to keep the Jewish population from growing?)

The fact remains that....somehow she did.

And more fact than that, God had a divine plan for Moses even then.

Because she had adopted him, Moses was raised with the best of what any prince would have whose father was a Pharoah. He had been instructed in the ways of the Egyptian people, but there came a time when he became concerned about his own people as he watched them as being treated as the slaves they had become.

God called Moses to free them from the grip of slavery because he had seen their suffering.  He told Moses, "I am sending you to Pharoah to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."

Moses wasn't too sure about this mission but God had also told him that he would be with him. Still, Moses was not convinced and he seems to argue with God even though God keeps trying to reassure him and shows him different signs that should get his message across to Moses.

Finally, he does what God asks and goes to the Pharoah to tell him to "Let my people go."

It took a total of God sending ten plagues on Pharoah to convince him that he must let the Israelite people go before they were indeed freed. Only after the last one, which took the life of Pharaoh's firstborn son, did it occur. God was not putting up with anymore. He had had enough.

God had chosen Moses to do his bidding, even though Moses was sometimes angry and unsure of himself and had excuses for why he could not do as God had been asking. And yet, he was human too and of course, God knew that. This is just a small part of his life as it was. ( His life began in Exodus 2) As he grew from a baby into a man, he had to learn as we all do in life.

Sometimes just like Moses, God asks us to do something and we start making excuses why we can't. We don't have what it takes to accomplish it is what we sometimes tell him and ourselves. But if God is asking something of us, he will provide whatever is needed to accomplish it. It is just like that saying we hear sometimes,

"If God brings me to it, he will bring me through it."  He will never ask something of us that we cannot do. But he will help us do whatever it is he knows we can do. What is it he is asking you and me today? What excuses are we giving him? Can we just say to him, "Yes Lord."

April 26, 2019 Promise: I am leaving you with a gift-peace of mind and heart. And the peace is a gift that the world cannot give. So do not be troubled or afraid. John 14:27

Hello Friends. Thanks so much for coming by. I want to let you know that as warm weather and then summer comes on us, I may be posting my blog each day by 6 pm. (EST) We will be doing some things within our family and it will be harder to get it done each day. However, don't let that discourage from still coming by. I will post. It may be a later time and it might be different than normal. But I promise to post something each day. Thanks for your support in coming here and may God so richly bless you.

Special People/ Shiphrah, Puah, Moses' Mother, Pharaoh's Daughter

A new king  (Pharaoh) had taken power in Egypt and he saw that the Israelites population was looking a little too numerous for his comfort. And so he put slave masters over them to control them and as such, they were not treated well at all. They worked the Israelites harshly to keep them from multiplying and yet it did not stop them. The Israelite population continued to grow. The king came up with another plan to stop their growth.

He told the Egyptian midwives that when they were aiding the Hebrew women giving birth if they saw that the babies were male, they were to kill them. If they were female they were allowed to live. 

There were two midwives whose names were Shiphrah and Puah. And these women feared God and did not do what the king had told them to do. They allowed the baby boys to live. When the king found this out, he called them to him and asked them why they had not obeyed him. The midwives told him that the Hebrew women had been strong and given birth before they could arrive. 

Because they had feared God over the king and had let the boy babies live, God was kind to them, it tells us in verse 20 and the Israelite populations grew in more numerous. And God gave the midwives families of their own. (verse 21)

And so what did the king do?  He ordered that every boy that was born was to be thrown into the Nile River but every girl could live. 

Perhaps the two midwives had lied about their actions to the king, or perhaps it was partly true. Whatever it was, God did bless them in that they had not obeyed the evil order of the king who had wanted to destroy the babies that were born to the Hebrew women. The act of their fear of God had been greater than their fear of the king.

That, however, did not stop the king. He had then gave the order to "all" people that all baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile River, while baby girls could live. 

And that is where the birth of Moses had come into play. 

Most of us know that story from Sunday School. His parents were from the tribe of Levi. And when his mother gave him birth, she hid him until he was three months old. Then, she put him in a basket that she had prepared for him and set it along the banks of the Nile among the reeds that were there. 

The Pharaoh's daughter had gone down to the river one day to bath and she saw the basket. She had her female slave to get it and when she opened it, she knew this was a Hebrew baby. He was crying and she felt sorry for him. The baby's mother was summoned to come and nurse him and eventually, he became the son of Pharoh's daughter. She named him Moses. 

Source: Should the Hebrew midwives be commended for lying?

Whatever the deal was when the midwives were not quite truthful to the king, had they not been more fearful of God, the life of Moses, who years later would himself become a great leader, perhaps would have never begun. God had used the women, despite the circumstances. 

And it goes to show, that even when we aren't always obedient to him, he can use us and our circumstances for his glory. Even in the face of evil. 

We should always strive to be obedient, yes. It is for our benefit when we do. It is always the better way. But when we do fail, it does not mean that God is helpless to turn around a bad situation. He will always work things to the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28.

April 25, 2019 Promise: For God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. Romans 11:29

Thanks for coming by today Friends. May you have a blessed day

God's Special People / Daniel

Daniel had acquired the respect of some of the Babylonian kings although he was Hebrew. He had been able to correctly interpret dreams and visions. His prophecies and more can be found in the book of Daniel as well as in some of Ezekial.

After the king Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, he chose men in Israel's royalty to be trained in the Babylonian ways. This training took three years and upon completion, they were put in the service of the king.

Daniel was one of those that had been trained. In fact, he was placed in authority over all the wise men of Babylon. He was honest and highly regarded by those he served, but never did he comprise his faith. He always obeyed God first and foremost.

One of the stories I remember so well from my youth is found in Daniel 6. Daniel had won the kings favor and in return, the king was thinking about putting him as head over all the kingdom. There were those that did not like this at all. And so they began to look for a way to bring him down. Being righteous, they could find nothing wrong in Daniel and so they began to pick on his faith. (Ummm, how much of that is done today?)   They were able to get King Darius to degree that for the following thirty days, there was to be no praying to any god except the king. Of course, this did not fly with Daniel. He was not going to stop praying to his God, nor was he going to pray to any other god, including the king.

And he did not hide his prayers to God. Thus leading to his arrest. And the punishment for such a thing? He was thrown into a den of lions. King Darius did not like that Daniel was having to be put in with the lions but he said, "May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you."

The next morning, Daniel was found alive and well. He told the king that an angel had come down and shut the mouths of the lions. And because of this, King Darius sent out a new decree which stated that all of his subjects were to worship Daniel's God.

Resource: Who was Daniel in the Bible?

Truly Daniel was a man of great courage. And along with that, he was a God-fearing man.No threat of lions was going to make him stop praying to his God. And it was just those kinds of reasons that he prospered in Babylon. Kings had found favor with him. But much better than that, God had.

His stories are included in God's book for a reason. To teach us and help us understand what God expects of us. And when we are obedient, he rewards us. Maybe not always the way we want him to. But, one day it will all come together for us when God decides the time is right. Until then, we are to take heed to his word and take it from many of the special people that God loved.

April 24, 2019  Promise: But whoever listens to me will live in safety and will be at ease without fear of harm. Proverbs 1:33

Hello Friends. Thanks for coming by today. I pray that as you go through the day, God's blessings will be upon you and he will make it possible for you to bless someone else.

God's Special People/ Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abendnego

Nebuchadnezzar was in secular history, a powerfully brutal king. He is credited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon,

In the Bible,  in 597 BC with his general, Nebuzaradam, he invaded and conquered Judah and completely destroyed the temple and most of Jerusalem.

In Daniel 2, he has a dream from God about the kingdoms that would come after his own. In the dream, Nebuchadnezzar was a head of gold on a statue. The rest of his body was comprised of silver, gold, bronze, and iron mixed with clay. These were the kingdoms that were less powerful than his had been.

He then ordered his astrologers and wise men to tell him what the dream meant. There was a problem. He didn't tell them what the dream was about.  And so of course, they couldn't even give him a good guess at it and so what did he do? He had them killed. Nice king.

He promoted Daniel to be one of his influential advisors and it was he who interpreted the dream for Nebuchadnezzar and the king said, "Truly, your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery. Daniel 2:27

In Daniel 3, the king had made a gold statue of himself and required everyone to bow down to it when the music played. But there were three men that would not do this. Their names were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were friends of Daniels. When they refused to bow down as was so ordered by the king, he threw them into a blazing furnace. While in there, God had protected them and when they came out, the king could hardly believe it but he realized that their God had delivered them and that anyone that dared speak against their God, they would be torn from limb to limb, and their homes would be shambles because there was no other god that was able to rescue them other than the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel 3:28-29

Source for today: Who was Nebuchadnezzar?

Three men that would not bow down to anyone except the true God, and he rescued them from pain and death. Could we do the same if at some point it comes to something similar in our own lives? As we know, even Peter denied Christ three times before he was arrested. What about you and I?

Will it ever come to that? I don't know. But as part of the human race, I do know that we often cry and bellyache at the stupidest or at least the smallest things. Could I do it? Could you?

April 23, 2019  Promise: Is there anything too hard for the Lord? Genesis 18:14

Hello Friends, thanks for stopping by. I pray that your celebration of Easter this year has been special and the life of Christ will go on for you every day and not for just a season.

 The life of Daniel did not stop there. There is more to learn about him so please come back tomorrow as I share about this great and special man of God. In the meantime, God bless!