Whispers in the Dark

Scripture - Job 38:1-4: "Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm. He said, "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand."

Observation - Job is always such a challenging book for me. I sympathize with Job. His challenges are great, seemingly beyond bearing. He doesn't understand why it is so, or how he will get through.  He has cried out to God, questioning, complaining,  philosophizing, and searching for answers. He has endured the quick fix easy answers of his friends and their counsel and philosophies. But, all along, he still suffers and God is seemingly silent.  Now, however, God speaks! And God will have the final word in this story. And even in my sympathy for Job and his trials, I would be well advised to pay heed to what God says to Job, and He clearly considers this a word for me as well!

     God has to remind Job of who he is in relation to the Almighty. He points out the limited experience and perspective of Job, and reminds him that there is a God, a loving gracious God, whose purposes may not always be clear, but whose wisdom is perfect and whose plans are always good.

Application - As He did with Job, God often lets our long winded conversations wander until we are ready to receive. We have expended all our hot air and come to the end of all our wisdom. All of the philosophies we have gathered have come up short. The wisdom of the world is failing us. Now we are ready to listen.

    There is a famous expression that says, "Man can't learn what he thinks he already knows."  Job's "friends" were not open to learning from God. Convinced that they already knew all there was to know about God and His ways, they were smug in their own knowledge.  But Job was different. He listened.

God's ways may not always agree with ours. We often seek out lives of leisure. We look for the path of least resistance, free from problems, challenges and stress. But God's aim is not always our leisure...instead His aim is our likeness...our becoming like Him.

     It is how we choose to focus our lives that will often determine the outcome of our challenges and trials. If we are self-centered, we will ask "Why am I suffering? And the focus will be totally on self." If we are other-centered, we may ask "How can we do something about this suffering and make sure it never happens again?" However, if we are God-centered and Kingdom centered, then our question changes. We start to ask, "Where is God, and what is He doing in this situation, and how can I cooperate with Him to receive from Him what He wants and go where He intends?"

     At the end, Job received a life of blessing far greater than he would ever have hoped for or imagined. It had been a part of God's plan all along.

Prayer - God help me to seek your wisdom, and to look for your ways and your plans, even in the midst of my challenges, difficulties and trials. I want your best for my life. I want to be a Matthew 6:33 person. Amen

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Have you ever really thought about what happened at Christmas in terms of missions? When you think about "the Incarnation," the Divine becoming human, the Spirit becoming flesh, the Creator operating within His creation, it is truly the grandest cross-cultural mission ever undertaken! The Christmas story itself is filled with cross-cultural elements. The Magi, from the east, were non-Jews who came to worship the King of the Jews. Shepherds, not the religious elite, were the first ones to see the Messiah. Both the Magi and the shepherds went and announced the good news of great joy to everyone around them. It is very appropriate to make Jesus known to those around us this Christmas season. If you have an international friend or acquaintance, one of the kindest things you can do is to offer them the gift of Jesus. Contact me or my administrative assistant Sandra Storr at missions@thefamilychurch.net and let us know the language spoken by your friend and we will give you an appropriate (16 language) DVD of the Jesus film. For everyone in your sphere of influence, you can be Jesus incarnate to them, living a Spirit-filled life and speaking truth in a gracious way. Christmas is the perfect time to reach out to those across the street or around the world.

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This weekend three people responded to the invitation to receive Christ at the 9:30am worship service. The crowd breaks into applause, celebrating our new brother and/or sister entering the family of God.  It's so exciting to see the Spirit of God drawing people into a relationship with Jesus during our weekend services.  God is entrusting us with the responsibility to shepherd these new sheep in our flock.

As new believers, these babes in Christ need the guidance of a mature believer to help them grow in their relationship with Jesus. Therefore, I am going to offer a training session on Friday, January 11th from 7-9pm to equip new mentors who would come alongside these new children of God. This is an awesome opportunity to step into a discipleship relationship and "pass your baton" to someone.  

Please mark your calendars and send me an email (aaronr@thefamilychurch.net) to let me know of your interest so I can keep you informed as the date draws near. Childcare will be provided up through 5th grade.

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