August 30

Today's Reading

Job. Elihu continues his speech to Job and the three accusers. His basic message: let God be God! Don't try to second-guess Him. He is just in what He does. Don't fight Him; trust Him! As I get older, God is teaching me more lessons about this. We hit a point in life when, if we have been faithful stewards, we have accumulated various resources to rescue us from difficulties. It's easy to get lulled into believing we aren't supposed to have difficult times because we are prepared. Then God comes along and reminds us that He alone is in control.

2 Corinthians. If only Job had been able to understand his troubles from a New Testament perspective. If only he could have internalized the words of Paul today: "8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies." However, Job had his own lessons to learn. And we still have some things to learn from him.

Psalms. The battle belongs to the Lord! Trying to fight it in our own strength is a way we try to avoid repentance.

Proverbs. "10 Throw out the mocker, and fighting goes, too. Quarrels and insults will disappear." I knew about a Christian school in another city. They were in constant turmoil. They finally realized that the center of much of it was a young boy. He was uncorrectable. His parents refused to cooperate with disciplining him. Finally, feeling defeated, the administration removed the boy from their school. Almost instantly, the entire school was at peace. We can trust God's Word!

What do you think?