“…yet trouble came.” - Job 3.26

Somehow that doesn’t sound very good…

“…yet trouble came.”

Here Job says that he is struggling.  He says that his life is difficult and he is seriously and honestly trying to understand why this is so. 

He is not ignoring the issues, whatever they may be.  He is not trying to avoid any responsibility.  He is not trying to think these troubles will “just go away”… he states, “I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet…”

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”  - Jeremiah 29:11

I love this verse and it comes to my mind often.

Sometimes it truly amazes me that God has chosen to love me, and bless me and there is really little I need to do but follow by faith and lean on Him. 

We should never lose sight of the fact that it is the Lord’s will to bless us!

“…as the duty of every day required” - Ezra 3.4

The above says, “as the duty of every day required…”.  The word “duty” there has a very long definition!  It basically means anything and everything that might possibly need doing!  “Duty”.

It is the sort of word that has been in famous speeches I think.  “Duty”.

What a privilege.  To actually be a part of anything and everything that might possibly need doing!

“...ye shall blow an alarm...” Numbers 10.9

Do you have an alarm on your house?

We don’t.  We do have a couple of fire alarms, but not an alarm like the above verse is talking about.  Mainly because we live in a very quiet neighbourhood and a fairly peaceful country.  If things changed we could get an alarm... on our physical house.  But what about our spiritual houses?

“And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man...”

2 Kings 6.17

Do you ever try and try... and try - to help someone see something that they just can’t seem to see?

Of course we do - if we have anything to do with serving the Lord – just like the situation with Elisha here.

We must understand the part we play in the lives of people by simple PRAYER.  (Because God does hear it!)

“If ye love me…” - John 14.15

In the verse above it is Jesus who is saying these words, “If ye love me…”

The first thing I think is, “Who am I that I could ever even love Him like He has loved me!?”  But then I must consider that Jesus expects me to go on and address what He is saying.  He is saying, “If ye love me…”.

“he heareth the prayer of the righteous” - Proverbs 15.29b

Do we ever pray and it feels like our prayers just bounce off of the ceiling?  Are there times we pray and it doesn’t feel like we are praying?  Do sometimes we pray and forget that we have prayed?

As normal people we often go around and around with something as “abstract” as prayer but - for those who are saved, and living “right” God always hears their prayers and is ready to answer according to His will.

“…who desire to fear thy name…”  - Nehemiah 1.11

Is that a question?

Should it actually say “Who would desire to fear thy name?”  Or, “Who in the world would ever want to fear God?”  That doesn’t sound too “fun”.

So is it a question?  Is it somehow a mistake in our Bible?

“There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken” - Joshua 21.45

It’s a great thing for us to look into the Bible wondering, and then figuring out what God has said about us...

Because...

All the good things God said He would do for these people – He did them!

“There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken”

“…gracious words…” - Luke 4.22

The Bible tells us that Jesus spoke “gracious words”.  That means Jesus spoke words that were acceptable, beneficial, joyful and, or thankful… “gracious words”!

“And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words

which proceeded out of his mouth.”

There are a few things the Lord shows me from this: