Thinking about Job 17-19. Faithful are the wounds of a friend? Job speaks and Bildad speaks. God sees and stores up His fellowship for an appointed time.

ie. Ps. 80:5 God gives the bread of tears and sometimes in great measure. I don’t like crying, but there is a beginning of eating the bread of tears and an end of eating the bread of tears. Some have nothing but laughter to eat. That is their portion in this world. God’s mercy has granted that, but some have the bread of tears in great measure. That was Job’s portion, certainly. He had a season of plenty and feasting and joy that was so plenteous that it made the heavenlies take notice. God’s servant, Job and the enjoyment of earth and fellowship with God altogether blessed was his first estate. This is a rare condition in any epoch. Job was a first and it was God’s purpose to show him off to the rest of history. As Job mentions, his marriage was not even a comfort in this season.

They say the patience of Job. The relationship that God had with Job was shining through the darkness of his temporary earthly cleft. He was in the darkness of grief for a season, that he might shine and exemplify the love of God for us and that God’s dark providences are not always a mark of His displeasure with us. Faith can help us see that in the dark. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Job is the mouthpiece, somewhat for our silent Savior in His lone suffering, who suffered like no other person. There was no complaining from His holy mouth, but he could have lamented with more justification than Job. God has not forgotten you, Job. But the things that God, Triune God, brought to Job’s light in and through his suffering was the fruit of real and developed communion with God. We must know God to know Him in our sufferings. If we don’t know Him in our joys, it is little likely that we will really know any more of Him in our griefs. God grant that we not waste our joys or our sorrows on the complaints that we often do. Grant that we open our eyes to see that our redeemer lives and is with us in each of these estates and to praise His name for such a vast condescencion. I know that my redeemer lives is our song, who know him, in joys and in sorrows alike.

Praying the Commandments, for my soul's profit.

Westminster Shorter catechism Question 43 What is the preface to the ten commandments?

Question 43 What is the preface to the ten commandments. Exodus 20:2 I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

God is the Lord and Hallowed be His name. What a good reminder in prayer to remember that God is the one who has brought us out of the house of bondage. In New Testament language, we would do well to remember that we were the house of bondage of many a lost soul. We were strangers to God and God’s ways, as individuals and as people groups. How often we forget this truth.

How our pride blinds us to this truth when we come to prayer. When I think of the goodness of Jesus and what he has done for me…My soul cries out Halleluia!

Lord you are the one who winks at the heritage of my sinful people group. I come as an individual, but I come as a part of the eternal Bride of Christ. My personal identity is swallowed in the redemption of God’s people. I am bought with a price. He has paid it all for my personal redemption, but, when He introduces Himself, as in the Decalogue. It is a greater presence.

This is who I am to Israel, says the preface. This is also who I am to the Bride of Christ, of whom you are a part. I love who You are, Lord. I love that every promise of who You are, belongs to me in Christ.

Truly, unite my heart to sing your praise! I confess my idolatrous heart attitude of trying to make You into my own image and I own that Your holiness and Grace are high above, my imaginations and yet you have more than introduced yourself to me in Your Son on my behalf to pay for my sins and give me access to get to know You, more.

I love You Lord! Thank you for access to Your presence through faith. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Thoughts on Job 5-7

Job 5-7 Daily Bread reading

God hears every groaning. He remembers the cries of His people, very intimately. I see that God is so intentionally acquainted with our griefs, that our tears are His portion of consideration. What a great condescension that is.

We need a mediator, was the cry of all of the Old Testament laments. We need someone to intercede with the Holy God for us. Job’s cry represents us in NT and them in OT time. This is why we need a mediator. For us to cry to, certainly. But, also, we could never know how much God cares for His creation in their distresses, were Job not allowed in the cannon of Scripture. Jesus cares. God the Father cares! The Holy Spirit cares! I know He cares, but the devil, however much he accuses us to God. He accuses God to us the more.

The scars on our Savior plead for me to the Father, but they also prove to me that God loves me and paid it all!

Job 3-4

Job 3-4

Isn’t that always the way that we are good and upright, or think we are and then we open our mouth’s! Would that our impurity didn’t have to come out of our mouths so clearly as it is oft hidden in our hearts? No, we have to open our mouth’s! Not too foul for Christ to cleanse it, though!

“Wash me Savior, lest I die.”

Amazing that Job was so committed to God in His pain and suffering and what an example for us to follow to take our griefs and our pains to God first. I hate this, Lord, was His lament! It is me, standing in the need of prayer. He has no time to pray for the needs of others and we are oft in that state ourselves. Are we not? I hate this and I hate it and I hate myself, even because the pain is so intense. No pretense before God. God gave satan leave to expose Job’s heart, for what? For us men and for our instruction. What do we do ? Cry out to God. Friends aside, wife and others aside. God alone is our complete confidant.

Others open their mouths and what happens? They stab us with words, but God already has our cries in His hands. They can’t stop our cries out to God. Their paining us is not their fault and it is not the work of the devil either, if you notice. Satan didn’t ask to use the friends, they just came and were no assistance, accept in their presence. Expect help from God only and the presence of the friends, though it hurts all the worse, can represent God, if they come to represent God in their commiserating. Was silence golden or were words golden, in the interaction.

Should Job not have spoken, we would have no beauty of the closeness of his heart to God, in the midst of the most intense suffering. Our Savior bore the eternal punishment, but His holiness could not allow sinful speech. We see the reality of human suffering and how very compassionate God is to us in our unbelieving rants, at times. Jesus paid it all.

Jesus met Job and was silently an audience to his pain, even unseen.

The Book of Job leads me to many questions.

What does it mean to be a godly man or woman? I tremble, every time I get to the book of Job, in the course of regular reading. I really don’t like it for many reasons.

Verse one for instance, Not just godly in his person, but in his practice and in his words? Prior to redemption, the Holy Spirit had put this desire to please God in Job’s heart, for some reason. Why? It is so that the works of God could be manifest in his life. I am always taken aback by that. How could he be God fearing and God pleasing without the indwelling Holy Spirit? How come, my life is so difficult to line up and I do have the Holy Spirit?

Seeking the presence of God, over the comfort of a life that goes with the flow was Job’s possession.

He had an implanted desire to know God. God showed that His desire for Job to know Him was greater than Job’s desire to know God. But, even then, a price had to be paid! Jesus paid it all! If we are seeking God in our own strength, the devil has free access to us, even in the NT time. There was no redeemer yet given in Job’s day.

God said don’t think that there is any who can pay for his own sins. Don’t think that there is anyone who has enough righteousness of his own merit to pay for his own sins. Even the most faithful in the old testament era, the Least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he is. For Christ sake and his sake alone.

Not that we shouldn’t try to live godly. We should try, but we should always try to live for Jesus glory and not for our own glory. In difficulty and in exalted circumstances, alike!

Jesus paid it all! God still wants to show His people’s victories over sin and temptation and discouragements and slough’s of all sorts to the onlooking spirit world!

I simply hate to think about it. That is my sin that makes me not want to look at the spiritual warfare that God is engaged in on our behalf.

On I go to read Job.

Romans 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Psalm 15

Proverbs 24:8 He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person.

Proverbs 24:9 The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.

Ezekiel 14:14 Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 14:20 Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

Noah, Daniel, Job?

1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Not by our own strength, truly, is the lesson of Job. God is showing off His people for His glory. The meekness and growth in the spirit. The exuberance in prayer that is attained to. The humble reception of good and difficult providences. The taking of captivity captive, for God’s own glory. God likes to show these things off, in His children

“Only one life, so soon it will pass, Only what is done for Christ will last” How do we follow our Savior in His obedience and live our lives to the praise of His glory and not our own?

Psalm 116:12 What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me? Psalm 116:13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. Psalm 116:14 I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.

What shall I render, unto God for all His mercies?”

What do you give to God, who owns everything?

We, however much or little we have, have nothing in comparison to God, the ultimate authority. David said I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.

I do imagine, Donald Crisp, who is my minds eye, ultimate Father role player on screen. I see him in National Velvet with his 3 beauties who have nothing in the way of riches and everything in the way of family blessings, as well as his precocious son. “You have only your faces for your fortunes.” He exhorts them. All that I can give you in your poverty is the knowledge that your beauty will have to provide for you the rest. I think of the people whose lives are beautified by their riches and influence. Are we not all, rich and poor, in this way? I say to myself, you have only your souls for your acquaintance with God. None of that will give you favor in heaven.

I will take the cup of salvation. I will take what God has provided for me and care for that above all that I ever could possess. I know that God will attend to me, if I attend to Him. If we look at all that David writes through the lens that He is ultimately aware of His utter poverty in heavenly terms we will be blessed in our meditations of the Psalms. What did God do in response to David’s devotion?

God made His words the meditation of our Savior throughout His life and especially in the crucifixion. What a treasure, even above the fact that the Lord was in his lineage! God is the Word incarnate and God used David’s words to put flesh upon the Savior of the World. An amazing thought. What will God do for us in the NT era, who take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord? You have only your souls for your fortune in heaven. Care for your souls above your earthly stuff.

How?

Jesus shall reign, where're the sun...Help us, Lord!

Jesus paid it all. Conflicts on the left and right, He came to seek and to save that which was lost. The have’s and the have-nots, the rebellious and self-righteous, and all combinations in between, can learn obedience to God, in their conditions. Churches need not segregate to one or the other condition for inability or for lack of consideration. God cares to minister to us in our need. My visualization is the wrestling of Teddy Roosevelt and William Taft and right through the middle is Wilson and they would all roll into Hell, if we hadn’t the promise of God’s mercy extended to sinners and even in the public arena such as that, we can receive mercy and grace to help in the time of need. Joy to the earth, is my prayer- The Savior reigns! even to the economy.. Let x= men their songs employing! God blessing America, thusly! Lord hear our prayer, please.

Grateful for 31 years of marriage. Thank you God

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~My times are in Thy hand;~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My God, I wish them there; My life, my friends, my soul I leave Entirely to Thy care. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My times are in Thy hand; Whatever they may be, In joy or pain; 'tho dark or bright, As best may seem to Thee. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My times are in Thy hand; Why should I doubt or fear? My Father's hand will never cause His child a needless tear. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My times are in Thy hand; Jesus, the Crucified; Those hands my cruel sins had pierced Are now my guard and guide. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My times are in Thy hand; I'll always trust in Thee; And, after death, at Thy right hand I shall forever be.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you ever leave me, Hugh, you will make me wonder why I ever had children? why did you have them, then? says Hugh.

Few things are more painfully rewarding than the having of children. One is the letting of them go from level to level. My baby graduates 5th grade and it is a birth, of sorts. All of the mothering scenes come into mind and I can't ever live up to the majesty that the screen has paid to motherhood in my favorite movies and I really don't have to. God will bless the memory to my own children, for his glory. I just have to be there. So off I go. Contractions at bay. these sweet contractions are those of faith to faith.

Directive 1 Will we indeed go supperless to bed?

Directive 1

After the directive and the sweet encouragements are identified, it is easily anticipated that our dear Pastor friend would direct us not to shoot until we see the whites of their eyes.

Who are we fighting? What are his ambitions? How does he assail us?

Can we fight unless we know with whom we are fighting?

We do indeed not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and wickedness in high places. But not usually the highplaces of the world in this era, the high places of our hearts. Our appetites and desires wage war against us constantly. The peace and the healing and the comfort that are the meat of faith and life are stolen by this deadly foe.

What a great thing that our friend points out to us that the devil himself it is who steals these foods from us and sends us “supperless to bed”.

Directive 1, Pastor Gurnall

Direction First, Says Gurnall, after the Sweet Encouragements

Chapter 2

Let us get down to brass tacks! Which Way Do We Go? Isn’t that the question.

In the era that we are living in, what is the battle? So many are fighting wars from the Middle Ages, when we are in a new Millenium. Wrack our minds into a pulp and here we are gathering around old scrolls, sometimes to worship the worth of them. We beat ourselves, as it were with feathers and us the weapons of our warfare to sit on instead of to protect ourselves. Shame on us.

Where are we, today? What is the battle that we are engaged in? Perilous times are different for us than they were for Gurnall, but the question is the same. We must engage our youthful efforts in rightly diagnosing the problem and early equipping our young to take authority over the principalities that they are facing.

Having Done all to Stand? Don’t we love to sing about standing? What do you do? I sing myself to sleep, sometimes, when I should be fighting. My shame. You don’t JUST Stand. You stand, therefore, having… Definitely, if you just stand there unequipped for the battle you will be defeated as if you try to fight the battle on your own. You are a part of a mighty army of God.

You have equipment given to you from God to defend yourself

You must stand if your are equipped, sometimes we put the cart before the horse and think by our believing and just standing we are ready for the warfare. I have indeed been sadly mistaken. Stand, after you have put on the whole armor.

The Christian in Complete Armor, by William Gurnall Introduction and Chapter One- a link

Mr. Gurnall so diligently has studied those great passages on the Christian’s warfare. The first thing that he tells us is the importance of seeing the Christian life in the light of the warfare that we are engaged in. Ephesians 6 is an every part of life necessity. Paul was in bonds when he wrote it and we, who live in these current days are sometimes lulled to sleep, not recognizing the severity of the Christians position and condition in the world. Paul could see the evil day, in his time. But, how are our days evil?

Why should we be thusly engaged{to use the old writers dialect}? Why should we be awake and putting on armor, when we live in such a progressive and opulent society?

In his introduction, Gurnall senses that argument. He defends the importance of the relevance of the passage, even in days that may not seem evil.

What war are we fighting? What spiritual principalities are at stake? What are the rewards of the diligence? What are the losses that we incur? All of these are questions that the Apostle in the scriptures takes on directly and our much studied, old Gurnall brings them more to relevance in the day in which he lived.

The part First, A Sweet and Powerful Encouragement to the War is entitled and truly draws us in to study these truths, which we often take for granted at a much more disciplined level.

I think that he may have had the old hymn in mind, when he was writing, “ How Sweet and Awful is the Place with Christ within the doors…” A sweet home seems an apt metaphor, but a sweet encouragement to war? Truly oxymoronic, at best.

The Treatise, William Gurnall

Thoughts from Psalm 22 inspired by the sermons on Sunday

Psalm 22:27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. Psalm 22:28 For the kingdom is the LORD'S: and he is the governor among the nations. Jn 13:1 Rev 1:5 HEb 12:2

“The joy that was set before Him” was in Psalm 22:27 Jesus paid it all for particular salvation of individuals and for the “nations” to have their eyes opened to the need of real communion with God. These concepts were shrouded in mystical lies and fierce superstitions. God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world.

I have to say that to myself. What about this or that suffering that is observable in the world? What about that? How can you say that is not condemnation? Redemptive suffering? Suffering that is redemptive knows that it cannot save itself. No amount of suffering endured can cleanse from sin, intrinsically. Christ’s suffering was the only suffering that can save even one soul. It is the only suffering out of all of the sufferings of the world added up that has access to God in it. None of the other sufferings have any weight in and of themselves.

Paul the apostle started us all thinking about “The fellowship of His sufferings” , in the New Testament era. What a knife to cut through the lie of self flagellation and of superstitions of gentiles of varied forms and fashions; which is the essence of the idolatry of gentile pagan faith. We are dead in sin, blind by birth and blind by cultural mores. NO inheritance of faith and life to lighten our path. Jesus saw the depth of blindness that was outside of even the sphere of His earthly ministry. Nations remote need to have access to the Father, Lord! That was in Psalm 22 and Jesus was suffering this and praying for us on the cross. Amazing Grace!

We are a part of the condemnation, in our sin and Christ covers that sin with His perfect life and cleanses and brings the dead soul to life and had us in His mind in Psalm 22 that it would be thus. “There are barbarians in the uttermost, Lord" was in that prayer; “ They can’t see unless I go to the cross.” The Father and the Son were in eternal fellowship in those sufferings. Prayer on our behalf begun by our "advocate with the Father"

God stuck Psalm 22, as it were, into the “Nevertheless” of "not my will but thine be done." in the Garden of Gethsemane, Prayer of our Lord. Let me show You the reality of what you are doing, Psalm 22 was the walk through of the nations coming to Christ through the suffering. He despised the cross and endured the pain that now in Christ our sufferings can and should allow us to see the greatness of the love that He had. Sanctified by faith.

When we are struggling with a persistent and “darling” or coddled sin {sins that we excuse and make provisions for and cover in ourselves, that’s not what we are supposed to do}, we are supposed to see Christ cleansing it. We are supposed to see Christ’s sacrifice and healing for us, bought and purchased at eternal costs. We are supposed to know victory over some sins in this flesh and struggle with some of them until we get to Heaven casting our burdens and griefs upon Him at the victories and the losses. That is the power of the Cross.

Thank you Lord, for redemption and healing for the nations, bought by the blood of Jesus! Amen.

Remembering Helen Keller 46 years after her passing/ Finally, By Gary Chapman

I wish my mind wouldn't argue with my heart It splits the day apart Into time well spent and time just thrown away I wish my heart would please make up my mind I'm wasting so much time Gotta catch a glimpse of how it's gonna be

CHORUS: When finally I look inside your eyes and see Reflections of yourself in me The way you always said it would be When finally I'm loving you like you love me It happened oh so easily I looked at you and it came to me Finally

The day to day just keeps on spinning round But this one thing I have found I can close my eyes and be there in your arms You take me to a place that's safe and warm You're my harbor in the storm Wanna lose myself in being there with you

(REPEAT CHORUS)

When finally I look inside your eyes and see Reflections of yourself in me The way you always said it would be When finally I'm loving you like you love me It happened oh so easily I looked at you and the love in your heart Cut right through to me And my eyes can see Finally