“Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. Job 1:10 NKJV
For anyone who has read or knows the book of Job. It is a difficult book to read. It took my husband years to read through the entire book! He’d get so far in the book and then he’d stop reading because of Job’s terrible trouble.
There is an idiom in the English language: “to have the patience of Job”. It’s a reference to Job’s unending and absolute, unshakeable faith in God despite the trials Job goes through. His afflictions are many: physically, his family, and his possessions. More than a single person can even comprehend much less endure. And yet, his love of God never waivers.
Let’s look at the context of today’s verse. In verse one through five the Bible gives us Job’s background. Job was from Uz and he was blameless, feared God and shunned evil. He has seven sons and three daughters. The Bible tells us of his many possessions and how his sons would feast on an appointed day and invite their sisters. Job sacrificed for his sons in verse five if they had sinned.
In verses six through nine, there’s a conversation between God and Satan where God tells Satan to consider His servant Job who is blameless and there is none like him in all the earth. This leads us to today’s verse.
In verse ten, today’s verse, Satan tells God that He has protected Job by putting a hedge around him. Job’s life had no terrible trouble…no health issues, no financial worries, and no family issues. Satan is goading God to see if Job is who God thinks he is. (We know Job is who God says he is because God can see the heart of man.) God, through Job, will prove Satan’s error.
How can this verse help us live in today’s world? There is one thing I know for sure and that is: prayer works. I have prayed for protection for my children, grandchildren, extended family, and friends in all areas of their lives. Do I believe God has put a hedge of protection around my family and friends? Absolutely. I have no doubt whatsoever.
Case in point. Years ago, my daughter studied in Luxembourg for a fall semester with sixty other college students. A small class. Long before she left, I began to pray for her. The day she left, I laid hands on her and prayed. For her safety while traveling throughout Europe.
She called periodically, and she had said she had been traveling to various large cities in Europe. Even to cities the students were advised not to travel to because of the terrorist activity. She had told me she was planning on a ski trip to the French Alps. I thought nothing of it at the time since I knew she knew how to ski.
But I came home from work one evening to a voice message on my phone from someone at the school in Luxemburg. The message was that my daughter was fine but that I’d probably had already heard there had been a skiing accident in the French Alps. I immediately called my daughter’s host family but with the time difference and language barrier, the host family kept hanging up on me.
I walked the floors most of the night waiting until I could call and not have the host family hang up. I must have dozed off because the phone began to ring and it was my daughter. Her host mother thought one of my daughter’s friends kept calling in the middle of the night. My daughter realized her friends would never call in the middle of the night and that it was me who had called.
She told me she had gone to Prague because it was one city she loved in Europe. At this point, I was reluctant to tell her what had happened. I gently asked her about her friends that went on a ski trip. She said other students wanted her to go but she didn’t feel comfortable about the trip. (I believe the Holy Spirit told her not to go.) When I explained what had happened, she immediately wanted to go to the school because she had no idea what had happened since she had been out of town.
Coincidence? I think not. God’s love for His children who pray and love Him far outweighs the terrible things that can happen. In today’s world, we need all the help we can get. And while the enemy can cause trouble throughout the world, we have the power to overcome that trouble through prayer to God, our savior. For strength and power to overcome…just as Job did.
How has God answered your prayers?
The book of Ester is my favorite Old Testament book of the Bible. I’ve read it many times and am always amazed at Ester’s strength and courage. How God worked out the circumstances to preserve His people is mind-boggling. Every little detail. His love, commitment, and grace to His people always astound me even though I shouldn’t be astounded…I always am.
We could not have survived the many upheavals we’ve had if Jesus were not a part of our marriage. It’s interesting to me. My husband once said, “I don’t know how other couples make their marriage work without Jesus in it.” I believe he’s right.
Let’s look at the context of this verse. Nehemiah wrote this book around 445 BC. He was the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes. The first three verses of this book recount a meeting between Nehemiah and men of Judah. The men of Judah tell Nehemiah the Jews who had escaped and survived the captivity were in great distress and the walls of Jerusalem had been torn down and its gates burned with fire. This verse is the response to the news of Nehemiah’s brethren.
But Nehemiah did something different. He fasted and prayed. Today people fast for their diets but not for spirituality. Fasting clears the mind. And prayer…it lifts the soul out of its dark place.
“Although science is ill-equipped to prove the existence of God, scientific research does show that prayer works. The literature I looked at states, regardless of God’s existence, elements of prayer are universally valid—across various religions, traditions, and practices. The act of prayer itself has beneficial physiological effects.”
Let’s look at the context of this verse. After Israel had three waves of their people exiled to Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Persia held the Jews in captivity for seventy years. In the first two verses of Ezra chapter one, God gave the King of Persia, Cyrus, who followed Nebuchadnezzar, a sense of urgency to put out a proclamation in writing to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.
Solomon asked God not for wealth, health or abundance of any sort but he asked for wisdom. How wise it was of him to ask God for a trait that he could use to push the nation of Israel to heights no one had ever seen before. God was exceedingly pleased with the request and not only gave Solomon great wisdom, the likes of which this earth hadn’t seen before him or since but great wealth and favor among the nations.
My husband and I pray daily, both individually and corporately. One of our prayers is that God gives us wisdom and favor in all things and with all people like work issues, family, finances, health. All of it. And He has been faithful to provide the wisdom and favor we need for the day.
He truly is a mighty and awesome God.
Genealogies. They’re important. In ancient and not-so-ancient times, people depended on their parents to relay who their ancestors were and their history as a nation, tribe and ultimately as a family. They passed that information along to their children and grand-children through word of mouth and the written word of God. Namely, the Bible.
The Bible became the perfect place in which to document marriages, births and deaths of who they were and how they were related to one another.
The results were almost identical in both DNA tests. But what I liked most with 23andme.com was the ability to connect with potential relatives. First, second, third, fourth, and fifth cousins. As of this post I have over a thousand connections, some of which are messaging me.
Let’s look at the context of this verse: At the time of the book of 2 Kings, Israel had been divided into two kingdoms: The Northern Kingdom or Israel (made up of ten of the original 12 tribes of Israel) and the Southern kingdom or Judah (made up of the remaining two tribes). The King of the North, Ahaziah, was an evil king in the sight of the Lord because he worshipped pagan gods. Twice the King of Israel sent a captain and fifty men to the mountaintop to summon Elijah to bring him to the King. Both contingents of men died because Elijah called down fire from heaven. And that brings us to this verse.
Whether you are a leader or you are not, it’s a great thing to be humble. Here are five traits of a humble person:
This verse calls to mind that when we make a promise, we must keep it. It doesn’t matter if it’s a small promise to go to lunch with a friend or if you’ve promised to take care of a task for a sibling or parent or if you have pledged a possession. It doesn’t matter. When a person breaks a promise, it’s hard to trust that person again.
And it’s especially hard when we give promises to our small children and break them. Children depend on their parents and guardians to tell the truth and not break a promise, no matter how insignificant that promise may be. Our children are our greatest resource. We must treat them with kindness and care where our promises are concerned.
David was the King, a leader. It calls to mind our leaders today. They rarely keep their promises and wonder why their constituents don’t trust them. In today’s world, it’s all right to break a promise if it furthers that leader’s career goals.
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The context of this verse is that King Saul of Israel and his son Jonathan died in battle with the Philistines. David, who would be the next King of Israel, and his men are those who are mourning, fasting and weeping for the two men.
It seems fitting that we talk about men and women lost in battle. Any family who loses a loved one in war is a tragedy. But a family who loses all of their children at one time is unthinkable. That’s just what happened to the Sullivan family during World War II.
Parents who lose a baby or a child are overwrought with the pain of loss but to lose five sons in one fell swoop, I can’t even imagine the pain of suffering that family endured. Some may say, it was a long time ago or time has a way of healing. That may be true to some extent but a parent who loses a child whether that child is a baby, child or an adult, can’t ever be consoled and time doesn’t heal. It only covers the grief until the anniversary of their child’s birth or death.
May we all have an extra measure of compassion for those parents who have lost a child.
Let’s put this verse in context first and I’m paraphrasing here:
That’s what this verse is about. Hannah begged God to give her a child who she promised would be given to Him, consecrated as a Nazarite and set apart for God.
What heartbreak the woman must have endured at the hands of not only her husband’s other wife but all the women in her community! And yet, she went directly to God for help. It reminds us to look to God when situations are dire.