LIFE IS A STRUGGLE

“Life is a struggle” – have you found it so?  Job did.  The story of Job is his struggle with terrible suffering.  Job has God on trial asking Him, “tell me God, what is going on, nothing that I have done, deserves this kind of suffering.”   Friends of Job came to sympathize with him. They sat with him, saying nothing for seven days.  Then, it is that Job speaks, cursing the day that he was born.  His friends can’t stand to hear him talk like that so they have to speak.  They judge him. Their theology, religious belief, is that all suffeirng is due to sin. So. Job what have you done wrong to deserve all this suffering?  Confess it, repent and everything will be alright.  Get right with God and you will be blessed.  They were wrong in their religious belief.  It is NOT true that all suffering is due to sin.  Now, it is true that all sin brings suffering but all suffering is not due to sin.

We must be careful what we say in the face of suffering.  It seems that we think we must say something yet our presence says the most.  Just be there, be supportive.  Don’t judge the sufferer. What is done is done, they feel badly enough.  Allow each individual to suffer in their own way and at their own time.  All suffering is unique and individualistic.

Job wants God to speak, to expain why all this is happening.  Finally God breaks the silence.  Out of the storm of suffering, God answers Job.  God speaks of all His creation.  Out of nothing, God made everything.
God asks Job, what did he have to do with all this?  What right does the made have of criticizing the Maker?
God does not owe mankind an answer.

Job finally comes to the realization that he is not God.  He is humbled, feels his own unworthiness. His pride is broken. He is overwhelmed and acknowledges that he has said enough.  Man can’t do what God did and does. There can only be one God, Jehovah He is God.  In the end, Job is blessed and his friends are rebuked.

Job never denied the existence of God, just questioned His justice.  Job was not given answers but insight.
What makes we human beings think that we would understand if God gave us all the answers.  We must let God be God and accept the presence of mystery.  It is to let our faith in God stand in spite of our lack of understanding.  Lack of facts, leaves room for faith.

Living is a matter of experiencing God not experiencing freedom from suffering.  It is the struggle itself that leads to the experience of knowing.  All the knowledge of God that we need is given to us in His word, the Bible.
“WE LIVE BY FAITH NOT BY SIGHT.”

 

SOMEONE WITH SKIN ON

  I want to share with you my favorite Christmas story. This is a repeat from my book, “Max Speaking – Devotionals From My Heart.” You will find it on page 31 in the book. I hope that you will enjoy the story of Christmas again, as I enjoy telling it.

   A little girl had been tucked in bed one night after the family prayers. It was a stormy night, the lightning flashed across the sky and thunder shook the house. The youngster endured this as long as possible. Then, she scurried to the living room and threw herself into her mother’s arms exclaiming, “I am afraid.” The mother quieted the child as she put her back to bed saying, “Remember, honey, God loves you and He will keep you safe.”
But, no sooner had the mother returned to the front room and seated herself comfortably, than the child appeared in the doorway crying, “Mommy, I’m still afraid.” Mother put the child back to bed telling her, “Honey, you must stay in bed, you are perfectly safe, I told you that God loves you and He will take care of you.” The little girl replied, “I know God loves me mommy, but, when it is thundering and lightning, I want someone with skin on to love me.”

Jesus was God in human flesh. He put skin on in order for us to know Him.
What was God like as a baby? Go to Bethlehem and stand by the cradle of the child, Jesus. What was God like as a growing boy? Go to the carpenter’s shop in Nazareth and see Jesus as He learns the carpenter’s trade from Joseph. What was God like in temptation? Go into the wilderness and share in the fierce attack of the devil upon Jesus.
What was God like in making decisions? Go to Gethsemane and hear Him pray, “Not my will but your will be done.” What was God like in suffering and dying? Go to Calvary and see Jesus hanging upon that cross, dying for sinful humanity. What was God like in victory? Go to the empty tomb and hear the angel declare, “He is not here, He is risen, even as He said.”

We can know what God is like. He is like Jesus. Only Jesus could say, “The Father and I are one.”…”When you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”

May Christmas mean this to us, that the coming of Jesus is God’s unmistakable revelation of Himself to us.

         He became like us, so we could become like Him.”

 

“IMMANUEL”

The whole Christmas story is summed up in the one word, “IMMANUEL” meaning “God with us.”   Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”  This prophecy of the Immanuel to come was made about 740 years before the birth of Jesus.  This happened when Jesus was born.  Heaven was jubilant. The angels sang songs in the night.  God was pleased.  Prophecy became a fact.  All of this when Jesus was born.

A six year old tiptoed softly up to the little crib in which his new baby brother laid.  He looked at this baby intently his eyes bright and shinning. He stooped far over, leaning down over his baby brother.  Finally he whispered into one tiny red ear saying, “Quick, tell me about God before you forget.”
The boy thought that this little gift from heaven had a message from God.

The disciple of Jesus, Philip, expressed this same longing, when he asked Jesus, “Show us the Father and we will be satisfied.”  This is our eternal longing too.  Jesus answers this ageless request saying: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘show us the Father?’  Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?  The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.”   John 14:9-11

So, it was in about the year four that Joseph, a carpenter, and his wife to be, Mary went down to Bethlehem to be enrolled for it was the time of census.
When they arrived in Bethlehem there was no inn where they might spend the night.  So, they were offered lodging in a common stable laid with hay. It was in this place, while angels spoke on the hillside and the great white light streamed into the night, that Immanuel (God with us) was born.
He came as a little baby and Mary wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger (a common feeding trough).   On the hillside outside the city, there were certain shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night.  Suddenly, there appeared to them an angel of the Lord.  The shepherds were terribly afraid but the angel said to them: “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”    Luke 2:10-11

Here is the true Christmas story.  Jesus is God with us in the flesh.  HE IS IMMANUEL.

GOD IN US

We are so use to talking about ‘God with us’ that we ignore the truth that ‘God is in us’ as Christians.  As we come into December we are reminded of Christmas. Christmas in turn is a wonderful reminder that God is with us in Jesus Christ. Jesus is “Immanuel”, God with us.   But, there is more to it than that, we need to understand that God is in us, not just with us.

The early disciples of Jesus were bewildered and grief stricken when Jesus told them that He was going to leave them.  That He was going back to the Father who sent Him into the world.  His concern was for His followers.  He is telling them that His leaving was the best thing for them.  Jesus said, “It is necessary that I go away.”  How could this be?  He could not make such a statement if He had not been prepared to assure them that His withdrawal in physical form meant no absence from Him spiritually.  He told them, “I will not leave you comfortless” meaning, “I will not leave you orphaned.”   Jesus left this world physically so He could send back the Holy Spirit.

A story is told of a young boy whose mother asked him, what the preacher preached about in his sermon this morning?  His answer was, “that the preacher said that the Lord was going to give us a warm blanket.”  The mother said, “I have never heard anyone preach on that.”
Are you sure that is what he preached about?”  “Yes, Mommy, I’m sure.”  All day long the mother could not get the thought out of her mind that God was going to give us a warm blanket.  Finally, the mother telephoned a neighbor and asked, “What did the preacher preach about in the morning service?”  The neighbor replied, “He preached about Jesus giving us ANOTHER COMFORTER.”
This would be the Holy Spirit to be in them to do for them what Jesus had done while He was with them in the flesh.

The Holy Spirit lives in the believer.  Our bodies are the temple, dwelling place of the Spirit of God. We are urged to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  This means that we are to be yielded to His control. I Corinthians 6:19 “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God.”   The Holy Spirit leads us in the production of fruit.  You do not see the filling of the Spirit but you can see the works. Jesus said, “By their fruit you shall know them.”  If a person is filled with the Holy Spirit, it will be evident in his disposition and in his deeds. When a person allows the Spirit of God to lead, that person’s heart becomes a garden that is fertile for growth in the things of God.
Such inner qualities as love, joy and peace.  Such qualities toward one another as patience, kindness and goodness.  Such attitude toward God as faithfulness, meekness and self control.

We need the Holy Spirit not to receive knowledge (we have God’s truth in Scriptures) but to be empowered (enabled) to live lives of holiness.  The Holy Spirit was sent by Jesus to be the Christian’s helper.  The word “helper” means “one called alongside.” Jesus stands beside us to help us, encouraging and strengthening us.

The Holy Spirit does all this in order to build up the family of God, His Church.  The Holy Spirit does not function in us just for our personal desires but to advance God’s cause, to lift up God’s Son and to save souls.  Your acceptance of Jesus brings to you forgiveness of sins and the indwelling of God’s gift, HIS SPIRIT THAT IS HOLY.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Split Gown

My father is Max E Smith. Those of you that read his devotions have learned that he is very punctual with his postings and I’m sure you have enjoyed each and every one of his devotional thoughts. However, at this time he is in the hospital. This past Thanksgiving weekend he became sick with chest pain. That led to a trip to the hosptial and evental angiplasty on Dec. 1 for three blocked arteries. However, before he went into surgery he asked me to “please put out my devotion”  He knew that he  had not been able to post before going in the hospital and wanted to make sure you received his thoughts. He is doing fine from his surgery but since he thought of you and this devotion I felt only fitting that I do what he asked.  He should be back posting himself next week.  Thus below you will find: SPLIT GOWN. I think you’ll find it quite apropos as of this writing he is wearing one of these.

Tim Smith

———————————————————————————–

“I was sittin’ here mindin’ my business, kinda lettin’ my mind go slack, When in comes a nurse with a bright, sunny smile. And a gown that was split down the back. “Take a shower,” she said, “and get ready, and then jump into this sack.” What she was really talkin’ about was the gown with the split down the back. “They’re coming to do some tests,” she said.  They’re gonna stretch me out on a rack, with nothin’ twixt me and the cold, crccccuel world but a gown that’s split down the back.

It comes only to the knees in front, in the sides there is also a lack. But by far the greatest shortcoming is that bloomin’ split down the back. Whoever designed this garment, for humor had a great knack But I fail to see anything funny ’bout a gown that’s split down the back.

I hear them coming to get me, the wheels going clickety-clack. I’ll ride through the halls on a table, in a gown with a split down the back.

When I get to Heaven it’ll make me no odds if my robe is white, red, or black. The only thing I will ask is, “Please, give me one with no split down the back.”

I do not know who the author is of this bit of verse but I find it amusing, hilarious. Yet, we who have been in the hospital wearing this “gown with a split down the back” find it rather embarrassing. Maybe, I should say the experience is humbling.  The “gown with the split down the back” brings us all down to earth. It stripes us of our pride. It is too bad that it takes this “gown with the split down the back” to make us realize that we will all stand before God, naked, not even with a “gown with the split down the back.”

Nothing can we take with us when we go to meet God but in Jesus He will dress us in Heavenly Clothing and you can rest assured it will not be with the “gown with the split down the back.

– See more at: http://maxsmithonline.com/2014/03/10/split-gown-3/#sthash.tBeo3OmQ.dpuf