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Hear the devotional here: https://bit.ly/2Z4aEOq
1 Job answered God: 2 "I'm convinced: You can do anything and everything. Nothing and no one can upset your plans. 3 You asked, 'Who is this muddying the water, ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?' I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me, made small talk about wonders way over my head. 4 You told me, 'Listen, and let me do the talking. Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.' 5 I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand - from my own eyes and ears! 6 I'm sorry - forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise! I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor." 10 After Job had interceded for his friends, God restored his fortune - and then doubled it! 11 All his brothers and sisters and friends came to his house and celebrated. They told him how sorry they were, and consoled him for all the trouble God had brought him. Each of them brought generous housewarming gifts. 12 God blessed Job's later life even more than his earlier life. He ended up with fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand teams of oxen, and one thousand donkeys. 13 He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 He named the first daughter Dove, the second, Cinnamon, and the third, Darkeyes. 15 There was not a woman in that country as beautiful as Job's daughters. Their father treated them as equals with their brothers, providing the same inheritance. 16 Job lived on another hundred and forty years, living to see his children and grandchildren - four generations of them! 17 Then he died - an old man, a full life. (Job 42:1-6, 10-17 The Message)
Saludos de Austin! Some of you missed my narrations of the devotional and as I've responded to the faithful, I am on yet another insurance gig, this time enrolling staff and faculty of a school district north of Austin. This one requires a multi-night stay in a hotel and quite frankly the first day was draining and I got "home" too tired to look for a microphone and I thought I had forgotten it, but looking through my backpack again, I found it, so this one may be in your ears tomorrow! I worked Monday, and had today (Tuesday) off and so Nellie and I enjoyed a day off and together as we drove to Fredericksburg for a day of walking around that quaint city. I have yet to see the entire Museum of the War in the Pacific and that's still on my list, but today it was the stores and shops. Sad to see so many once familiar places closed now. And the pandemic is being blamed for some of that, but still sad. Please remember to be in prayer as we welcome this Wednesday into our lives, the 20th day of October,year of our Lord, 2021. May we continue to pray for one another, for our pastors and their families, and for our own needs.
We come to the conclustion of the Job narrative. Years ago, one of my nephews called me to ask for five Bibles. He was at an age where sleeping was a scary proposition at times, and he thought that if he owned five Bibles, he would sleep better and any and all monsters might not scare him at night. I told him one Bible would take of that and so I gave him a Bible with the understanding that he had to read the Bible before going to sleep. Some time later I asked him, "Mijito, did you read your Bible?" He said, "Yes, Tio, I read Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, and got as far as the book called Job (And he was pronouncing it like work). I don't know if he needed a job or if he hated his job, but that was as far as I got!" Today's passage begins with the conclusion of the showdown between God and Job with Job asking God for forgiveness. Job realizes truly Who God is, and who he is. I'm reminded of an old joke between two male friends who asked about a mutual friend and his girllfriend and one of them says that they broke up for religious differences. "Really" asks the friend? "Yes, replies the first friend, "He thought he was god and she didn't, so they broke up." Indeed, sometimes we do find ourselves playing God when we shouldn't. Job admits his role in muddying the waters, and babbling on things he didn't fully understand, and admits that his relationship with God was based more on what others said rather than his own personal relationship with God. I love the line, "I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor." We do note that Job prayed for his friends and with that, God restored to him all that was lost double-fold. The new estate is listed in the passage as is the record that shows Job living another 140 years and four generations of his children and grandchildren; "Then he died - an old man, a full life." And yes, I question the third daughter's name and how that may have impacted her growing up. But, that's a cultural thing and interestingly enough the real name of the first daughter is Jemamiah which the modern version lists as "Dove." And the Darkeyes name is more in keeping with their society and times.
How do we take this story? It begins as a heavenly drama with Satan being present with God and all the court, where it is Satan's challenge to God that Job is a believer and a faithful one at that, simply because of all that God has given him. "Take that all away," Satan says, "And see how he doesn't turn against you!" The challenge on Satan's part was to have Job curse God. If at any point Job had indeed, Satan would have won. But in spite of losing all of his family and all of his wealth and poseessions, he never cursed God. The most tense part was the scene where things had gotten so bad that even his wife urged him to "curse God and die." She suffered alongside Job and believed that it might be better to die than to live wtih the hurt and pain of all of the losses. The lesson is that even when loss comes, and even the losse of loved ones, we cannot pause to curse God. Quite the opposite is true; God is with us and that is what we should acknowledge and celebrate. God's heart breaks before ours when we lose a loved one. The Rev. Dr. William Sloan Coffin was the senior pastor of New York City's famous Riverside Church when his son went out drinking and became so drunk that he drove off a pier and drowned. As Rev. Coffin was in the midst of his grief, a well-meaning woman from his church said, "It was part of God's plan..." Dr. Coffin stopped her and said, "Ma'am, it was not God's plan that my son go and drink the way that he did; it was not God's plan that he get as drunk as he did, and certnaly it was not God's plan that he drive off the pier intot he water; but one thing I know is that God's heart was the first to break when my son died." That is truth. It's hard, biblical truth and something that helps us better understand; God stays with us and hurts with us, and God has shared with us a better way to live and die, and we hold to the hope that Jesus shared with us through the years. Today's Upper Room devotional spoke of a new believer upon receiving her faith thought she would never suffer another day of hurt or pain, but she discovered that was not true; what was true was that God was with her as the challenges and pains came to her through the years.
This story shares a good ending after a long period of intense pain and suffering. While it may be in Heaven when we are restored all we have lost that is good enough hope for me. If some restoration does come to us during this life, praise the Lord and to Him be all honor and glory. Bartimaeus received his sight later in life and he was still estatic about that; we don't read him saying, "Lord why weren't you here when I was a child learning all the things while blind? That would have been so much better!" No. This man knew that when his sight was restored, that was enough to get him on the road following Jesus. May we find that which we need at the right time, God's time, and may that set us on that same road following Jesus.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, increase our faith to fully receive and appreciate that which we need when we need it; but may it always be Your will, not ours, that gets done. Bless those who hurt to feel Your presence and peace; bless and heal those who hurt; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen!
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Help someone who is hurting find peace in you!
Receive my blessings of joy and peace!
Pastor Eradio Valverde
