Trust God and await His resolution

New Guest: Like this one, most entries are devotional. Those related to Car Biz can be located by searching the blog archives for that title. You might start with 'Welcome,' the first entry, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. I hope you'll record your responses as you read, since these entries serve best as the first remarks in a coversation.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Thursday and Friday, August 19 and 20

Devotions: Ps 131-35; 140-43; Job 1:1-2:13; Acts 8:26-9:9; Jn 6:16-40

Lord, I'm not puffed up; I have quieted my soul like a child near its mother's breast. I wait patiently for You. God made wonderful promises to David, and kept them all. He has chosen Zion and Jerusalem, and raised His own Son through David's line, to bless all humankind. How wonderful it is to live in harmony with God's people. Let all who serve YHWH bless His name; lift your hands and praise our God! For He is good; He does whatever pleases Him; He supervises nature, and keeps His promises toHis people. Idolators worship images their own hands have made; we worship the One Who made us! Let all God's people bless the Lord and praise Him forever. May YHWH deliver me from evil men. Guard me, Lord, from violent and wicked ones. Let their mischief return upon them, and the righteous live safely under Your care. Lord, set a guard over my mouth, and keep my heart from evil inclinations. Let a good man rebuke me, but keep me from the praise of the wicked. My heart and my attention are focused on my God. Lord, my Refuge: hear and answer my cry for help. Deliver me as I recall Your many past blessings. Hurry to me , Father; let me hear of Your steadfast love; and teach me to do Your will as Your Spirit guides and directs my path. I am Your servant.

Job was the leading citizen of Uz, a blameless, god-fearing and righteous man. He had seven sons and three daughters and great flocks and herds, hundreds of oxen and donkeys, and splendid male and female servants. His children made a circuit feasting together, and Job offered burned offerings simply in case one or more of his children might sine or curse God. The sons of God came before the Lord, and Satan too appeared. YHWH asked Satan whence he had come, and Satan said, 'From going to and fro upon the earth.' God directed Satan's attention to Job, 'a blameless and upriight man, who fears God and turns away from evil.' But Satan argued that Job's faithfulness was self-serving: 'Haven't You put a hedge around him and his house and all his possessions. You have prospered and blessed them man. But if You strike his wealth, the man will curse You to your face.' YHWH said to Satan, 'Look: all Job has is in your power; but don't lay a hand on the man himself.' Satan left God's presence and set upon Job . A day came when catastrophe struck: Job's children were killed by a violent wind that flattened the house where they were celebrating. Job's flocks and herds were stolen and his herdsmen killed—his oxen, donkeys, sheep, goats and camels—everything, suddenly, was gone. Job tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell facedown on the ground and worshiped. He said, 'I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will return naked at my death. YHWH gave and YHWH has taken back. Blessed by YHWH's name!' Another day came, and again God's sons and Satan appeared before Him. YHWH raised the matter of Job with Satan: 'Job still holds fast his integrity, though you moved Me against him, destroying his possessions without cause.' Satan responded, 'Skin for skin! A man will readily surrender all he has to keep his own well-being. Touch his own bone and flesh and Job will curse You to Your face.' YHWH put Job in Satan's power, with one limitation: 'Only spare his lilfe.' So Satan afflicted Job head to toe with loathsome sores. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and he sat among the ashes. His wife said to Job, 'Why hold fast your integrity? Curse God, and die!' But Job replied, 'You speak like a foolish woman. Shall we receive good from God and not receive evil?' Job never sinned with his lips! Three of Job's friends heard of the evil that befell him, and came to console him: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They hardly recognized Job when they first saw him. They cried out and wept; they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. And they sat with Job on the ground for seven days and nights without speaking, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

As his evangelism in Samaria was at its most successful, Philip suddenly was re-directed by an angel of the Lord, telling him to get up and head south, to the road that leads down from Jerusalem to Gaza—a desert road reached by passing through hostile and dangerous territory for the evangelist. Philip immediately obeyed. An Ethiopian, a eunuch, the treasurer of Queen Candace, was returning to Ethiopia in a chariot along the road. He was reading a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. God's Spirit told Philip, 'Go up and join this chariot.' So Philip ran up and heard the man reading Isaiah. He asked the Ethiopian, 'Do you understand what you are reading?' And the man replied, 'How can I, unless someone guides me?'. So Philip climbed up and began to explain the scriptures, beginning with the passage the man was reading: 'As a sheep led to the slaughter or a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation. For his life is taken up from the earth.' The eunuch asked Philip to whom the passage referred. And beginning with this scripture, Philip told the man the good news of Jesus the Messiah. As they went along, they came to some water, and the man asked, 'What is to prevent me from being baptized?' So he commanded the chariot to stop, and the Ethiopian official and Philip went down into the water, and Philip baptized the man. When they came up from the water, the Lord's Spirit caught up Philip and the eunuch saw him no more! But the new Christian went his way rejoicing, and Philip was found in Azotus; passing on from there he preached the gospel in every town until he came to Caesarea. Meanwhile, Saul of Tarsus continued threats and murder gainst the Lord's disciples. He went ot the high priest and solicited letters to the Damascus synagogues, so that he might bring any men or women belonging to the Way back to Jerusalem in chains. As Saul traveled to Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. Saul fell to the ground and heard a voice: 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?' He answered, 'Who are you, Lord?' The answer: 'I Am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting; now rise and enter the city, and you will be told what to do then.' The men traveling with Saul stood speechless; they heard the voice but saw no one! Saul rose; but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. So his companions led him by hand into Damascus. And for three days, he was without sight and neither ate nor drank.

When evening came, Jesus' disciples got into their boats and began to cross the sea to Capernaum. As they were making for the far shore , night fell and a strong wind arose against them. When they had rowed three or four miles, they saw Jesus, walking on the sea and approaching the boat. They were frightened, but He said to them, 'It is I; don't be afraid.' They gladly took Him into the boat—and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going! The next day, the people sought after Jesus and followed Him to Capernaum. They questioned when He had arrived; and He replied, 'You seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Don't work for the food that perishes; rather strive for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of man wil give you. For on Him has God the Father set His seal.' They asked what they needed to do to be doing God's works. Jesus said, 'Believe in Him Whom God sent.' They said, 'Well, then, what sign will You give that we may see and believe? Our fathers ate manna from God in the wilderness—He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly I say to you, it wasn't Moses who gave them bread from heaven; My Father gives you the true Bread from heaven. That Bread is what comes come and gives life to the world.' The said, 'Lord, give us this bread always!' And Jesus said, 'I Am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. I told you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All whom the Father gives Me will come to Me; and whoever comes to Me I will not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him Who sent Me. This is His will: that I should lose nothing of what He has given Me, but raise it up at the last day. For this is My Father's will: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day.'