Then the LORD will guide you always

and satisfy your thirst in parched places,

will give strength to your bones

And you shall be like a watered garden,

like a flowing spring whose waters never fail

-Isaiah 58:11

I don't know if any of you know (and I hope you don't), but usually when you prepare for having surgery, there is a certain amount of time that you are required to be NPO, without food/liquid, since you'll be intubated while the surgery proceeds. Since I've been through four surgeries in recent years, I'm all too familiar with the NPO requirements. Trust me, its no fun. 

However, also, many times as I prepared for surgery, there was fear too. These are two elements that are addressed in this verse. The Lord promises to guide us (we can trust him!) and in the parched places He is always there. Even in the spiritually dry places when it feels that He has abandoned us-He really hasn't. He's there. 

I wish I had had this insight on His promise going into surgery, but I had one other thing. I printed out every verse that reads"do not fear" and took them into surgery with me. I read them as I was falling asleep. They brought me so much peace. 

S, this week, let God guide you and satisfy the areas in your life that are parched and need his touch and his water. 

God Bless you! 

Then Job arose and tore his cloak and cut off his hair. He fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back there.  The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD! ”In all this Job did not sin, nor did he charge God with wrong.

    -Job 1: 20-22

         Prior to this verse, in the book of Job, Sabeans have just come and carried off Job’s oxen and donkeys, as well as killing all by one servant.

I don’t know about you, but this would have put me in a really really bad mood, along with being mad at God. It is mentioned that Job is ‘blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil.’ This, dear friend, is the problem of evil, addressed by C.S. Lewis and many other authors over the years. Many people are quick to state that because evil exists, then an omnipotent, all good God cannot.

         However, God has given man free will, and will never take away our free will. There is also evil in this world. So where there is evil and free will, man can use the two to make bad/evil choices. Thus the situation here in Job.

         What I absolutely love in this part of Job, is the very end of this verse. After Job had gone through these trials (and would go through more), he still does not curse God – he BLESSES the name of the Lord.

         I’ve gone through difficult medical trials, and I know how difficult it is to want to blame God and do the , “ if you loved me you would fix this” – But instead, Job BLESSES the name of God. Instead of allowing the trials to pull him further from God, as the satan expects ( and wants) Job pulls closer to God.

         So, reflecting on this, I pray that we may draw closer to God, praising Him through the trials, tribulations, and blessing. We cannot just praise through the easy times; we need to praise Him through everything Life offers us. We are given the opportunity to praise him EVERY DAY. Wake up, open your eyes? – I Praise you Lord. Spill coffee on your shirt? – I praise you Lord. Long meeting in work? I praise you Lord. Get the gist? Keep on praising!

Romans 12:11-12


Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.

-Romans 12:11-12

I think that many of us go through periods of spiritual highs and lows, where we can feel very zealous and close to God, but then through time of feeling far and disconnected from Him. Looking at the definition for zeal can help to open up this verse.

Zeal:

Noun

1.   Great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective

We are called to serve the Lord and not grow slack in our enthusiasm for serving Him. That is my prayer for today, that He would make my heart be on fire for Him and be zealous about following his word.