FAITH CAPSULE: Job feared God.

Job 42

After Job had lostall (not some) of his material possessions and his children, he was struck by painful boils. Job 2:7, “So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful boils…”  Imagine a man described by the Almighty God as, blameless and upright man who fear God and shun evil, being struck by painful boils. Painful boil is one of the covenant curses for the disobedient ones. It is written in Deuteronomy 28:35, “The LORD will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.” There was no documentation of any violation of God that calls for the covenant curse on Job. However, it happened to Job that was upright and blameless. Your challenge has gone far enough and spouse, family and friends are despising you while church families are questioning your faith—disallow discouragement God alone is the righteous judge. All kinds of advice and accusation were diverted at Job by his friends yet, Job did not sin in all of his response to friends. Job was a righteous man but his righteousness is not to claim that God owes him. Job 34:5 states that, “For Job has said, I am righteous but God has taken away my justice.” God owes no man but man owes God in all of his being. The Lord pointed out in response to Job, “Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.”(Job 41:11)  It can be concluded here that God owes no man and He is not obligated to reward man.
Through it all, Job spoke of God what is right. Job submitted to God and he affirmed God’s unconditional sovereignty of his life. In the face of all that turned against Job, God responded, “Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations.”(Job 42:12-16) Job stayed through the course of his challenge and crossed over into God’s blessing for his life. God is true to His word just as it is written, “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy.” (Psalm 147:11) Job feared God.       

Prayer for today: Ask God’s fear to reign and rule your heart.

FAITH CAPSULE:Leave it all for God; worry not but worship Him.

Job 1-2

Thank God for God. Forever, God shall be God. The Bible described Job as a blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. (Job1:1) Job was blessed with seven sons and three daughters. His blessings were also extended to material possessions. Job at his time possessed, “…seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.” (Job 1:3) In one day, without warning, a man that feared God and shunned evil, the greatest man of all the people of the east lost all of his material possessions and his children. Job plunged from the height of prosperity to the pit of poverty. Four rapid disasters struck him alternatively from earth and heaven. From earth, his livestock and servants were raided and killed by the Sabeans. On the same day heaven went against him when fire of heaven fell and burned up the sheep and servants. Again the earth forced against him when the Chaldeans raided the camels and killed the servants. The fourth disaster was climatic blow from heaven. It was a great wind that destroyed his house and killed his children…all disaster in one day. Job must have felt that all heaven and earth pitched against him to destroy him. Despite all, there was no iota of complain or blaming God for his tragedies. How are we to react in the face of confronting challenges?
In Job’s case, as if the lost of property and children was not enough his health became a victim of unexpected attack. Job was struck, “…with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes.” (Job 2:7-8) In the midst of it all, Job did not despise his God. Job’s wife was the first to spite him when she reacted, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2:9-10) Your challenges have taken a new twist; it is going deeper than earlier thought. In the midst of it all you still have the breath of life and it is worth praising God for. Without the Bible documentation of the cause of Job’s affliction it is easy to conclude that Job must have sinned. In your light affliction (compare to Job’s) are you being judge as sinner? Leave it all for God; worry not but worship Him.

Prayer for today: Ask God for strength to persevere in every area of challenge.

THE PLACE YOU ARE

FAITH CAPSULE: Where you are now will soon change for the better. You will eat better food
than what you have missed.
 
Exodus 16:1-19
 It does not matter where you are now, it only matters how you are living in the place where you are. The children of Israel knew for sure that they were on a journey, they were on the way to the Promised Land: a land that is waiting for them to look after, a land flowing with milk and honey. They had seen the great hand of God at work, and that alone was a confirmation that He that began a good thing will take them to an expected end. The Bible recorded that, “…He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. (Psalm 103:7) Indeed they saw His acts and yet they could not maintain where they were with expectation. The children of Israel lost touch and could not hold on to the hand of God that brought them out of bondage of over four hundred years. It is also written, “They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert.” (Psalm 106:13-14)Is your story the same? Are you saying it cannot happen to you–that it is not possible to forget where he has brought you? Determination will fail you, but the grace of God will pass you. All you have to do is to constantly remember that you are on a journey and that He has given you all what is needed for you to go through that journey if you will carry with you always the Word of God. The children of Israel had what was necessary for them to go through into the land of promise, but they could not accept it all. God put in place good food, but they could not stop asking for tasty food. Exodus 16:3, “And the children of Israel said to them, ‘Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’” Where you are now will soon change for the better. You will eat better food than what you have missed. Trust in Him; He will take you to your expected end. Accept all that He has put in place until you get to the expected end.

Prayer for today: Ask God to help you entreat His favor with your whole heart; to be merciful to you according to His word.

FAITH CAPSULE: With contentment, Moses was in place — not out of place — for receiving the calling for his life.

Exodus 2:1-22

It is written, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.” (Exodus 1:8-9) The new king made life difficult for the children of Israel. All forms affliction were put in place to reduce the children of Israel until the king eventually gave a command stating, “…if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” (Exodus 1: 16) According to the king, it was his time to terminate the Hebrew male. In God’s timing, it was the right time to send a male son who would bring deliverance to thousands of His people. What a mighty God! Moses escaped death as an infant, but later turned out to be a murderer that had to run from the palace where he was raised. He ran from Pharaoh’s reach after killing an Egyptian, and ended up in Midian. Nothing happens by accident. In the life of Moses, all that happened prepared him for where he was going. In order for Moses to become a shepherd in the hand of God, he had to be trained as a shepherd. You do not know where you will wind up; you only know where you are now. Are you paying attention to Him? While Moses was living in the palace, he could not have imagined becoming a shepherd. Nevertheless, he ended up becoming a shepherd in the hand of God. To be used by God is a great achievement that cannot be compared to or traded for anything. You know in whom you believe, and that enough is an encouragement for you to stand firm in whatever condition or situation you may encounter. If Moses had missed his training, he probably would have been out of place to be called by God, thus he would have missed his divine schedule for his life. When he was received by the priest of Midian, he did not let pride or anger get in the way of what God planned for Him. Character was in place in the life of Moses, Exodus 2:21, “Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.” Contentment is what made the difference in the life of Moses. For Moses, living in a palace was replaced with living in a tent. Life could never have been an easy transition, but Moses was content. Do you have God in your life? What about contentment? The word of God says, ““Now godliness and contentment is great gain.” (1Timothy 6:6) With godliness add contentment for your gain. With contentment, Moses was in place-not out of place- for receiving the calling for his life.

Prayer for today: Ask God to endue you with the spirit of contentment.

FAITH CAPSULE: Without understanding, a knowing edge (knowledge) over confronting situations will not be in place.

1Samuel 3:1-11

In the journey of life, nothing matters like having knowledge. With knowledge perishing in the journey of life becomes impossible. It is written, “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge…” (Hosea 4:6)The book of Isaiah 5:13 buttress Hosea 4:6 when it states, “Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.” (Isaiah 5:13) Truly, there is no way getting to expected end as expected, without knowledge. The challenges in life journey are numerable and it demands constant walk in knowledge.  It is the knowing that you have in the Lord that will determine the edge you will have over every confronting situations in the journey of life. It does not matter who you are or what you do in the house of the Lord; if the required knowledge is not in place in your life, it is possible for you to miss His direction or His call of assignment. I Samuel 3:1, “Now the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.” Age or number has never been a limitation in regard to whom God wants to use in furthering His purpose on the face of the earth. Man, however, can be limited if there is a lack of understanding in activating knowledge of Him. As young as Samuel was, he was the one to hear from God in the days when revelation was rare. Samuel was in the right location at the right time of his life. God located him for an assignment because age and number is not a determinant for God to move whenever or wherever He chooses to move. The point is Samuel was a minister and did not have the knowing that it takes to hear from God. Are you a minister that is not hearing from Him? Is knowledge a factor that denies inability to be hearing from Him? 1Samuel 3:7, “Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD. Nor was the word of the LORD yet revealed to Him.” It was not that Samuel was too young; it was that despite his ministering to the Lord, despite being in the right location to be connected to heaven, he did not yet know the Lord.

Prayer for today: Ask God for an understanding to know how to hear Him in every calling that is placed in your life. Without understanding, a knowing edge (knowledge) over confronting situations will not be in place. He is a merciful God.