Job 1-2

I know it’s been a while since my last blog entry; I started school back and have not had as much time. It may be a little longer in between entries but I will definitely keep it up! I apologize if you are following along.

Today I’m going to discuss Job chapters 1 and 2. These chapters tell of a man named Job, who was extremely blessed; he was wealthy and had a lot of possessions, and 10 children. And Job was a very righteous man who feared and served God. Satan was convinced that Job was only righteous because he was so blessed, so God allowed him to test Job. All of his land, possessions, and children were taken from him at the same time. Then he became covered with boils which were extremely painful. Through all of this, Job did not curse God; he remained faithful. Chapter 1 verse 21 tells us that after he lost everything, he said “the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” After his health was taken in chapter 2 verse 9, he says “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”

These chapters really spoke to me. It reminded me that we as Christians are going to face challenges, and our faith will be tested. It is extremely easy during these times to get mad at God or ask “why me?” It is important to remember that God is not causing these bad things; Satan is. God allows us to be tested because that is what faith is for. It is easy to have faith in God when everything is going exactly how we want it to. It is easy to love God when we can look around and see how blessed we are. The challenge is to have that same faith when nothing seems to be going our way. It is more difficult to love God when we feel like everything has been taken from us. Job 2:9 says “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” I know I quoted this verse earlier but I thought it was worth quoting again. It is not fair to God if we only take the blessings from Him. What is the point of faith if we only have it during the good times? The thing to remember, as we will see later on in Job, is that God will always come through for us. Though it may not always seem like it, He will never give us more than we can handle. If we keep our faith and praise Him no matter what we are going through, the blessings we receive will be endless. There is a song by Mercy Me called ‘Bring the Rain’ which I think fits in pretty good with these scriptures. If you watched Amanda’s last video blog she played a clip from it. It says “Bring me joy, bring me peace. Bring the chance to be free. Bring me anything that brings you glory. I know there’ll be days when this life brings me pain, but if that’s what it takes to praise you; Jesus bring the rain.” This is one of my all time favorite songs and you should definitely listen to it when you get a chance. Those lyrics are so powerful to me; yes, we are going to be tested. We will have “rainy days” as the saying goes, but if we can get through those days we will be given joy and peace and endless blessings!

Happy Mother's Day!!

To the women who change diapers, wipe snotty noses, clean up vomit, and go without sleep for those 2 hour feedings. To the women who rock and sing and make funny faces to dry up the tears. To the women who chase after toddlers and read bedtime stories and check for monsters under the bed. To the women who kiss boo-boos and convince a scared child to get back on the bike. To the women who help with homework and make lunches and cry on the first day of school. To the women who will spend their last ten dollars on that new toy that they have to have. To the women who are screamed at and told they are hated because they will not let their teenager go to that party. To the women who spend hours shopping and not buy one thing for themselves. To the women who worry and wait by the door at ten minutes til curfew. To the women who love unconditionally after all they are put through. To the women who never stop loving, and never stop worrying, even when their children are grown and have children of their own. To the women who have made us who we are today. Our heroes. Our mothers.

Happy Mother's Day!
I hope you all have a blessed day, be sure to tell your mother how much you love her!

Psalm 1-2

Psalm chapters1 and 2 talk about the difference in those who believe in God and those who do not. I feel like it is saying those who believe should surround themselves with other believers so they are not swayed from the path of God. Verse 1 of chapter 1 says “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners.” If we surround ourselves with nonbelievers, it is much easier to fall into temptation or peer pressure. Those who are righteous, or live for God will be rewarded and will always have God’s love and protection. The ungodly, however, will be punished. Chapter 1, verse 5 states that “the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” I took this to mean that the ungodly would not survive the judgment. While everyone will face judgment, the ungodly will be cast into Hell.
Chapter 2 says that there will always be people who will go against God’s will. Satan uses nonbelievers to fight against the Lord, even though they may not realize it. He uses these people to try to turn God’s people away from Him. They provide us with temptation and try to destroy our faith. But God is too powerful and will never be defeated. His kingdom is in the hearts of all believers so as long as we stick together and have faith in Him we will always persevere. As it says in verse 12, “Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”

I know this blog entry was much shorter than the others, because Psalms are very short chapters. I feel like they are still powerful messages and words to live by. If you interpret these scriptures in any other way, please comment. I would love to hear your opinion, even just to hear what you think of what I've done so far.

Be sure to check out Amanda's video blog as well!

Have a blessed day!

Joshua 1-5

Now we are going into the book of Joshua, chapters 1 through 5. This takes place after the death of Moses, and leads us into the conquering of Jericho. Joshua was appointed to succeed Moses and is told that God will protect him as He had protected Moses. Joshua is said to be the most bloodshed chapter in the bible, and I can certainly see why! He is led to take over the land of Canaan, for the people in this land were evil and God did not want their influence to spread.
In chapter 1, we learn that God told Joshua that he was to take the place of Moses and lead the Israelites across the Jordan to take the land they had been promised. In verse 5 God tells him “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” Because of Joshua’s faith in God, God promised to protect him, as he protects those of us who have faith in him. It must have been so exalting to know that no matter where he went or who he faced, God would be with him and he would not be defeated! Joshua showed tremendous faith in the Lord!
We also see a great amount of faith exhibited by the Israelites. Once God had spoken to Joshua, Joshua told the Israelites that within three days they would cross over the Jordan to take the land God had given them. They answered Joshua in verse 16, saying “All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go.” They did not question the fact that they had no boat or bridge to cross the Jordan, for they knew that God would provide a way. They also did not complain that they only had three days to prepare, even though they had spent the past 40 years, which had been most or all of their lives, in the wilderness. Instead they put their faith in God through Joshua, and simply obeyed.
In chapter 2, we see that Joshua sent two spies to Jericho to scope out the land. When they arrived, they came to the house of Rahab. The king of Jericho heard of the spies and sent someone to Rahab’s house to look for the men. She told them that they left and sent them after them, but she was really hiding them on her roof. She then told the spies that she knew that they have been sent by God to destroy the land, and that all of Jericho was afraid of them. She made them promise to her that when they came back to conquer the land, they would spare her life and the lives of her family. They agreed and she told them to go to the mountains to hide for three days so they would not be found. The thing I want to point out in this chapter is that God will use anyone to fulfill His will. Rahab was a prostitute and lived in a land they were about to destroy. Because of her faith and her kindness, she and her family were saved. This just shows that a little kindness goes a long ways!
Chapter 3 describes the instructions the Israelites were to follow in order to cross the Jordan. The priests were to take the ark of the covenant and go to the brink of the water and stand still in the Jordan, and the Israelites were to follow the ark of the covenant. So the priests took the ark and went to the bank of the Jordan, and as soon as their feet were in the water, the water rose up and the Israelites were able to cross the Jordan on dry ground! Before reading this chapter, I was not aware that the Lord had parted two bodies of water. I knew that He parted the Red Sea but I did not know that he parted the Jordan, and neither did Amanda. But it does not surprise me, for my God can do anything! This is just one miracle among many that He performed, and it let all of the people of the land know that Joshua and the Israelites were blessed and protected by God, and they were to be feared.
Chapter 4 tells us that 12 men from the Israelites, commanded by God, took 12 stones from the Jordan and built a memorial in Gilgal, which is where they are camping. Joshua set up 12 stones in the middle of the Jordan. These stones were set up as a reminder that God always keeps his promises. When the children of the Israelites asked what the stones meant, they could answer that they were a reminder to the day that God dried up the Jordan, and that they should fear the Lord God forever.
Chapter 5 speaks of circumcision, and Amanda pointed out that circumcision was a pretty important tradition in the days of Joshua. The children of Israel were circumcised as a symbol of their obedience and faith in God.
Verse 12 tells us that the manna ceased after the Israelites ate the crops of the land and they were able to eat the crops of the land that year. I took this to be a kind of reward for their obedience, for when they were in the wilderness manna was all they ate. We do not know exactly what manna is; it is thought to be a sort of bread, but we do know that it is all they had in the wilderness. Can you imagine eating the same thing over and over for 40 years? I get tired of the same thing after a few days! So eating the corn from the land must have seemed like a feast!
The last thing I want to discuss in chapter 5 is Joshua’s encounter with the host of the Lord. Verse 13 tells us that while near Jericho Joshua saw a man with his sword drawn, and he approached him to ask if he was their ally or their enemy. This is another example of Joshua’s faith, for it had to take a lot of faith to approach someone with a drawn sword, not knowing if he was an enemy! Amanda said that is like walking up to someone with a gun pointed at you and saying “are you going to shoot me?” But Joshua approached him and he answered neither, but as captain of the host of the Lord, and Joshua fell on his face to worship him. Amanda made the comment that she wondered who this was. She first thought it was an angel, but as we learn in Revelation 19:10, an angel would not have allowed Joshua to worship it, so she thought after doing some research, that it was actually a manifestation of Christ. So after hearing her opinion and doing a little research of my own, I agree with this. It makes sense that Joshua would worship at his feet if he were Christ. He asked what the Lord has to say to his servant, and he replied in verse 15, “Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.” This was another illustration of God fulfilling His promises. He was reinforcing to Joshua that He had given him the land of Jericho.
I hope you have enjoyed my interpretation of Joshua chapters 1 through 5. I have included Amanda’s video blog as well, so I hope that through one or both of these blogs you are as blessed as we have been making them! Look out for my next entry, which will be about Psalm chapters 1 and 2.