Day 16: God Speaks
Welcome to the 85th issue of Pulpit to Pew Crew Newsletter, I'm your captain, Brad McClure, and we are on a journey through the Bible in 2023.
It's DAY 16 in my journey through the Bible.
Well, it's no longer just my journey. Nineteen others are reading along and sharing some great comments.
This past Thursday, I shared four lessons I'm learning from Job's life on the podcast.
But this week, here, we've dropped an anchor back in Genesis after finishing up Job.
I noticed a theme while reading this week that I want to make a focal point, and it's this:
God is speaking.
To Job, God never answered the WHY.
- Why did I lose my children?
- Why did I lose my health?
- Why did I lose my material possessions?
Instead, he reminded Job who HE is.
He is the creator of all, and in revealing this, God showed how involved He still is with every detail of His creation.
Reading God's concern and understanding of even the birth cycle of wild goats left me with a feeling of security. If God cares about wild goats, he cares about the details of my life.
God ended His message to Job by rewarding Job's faithfulness. Ultimately, Job ended with more than he started with and ten more children.
To Job's Friends, God had a message of rebuke.
They didn't speak on God's behalf. Some of what they said was true, BUT it wasn't true for Job's situation.
They were commanded to offer a sacrifice before Job, and God had Job pray for his friends. In praying for his friends, the captivity was turned.
That's not why Job was restored everything, but God did make this an important step. Probably to protect Job from something we often struggle with–bitterness.
To Abram: After finishing up Job, we returned to Genesis and once again found God speaking.
This time, God speaks to Abram (Genesis 12) and calls him to a new country. But this conversation was more than just moving to a new country.
Abram received a promise of a GREAT NATION. God promised to make his name great, and He did. Abram (later Abraham) is a crucial figure read about throughout the Bible.
But guess what–he wasn't perfect. And it didn't take long to see that. Shortly after this promise, Abram lies to protect himself instead of trusting God.
One more important note. That promise didn't come without a test of his faith. Abram was promised a great seed, a great nation, but he had no children. Years passed, and he still had no children.
In this, we see a principle played out hundreds of times in the Bible and one that plays out in our lives as well.
We know what God's Word says–BUT we're not seeing it played out in our life– YET.
A test to strengthen our faith.
Welcome to the Christian life. A life of faith.
So, this week I noticed God speaking.
- God spoke to Job
- God spoke to Job's friends.
- God spoke to Abram
What is God speaking to you about?
Today God speaks through His Word and through promptings of the Holy Spirit that are aligned with the Word of God.
I don't know what God may be trying to tell you, but my advice is simple.
When God speaks, listen and obey–immediately.
Thanks for reading this week.
Thursday, we'll cover more of Abram's adventures of faith on the podcast.
Have a great week!
P.S. I wrote a blog post this week about an opportunity you might be missing out on. Check it out here.