SCRIP-BITS

Job 14:1.    Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
 
The noise is deafening! The air is filled with hysterical shouts of ‘TGIF! Thank God it’s Friday!’ as the small group of people jump around deliriously and pump their clenched fists in the air. Yes Friends, it is Friday! The day we’re always wishing to hurry up and come. But please remember that the weekend is not only for fun and frolic, but also for fellowship. So let’s chant our Friday Chant, which will give us direction and encouragement in the coming days. ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work! It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through. Now, please help me to get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that I can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out and do it all over again next week, furthering your glorious kingdom with each step I take. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.’ Yes mih people, we have survived another week of work, but how many more we survive depends solely on the Lord our God. And unfortunately, length of physical life on this planet earth is very short, especially if we consider it in terms of God’s time scale. Peter says: ‘that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.’ (2 Pet.3:8) And Moses concurs in Psalm 90: ‘For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.’ (Ps.90:4) So Friends, when we think of our earthly journey as generally being three score years and ten, that’s absolutely nothing in God’s sight. It doesn’t even come close to the centuries that the people of the Old Testament lived. If you want to see some serious years that they lived back then, check out Genesis 5. That’s why we say as old as Methuselah, who lived nine hundred and sixty nine years. Wow! Imagine living that long nuh? No way! So Job is telling the truth, whether it’s by God’s standards or the ancients, when he says in our Bit: ‘Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble (turmoil).’ And if anybody was qualified to talk of trouble, calamity and life’s woes, it’s certainly Job. Then he continues talking about the brevity of earthly life. ‘He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down (fades away): he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.’ (Job 14:2) The author of Ecclesiastes also held the same theory of earthly life. ‘For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation (striving) of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun? For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief (task grievous); yea, his heart taketh not rest (even) in the night. This also is vanity (futility).’ (Eccl.2:22-23) Oh Friends, all those claims do have some substance; our lives are comparatively short and troubled filled, but that doesn’t mean we ought to yearn for, or opt for death to set us free. On the contrary, we ought to desire long life, especially if we’re believers in Jesus, because that gives us a definite purpose here on earth of spreading God’s Word. And when the Spirit of Jesus lives in us, then we have the wherewithal to overcome the tribulation, as Job eventually did, and also enjoy the good times that are included. Not every day is totally good or bad, most of them are somewhere in between, for we do get good and bad happenings on the same day. The problem is not to let the bad ruin the good, which too many of us are wont to do. Oh my brethren, who ever said that life was made for living was telling the gospel truth. Our Creator didn’t make us just to sit on earth to vegetate and complain, but to live life to the fullest. Why do you think He sent His Son Jesus to die for us? So that we could have life, and have it more abundantly, even to the point of having it eternally. He also gave us the parts and the power to overcome the earthly woes that beset us; namely His Holy Spirit, filled with guidance, help, protection and provision. However Friends, Chuh! Ah spell it wrong again. Been doing that for the last couple days. Regressing in mih old age. (smile) Yes mih Friends…Ah Lord eh! Would you believe ah spell it even worse than before! Steups! Anyway Friends…Whoopee! Right at last! We also have to play our part by surrendering our lives and our trust to Him, and walking obediently in His will, for He’s the Boss. Without us following His instructions, the partnership will falter and everything will crash for us. Remember that all the Lord does is not for His benefit, but for ours. He doesn’t need anything we have, but we need lots from Him. So, though life’s short, difficult, unpredictable, and however you want to classify it, let’s keep at the forefront of our minds, two things; that out God is good, also just and fair. That means He won’t put us through any hardship without a purpose. Whatever He allows to come against us will eventually be used for our good, our improvement; our becoming more like Jesus, the ultimate goal. Therefore Friends…wrong again…let’s stop complaining as much as we do re the difficulties of our lives, and instead try to help somebody else, for there’s always someone whose life is rougher than ours. When we do that, it takes our mind off of our troubles and glorifies God. Besides, we have the wonderful Spirit of Jesus Christ living in us, so what’s there to complain about eh? Much LOVE!…the Lord is a great rewarder of those who obey His will…both in this life…and the next…