SCRIP-BITS

Job 40:4.    Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
 
Oh my beautiful Friends in Christ Jesus, the new day’s dawning and the heavens are opening, getting ready to pour down the daily blessings and goodness of the Lord God Jehovah on the children of men! When you awaken, please go to Him with gratitude and thanksgiving and prayerfully receive your portion. That will set your feet on the right path for your daily journey in this mish-mash world, and allow you to travel in God’s most exquisite and LOVING company all day long. And that’s the gospel truth my people! Wow! What an honour! Beginning each new day with the Lord certainly helps us to handle the problems we encounter with more strength, wisdom and courage, than if we just relied on our own anaemic power. Remember, without Him, we are nothing, and can do nothing. And having poured out those general words the Spirit put in my heart to share with you, (smile) let’s continue looking at our Bit, where God had to drape up Job and bring him to his knees, ere he finally humbled himself before his Creator. ‘Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.’ Now yesterday we heard Ezra’s prayer of confession, re the Israelites sins. Today, let’s listen to Job’s response to God’s challenges. ‘I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee: Wherefore I abhor (deplore) myself, and repent in dust and ashes.’ (Job 42:5-6) Yes Friends, Job finally submits to God. Per the scholars: ‘He has a new awareness of the wisdom of God’s hidden plans, a new sense of the limits of his own wisdom, and a new sensitivity to his own sin. He admits that his has been a limited perspective, and he totally submits to God’s will and authority.’ What an awakening my brethren! One that is necessary for all believers to come to before we can truly appreciate the great God we worship and thus dutifully and confidently do His will. It’s not an easy task, as Job discovered. But I’m here to remind us that all things are possible when we work with the Lord. Now let’s look at the second part of our Bit, which is perhaps even more important than the first: ‘I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.’ Oh Friends, if the majority of believers would do this, both literally and figuratively, our world would be such a wonderful place! Why, you ask? Because it’s oftimes our too quick to open mouths and consequent thoughtless words that breed a great amount of friction, strife and resentment, which only lead to hatred and violence. To improve the situation, WE MUST STOP AND THINK BEFORE WE TALK! It’s therefore to our great advantage to contemplate these important scriptures on the subject. ‘If any man among you seem to be (thinks he’s) religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain (useless).’  (James 1:26) And there’s more: ‘Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter (forest) a little fire kindleth (sets ablaze). And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue (the tongue is so set) among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature (existence); and it is set on the fire of hell.’ (James 3:5-6) Yes mih breddren, that’s the enormous power our tongues, mouths and words wield, and why we need to control them so carefully. And it’s not that Job didn’t know better, since he earlier acknowledges that others held their peace when he addressed them in his glorious past. ‘When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street (took my seat in the plaza)!….The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. The nobles held their peace (the voice of the nobles was hushed), and their tongue cleaved (stuck) to the roof of their mouth. When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness (approval) to me.’ (Job 29:7, 9-11) Ah mih people, in these perilous times it’s of the utmost importance that we choose our words very carefully and also humble ourselves before Almighty God, because He is the only real source of hope we have to extricate ourselves from the awful mess we’ve made of our world. Much LOVE!…to be suitably humble…one’s tongue must be suitably bridled…