SCRIP-BITS

Job 20:8.    He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
 
Oh Friends, it’s Friday! Black Friday! The Friday after thanksgiving in the U.S. Hn! The biggest shopping day in the nation, where people line up and sleep in parking lots so they can rush into the stores when they open late at night or early in the morning. What madness! What sadness! It all comes right back down to our ungodly desire and lust for the things of the world. The merchants trade on that aspect of our lives and lower prices on a few items, using terms like door crashers to entice us, and have us literally crashing the doors, rushing madly, pushing and trampling others just to get in there and possibly save a few dollars. Oh Friends, is it worth it? I don’t think so, especially when you finally get in the store and realize that those in front of you have already gobbled up all the best sales items. The merchants aren’t stupid, they only put out a handful of those sale items thinking that once we get in there we’ll spend our money anyway. How many thousand dollar T.V’s are they going to put out for three or four hundred dollars eh? Not too many. I doubt that if the church or any God based organization was selling cheap stuff, or even giving it away, there would be any line ups, much less the crazy behaviour that our southern neighbours exhibit at this time. Sadly though, a lot of Canadians make the long trek to the U.S for this madness, ostensibly to buy cheaper stuff. But between the time, the distance, the hassle two ways at the border, having to pay duty on most things unless you’ve been away for at least a week, the foreign currency exchange, plus gas and the wear and tear on your vehicle, it certainly doesn’t add up to any savings in my mind. And as the old saying goes, ‘monkey see, monkey do.’ The Canadian merchants are now trying to establish a Black Friday tradition so that people will spend their money up here. Oh Friends, we live in such a crazy world, based  unfortunately on the possession, accumulation and abundance of things, a lot of them useless, and all of them facing eventual, rot, rust, malfunction and destruction. Anyway, in some places people are still thanking God that it’s Friday, and merely celebrating the end of the workweek, not killing themselves to buy stuff most can’t really afford. To counteract this malady, let’s chant our Friday Chant that will give us the true response and reason for the weekend. In one voice now: ‘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.’ And fortunately Friends, our Bit today is also a good reminder of what happens when we don’t follow the Lord. This is Zophar, Job’s friend talking about the plight of the wicked. ‘He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.’ Yes my people, that’s what’s going to happen to evil men. And furthermore: ‘The eye which also saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place anymore behold him.’ (Job 20:9) So to all intents and purposes the wicked will disappear from sight. As Asaph declares in Psalm 73, the mystery of prosperous wickedness, he was at first envious of their good fortune: ‘But as for me, my feet were almost gone (I almost stumbled); my steps had well-nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish (boastful), when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands (pangs or pains) in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men: neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain (serves as a necklace); violence covereth them as a garment.’ (Ps.73:2-6) But finally he understood: ‘Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.’ (Ps.73:17-20) Ah mih people, the wicked surely seem prosperous here on earth, but please don’t envy them their earthly wealth, possessions and power, because they will all meet a sad end. Now let’s go home with some appropriate words from Psalm 90, from the pen of Moses who knew God and His workings better than most. ‘Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withered.’ (Ps.90:2-6) Oh my people, I’m sure none of us want to suffer the ghastly fate that’s stored up for the wicked, so please let’s concentrate on being righteous nuh, and that means obeying God, walking in His will for us. It’s the only sane and sensible option available. Please take it. More on this tomorrow, God willing. Till then, Much LOVE!…to the wicked…comes eternal separation from God…to the righteous…eternal life with Jesus…your choice…