Can you trust in God, who governs the universe?
8 Jul 26
Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One
Readings:
Job 38
Job 39
Acts 15:1-21
Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me (Job 38:3).
Can you trust in God, who governs the
universe?
The Lord responds to Job “out of a whirlwind,” which both masks and unveils His person and work (Job 38:1). In Job’s bewilderment, God asks him questions about creation like the following: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened?" (Job 38:4-6). Simply put, God teaches the finite Job to trust in His infinite power. Paul writes about Jesus, “He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:17). Our God creates and sustains every detail in this vast universe; we can depend on Him to govern our lives.
Employment Point: Marvel at the Master of the universe and trust in Him always.
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Reflections
If you tell me master of the universe when I was a kid, I will reply you with He-Man. It’s a cartoon that I watched when I was a kid and that was the tagline they used. Jokes aside, perhaps Jesus was also like a He-Man but more like a God-Man, since He is fully God and fully man. Without Him coming to the earth and dying for our sins, we would have no reconciliation to the Lord.
““Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?”
Job 38:4-5 NIV
- as the devotional as mentioned, the Lord came in a storm and answered Job’s questions. Helping him to realise that there are things that are way beyond our understanding, or things we may never even understand. So don’t try to understand the Lord’s way of doing things but have the full trust knowing that He cares for us enough to reply to our relentless questions even.
- Sometimes I feel like a Job. Complaining and complaining until the Lord speaks a word or even just a sentence to make me realise what I was worried or concerned about, He already knew.
““Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket? Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?”Job 38:39-41 NIV
- If you read the whole of chapter 38, you will realised how detailed our Lord is. Indeed like what the bible has written. He clothed the land who neither toil nor labour with flowers. He send food to the animals. He, the Almighty, cares about each and every single living creature that came from His hands. He made sure everyone is fed. And what more us humans, who were made in His own image?
““Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?”Job 39:19 NIV
- In the many different verses in chapter 39, the Lord continues to rain down questions for Job. For the Lord cares not only for each and every living creature, but He cares too about the character and qualities that He assigned to them. They are all unique. If you about the ostrich in chapter 39, you will see how the Lord defines it. It does not have wisdom but is a runner. Faster than cars can do.
- Who can do all these things other than the Lord God Almighty, we creates with such details for and every individual.
“God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.”Acts 15:8-9 NIV
- Indeed the Lord did not discriminate. To Him the only difference was whether the heart is ready to receive. And for those who are, all are purified.
- This verse also proves to us that it takes nothing by any of our own efforts to try to purify ourselves. We cannot try to be better before we come before the Lord. That won’t work. In fact, the Lord knows and is happy to receive us as is, in the current state, no matter how broken or miserable it may be. He has the power to lift us up and to a place we don’t even know exists.
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The Will to Loyalty
BY OSWALD CHAMBERS
July 08
Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. —Joshua 24:15
I can’t give up my will; I must exercise it. Will is the whole person active. I must will to obey, and I must will to receive God’s Spirit. When God gives me a vision of what should be, the question is never what hewill do but what I will do.
Has the Lord been putting some big decisions before you? The best thing to do, as you consider your course of action, is to think back on what you did when you first were saved or realized some truth. Do you remember how easy it was to give allegiance to God? Recall those moments now as the Spirit of God brings new possibilities before you, asking you to be loyal to him.
Serving the Lord is a deliberate choice, not something you drift into. Everything else is put on hold until you choose. The decision is between you and God; you must not “consult any human being” (Galatians 1:16). With every new crossroads, other people’s ability to understand your specific situation diminishes, and that is where the strain comes in. God allows the opinions of his children to continue to matter to you, and yet you are brought more and more to a place where others can’t understand the steps you’re taking. What God is doing with you isn’t their business—but neither is it yours. You have no business trying to find out where God is leading you. The only thing God will explain to you is himself.
Profess to God, “I will be loyal.” The moment you choose to be loyal to Jesus Christ, you become a witness against your own selfishness and self-interest. Will to be loyal—and give other people proper credit for being loyal, too.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye.
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Reflections
This devotional came at a point where I am somehow at crossroads. Having been in my current workplace for more than a year, and having read this devotional a year ago, would be so different.
This time last year, I was probably just transitioning from intern to full time and still has a lot to learn. One year on, I find myself here not knowing what is ahead. It is exactly like what Oswald is saying.
There were some major decisions thrown at me for sure and I felt it was right to follow through. At the same time from other perspectives, the Lord also seemed to open doors to the different opportunities for exploration and training, gearing more into one focus aspect.
While it may true that people may not understand why I take certain steps, I felt I was kind of guided into it without me trying, as compared to maybe previously when I wanted to try other things, all the doors would be closed and nobody will even reply me even though I tried different ways and means. I can tell that I am now in a different season. One that is of equipping and preparing, for something which I have no idea of.
However, for myself, I felt the main difference now, was that I don’t need to think of what I must do, it was floated to me and I have the peace to want to try and do these things.
So yes, I don’t need to know the destination for the end point is sure, so long as I continue to choose to stay loyal to Him and to obey His will. The rest, I commit it all to the Lord.
Let’s pray:
Indeed, heavenly Father, we want to just thank you for giving us the opportunity to be called the children of God. Thank You Father, that you have given us free will to choose our future and that you have taught us how it is better to just rely on you, and not strive to do the things on our own. Indeed, Your yoke is easy and Your burden is light. Help us to fully surrender ourselves to You O Lord, that we will always choose to stay loyal to You and to obey You will. In Jesus’s, most precious and loving name, we pray. Amen 🙏🏻
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