Living Life with Jesus

Psalm 3

Psalm 3:3, “My glory and the One who lifts up my head.”

We will all experience times of trouble and a heavy head/heart but God is our glory. God is the reason we lift our voices and sing and He is the one who pulls us out of our slumps. Verse 4 says David cried out to God and the Lord heard him. How wonderful is that- the Lord hears our cries, He actually hears them and understands our woes and takes action on our behalf to protect us and mend our broken hearts. No matter what we face, we are not alone.

Verse 5 really speaks to my heart, “I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustained me.” I have never been hiding from tens of thousands of soldiers who were trying to kill me like David was, but I have been so terrified that I couldn’t sleep. I know what David is talking about here. For about the first 22 years of my life, I was demonically attacked at night and it was so hard to sleep because of my fear, but every night I would end up getting some sleep, by the grace of God, and He sustained me. By His good will, I am no longer attacked at night and I no longer have to fear sleep- but that’s because He sustains me every night. Hallelujah!

It’s so great that we serve a faithful God so that David can boldly say in verse 6 that he will not fear tens of thousands of soldiers because he knows that the Lord will save him.

I love how the poem ends. David used the past tense to speak of God’s goodness- even though God hadn’t yet acted. We must remember that the story has already been written and God has already won.

Finally, salvation belongs to the Lord (verse 8) and there is nothing we can do to earn it or lost it- it is His and His alone. Amen.

Psalm 2

Here’s the drawing I created for Psalm 2. If there’s one verse that stood out to me it’s this, “Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice in trembling” (verse 11). Even though the Lord loves us soooo incredibly much, we must never forget WHO He is and His status over all.

I pray that I serve the Lord with all my heart and place Him above all else in my life, in Jesus name, Amen.

Psalm 1

I was feeling a little unenthused about starting the book of Psalms. I’m not a fan of poetry and Job was a poetic book as well so I was feeling “over it.” However, I prayed that the Lord restore in me a joy for reading His word every morning and spending time with Him. While I was reading Psalm 1, an image came to my mind and I felt I should draw it out. I’m not an artist by any means, but I drew it anyway. The Lord is doing some weird things in me…reading poetry and making art? Those are things that are completely opposite from the type of person I see myself as. However, when the Holy Spirit gets going in us and we are attentive and obey, we never know what will happen! So for the first time ever, I’m going to post a picture of my art on the internet for all to see (I usually don’t even let my husband view my art) but this came from God and He wants me to post it so here goes:

It might help you to understand my drawing if you read Psalm 1 along with it.

Today I pray to stay on the path of the righteous and follow the path set by God. I pray to meditate on His word day and night and that the Holy Spirit would inscribe it on my heart. In Jesus name, Amen.

Psalm 46: 1-2

I am once again deviating from writing about Job because I’ve also been doing a bible study conducted by my church. Today’s reading was Psalm 46:1-2 and it’s too good not to share. Here’s what it says:

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.”

I read a bible that has commentary by Charles F. Stanley and he commented on these verses with this, “On some days, we may feel as if our world has been shaken and everything we depend upon has slipped into the heart of the sea…sometimes the Lord will allow all of our earthly security to fail us so that we will learn to depend on Him better.”

This speaks to me. I’m blessed enough to still technically have a job, but right now all over the world, the “earth is being removed and the mountains are being carried [away].” That’s how I felt when the governor announced that we wouldn’t be going back to school- like my foundation had been ripped from me. This shows me that my foundation was in the wrong place. I don’t know about the whole world, but through this quarantine, God is teaching me to build my foundation upon Him alone. I often found fulfillment in being busy. Well, I’m not going to work, my masters thesis is completed, and the city is closed. I have nothing to be busy with anymore so I must turn to the Lord to find my fulfillment. No matter what our earthly circumstances are, if we are in God’s embrace and rely wholly on Him, we will be fulfilled, safe, content- even when the earth seems to be falling away from us.

I pray to trust wholly in the Lord- I release all of my needs to the One in control. I will not fear my circumstances, but I will find strength in the Lord and rather than having an earthly foundation, I will make Him my foundation. God, I repent for relying on earthly things for fulfillment, which only You can provide. Thank you for your conviction and forgiveness. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Job 42

It’s the end of the story- spoiler alert if you haven’t read it 😉 and God restores Job’s life and makes Job’s friends and the townspeople give stuff to Job but first Job had to repent AND pray for his friends. I can imagine that Job didn’t necessarily want to pray for his friends who were so cruel during his weakest moments- but Job was faithful and obedient and did as the Lord asked. Sometimes God will want us to pray for people that we may not want to, but we must obey Him.

Job remained faithful to the Lord, no matter what his circumstances were and, in the end, the Lord was just and took care of Job (just like we all knew He would) but God did it in His way and on His timeline. God didn’t fit into the ideas of Eliphaz and the other, but that doesn’t matter. God doesn’t fit into any box we try to fit Him in and we have to be like Job and accept God and be faithful and obedient no matter what. Ultimately (maybe after death) the Lord will come through for us, because He has never failed us before, and He never will.

Job 36-39

Job 36

Elihu is speaking to Job about the power of the Lord. Elihu clearly reveres the Lord and understands His might and power. Elihu gives lots of good advice concerning the Lord, such as: to remember all the great things He has done and to praise Him always.

However, Elihu misses the mark and accuses Job of being wicked and that Job somehow brought this upon himself. Even though Elihu understands the glory of God, he doesn’t understand the nature of God’s will (do any of us, really?). All we know is that God’s will is complex. Sometimes, we tend to think that God’s justice is black/white, good/evil, righteous/wicked, blessed/punished, etc. but His will is too complex for us to understand. Job was a righteous man (God said so in the first chapter of this book) but he went through great adversity. God’s will is always perfect, even if we don’t get to understand why certain things must happen.

Job 38

Finally, the Lord speaks! This is the chapter I’ve been waiting for during the entire book. God reveals Himself, His great might, and His many responsibilities. It’s a very humbling passage.

Job 38:22, “Have you entered the treasure of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail?” God as treasuries of snow and hail, what?!? That is so cool. There is so much about our Father that we do not know and cannot understand. What else does He have treasuries of?

The next verse, 23, says that He reserves the hail for battle and war. God does control the weather and use it for His purposes. He also is speaking to Job out of a whirlwind right now. But just like this bible story is trying to teach us, not all weather is either a punishment or a blessing- God is complex and not black and white. All of verses 25-29 also show that God is the father and controller of weather.

I think another point God is trying to make here to Job is, “alright, you may have been a righteous person, but what is human righteousness? You’re not God and you really don’t deserve anything. Just because you farmed and took care of your family? Look at all this stuff that hangs in My hands…” Like maybe God was trying to make Job a little more humble? I don’t know.

The passage then switches from weather to animals. God doesn’t just take care of humans, He takes care of everything. Job 38:39-41, “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens, or lurk in their lairs to lie in wait? Who provides food for the raven, when its young ones cry to God and wander about for lack of food?” Even the animals cry out to God, He hears them and takes care of them!

Job 39

It’s clear here that God really loves animals and cares for them. Maybe this is why the role of the Shepard is so huge in the bible.

Finally, today I pray for wisdom. I pray that God grants me the wisdom to maneuver through these hard times. Without Him, I am nothing. Praise God that He is in control and has the world in His hands. Lord, I trust you and submit to Your perfect will. In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

Job 34

Job 34:4 “Let us choose justice for ourselves, let us know among ourselves what is good.”

In this chapter, Elihu is speaking to Job. This statement reminds me of the statement made by the Israelites when Moses was leading them to “do what is right in our own eyes.” Both statements are wrong. We don’t decide justice, goodness, or righteousness but we (humans) keep trying to do so. God is the One who knows all things and He has the wisdom to know justice, goodness, and righteousness.

Elihu couldn’t figure out why Job, who claimed to be righteous, would be treated this way by God so Elihu decided that it was because Job must have sinned. But it wasn’t up to Elihu to decide.

When we (humans) don’t understand something, a situation, or a move God is (or isn’t) making, we try to take it into our own hands and create justice, goodness, and righteousness. But not understanding something is not an invitation to turn away from God and try on your own. Rather, it’s an invitation to do as Job has done and lean in to God, cry out to God, and rely on Him for wisdom.

Job 34:10, “Far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to create iniquity…surely God will never to wickedly, nor will the Almighty pervert justice.”

Elihu is correct here…but it’s not a human’s definition of Justice, and it’s not a human’s timeline. If we suffer injustice (by our terms) for a day (on our timeline)…God may not see it that way. He is working on a completely different timeline with a much more complex definition of justice.

Matthew 5:10 says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” If Jesus were able to speak to Job during Job’s time of persecution, he might say something like this. We are so incredibly blessed to live in the time period after Jesus’ sacrifice because we have the Holy Spirit living in us to be our Wise Counsel, mediator, and redeemer. Job begged for these things but didn’t have them and we do.

So today, I pray that I may tune into the Holy Spirit. I pray that the Holy Spirit is alive within me and is speaking to my heart so that I may know the heart of the Lord and walk in all His ways. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray, Amen.

2 Corinthians 4: 7-18

I am deviating from Job today because I read this passage as part of my church’s at-home bible study program during the quarantine and I fell in love with this passage. In fact, I think it is my new favorite bible passage.

Here’s just a snippet, verses 8-10: “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair, (9) persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, (10) always carrying about in the body of the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our own body.”

It’s not about me- it’s about HE who lives in me. God bends us until almost broken, to get us to the exact mold where we are relying entirely on Him and nothing else. For me, during this quarantine, it’s been my job. He’s been breaking me of my reliance on my job. I can no longer rely on my career to find fulfillment. I can no longer rely on anything, other than Jesus, to find fulfillment. It’s kind of like a giant fast- except we aren’t fasting from food, we are fasting from all the things that we found our identity in. So that we can throw away our old identities and be restored in Him.

4:14- “He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and will present us with you.”

How hopeful is that! The reminds me of a line from a song by Elevation Worship, “The resurrected king is resurrecting me.” Praise God!

Job 28-29

In Job 28, Job discusses wisdom and gives 4 main points:

Wisdom is unfound by man.
Wisdom is more precious than gold, rubies, silver, etc.
Only God has wisdom and understands it.
Therefore, we must fear and obey God because He’s got wisdom- the most precious thing.

Job 29:2- “Oh, that I were as in months past, as in the days when God watched over me.”

We often wish for how things were. But God must bring us through hardships to new places. And I bet when Job was in the past, that he was yearning to be in a different time. And God was still watching over him, even though Job couldn’t see him. Also, God is always with us, so we should just try and live in the present times and not yearn for another time period. That’s why the Lord’s prayer has the line, “Give us this day our daily bread.” And also why the Israelites got punished by God for taking too much manna when they were stranded in the desert with Moses. God wants us to live in this day and obey Him and rely on Him for all of our needs. He is the only one with wisdom so we should cling to Him and stay present.

Lord, today I pray that I can stay present. During this quarantine, I have been yearning for how things used to be, and I am looking forward to the future, but You want us to stay focused on today. So today, Father God, please forgive me for focusing on the past, and I pray that you help me remain focused on the present moment and that I rely on you for all my needs. And I pray that you give us this day our daily bread. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Job 27

27:8-10 “For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he may gain much, if God takes away his life? Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him? Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call on God?”

Job knows that this life means nothing without a relationship with God. Whether you have much or little- God is our only hope and He is everything we need. Job loved God when his life was blessed and if he stopped now, that would make him a hypocrite and that would leave him with nothing. The only thing he has to hold onto is God.

27: 17-18 “He (wicked man) may pile it up (clothing), but the just will wear it. And the innocent will divide the silver.”

Job is unwavering in his belief that God is a just God. He knows that justice might not come for generations (verse 13), but he believes God that it will come. Even when everything has been taken away- he is the one teaching his friends about the righteousness of God. God will use unlikely people to teach us about His ways.

Today I pray that I can be as faithful as Job. When it seems as though the world is crashing in, I pray that I keep my faith in the Lord. He is righteous and just and He will take care of His children. I pray the Holy Spirit instills in me a spirit of trust and faith and that I will cling to the Lord, just as Job did. In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.