The latest message from Griffith First Christian Church in Griffith, Indiana. This is the first message in our new series based on the book of James. This message is based on James 1:1-18.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it. — Psalm 118:24 (NIV)
You’ve no doubt heard the expression, “I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop”. It typically means that things are going well, but one is waiting for the inevitable hiccup, bump in the road or piano to drop on one’s head from a very tall building while walking down a busy street in Chicago. We human beings can be quite pessimistic about our lives. We’re too pessimistic for our own good. What happened to hope and anticipation? What happened to optimism? Is there any justifiable reason to have hope in our world today? Why does there always have to be “another shoe”? Why are we waiting for the other shoe to drop instead of waiting for the next blessing or revelation of God’s presence in our lives?
“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” — Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)
The Greek word translated as hope literally means a confident expectation. The author of Hebrews makes a great connection between faith and hope. The faith that one has in Jesus Christ is directly related to the hope of His return. Our expectation of Christ’s return is rooted in our faith in what we cannot see. Faith is hard, but I wonder if hope is harder. I can see the evidence of God all around me. I know that He is there and He created all of the beauty around me. But when it comes to hope for a bright future, I keep wondering how many shoes God has and when the next one will drop.
The book of James says to rejoice in trials because they produce perseverance and endurance. They strengthen our faith. They make us more mature. God knows what He is doing and I have to take comfort in that and believe that there is a plan for my life and hope for my future. And some days, that’s all I can do.
PRAYER: Lord, I struggle with understanding Your will and plan for my life. I struggle with the trials and tests I sometimes have to endure. Give me strength for my journey as I walk through this life with You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you. – Psalm 9:9-10 (NIV)
What oppresses you? How has life beaten you up and dragged you down? Has the weight of life crushed you in the last week? In the last year? In the last five years? Ten? Twenty? How have you dealt with this sense of being oppressed by life?
I think that too often we try to deal with the struggle and weight of life on our own instead of turning to God. Perhaps God is too busy. Maybe He doesn’t want to be bothered. He doesn’t want to bother with little insignificant me, right? Wrong. God is big enough to handle all of the problems of the world and He cares enough about you to handle yours as well.
In Psalm 9, the Hebrew word for “refuge” is the same word that is translated as “stronghold”. It literally means “high”. Like the high, protective walls of a city, God is a strong refuge where we can go in times of crushing trials and trouble. In verse 10, we are encouraged to seek God and trust in Him because He will never abandon or forsake us. God will never turn His back on you and me. He will never leave us. We must continually seek after God and ask of Him for He cares about us. He really does love you and He really does love me. He proved it by sending His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins. Every sin we could possibly commit, He can and will forgive because He loves us.
When the trials and tribulations of life come, do not try to deal them on your own. Do not turn away from God in hopes of handling them by yourselves. Seek after God and run into His loving arms of refuge. He is a stronghold for your heart and your soul.
PRAYER: Thank You, Father, for being my stronghold and refuge. Please guard and protect my heart, soul and mind today with Your powerful arms of love. I ask for Your guidance and leadership in my life today. I ask for Your forgiveness in Jesus’ name, amen.
During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. – Exodus 2:23 (NIV)
God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. – Exodus 2:24 (NIV)
Exodus 2
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
The Birth of Moses
2 Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.
7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”
8 “Yes, go,” she answered. And the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
Moses Flees to Midian
11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”
14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. 16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.
18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”
19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
20 “And where is he?” he asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”
21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become an alien in a foreign land.”
23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
NOTE: This post is based on a post from September, 2013.
On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God, 2 because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaamto call a curse down on them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.) – Nehemiah 13:1-2 (NIV)
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
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