Written by Chuck Swindoll, these encouraging devotional thoughts are published seven days per week.
Before moving on, I'd like to suggest you try this sometime. Palms down, face down, knees and toes touching the ground, body fully extended, as you pour out your heart in worship. It's the position Job deliberately took. Complete and humble submission.
The silence of God's voice will make you wonder if He is even there. And the absence of God's presence will make you wonder if He even cares. He is there. And He does care.
This brings us to the first lesson worth remembering: we never know ahead of time the plans God has for us. Job had no prior knowledge or warning. That morning dawned like every other morning. The night had passed like any other night. There was no great angelic manifestation---not even a tap on his window or a note left on the kitchen table.
There is an enemy who we encounter that we cannot see, but he is real. We have a supernatural enemy, and we encounter him or one of his emissaries regularly. And never doubt it---all of that is real. He hopes that his deceptive strategy will play tricks on your mind and will weaken you and ultimately bring you down.
Pause and remember that Satan is not a little imp with a red body, carrying a pitchfork, and sitting on one of your shoulders whispering ugly little nothings in your ear. That's a medieval caricature that Satan would love for you to believe.
Life is difficult. That blunt, three-word statement is an accurate appraisal of our existence on this earth. When the writer of the biblical book named Job picked up his stylus to write his story, he could have begun with a similar-sounding and equally blunt sentence, "Life is unfair.
Would you have chosen a harlot to hide the spies? Would you have chosen a defecting, rebellious prophet to lead the Greater Nineveh Evangelistic Crusade? Would you have chosen a former Christian-hating Pharisee to model grace and to write most of the New Testament?
Walls fall every day. But we cannot predict when yours will fall. God is in the business of breaking down walls. Take hope! Take heart! This will pass. The truth will become known. Every day walls of depression and gloom are penetrated by the wonderful presence of the living God.
We serve a sovereign God who has yet to go "Ahh!" when He finds anything on this earth. Nothing frightens Him. Nothing causes Him to do a neck jerk. He's in charge! We live "in the shelter of the Most High." We "abide in the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1).
You who live your days intimidated and threatened, anxious over the falling of the next shoe, listen to this counsel! God is able to take the heart of anyone and change it, just as He did with the heart of this king.
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