Lesson from Job - swift to hear, slow to speak

I think one of the most unusual books in the Bible would be Job. Many people wonder, "why is it there?" Why do we need to read 37 chapters of bad advice from Job's friends, trying to make sense of what has happened to their friend.

The interesting thing I found was that much of what they say, to be honest, sounded a lot like me when I talked to people going through hard times. When we talk to people going through suffering, often our many words ends up hurting rather than helping them. Sometimes God may want us to stay silent as part of our counsel, rather than recklessly throwing in our two cents. I was reminded of this during the last few weeks. There were two incidences that I found myself talking to someone who is suffering, but realising that I didn't have much to say that would not sound too different to Job's friends.  There are things that God will sometimes do that we are not able to understand at the time, and neither will our friends. Instead, our encouragement could just be that a good and loving God will do what is most good and loving.

Unicorns in the Bible

Finding that reading Job has been a blessing. It's been a good reminder of God's sovereignty and the fact that though we don't know what's going on, God is still in control.

I was intrigued by one of yesterday's little side notes in the DWB (daily walk Bible) which mentioned the Mariana Trench so I looked it up today http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Trench - it sounds like Adrian's favourite pasta, but it's actually a dirty, great, big trench in the sea! It's nearly 11000m deep Wikipedia says 'If Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth at 8,848 metres (29,029 ft), were set in the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, there would be 2,076 metres (6,811 ft) of water left above it' 

Now that's deep! 

Also another intriguing inclusion in Job 39 about a unicorn! There are other mentions of unicorn in the Bible so I wanted to find out more... hence http://creation.com/the-unicorn - you may agree or disagree that it is supposed to be translated as a 'wild ox', but as for me and my imagination, we will think of unicorns

Lessons from Fishing

So I bought a fishing rod less than a week ago. Brand new, couldn't wait to use it. Spent a few hours probably tying up rigs and reading up about rods and fishing. My brothers and I decided to go fishing yesterday - well it was my idea because i wanted to try out my brand-spanking-new rod.  We put everything into the back of the van with the back seat folded up to fit everything in. And off we went. As the car accelerated after reversing from the driveway, the back seat slams back down and a huge crack made me turn around. The back seat landed right on top of my rod, snapping it like a twig. Totally devastated. Tears in my eyes. Hadn't touched the spray of salt water, never even been cast.

 

Then, later last night, I read the devotion for 22 May. 'Imagine that you have been deprived of possessions, health, and loved ones. Could you still proclaim that your hope is still in the Lord?'

 

Oh Snap! (literally in my rod's case). Well it's not exactly something that took my hope away from the Lord, but it was definitely a possession, and maybe even a 'loved one'... maybe that's stretching it, but I did like it a lot. It was minor, and can be easily replaced at Kmart for $30, but the sense of loss still felt very real. Imagine how Job felt!