Thank you Lord for this good word from you! How can I know it is from Him? Read on…
It started by my turning to read Psalm 1, but I opened to the closing of the book of Job – the Epilogue 42:7-17.
After the Lord had spoken these things to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger is stirred up against you and your two friends because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has.”
God offers Job’s friends a plan for reconciliation, but Job receives blessings – double to what he had before.
Then Psalms 1…It is as if God writes it down right after Job 42 just in case you missed His point of what made Job different from his friends.
“How happy is the one who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathways of sinners or sit in the assembly of arrogant fools! Instead he finds pleasure in obeying the Lord’s commands. He intently studies His commands day and night.”
Hannah Whitall Smith (one of my favorite authors and followers of Jesus),says that ye may know. She writes, “There is a great deal of longing and hoping among Christians, but there is not much knowing. And yet the whole Bible was written for the purpose of making us know. The object of revelation is to reveal. If nothing has been revealed to us by the Bible beyond longings and hopes it has failed it’s purpose.”
We can know God and learn to speak rightly about Him.
Jesus says, dare I say promises, in John 7:37
Actually start at 7:36 b – if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and
7:37 Let the one who believes in me drink, just as the scripture says, “from within him will flow rivers of living water.”
Which fits beautifully back with Psalm 1:3 “He is like a tree planted by flowing streams. It yields its fruit at the proper time, and its leaves never fall off. He succeeds at everything he attempts, (v4) not so with the wicked!” This perfectly describes Job….and I hope one day it perfectly describes me.
Living this life of studying God’s Word day and night, in 2018, makes one look boring, outdated, prudish, out of touch and inefficient with time management.
But the reward is great.
It reminds me of Daniel. Daniel 11:32 “the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.”
So there is the contrast, the road less traveled, the choice, the fork in the road, the difference.
What do you choose?
It is never too late to get started on the journey of knowing our God. He has gone and continues to go to great lengths to reveal Himself to us, to be known here, on planet earth, today!
Only God could link these verses together for me with the wise words of Hannah Whitall Smith. And He did it all in a short time as He walked me from one spot to the next on September 2, 2018. He will do the same for you, but it starts with opening your Bible and reading, giving Him time to speak.