Uncomfortable Heat

Scripture

Gold and silver are tested by fire, and a person’s heart is tested by the Lord.

~Proverbs 17:3, GNT

Quote

While we want to recline; God’s business is to refine.

~Ya’akov

I want to barrow some thoughts from Ray Comfort devotional, THINKING ON THESE THINGS {Wisdom for Life from the Proverbs}. I find it rather ironic that I was thinking about Philippians 3:10 yesterday, My aim is to know him, to experience the power of His resurrection, to share in His sufferings, and to be like Him in his death. Yes sir, I very much want to experience the POWER of the resurrection but when it comes to sharing His suffering and conforming to His death, my flesh draws back. Life is filled with pot holes and sometimes the ride gets bumpy. We all experience disappointment and loss and there are times when it is hard to focus on anything other than our problems. We feel the heat of the crucible or the furnace and we become uneasy and uncomfortable. The principle of Romans 8:28 seems to be in the far distance. Our mind reasons, “How can God bring good out of this?” As Ray would say, “We feel like we are in the lions den and all we are seeing is their teeth and all we are hearing is their growl.”

Have you ever noticed Hebrews 11:33-34? Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, put foreign armies to flight.” How in the world did Daniel survive that dreadful night with the lions? An artist by the name of Giclee paint a picture of Daniel in the lions den and Daniel is looking up toward heaven: he is not focused on the lions. The lions are there standing right behind him but their mouths are shut. The key to surviving such a crucible is not to focus on the lions or the growling. Can you imagine how Moses felt? He is possibly the greatest leader that mankind has ever known and yet he had to endure constant growling from the rebellious Israelites. They gave him nothing but misery for 40 years. Do you think he was ever tempted to quit? Why do you suppose he erected that special tent outside the camp? He called it the tent of meeting; it was the place he went to get away from the grumbling Israelites. He was able to endure because he stayed focused on the LORD.

Bottom line: Lions growl, that is what they do but if you focus on HIM rather than them, they can’t hurt you. A horsefly cannot hurt a horse but it can pester and annoy the horse until the horse hurts itself. Our task is to get so focused on Christ that we forget the lions are present. Be proactive; no reactive. Some things are best ignored.

EXTRA

Today’s blog reminds me of the old joke: what do preachers and roosters have in common? Our job is to wake folks up. We do our job whether we are appreciated or not and we expect the be devoured at Sunday lunch. I grew up in the home of a Baptist deacon; I know what happens at the Sunday dinner table. Bro. Inman taught me to never celebrate when I hear someone criticize a former pastor. He said and I quote, “If they criticized the former pastor, they will criticize you.” He was right: critics criticize, that is what they do. Nothing you and I do or so is going to change this.

I did got some prayers answered yesterday and I must do a SHOUT OUT of praise to the Lord Jesus for hearing and answering my prayers. I got my power restored to my building thanks to Bruce Garner and his friend Charles from Joe Wheeler. PTL for power! Also thankful to announce that GPBC has increased their giving to Morgan Baptist Association and has defunded all SBC causes. The vote was unanimous, PTL!

Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.

If I could see; if I could know, I often say…

But God in love has thrown a veil across the way…

I cannot see what lies before so I must cling to Christ the more…

He will lead me till this life is o’er and I will trust and obey.

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