Timothy J. Pruitt's Blog, page 188
September 15, 2020
For All Israel
2 Chronicles 29:24 ESV
24 and the priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.
The kingdom of the ten tribes of Israel, had been carried away captive, and the kingdom was destroyed. This was due to their idolatry, and the deeds of their kings. Years before, after the ten tribes had rejected the family of David, they fell into idol worship.
After generations of Israel receiving warnings from God to change, the kingdom had been destroyed. Judah was still in tact, and some may have been tempted to look down on their cousins. When judgment comes, a lot of people are tempted to gloat, or to say how much that person or group deserved a, b, or c.
The same can be true of some of us. Though, our only righteousness comes only from the blood of Jesus, many forget that we were all, at one time, in need of rescue. At some point, maybe even after coming to God initially, we all have made mistakes. The Scripture says, all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
Aren’t you glad, that God loved us in our sins? He loved us, according to Ephesians, while we were enemies of God through sin. Jesus didn’t love sin, but He loved us enough, to sacrifice His life to save us from our sins.
I mention all of this because, Hezekiah didn’t have authority over all Israel as king to offer sacrifice for them. As I said, the kingdom of Israel was gone, and the people had rejected Hezekiah’s royal family before he was ever born. He could have said, my priority is Judah and Benjamin, not these other folks, but he didn’t.
Hezekiah wasn’t concerned about what had happened in the past. He wasn’t trying to retake territory. He was concerned about the souls of those that did not know God.
He saw something compelling enough in them, to reach out to them. Maybe that’s because Hezekiah loved a family member who had made mistakes? His Dad, Ahaz, had been a horribly wicked king, steeped in idolatry.
Hezekiah, no doubt loved his father, even though he didn’t love his deeds. He didn’t condone his Father’s sins, he even had said, they had been unfaithful. Christ didn’t condone our sins, but He didn’t condemn us either.
We look at the list of the rulers of Judah almost as a checklist. Good, bad, not so good, started out good, started out bad, made up for it. Yet, while they made mistakes, they were sons, fathers, husbands, and loved by others.
I’m sure Hezekiah didn’t look at him the way we did, he saw him with love. Perhaps he wanted to rescue someone else’s family members. Maybe he wanted to rescue someone else’s loved one who had made mistakes, chosen the wrong desires, and were headed down the same path Ahaz had.
Notice, 2 Chronicles here says that, Hezekiah stated both sacrifices would be for all of Israel. One was the sin offering, the other was the burnt offering. While they were both for sin, they each had a particular meaning.
The sin offering was for both unconscious sins, intentional sins, and uncleanness. The sin offering was also offered on the occasion of the consecration of priests and Levites. Every year, on the day of Atonement, the sin offerings were taken within the veil.
Just as Christ’s Death was for the sins going back to Adam, they were for our specific mistakes. He died for the fall of Adam, and the mistake you and I made we don’t want to talk about.
The burnt offering, had a distinguishing mark, it was wholly consumed on the altar. Other sacrifices only the fat portion was burned. While it was for propitiation, it was united with the idea of the entire consecration of the worshiper to The Lord.
A relationship with God, isn’t about a one time altar, or single experience of coming to God. It’s about a continual experience, and daily walk with Him. If you prayed twenty years ago, I’m sorry, He’s waiting to hear from you and I today.
Hezekiah wasn’t just concerned with pardoning Israel, or eliminating their guilt. He was wanting to lead them into complete consecration to God. It was called the continual burnt offering, it was offered every day, in the morning and the evening. It was for the cleansing of lepers, purification, and the only sacrifice a non-Israelite was permitted to offer.
In other words, it was a pathway to a relationship with God, that was designed to deepen that relationship. The old song says He gets sweeter and sweeter as the day goes by. It’s not that He gets sweeter, He’s already sweeter than honey in a comb, The Scripture states. It’s that we get closer, and see more of Who He is daily.
I can’t help but think of two verses in The New Testament that mirrors this to me. They are the words of the Apostle Peter. A man who knew what it was like to fall short of God’s plan, but also knew what it was like to fall on your knees and receive Mercy.
1 Peter 2:9-10 (KJV Strong’s)
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Like the tribes Hezekiah sacrificed for, we were far from God. We had failed on so many levels. Yet, a King who had no reason to sacrifice for us, other than Love, gave Himself to us. He who knew no sin, became not a sinner, but sin for us.
The Lord Jesus wholly gave Himself to us. Sacrificing His life, laying our sins to rest through His death, and rising to lead us into a new life, free from our past. Just like the burnt offering, now we should daily, wholly give our lives to God.
Hezekiah means Jehovah Is My Strength. Our strength doesn’t lie in our own righteousness, our merit, or our accomplishments. Everyone of us, everyone we have and are, is because He wholly gave Himself for us.
How much more should we daily give ourselves to serving The God who not only redeemed us, but wholly gave Himself for us? He could have showed up, died, and said now live up to my gift, but He went beyond that. He expects us to go beyond conviction, beyond conversion, to continual communication.
The Lord Jesus spent three and a half years teaching us, not only how to avoid sin, but how to live actively for God. His plan wasn’t only to rescue us, but to restore us to His original plan for us. That plan was what Adam and Eve had in the garden, a relationship with God where they walked together, talked, and were a family.
Hezekiah’s dream for the people, wasn’t to rule over them, but to restore them to the family of God. Our God is King Of Kings, and Lord Of Lords, His dream for us isn’t to be His subjects, but His sons and daughters. His sacrifice was to completely, to wholly unite us in a continual relationship with Him, regardless of our past, our flaws, and our failures, and to take us beyond them, into His righteousness.
September 12, 2020
iPainting Fox On The Mountain
September 11, 2020
Wiping Away Tears
September 11, 2001, nineteen years later, I still remember. I remember we were all stunned, I remember we all hurting, I remember we were all Americans. For the few days after, it wasn’t Republicans or Democrat, it wasn’t Left or Right.
That year, we didn’t care about a divisive election less than a year before. We cared for the people in Pennsylvania, New York, and Washington who lost loved ones. We cared for the babies who’s Daddy’s and Mommy’s weren’t coming home. We cared for each other.
I pray we never face that kind of pain as a nation again. Yet I do pray we respond that way again. The lesson we were taught so excruciatingly nineteen years ago, still rings true. We are one nation under God united in the pursuit of liberty, no matter how painful the battle.
I do not get political. I’m not talking about votes, sides, or opinions. I’m simply remembering a time when we looked in each other’s eyes, not in anger, but to wipe away the tears.
September 9, 2020
Are We Being Kind?
Did you know the word Kind, used by The Lord in Luke 6:35, and Paul In Ephesians, also means employed professionals useful? Kindness is not self serving, rather it is serving of one’s self. Benefiting others, not because it benefits you.
To put it another way, Jesus said all men will know that you’re My Disciples because you have love one for another. Kindness, if tied to being employed is a commercial for God’s Love. What better thing could we broadcast today than that?
Ads are everywhere, from the internet to social media. What are you and I advertising about The Kingdom? Are we doing a good job sharing His Love? Someone needs joy today. A smile they can’t bring themselves to come up with themselves.
I’m not a fan of cute cat videos, they’re just not me, but I love them. Why, because they make someone smile. Someone is crying out for peace. We have God’s peace in our hearts, even in chaos, but if we don’t share it, are we being kind?
September 8, 2020
Generations
Christian Education has been so important to both Ashley’s, and my life. Both of us were blessed to have graduated from Christian Schools. I was blessed to go to Soul’s Harbor Christian Academy, and Lighthouse Christian School as a child. Along with my parents, Sis Gloria Livingston, Bishop Dean Livingston, and Bishop David Peters supported me throughout my education.
Sis. Livingston also supported my education in art. She, even though I was considered too young, fought to get me the Art Paces to encourage my love of drawing. Sis. Gloria Livingston was always a champion, not only for the school, but for the students. Those are not always the same thing.
Now, our Pastor, and her son, Pastor Denny Livingston, is working to establish a Christian school at Point Of Mercy. Sis Alonna Livingston, Pastor’s Wife, and an incredible leader herself, honored me by placing my painting in the school. Nicholas, our son, will be attending this school when he grows up. I mention all this, because of the excitement that the portrait of Abraham Lincoln I painted,will be displayed in the school.
I couldn’t be more honored. To me this is greater than any museum or gallery a painting of mine could be in. Christian education goes far beyond the subjects studied, it speaks first to the Faith we hold dear, but also to the lives that pour into every child.
I am so grateful I was given the opportunity to be a part of both schools. I am who I am because of the lessons learned there, and that goes far beyond the curriculum. I’m so overjoyed that this will be a part of our son’s life, and I can in some small way, share in the legacy of Sis. Gloria Livingston.
Acrylic Resting While Rushing
Like the water in this acrylic, things are rushing by, sometimes in a chaotic fashion. However, like the bear near the log, we can have peace even when events are turbulent around us. God is our peace, not our surroundings, or situation!
September 7, 2020
From A Rifle To A Wrench
Two vowels, one consonant, that’s what you have when you abbreviate the United States of America. The USA has always been a country of hard work and action.
Labor Day is designed as a celebration of those every day men and women who work to provide for their family, care for their neighbors, and support their country. They consistently, whether first, second, or third shift, arrive to tackle any obstacle before them. Hard work not only helped build a nation, but to teach generations the importance of each day.
It can be easy to overlook how vital our jobs are. Yet, from the man we buy our coffee from, to the pizza delivery man, 2020 has given us a new appreciation for what they do. For many of us, they may be the only physical contact some have had during quarantine.
This year hasn’t been easy, but at the very least, it’s given us an appreciation of the normal every day commitment to our jobs. I thank God for the opportunity to earn a living in a free land. So thank you to all the Americans who have carried everything from a rifle to a wrench to keep our country going! Happy Labor Day!
September 6, 2020
Watercolor Toadstools
September 5, 2020
Job A Servant In The House
A few months ago, Pastor asked the Minister to speak throughout some of the Bible Studies on Wednesday nights. The week I spoke, had been a difficult week. Truth be told, it’s been a difficult year.
I wanted something that would encourage someone, possibly lighten the loads of the weary. People need gladness right now, and so when I went to the well to see what God had chosen, He gave me a text… in the book of Job.
God doesn’t only have a sense of humor, He has the perfect sense of timing. Which, since He created time itself, only makes sense. Although, we still sometimes question, which is humorous in and of itself when you think about it.
Job 1:8 (ESV Strong’s)
8 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
Briefly, if you’re not familiar with Job, he’s the man who seemingly had everything, and we say, lost it all. He’s the man who, experienced unexpected tragedy, and disease that hit him, as far as he knew, out of the blue.
One minute, he had everything to live for, and in a day, most of it was gone. Then, soon after, he got sick. Does that sound familiar? It may interest you to know, and I don’t remember ever looking this up before but Job means hated, as in persecuted.
I mentioned that we say he lost it all, but there was somethings he didn’t lose. He did not lose his wife. She spoke in pain, anguish, and sorrow some things she shouldn’t have, but after it was all over, Job had more children, and it does not record he remarried. It’s rational to think, she was still around.
God would later address Job, and his friends, but not Job’s wife. Before we condemn her, I’d like to point out, Job wasn’t the only one who lost his children. Keep in mind, God spoke to Job later, and to his three “friends”, but never condemned Job’s wife. He didn’t condone her words, but didn’t condemn them either. She was speaking out of sorrow, and I believe God had mercy on her pain.
The three friends of Job were a Temanite, name for a city renowned for wisdom, a Shuhite or descendant of Shoah meaning wealth, and a Naamathite, Namath meaning pleasantness. So you have Wisdom, wealth, and pleasantness come to address the problems of Job. I didn’t remember knowing this until studying for this lesson, but Job means either hated or persecuted.
When you consider what their names mean, you can sense trouble is brewing. Wisdom, wealth, and pleasantness came to speak to a man who felt hated and persecuted, even though he was loved by God. They come to the place where the persecuted dwelt, to a city called Uz.
This city means wooded, or consultation. Have you ever needed advice, you set confused, in need of consultation, but your view is clouded? In other words, you can’t see the forest for the trees? That was where Job found himself.
He was living his worst nightmare. He had lost everything, or had he? There were a few things left, not many but a few. He’ll even have three “friends” to visit.
Before we go along this road with him and his three “friends”, let’s take inventory of what he had lost, and what he hadn’t. First, he loses his livelihood . Verse 14, a messenger arrives, and says the Sabeans took your oxen and donkeys. Notice they weren’t what was killed, we find out who gets killed in Verse 15.
Verse 15, The messenger is apparently more than just a messenger, he is a servant. “… yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.” So Job kept one servant from the Sabeans.
He loses his ability to worship. The sheep would hav been used for sacrifice. Verse 16, another messenger comes. He says the sheep are all burned up, and so are all of the servants except me. So we know Job had one servant left from the fire.
Next, he loses his transportation, or ability to travel freely. Verse 17, another messenger comes. The Chaldeans took the camels, they didn’t kill them, they took them. They killed all the servants, except me. So Job had one servant left from the Chaldeans.
Does this sound like 2020? He loses his livelihood, his ability to worship freely, and his ability to leave home, or travel abroad? If that wasn’t enough, he would go on to lose something even more precious to him.
Verse 18, the last servant arrives, with the worst news imaginable. There came a wind from the wilderness, smote the four corners of the Earth, and the house fell. Your children are gone, and all of the servants in the house, except me. Job had one servant left from the fall of the house. That’s four servants in all.
After all of the other things, that turned out to be far less important than the last two, it’s not over. He’s lost his loved ones, to unexpected mind boggling events, not of his own making. Then, a lot like what many have faced in 2020, he gets sick.
We know what is gone. What is left? Four servants, One Wife, and according to the Verse before it, a broken piece of pottery he used to scrape himself with. Have you ever wondered where he got the broken piece of pottery?
Where did he get the pottery? Maybe they were a treatment for his sickness. Maybe, he threw a pot in sorrow, or maybe the servant who ministered to his children, had a vessel in his hand when it all happened?
The Bible records he didn’t say anything wrong at the news, but it doesn’t say he didn’t react in sorrow. Maybe he reacted to losing all of this by throwing something, wouldn’t you? I don’t know, but it struck me that, like Job, that pot wasn’t shattered before all of this started.
The Scripture records he sits down in ashes, as a symbol of his affliction or mourning according to the commentator. Some Commentators say this happened in his house, others outside of it. Given that his friends saw him a long ways off, I believe it was outside.
We do know, he didn’t lose his house. His eldest son’s house was destroyed, but not Job’s. This was what Job had left, not much considering what he had lost. He had a house he couldn’t leave, a wife who was heartbroken, and four servants with no way to minister to him.
Next his “friends” arrive, and keep their mouth shut for seven days. Then everyone starts talking. Job starts speaking, they follow, and things go down hill from there. Oh there’s some high points. Job says, “I know My Redeemer lives, and I’m going to trust Him.”
The problem is, his friends weary and anger him. He tries to defend himself, and in his confusion, he tries to figure out what it all means. He doesn’t reject God, but in trying to figure things out, he allows himself to speak out of sorrow and pain.
He’s not in Kansas anymore. Nothing makes sense, sort of like the day we’re living in. Left and right are no longer directions, their factions. In the 80’s they sang we are the world, now they’re trying to set fire to it. People are hated for no reason, and life seems in chaos.
When did directions become political agendas? The reason I don’t get political, is because everyone has a soul. I don’t want to alienate anyone from The Gospel because of my opinions. Opinions, to me are like noses.
The last time I looked, the Cross reaches both to the left and the right. Saying “Whosoever Will”. God wants us all to meet Him at the cross. He’ll take care of the rest. My Job, if you’ll pardon the pun, is to point you to Jesus.
Like our day, there was a lot of talking.. Everyone kept on, and wouldn’t stop. Maybe that’s why, as the chapters go along, and his three whatever you call them, they’re not friends, keep making things worse. Job doesn’t attack God, but he does begin a series of questions that breed more questions.
It’s easy, in the pain of your heartache, to say stuff you don’t mean, or to misread things. Job does that, and ends up trying to say a lot. He’s human, he’s hurting. When you speak out of hurt, you can sow a lot of problems. I’m not judging, he would say later, I said things about things I didn’t know about.
His life is as broken as the infection covered clay he holds in his hand. He defends himself not against the wicked one who wants to get him, and his little friends too, but against any accusation that he deserves what he’s been dealt.
The question isn’t whether or not we deserve a, b, or c. Blame, guilt, self righteousness, and condemnation, none of those things are going to help Job. None of these things are going to help us. Whether your situation has anything to do with our own mistakes doesn’t change the situation. We’ve all made mistakes, whether they’re the cause, or the symptom of a current crisis.
If only he had someone to talk too. Someone to speak something besides the empty handed “wisdom of the Temanite. Someone who’s got something of real wealth, or value to say instead of the Shuhite. Maybe someone who could speak comfort, and true pleasantness, and not this Naamathite. None of them are living up to their name, except Job, and he can’t help it.
As I said though, we say Job lost everything, but there was someone who still cared. There was someone who still made sense. There is such a man. His name is Elihu, the son of Barachel, the Buzite, of the family of Ram.
We don’t hear him speak until Chapter 32. Commentators have been puzzled by him for generations. We’ve always believed there is no record of his entrance recorded, until he speaks. What if that isn’t really the case? What if, and I’m not saying he was, but what if, instead of being the fourth unannounced friend of Job, he was one of the four surviving servants?
What if, the very person Job needed to talk to, was in the house the entire time? What if, like Job, his heart ached for the fellow servants he lost? What if, like them, his future also depended on the prosperity of Job? What if, he was the servant who served Job’s children, that escaped the collapse?
If that’s the case, Elihu could understand why Job felt hated and persecuted. Whether he was the servant or not, he was a Buzite. Buz means contempt. Even if it was only a historic reference, Elihu could speak to Job on the level he was at this time.
Job 33:32 (KJV Strong’s)
32 If thou hast any thing to say, answer me: speak, for I desire to justify thee.
Elihu said, I’m in your corner Job. In your despair, you’ve said some things that are human, but they’re not kosher. Let me speak to you in your pain. Instead of condemning you like these three, let me help you to stand.
He says a lot of really great things. In 33:4 he says, The Spirit Of God has made me. In 33:6, he says like you, I’m pinched out of clay. In 34:14-15 he says, if God were to gather His Spirit, taking everything back, we would all be reduced to dust.
Job 36:15-16 (ESV)
15 He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.
16 He also allured you out of distress into a broad place where there was no cramping, and what was set on your table was full of fatness.
He goes on to say, God delivers the afflicted, and this is important, not out of their affliction, but by their affliction! In Job 36:15-16, he also says He opens their ear by adversity. The very things you’re going through Job, are going to be what gives you victory and honor! God doesn’t plan on avoiding the ashes you are in, but to rescue you in the ashes. Maybe that’s why Isaiah said what he did.
Isaiah 61:3 (KJV)
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
If there were no ashes, would there be beauty to replace it? As the other writer says, weeping, or mourning endures for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Notice the same pronunciation for mourning and morning, both are tied to joy.
One of the last things Elihu says is in Job 37:22, ”Out of the north comes golden splendor; God is clothed with awesome majesty.” Did I mention, Elihu means He Is My God! He’s addressed Job’s wrong direction, and pointed him instead, to the direction of God, Who is ready to speak.
Essentially Elihu introduces God. Cue the whirlwind, which functions here as God’s Chariot. This was years before Nahum said,
Nahum 1:3 (ESV Strong’s)
3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
Can I step out of the story to point out, we are made from dust. If the clouds are the dust of His feet in the Old Testament, is it any wonder that in the New, He said He that is with you, shall be in you? His goal wasn’t just to walk the clouds, but to live in the hearts of His people!
God speaks to Job out of the Whirlwind, which means means storm or tempest. Elihu whether a servant or not, was at Job’s house to serve Job. God, who had allowed Job to experience what he had, was speaking to Job in the midst of his storm. Most people assume that God is somewhere else when their world is being tossed around them like a hurricane. He’s a lot closer than you think!
Jesus said I am a very present Help in times of trouble. In other words, you may be so caught up in the pain of the sores and blisters, that you don’t feel His hand, but He’s still there. The God Who became a Servant is in the house.
Speaking of Servants Job, it’s not your house. It’s His House. If it were your house or my house Job, when the business crashed, when the ability to go to Worship was taken, when we were stopped in our tracks a few months ago, or when chaos runs rampant now, we’d be in trouble.
Yet, it’s His House, and we are His Servants. He knows how to mend the broken Job! Before you’re clay pot was broken, before it was formed, He formed you and I. The Apostle Paul would go on to say we are all vessels in a great house in 2 Timothy 2:20.
Until this Message, I’ve never looked at Job this way. I didn’t figure this one out. He gave me how the events of one man’s life thousands of years ago parallel the weirdest year of our lives so far.
Someone who lived before Christ, before Isaiah, David, or Moses, speaks to us today. It really shouldn’t surprise us, but it always does. God takes care of all of us, because we are His Servants, we are His Children, Galatians 1:4.
You and I get stressed, because as David said we are but dust. Yet, God didn’t just make us, He made what He made us out of. He made the dust. We’re all clay, some brown, some red, some olive, some pink, but we’re all just clay. Isn’t astounding someone could get made because someone’s a different shade of dust than someone else, when we’re all just dust?
When we try to act like we’re the ones in charge, when we have all the answers, people get hurt, possibly even killed. Yet, when we remember, we are all servants, and broken ones at that. We’re all crack pots in some way. We can come to the Owner of the House, He’ll put us on His wheel, and make us better than new.
The chapter doesn’t end with Job getting all of his stuff back. Sis Holland mentioned something that I never quite looked at like this. Job got more kids, but if you’re a Momma, more kids don’t replace the ones you lost. Even if you get all those back, it doesn’t replace the ones you ache to hold again, but we’ll see Job when we go to Heaven.
Job was a Servant if God, and if we Job, he was the one that raised his kids. What if the kids he thought he lost, were his welcoming crew when it came time for him to go to Glory? Some things you’ve thought you lost, you may not see on this side again, but they’re waiting at a place that is far better.
Job 42:7 (ESV)
7 After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
The book ends this way, God looks at Eliphaz and tells him, “I’m angry at you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” “My Servant Job.”
Please notice, God didn’t call them Job’s friends. He knew better from the beginning. Who we view as friends, as my Pastor, Pastor Denny Livingston has pointed out, may only be acquaintances. We need to look to God to shed His Light on all of our relationships.
He may not want us to discard the relationship. He may be using us to win them, but He does want us to see them in the proper light, or perspective. Had Job known this, they may not have been able to hurt him, but also, they also would not have been close enough to see God through Him.
Like us, there was a lot Job didn’t know. He scraped his soars with a broken piece of pottery, that could have very easily made things worse. He had contaminated it with his infection. God has no such limitations.
He can take the broken piece of clay, and do the same thing with it that He would do with the leper in Galilee. He can take hold of our infirmities, and rather than being infected by our unholiness, He can transfer His holiness to us. The Lord can take that old broken piece of pottery, and make it brand new.
There’s an old song that comes to mind. A group you may or may not have heard of, called the Hinsons used to sing it.
Potter hear the clay, saying mold me in thy way,
That I might share this love instilled in me,
His skillful hands performed the task,
Just like thee is all I ask, and Father let
your spirit breathe on me.
Sometimes in molding us, as a matter fact, I think every time, the potter has to place holes in the clay to shape it. It’s not cruelty, it’s growth. It’s not to destroy us, but to build us up.
Job realizes his error, and comes to The Owner of it all. He uses the same phrase in the last chapter that He did in the first, “My Servant Job”. Everything is restored Job. I never lost it, I just took it off the board for a little while, so I could minister to you.
Job 42:7 (ESV)
7 After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
Chapter 42 says Job saw four generations of his family. This may not have been the case had he not went through what he did. His affliction elevated him. If our battles bring generations into the door of the Kingdom Of God, then what seemed so bad, becomes an eternal glory! What if 2020 brings generations in the house? Whatever we face it’s okay, it’s not our house, we are just Servants In The House!!!
September 4, 2020
Pastel Beyond The Gate
This is my first Soft Pastel. It’s on canvas, and called Beyond The Gate. The old dilapidated shack and rusted out car have seen better days. Yet, beyond the old gate, is a beautiful sky, and tree. There is life beyond 2020, and it’s challenges.
In the midst of sorrow, God still causes the sun to shine, and life to spring. We will see a better day, as long as we trust in The Ancient Of Days!
