Insightful Musings on the Scripturesby
Ray Sparre, NU class of '67
Ray has a wealth of experience as a Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary, and student of the Word. He believes and practices his faith where the rubber meets the road. You'll find his writings to be practical, insightful, and grounded in a truly Christ-centered world view.
Below are links to a printable daily Bible reading guide which Ray has followed, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010 and 2011.
| Sparre Home Page | Daily Reading Guide | 2011 Devotion Archives | 2010 Devotion Archives |
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31 Oct 11
Good morning, dear ones.
I hope daylight finds you well…with light in your soul…which is more valuable than daylight, you know.
Once again, I face a lot of options for doing this day. I tend to be so one-tracked-minded that I don’t remember all the options. After I send this, I’ll go back to my list, select some priorities, get moving, and see what happens. I’m so organized and well-managed I can hardly believe it.
Have a great day. Love, Dad/Ray
31 October 2011
Job 10
Focus: “I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out of the bitterness of my soul.” Job 10:1.
Care and compassion have very real emotional price tags. I feel for Job and his distress, but the volume of time I have to spend seeing him suffer and hearing him complain can pull me down too. It’s very difficult to be up-beat and exercise the JOY OF THE LORD while trapped within this kind of negative environment. I suppose this is one of the challenging features of being a care giver for someone so afflicted—a senior loved one near the end of their terminal illness, bound to the bedside of one incapacitated by an accident, or helplessly watching over your stricken child for whom there seems to be no hope. I can kind of understand why someone might want to slam the Book of Job closed about now and say, “Phooey!—I’m getting tired of all this negativism!”
As I think further on this note, I have to be grateful for the Book of Job. It brings us face to face with the hard realities of life—which are sometimes ignored by those who only want to pump ideals and platitudes. For sure, God never promised that life on this planet would be perpetual fun—especially after the FALL. In fact He promised the opposite—and that’s the big bad bugger right there—FALLEN man striving to live free of FALLEN consequences (as though unFALLEN) in a FALLEN world. It hopelessly cannot be done!—except for God’s love and grace provided via Christ. Listen again to Paul’s testimony: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:12-13). Please do not allow yourself to regard Paul’s words here as just another unrealistic platitude. It is, in fact, the real stuff of victorious living.
In the FOCUS VERSE above, Job is defending his right to let his complaining fly. He certainly can’t be accused of pride and selfishness, since he despises himself. He just has no clue for answering the big persistent WHY questions.
That leads me to mentioning what I believe is a helpful comparison between FAITH and TRUST. If FAITH is the ability to visualize what God intends, or to believe for a particular solution for a particular need, I have to confess that sometimes I don’t have FAITH in that sense. However, I can always have TRUST—the confidence that I am in good hands, not with Allstate, but in the UNFAILING LOVE and super-powers of the One Who knows, made me, understands, is in charge, is Good, is Just, and has very good plans for my life and destiny. I have to repeat that practical axiom once again: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6, KJV).
There are striking similarities between Job’s words in verses 8 through 12 and David’s expressions in Psalm 139. “Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit” (Job 10:8-12).
You will notice that Job makes reference to his composition of dust. I was just thinking about this the other day and was smitten with some inspiration for creating another silly song. I imagined the main line could be, “MY DUST IS BETTER THAN YOUR DUST!” Since we’re all made of the same dusty stuff, I think that is the real stupid claim at the core of human pride and arrogance—which is a good reason why God so detests it.
How should we conclude? How about—KEEP DUSTING AND TRUSTING?!
“When a proud man hears another praised, he feels himself injured.” - English proverb