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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3 Nov 11
Hello, nice people.
It’s been a pretty nice day. Wish I could have got more done, but I did put in 2.5 hours over at Camp Adams today, using the boom truck to lift and position a big 1400-pound steel compression ring—setting it on the precision-built scaffolding. Tomorrow we plan to set some of the big 7”x14”x26’ glue-lam beams into place…and hope everything can be made to line up.
I was kind to you by not writing as much today. I suppose I should try to keep things within this size range.
Have a good evening. Have a good forever.
Love, Dad/Ray
3 November 2011
Job 13
Focus: “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.” Job 13:15.
Job is so irritated with Zophar’s two cents worth, that he makes a $30 response—taking up 3 chapters—$10 each. This is the second. He begins this section with a stinging rebuke, not just against Zophar, but including the others with him. “I may have lost a lot of things, but I haven’t lost my mind! Your attempts at straightening me out with your biased BS (bad science) makes you like idiot doctors trying to treat cancer with a bandaid! You would be a lot smarter to just keep your mouths shut!” Can you tell it doesn’t take much effort for me to get into the spirit of Job’s defense? Check out verses 1 through12 and see how close I am.
Don’t let this get by you—right here in the middle of all these ugly circumstances and conflict is one of the most profound and inspiring affirmations of faith that you will find in the entire Bible! I still like the rendering of it in the KJV—“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15, KJV). If you and I can get our hearts and heads to conform to that posture, I think we cannot help but meet with ultimate success in life and beyond. It’s on a par with the statement of resolve given by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego when they faced the oven and Nebuchadnezzar’s threat to turn them into crispy critters. They “answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up” (Daniel 3:16-18, KJV). You know the rest of the story.
Job’s statement of confidence and trust is also in line with Paul’s great expressions in Romans 8—for example the last two verses: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39, NIV).
I’ll take that brand of faith over all the options any day!
“The measure of life is not its duration, but its donation.” - Peter Marshall