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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2 Dec 11
Greetings in the morning, dear people.
Wow! 10am already. I’m still in my jog togs. But I got carried away with preach’n again…plus a guy came by looking for firewood…more talk…a little more preach’n.
It was raining a few minutes ago…now it’s sunlight all over the trees. Neato. I’ll take some of that.
My your day be blessed.
Love, Dad/Ray.
2 December 2011
Job 42
Focus: “Surely I spoke things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” Job 42:3.
The LORD didn’t have to say a lot to reduce Job’s verbal response to near zero. His balloon was totally deflated. But he does do and say something important—he reflects on his past speech and behavior. Applying lessons of the present to your past is a pretty good investment in your future, you know. Job now recognizes a lot of things he didn’t recognize before. His worldview has undergone a major overhaul. He acknowledges that a lot of stuff he said and did “back then” were just plain dumb!—a lot of ignorant nonsense in comparison to how clearly he sees things now. “Surely I spoke things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” I certainly resonate with Job’s words. And I’m thankful that I see evidence of some remodeling (improvements) in my own worldview project. My hope and prayer is that you can say, “Amen!”—not because I’m posing as some kind of standard, but because I believe that remaining pliable and moldable in The Potter’s hands is so critically important.
The LORD is finished speaking to Job for the time being, and now directs His words to the “termite”—Eliphaz the Temanite, that is—as the spokesman for this brigade of three that has ignorantly and arrogantly besieged Job for who-knows-how-long. He isn’t real friendly and cordial to these guys, but don’t miss how He speaks of Job. Four times within three verses He defines him as “my servant Job.” That’s big! This is important! Don’t let this get by you! Question: If the Sovereign Almighty Omniscient God were speaking to someone else, how do you suppose He would describe you? How aware are we that that description contains the very purpose for our being made?—the intended function of our existence—to serve the Almighty and live pleasing to Him.
Try to imagine the volume of drastic worldview modifications that had to take place surrounding this dramatic thundering word from the LORD that set things in order and vindicated Job. Do you think Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad carried on doing business as usual? Not a chance!—unless they lost their sanity. I would like to believe that they went on to live their lives with a lot more grace and compassion than before. What about Elihu? I don’t know—he’s never mentioned again. And what about Job’s wife? Nothing more is said of her either, however there is some strong implication that she too submitted to a major change in perspective as she was allowed to participate in Job’s spectacular recovery. That had to be transformational. How could it be otherwise? If Job fathered seven more sons and three daughters, I can only assume that there was a recovery of the marriage relationship (and bed) as well. I kind of know how this stuff works.
“The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers” (Job 42:12-15). Wow!
There is some impressive frosting on Job’s recovery cake—three gorgeous daughters. Interesting. I wonder what made them so beautiful? Is it because they were all winners in some “Miss Uz Beauty Pageant?”—pictured as babes on some magazine cover like they set around the supermarket checkouts? I don’t think so. My best hunch is that Job was better prepared than ever before to infuse into his children HEARTS AFTER GOD—hearts of compassion and care—hearts of poise and intelligence—hearts of balanced submission. Yup—I can see them now—they are stunningly beautiful!
Wouldn’t it be nice if the LORD would see fit to speak so dramatically and audibly to us—even if it meant having Him trash a lot of our preconceived ideas? At least it would provide us with a crystal clear standard to live by rather than leaving us to struggle independently with the challenge of formulating a standard of our own from all the opinionated and confusing data we have swirling around us—riddled with so much conflict and debate. Obviously God has chosen NOT to do things that way. Instead He has provided us with His Word, the Bible, which contains literature filled with inspiration and insights as we have before us in the story of Job. And He tactfully combines that literature with His Spirit in behalf of the serious seeker which transforms that literature into something much more than a bunch of black print on white paper. From my own overview of this body of literary revelation, let me suggest a simple three-point standard to live by: (1) SEEK—seek God first and His rule (Kingdom). (2) LOVE—love God first along with His Love Letter and those He loves. (3) TRUST—trust God—trust that He knows what He’s doing, and that what He wants to do is GOOD. (May I suggest you fill in the supportive scriptures?)
“The just shall live by faith.” - Apostle Paul—Romans 1:17