Have You Considered?

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Covering of protection

Have you ever considered what your breaking point would be in life?  How much you could take?  What could you handle, but what is too much?  Severe sickness of you, or of the ones you love the most?  Losing your entire net worth?  Being abandoned by the very ones you thought cared the most about you?

“And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job?”  Satan replied, “Have You not put a hedge (a covering) about him and his house and all that he has, on every side?” (Job 1:8 & 10 AMP)

God, because of Job’s relationship with him, had put a covering over him, or had his hand over him, so the results of a fallen, sinful, world could not affect Job, his family, or his possessions.  Once I got really angry at one of my neighbors.  I was so mad, I wanted to harm her, but I didn’t.  Instead I prayed and asked God to take revenge on her for hurting me,  After all, “Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.” (Rom. 12:19 MSG)  One day I asked God what happens when he gets vengeance on someone.  He whispered back, “I slowly remove my hand from their life.”

I shuttered!  As time went on, I witnessed my neighbor losing her job, experiencing vandalism, and worst yet, the death of her oldest daughter.  I prayed for her.  I know God was hoping she would stop resisting him, and in turn, run to him.  She finally did.

Job resisted the temptation to blame God for his troubles and die, but eventually repented of his prideful way of thinking.  Then God restored everything back to him and doubled what he had lost.  Could you have handled such loss?  Or perhaps the better question is this, would God ever say to Satan, “Have you considered my servant: __________?“ (fill in blank with your name)

Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved

What Have You Abandoned?

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from Pinterest

I can’t explain it really, but I have this unusual attraction to places that once were.  A place that once was for fun, work, family, or God.  An old amusement park, an abandoned factory, a dilapidated house, but especially a deserted church.

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from Pinterest

I can understand an amusement park fails to draw crowds.  A factory used to make things that are no longer needed, or wanted.  A family leaves a house for any number of reasons, and the house never catches the eye of a new owner.  But a church?  Yes I know a church is truly its people, but there is something very sad to me when I see a church building that has been abandoned.

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from Pinterest

Did God fail to draw a crowd?  Did He stop providing what people needed?  Has He not caught the eye of a new convert?  The answer is, “No.”  God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Heb. 13:8)  So if God did not fail then what happened?

Did the people that once entered its doors, and gathered inside abandon

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God?  I hope not.  There are lots of things worth abandoning in life, but God?  Never.  A destructive life pattern, although it may be fun, yes.  A job that doesn’t fully meet your needs?  Yes.  A house you or your family have out grown?  Perhaps, but God?  No.  It is when you need to abandon other things in life, you need God the most.  To lead you, guide you, and help you.  I pray you never abandon God, for He will never abandon you.