Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Pay Attention

 

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

“Pay attention to this, Job.  Stop and consider the wonderful miracles of God!  Do you know how God controls the storm and causes the lightning to flash from his clouds?  Do you understand how he moves the clouds with wonderful perfection and skill?  When you are sweltering in your clothes and the south wind dies down and everything is still, he makes the skies reflect the heat like a bronze mirror.  Can you do that?  Job 37:14-18

Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples.   Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.  The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us!  We’re going to drown!”  Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid?  You have so little faith!”  Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.  The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked.  “Even the winds and waves obey him!”  Matthew 8:23-27

The haunting questions here have a focal point on storms, one of the earth’s more awe-inspiring and powerful realities: 

Do you know how God does that with the lightning, controlling the clouds?      

Can YOU do that? 

And the disciples watching the live feed of Jesus doing just that ask:

Who is this man?

Scripture does not go wanting when it comes to the connection between the creation and Creator; that connection is the all-powerful hand of Jesus Christ.  When Jesus was trying to straighten-out the skewed thinking of some Bible scholars among the leaders of Israel, He simply uncluttered the issue; He told them:

“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!  John 5:39

Paying attention to the questions within your heart, mind, and soul, about where you come from, who you really are, and, therefore, where this is all going – where you’re going to wind-up, is more often on the front-burner during times of crisis.  Frankly, considering this pandemic, with all its quarantine, game-changing social distancing, and attention to the case and death tolls…if you are NOT thinking more about your soul and the reality of mortality, I’d be worried about your connection with reality!

And these two passages, one from the oldest text in Scripture (Job), and the other God’s veritable defining answer to life’s basic need, unveil what we need to know about life’s basic questions, those with which we wrestle; namely,

·       Who made me and everything I see?

·       What am I supposed to do?

·       Where will I wind up?

·       Who will guide me?

So, Job, Russell, anyone…pay attention…the answer is Jesus.  And He loves you.

For You Today

It’s okay to place your faith and trust in God, His Son, and His Holy Spirit; it was God who created it all, controls it all, and offers it all to us in His Son.  Don’t be afraid of the waves on today’s seas of storm; you’ve got the answers to the questions…you KNOW who this man is!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title image Pixabay.com ∞  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Job 37 see The Wisdom of Elihu for Matthew 8:23-27 see Hanging-In There; or Just Hanging?

 

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