Happy Sunday! Happy Birthday to my favorite 27 year old son, Terrence Aaron Pruitt!
It was raining this morning here in the Phoenix area. Rain in the desert! Sounds like a contradiction in terms, but it's an awesome thing. GOD can get you what you need! No matter where you may be! As the preachers say, that's shouting material!
Anyway, Bishop got a break today. Bishop Walter Thomas from New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland brought the message. He took his text from Job 1:6-22, Job 2:4, Job 2:7-10. His text was, "OMG".
Yes, we all laughed too. OMG? Many years ago having a cellular phone was not a necessity. If you are old enough to remember or you watch old movies, you know cell phones where big and bulky. Some cell phones had carrying cases like brief cases. Cell phones didn't have cameras and texting wasn't invented. But now texting is so prevalent that laws have to be instituted to keep people from texting while driving! Text messaging has created a new language. BFF, LOL, XOXO, :), =), you know what I mean, right?
So tell me, have you heard the story of Job? Job was a good man, GOD said so, vs 8 - God said to Satan, "Have you noticed my friend Job? There's no one quite like him—honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil." Even though he was a good man he had a really bad day. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. And it wasn't even his fault! When Job heard all the bad news, he didn't blame GOD...vs 20, Job got to his feet, ripped his robe, shaved his head, then fell to the ground and worshiped. He worshipped GOD, even on his worst day!
Things didn't get better, even though he worshipped GOD. Chapter 2, verses 7-8, Satan left God and struck Job with terrible sores. Job was ulcers and scabs from head to foot. They itched and oozed so badly that he took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself, then went and sat on a trash heap, among the ashes. He lost his health. The Healthcare Bill hadn't passed through the Senate and there was no ultra-modern medical center in the land of UZ. Job still had the right attitude, even when his wife told him he should give up. Verse 9-10 His wife said, "Still holding on to your precious integrity, are you? Curse God and be done with it!" 10 He told her, "You're talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God—why not also the bad days?" Not once through all this did Job sin. He said nothing against God.
I can't say that I could do that yet, but I'm working on it. I would have said, OMG! Maybe you've had one of those days. Maybe it was a week. Maybe it was a whole year. During that period all you could say was OMG! But OMG is right...oh what wonderful things GOD can and will do when we worship. God will give you the strength to hold it together when everything is falling apart! GOD will redeem your life from destruction! GOD will bring you out and bring you in to the promised land! I have two family members that are dealing with very serious illnesses, Lupus and Lung disease. We will never know all that they go through. They probably have days when they wonder why...I imagine they are saying, OMG! Life is not fair, but GOD is good! We are praying and believing that they will be healed and we will look back and say, OMG!
If you skip to the end of the story, you will find that Job bounced back. Chapter 42, Verses 12-17, God blessed Job's later life even more than his earlier life. He ended up with fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand teams of oxen, and one thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first daughter Dove, the second, Cinnamon, and the third, Darkeyes. There was not a woman in that country as beautiful as Job's daughters. Their father treated them as equals with their brothers, providing the same inheritance. 16-17 Job lived on another 140 years, living to see his children and grandchildren—four generations of them! Then he died—an old man, a full life. (Message Translation)
The moral of the story, somedays are OMG days. But remember, if GOD brings you to it, he can take you through it!
Have a wonderful week! Love, Cynthia
