27 August 2023
Two-Minute Features | 03 September 2023 | 20 August 2023

Suffering & the Example of Job, Part 3 (TMF:2170)

Friday, September 01, 2023
Peace to Live By: Suffering & the Example of Job, Part 3 (TMF:2170) - Daniel Litton
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       We know that God led Job to be tempted by Satan. He did the same for Jesus. What does that mean? Surely he wouldn’t do that for us, right? Well, I’d have to say that I think it falls in line that he may lead us into temptation also. But the good news is that Jesus has instructed us to pray not to be led into temptation. The point is that God allowed Satan to do everything he could to Job, except actually take his life. Satan was even allowed to take the lives of his family members. Job lost his family, that is, his children, not his wife, though. He lost his homes, his servants, his animals, and probably even more possessions. Then after all this, he lost his health, and then, his friends turned against him. So, yes, this is about the most extreme example we can find in the Bible of human suffering. James cuts to the chase. This seems to bring up the point that I introduced at the beginning of our study here. That is, “All that matters is God.” That phrase certainly fits in well here.

Suffering & the Example of Job, Part 2 (TMF:2169)

Thursday, August 31, 2023
Peace to Live By: Suffering & the Example of Job, Part 2 (TMF:2169) - Daniel Litton
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       And not only does James point us in that direction, but he also goes to the most extreme example that lies back there. And that, of course, is the story, or we could say, the historical account of the man named Job. If we can recall that story, and really it’s quite a long book, quite a long discourse, we remember that God was the one who put Job to the test. We often don’t like to think about that. But it was the same in the New Testament with Jesus. Matthew recorded for us: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1, ESV). We are also instructed to pray on a daily basis the Lord’s Prayer. And there, we find the same thing—“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” or we could say “the evil one” (Matthew 6:13, ESV). These are some uncomfortable things. We know that God led Job to be tempted by Satan. He did the same for Jesus. What does that mean? Surely he wouldn’t do that for us, right?

Suffering & the Example of Job, Part 1 (TMF:2168)

Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Peace to Live By: Suffering & the Example of Job, Part 1 (TMF:2168) - Daniel Litton
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       Moving on. James chapter 5, and verse 10: “As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” Suffering may be happening for us, it may not be. The point is that we all will, at one point or another, experience suffering. We went over this in James chapter 1, remember? James is taking us roundabout back to what he discussed at the beginning of his letter. There he called the suffering we experience ‘trials.’ His example for reference is the prophets from the Old Testament which would have been familiar to his Jewish readers and listeners, and should be familiar to us—those of us who are familiar with the Scriptures. And not only does James point us in that direction, but he also goes to the most extreme example that lies back there. And that, of course, is the story, or we could say, the historical account of the man named Job.

Letting Offenses Pass- Giving Up Control (TMF:2167)

Tuesday, August 29, 2023
Peace to Live By: Letting Offenses Pass- Giving Up Control (TMF:2167) - Daniel Litton
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       It can be easier said than done to let an offense pass, whatever it is. Again, a good way to do this is to use the Giving Up Control method that I have outlined in our study here. When we observe our negative thoughts, not biting the hook and reacting to them, but rather just observing them in our minds, we can gain victory as the thoughts will disappear in not reacting to them. It is necessary for us to have good self-control of our minds, and true self-control is had by Giving Up Control. When we surrender our intense feelings to react to certain thoughts, we find that we can gain more and more victory over those thoughts, that they pass, that they leave us alone, and then we can move on. We don’t give any opportunity to the devil. We don’t put ourselves in a place where a stronghold can set foot in our minds, a place where we then have to spend a great deal of time surrendering because we allowed a series of thoughts to get out of control. We allowed those thoughts to grow and flourish inside our minds, like ivy growing rapidly up a tree, and now it’s going to take some time to put that off and it get rid of it.

Being Too Strong in Disagreements (TMF:2166)

Monday, August 28, 2023
Peace to Live By: Being Too Strong in Disagreements (TMF:2166) - Daniel Litton
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       Regardless, we don’t want God upset with us because we are too strong in our disagreement with another that we cannot let it go. Recall the verse that says, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26-27, ESV). Perhaps it really is true that we are somehow right. Even so, we might initially get upset at first, but we need to learn, if we haven’t already, to let our being upset pass in a short amount of time. If we don’t, we allow the upset-ness to take root, and in taking root, we lose control of ourselves. It could be too that we could find ourselves in the future doing the very same thing, or something similar, that we are upset with the person about. It’s not that we are perfect and everyone else isn’t, as we so often like to believe. That’s just not the case no matter how much we are convinced. It’s like the Apostle John has told us, “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:10, ESV).