Latest / 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast / When the Righteous Suffer | Lessons from Job 16–19 (Aug 25)

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When the Righteous Suffer | Lessons from Job 16–19 (Aug 25) · 1 Year Audio Bible Podcast

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Why do good people,
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righteous people, people of faith go through sufferings,
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especially sufferings at the hand of the
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wicked? Why do good people go through terrible
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trials such as divorce,
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leukemia, cancer,
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loss of a loved one? Why does God allow— seemingly
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he allows evil to prevail and the wicked to
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prevail and the innocent to suffer. Why does
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this happen? These are the questions we're going to
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delve in today as we look at Job chapter
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16 through 19.
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Join us. Welcome to the Daily Audio Torah.
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Today is August 25th. Now let's continue
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our journey reading through the entire Bible in 1 year.
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This week we are reading from the New Living Translation for the Old Testament
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and for the New Testament.
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Deuteronomy 13:1-18.
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Suppose there are prophets among you, or those who dream dreams about
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the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted
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signs or miracles occur. If they then say, come, let us
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worship other gods— gods you have not known before— do
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not listen to them.
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The Lord your God is testing you to see if you truly love Him with
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all your heart and soul. Serve only
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the Lord your God and fear Him alone.
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Obey His commands, listen to His voice, and cling to
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Him. The false prophets or visionaries who try
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to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion
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against the Lord your God, who redeemed you from slavery and
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brought you out of the land of Egypt.
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Since they try to lead you astray from the way the Lord your God commanded
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you to live, you must put them to death. In this way,
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you will purge the evil from among you. Suppose someone
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secretly entices you, even your brother, your son or your daughter,
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your beloved wife or your closest friend, and says,
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let us go worship other gods, gods that neither you nor your
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ancestors have known. They might suggest that you worship
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the gods of peoples who live nearby or who come from the ends
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of the earth. But do not give in or listen.
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Have no pity and do not spare or protect
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them. You must put them to death. Strike the
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first blow yourself, and then all the people must join in.
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Stone the guilty ones to death because they have tried to draw you away
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from the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt,
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place of slavery. Then all Israel will hear
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about it and be afraid, and no one will act so wickedly again.
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When you begin living in the towns the Lord your God is giving you,
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you may hear that scoundrels among you are leading their fellow citizens
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astray by saying, Let us go worship other gods—
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gods you have not known before. In such cases you must
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examine the facts carefully. If you find that the report is true
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and such a detestable act has been committed among you,
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you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants,
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as well as all the livestock. Then you
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must pile all the plunder in the middle of the open square and burn
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it. Burn the entire town as a burnt offering to
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the Lord your God. That town must remain a ruin
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forever; it may never be rebuilt.
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Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction.
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Then the Lord will turn his fierce anger and be merciful to you.
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He will have compassion on you and make you a large nation,
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just as He swore to your ancestors. The Lord your God will be merciful
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only if you listen to His voice and keep all His commands
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that I am giving you today, doing what pleases Him.
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Job 16:1-19:29.
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Then Job spoke again, I have heard all this before.
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What miserable comforters you are! Won't you ever
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stop your flow of foolish words? What have I said that makes
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you speak so endlessly? I could say the
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same things if you were in my place. I could spout
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off my criticisms against you and shake my head at you, but that's
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not what I would do. I would speak in a way that helps you.
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I would try to take away your grief. But, as it
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is, my grief remains no matter how I defend myself. And it
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does not help if I refuse to speak.
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O God, You have ground me down and devastated my family.
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You have reduced me to skin and bones, as proof, they say,
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of my sins. God hates me and tears angrily at
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my flesh. He gnashes his teeth at me and pierces me with
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his eyes. People jeer and laugh at me. They slap
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my cheek in contempt. A mob gathers against me.
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God has handed me over to sinners. He has tossed me into
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the hands of the wicked. I was living quietly until
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he broke me apart. He took me by the neck and dashed me to
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pieces. Then he set me up as his target.
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His archers surrounded me and his arrows pierced me without mercy.
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The ground is wet with my blood. Again and again he smashed
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me, charging at me like a warrior. Here I sit in
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sackcloth. I have surrendered and I sit in the dust.
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My eyes are red with weeping. Darkness covers my
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eyes. Yet I am innocent and my prayer is
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pure. O earth, Do not conceal my
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blood. Let it cry out on my behalf.
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Even now my witness is in heaven. My Advocate
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is there on high. My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears
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to God. Oh, that someone would mediate between God
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and me as a person mediates between friends!
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For soon I must go down that road from which I will never return.
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My spirit is crushed, and I am near death. The grave
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is ready to receive me. I am surrounded by mockers.
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I watch how bitterly they taunt me. You must
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defend my innocence, O God, since no one else will stand up for me.
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You have closed their minds to understanding, but do not let them triumph.
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They denounce their companions for their own advantage. So let
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their children faint with hunger. God has made a mockery of
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me among the people. They spit in my face.
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My eyes are dim with weeping, and I am but a shadow of
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my former self. The upright are astonished when they see me.
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The innocent are aroused against the ungodly.
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The righteous will move onward and forward, and those with pure hearts
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will become stronger and stronger. As for all of
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you, come back and try again, but I will not find a wise man among
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you. My days are over, my hopes have disappeared,
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my heart's desires are broken. They say that night
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is day and day is night. How they pervert the truth!
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I might go to the grave and make my bed in darkness,
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and I might call the grave my father and the worm my
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my mother and my sister. But where then is my hope?
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Can anyone find it? No, my hope
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will go down with me to the grave. We will rest together in
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the dust. Then Bildad
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the Shuhite replied, How long before you stop talking? Speak sense
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if you want us to answer. Do you think we are cattle? Do you think
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we have no intelligence? You may tear your hair out in
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anger, But will that cause the earth to be abandoned? Will it make the
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rocks fall from a cliff? The truth remains that the light
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of the wicked will be snuffed out. The sparks of their fire will
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not glow. The light in their tent will grow dark.
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The lamp hanging above them will be quenched. The confident
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stride of the wicked will be shortened. Their own schemes will be their
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downfall. The wicked walk into a net.
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They fall into a pit that's been dug in the path.
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A trap grabs them by the heel. A noose tightens
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around them. A snare lies hidden in the ground.
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A rope lies coiled on their path.
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Terrors surround the wicked and trouble them at every step.
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Their vigor is depleted by hunger, and calamity waits for them
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to stumble. Disease eats their skin. Death devours
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their limbs. They are torn from the security of their tent,
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and they are brought down to the King of Terrors. The home of the
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wicked will disappear beneath a fiery barrage of
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burning sulfur. Their roots
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will dry up and their branches will wither. All memory
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of their existence will perish from the earth.
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No one will remember them. They will be thrust from
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light into darkness, driven from the world.
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They will have neither children nor grandchildren nor
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any survivor in their home country. People in the west
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are appalled at their fate; people in the east are horrified.
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They will say, this was the home of a wicked person, the place of one
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who rejected God. Then Job
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spoke again, how long will you torture me? How long will you
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try to break me with your words? 10 times now you have
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meant to insult me. You should be ashamed of dealing with
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me so harshly. And even if I have sinned,
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that is my concern and not yours. You are trying
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to overcome me using my humiliation as evidence of my sin.
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But it is God who has wronged me. I cannot defend myself,
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for I am like a city under siege. I cry out for
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help, but no one hears me. I protest, but there is
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no justice. God has blocked my way and plunged
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my path into darkness. He has stripped me of my
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honor and removed the crown from my head. He has demolished
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me on every side, and I am finished. He has destroyed my hope.
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His fury burns against me; He counts me as an enemy.
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His troops advance; they build up roads to attack
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me. They camp all around my tent. My relatives
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stay far away, and my friends have turned against me.
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My neighbors and my close friends are all gone. The members
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of my household have forgotten me. The servant
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girls consider me a stranger. I am like a foreigner to them.
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I call my servant, but he doesn't come. I even plead
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with him. My breath is repulsive to my wife.
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I am loathsome to my own family; even young children
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despise me. When I stand to speak, they turn their backs
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on me. My close friends abhor me; those I loved have
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turned against me. I have been reduced to skin and bones
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and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth.
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Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for the hand of God has struck
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me. Why must you persecute me? As God does?
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Why aren't you satisfied with my anguish?
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Oh, that my words could be written! Oh, that they could be
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inscribed on a monument carved with an iron chisel
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and filled with lead, engraved forever in the rock!
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But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives and that
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He will stand upon the earth at last.
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And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see
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God. I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with
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my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at
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the thought. How dare you go on persecuting me, saying it's
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his own fault! I warn you, you yourselves are in
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danger of punishment for your attitude. Then you will know that
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there is judgment.
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1 Corinthians 16:1-24.
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Now about the money being collected for the Christians in Jerusalem.
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You Corinthians should follow the same procedures I gave to the
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churches in Galatia. On every Lord's Day,
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each of you should put aside some amount of money in relation to
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what you have earned and save it for this offering.
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Don't wait until I get there and then try to collect it
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all at once. When I come, I will write letters of
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recommendation for the messengers you chose to deliver your
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gift to Jerusalem. And if it seems appropriate
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for me also to go along, then we can travel together.
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I am coming to visit you after I have been to Macedonia,
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for I am planning to travel through Macedonia.
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It could be that I will stay a while with you, perhaps all
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winter, and then you can send me on my way to the next
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destination. This time I don't want to make just a short
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visit and then go right on. I want to come and stay a while,
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if the Lord will let me. In the meantime, I will be staying here
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at Ephesus until the festival of Pentecost,
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for there is a wide-open door for a great work here. And many people
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are responding. But there are many who oppose me.
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When Timothy comes, treat him with respect. He is
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doing the Lord's work just as I am. Don't let anyone
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despise him. Send him on his way with your blessings when he
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returns to me. I am looking forward to seeing him soon along
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with the other brothers. Now, about our brother
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Apollos. I urged him to join the other brothers when they
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visit you, but he was not willing to come right now. He will
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be seeing you later when the time is right. Be on guard,
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stand true to what you believe, be courageous,
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be strong, and everything you do must be
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done with love. You know that Stephanas and his
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household were the first to become Christians in Greece.
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And they are spending their lives in service to other Christians.
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I urge you, dear brothers and sisters, to respect them fully and
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others like them who serve with such devotion.
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I am so glad that Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaeus
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have come here. They have been making up for the help you weren't here
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to give me. They have been a wonderful
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encouragement to me, as they have been to you too.
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You must give proper honor to all who serve so well.
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The churches here in the province of Asia greet you heartily
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in the Lord, along with Aquila and Priscilla and all the
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others who gather in their home for church meetings.
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All the brothers and sisters here have asked me to greet you for them.
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Greet each other in Christian love.
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Here is my greeting, which I write with my own hand.
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Paul. If anyone does not love the Lord, that person
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is cursed. Our Lord come. May the
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grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of
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you in Christ Jesus.
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Psalm 40:1-10. I waited
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patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard
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my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
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out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid
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ground and steadied me as I walked along.
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He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of
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praise to our God. Many will see what He has done and
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be astounded. They will put their trust in the Lord, Oh,
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the joys of those who trust the Lord, who have no confidence in
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the proud or in those who worship idols!
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O Lord my God, you have done many miracles
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for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list.
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If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would
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never come to the end of them.
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You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings.
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Now that You have made me listen, I finally understand.
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You don't require burnt offerings or sin offerings.
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Then I said, Look, I have come, and this has been written about me
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in Your scroll. I take joy in doing Your
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will, my God, for Your law is written on
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my heart. I have told all Your
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people about Your justice. I have not been afraid to speak out,
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as You, O Lord, well know. I have not kept this good
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news hidden in my heart. I have talked about Your faithfulness and saving
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power. I have told everyone in the great assembly
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of Your unfailing love and faithfulness.
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Proverbs 22:1.
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Choose a good reputation over great riches, for being held
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in high esteem is better than having silver or gold.
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I'd like to speak to you today from our reading from the Book of Job,
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and the eternal question that people
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have asked over the ages is, why do good people
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suffer? Why does God allow suffering
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in our lives? And Job is being very transparent
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and honest with God as he cries out to
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God and brings his charges before him.
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He is blaming God in a sense, bringing accusations
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against him, saying, this is you. You have allowed these
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terrible things to happen to me. He's lost his children.
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He's lost his home and his resources,
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his animals. He's sick. He's been struck with some
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kind of disease that covers his entire body.
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He is really in a lot of pain.
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And then while his spirit is crushed
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and he's near death, he's got some friends who come along and
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who are making matters worse, rubbing salt in the wound,
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so to speak. And who are blaming Job and saying, this is because
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you've sinned. This is why you're suffering. You have sinned.
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It's quite obvious. Your body is wasting away, and that is
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a sign of your sin.
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And so Job is having this conversation not only with God
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but with his friends, and he says to them, how long are you going to
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torture me? How long will you try to break me with your words?
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And he is just having quite
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a difficult time. So,
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how do we handle it? What is to be our response
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and our understanding when we go through suffering
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the way Job did? Whether it is a suffering of
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the physical body with a health setback,
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Whether it's a financial setback,
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whether it's a divorce or a death in the family,
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how are we to view suffering?
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It goes back to the beginning of the book of Job, and we look
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at why. Why is Job going through all this suffering?
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Job was a righteous man. He was not
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wicked or evil. He feared God. But there was a conversation that
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happened in heaven, and Satan came into
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the presence of God and he said, oh, the only reason Job
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fears you is because you have put a hedge of protection all around him.
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But take that hedge of protection away, allow me to
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afflict him, and then he will curse
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you and die. And so, God gives permission
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to Satan to begin to afflict Job
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because it's a test. It's a test of Job's
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heart. God believes— the
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Lord believes that Job is going to stay faithful and
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continue to cling to God and to follow Him no
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matter what his circumstances, whereas the devil believes,
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oh well, take away all of his blessings and his abundance
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and the favor you have on his life, and his heart will turn away from
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you. That's the test.
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So sometimes afflictions and sufferings come because
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we are being tested.
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Now, are we right? Some people
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do blame God when bad things happen— when their child dies of
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leukemia, when their spouse goes off into an adulterous affair and
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it ends in a divorce, and they have cried out
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and pleaded and interceded for that person to return
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and to come back to the marriage and for God to restore the marriage,
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and then it doesn't happen, or that person dies,
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and you pleaded and interceded for them to be healed,
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and ultimately they die. Some people, they do blame
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God, and they walk away from God. They blame Him. They accuse
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Him. So why do these things
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happen? Yes, God is ultimately in
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control. He is in charge. He is sovereign. He is El Elyon.
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But our afflictions and our sufferings come
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from the enemy, come from Satan. Satan is the one
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who brings the sin into the world. When we suffer because of
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sin, the sin done against us by another person,
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That's the enemy at work. When we
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suffer because of a human illness,
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again, God is sovereign. He allows things to happen.
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Nothing happens to us that hasn't been filtered through His hands.
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But sometimes we can give the enemy a permission slip
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if we have a sin in our own life.
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Whether it's pornography or lust or selfishness or greed or
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anger or fear, that opens the door and gives
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a permission slip to the enemy to afflict us.
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And so even when we go back to Job in the
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earlier chapters, we see that Job was afraid
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for his children. He was afraid
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that God was that something would happen to them. And so out
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of fear, he did daily sacrifices for them,
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and that fear gave an open door and
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a permission slip for the enemy to begin to attack.
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So one thing to check in your own heart: have
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you given any permission slips to the enemy? Is there
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any unconfessed sin in your life that
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you need to deal with or address.
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So if you are trying to control everything,
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control your family and control
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who your children marry and who your children interact with, or control—
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that's a lack of faith. You're not trusting God. You are not yielding
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and surrendering to God about things.
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Maybe it is idolatry, a form
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of idolatry. Are you putting your energy, your resource,
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and your time more into the screens than
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you are into the Word of God?
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Are you spending more time slaving away,
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working long hours at a job for the paycheck
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and for the 401, and God just gets your
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leftovers of your time and energy.
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Those are all idols of the heart, and idols are
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very, very, uh, they're a huge
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barrier between you and God. So the
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Lord does allow us to suffer, and there's different reasons
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for suffering. Sometimes we bring it on ourselves if we have allowed sin
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into our life. That gives the enemy a permission slip
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to afflict. Sometimes the sin has been done against
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us by another person, and we are then challenged to
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forgive that person and not allow a root of bitterness to
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take over. And sometimes there just is no easy
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answer. Why did that child die of leukemia at
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such a young age? Why did those people
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die in such a horrible manner on October 7th?
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Innocent civilians, Holocaust survivors,
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elderly, children, women.
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There's no easy answer. And yet
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it's a test. And ultimately,
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to pass the test, we must have our faith in God and trust him.
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We must trust Him. Not accuse
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Him. Not blame Him. But trust Him.
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And to simply say, Lord, I do not understand why this terrible thing has happened.
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It makes no sense to me, and it breaks my heart.
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But Lord, I choose to trust You no matter
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what. I choose to follow You and to walk
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in faith. And trust you because you know what is
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best for my life, and you are a good God,
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and you are a loving God, and you are a merciful God,
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and I choose to trust you.
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Have a blessed day, and we'll see you tomorrow. Shalom.
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Adonai,
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we wish America.
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Yeah, yeah,
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Adonai,
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anavilka.
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We connect.
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The Aaronic Blessing from Numbers chapter 6,
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24 to 26.
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Adonai bless you and keep you. Adonai make
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his face to shine upon you and be gracious
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to you. Adonai lift up his countenance
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upon you and give you peace.