Reading: Psalm 18:37-42
It can be scary to think about the future and what we don't know that could be coming. We wish for God to supply us with all we need now so we can be prepared when hurdles come, but many times we have to trust God to bring us that strength and knowledge when the time is right. He provides for us at just the right times. When we dwell on the future and the potential worries of it, we miss current opportunities. David received his strength and power to take on his enemies when the time was right. God will provide for us at the opportune time as well, whether it be preparing to talk to someone about Him, dealing with illness, or a broken relationship.
When has God provided for you at just the right time?
When has worrying about the future prevented you from focusing on the present?
Reading: Matthew 24:32-25:13
Jesus tells us to always be prepared for His coming. We won't know when He is coming, but we can see the signs of His coming. Jesus tells us a parable about 10 bridesmaids who went out to wait for the coming of the bridegroom. Five of them brought extra oil for their lamps, but the other five did not. Since the bridegroom was delayed, the five who didn't have enough oil had to go get more, and while they were gone, the bridegroom showed up.
We can learn from this story to always be prepared to meet Jesus face to face, because you never know when He's coming back. We can't live our lives faithless then be ill-prepared when the hour comes. Always being prepared is what we know to do.
When have you not been prepared for something?
What are you doing to be prepared for Jesus' coming?
Reading: Job 38:1-40:2
We finally reach a little different taste in Job's story, as God comes forth and speaks now after a brutal conversation with Job's friends up till now. We read all of these questions that God puts forth, that we know Job can't answer. The point God is trying to make, especially after his friends just spent so much time giving him false and empty advice, is that we can't know everything. We need to know that God is in control and He is still God when the bad comes. Though this can drive us crazy when hard times come, we need to remember God's promises in our lives. He'll never leave us or forsake us. When we walk with Him, He will fight for us. Even this is better advice than the empty words Job's friends offered.
When was a time your life felt out of control, but you had to remember that God was in control?
Why do we see here that it's ok to not know the answer sometimes?
Our lives are filled with many unknowns. Our pasts are filled with them too, as well as our present. But what we can take from our reading today is that we don't have to know what the Bible doesn't tell us, yet we must cling to what it does. Trusting in unknown times is all you can do when faced with the next step and we can be prepared for what we do know.
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