05292021 God's Provision

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the God with the biggest hands in the world. His hands are able to supply greatly for all of His creation, including His children.

Lesson #40. God declares His own provision. God had spoken to Job about His characteristics of wisdom and power. The third topic He addresses is His provision. “Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? Or fill the appetite of the young lions, when they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait? Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat” (38:39-41).

In speaking of His provision, God gives just two examples. The first is of the lions. The lions hunt their prey, but they would be unable to find food if God did not provide it. A lion pride consists of approximately 15 lions, all of which need to be fed from the results of their hunt. A lion can eat up to sixty pounds of meat at one time. Without God providing the food, lions would die of starvation. The second example is of the ravens. Ravens are scavengers that are constantly searching for food. Just like all other birds, young ravens must be fed by their parents who embark on a time-consuming quest to find food. Each raven eats an average of two pounds of food daily. Ravens are common birds that live in a wide variety of habitats all around the world, including some that seem to have few resources. God provides enough food for each raven. In fact, at one point in history, the ravens had enough surplus food to sustain Elijah.

While God shares only these two examples, the Bible is filled with other examples that speak of God's provision for the animal kingdom. Psalm 104 has as its theme God’s care of the earth. “These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season” (Psalm 104:27). The New Testament contributes as well. “Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?” (Luke 12: 24). It isn't just the large birds that God cares for. He also looks out for the tiny sparrows that are plentiful everywhere. “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthing, and not one of them is forgotten before God?” (Luke 12: 6). God provides for all the birds, and He says that His children are even more precious than the birds, so surely He will care for them also.

God provides for all types of human needs. “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). God provides for physical, spiritual, emotional, social, and any other kind of need. When it comes to spiritual needs, “his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). Psalm 23 shares how God provides for every type of need. The complete provision is summarized this way: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). The needs are physical in verse 2, consisting of food and water. The needs are spiritual in verse 3, as He restores the soul. He also provides for guidance (v. 3). God meets emotional needs by giving comfort and calming fears (v. 4). God provides necessities even in the presence of enemies, He gives an abundance of blessing, and His unending goodness and kindness last throughout all of life (vs. 5-6). Finally, God provides eternal security through a forever home with Him (v. 6).

For those who are in trials, it is very important that God provides. People in trials have many needs on many levels. They cannot meet their own needs, and others fail to meet their needs as well, as they did in Job’s case. The bottom line is that people need God desperately. Only He can truly provide for them.

God argued His ability to provide by giving examples from the animal kingdom. This is quite an effective argument. There are nearly 8 billion people in the world. Among animals for which semi-reliable numbers can be provided, that 8 billion figure is approached by adding just the top ten: cows, pigs, sheep, dogs, goats, rabbits, cats, water buffalo, horses, and donkeys. Even this statistic is extremely misleading, because it primarily reflects domesticated animals only. Rats alone are estimated at 7-14 billion, with about the same number of mice, and bats could be even more. It is estimated that microscopic bacteria represent over thirty times the members of the animal kingdom. If God provides for all of those, which He does, He is easily able to provide for His children who are much fewer in number.

May God abundantly provide your every need this week. He is so able!

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

05232021 God's Powerful Control

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the all-powerful God. God is the one who does what no one else can do, and He does it without any difficulty or challenge.

Lesson #39. God declares His own absolute control. As God reveals himself to Job in these chapters, there is much overlap in His revealed characteristics, but God does seem to focus on specific characteristics in turn. The previous verses emphasized God's wisdom; now He turns the focus to His power and control. Again, creation provides the proof.

God has control over water. The oceans have limits. When God holds them back, they are restrained, and when God releases them, they pour forth with power (38:8). God also controls the water by making it live in clouds. At times those clouds restrain the water, as it is trapped in them (38:9). Whether in the sky or on the surface of the earth, God controls the water so that it does His bidding. “And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed” (38:11).

God has power over the daily cycle. Each morning starts at God's command. “Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place?” (38:12). One apparent application of daylight is that it reveals the works of the wicked and stops some of their wicked deeds (38:13-15).

God’s power created the great expanse of the earth. There are flowing springs, towering mountains, and deep caves even in the oceans. Man is unable to plumb the depths, and the earth itself is broader than man can fully comprehend (38:16-18).

God controls the light. God can turn off the light in the earth and bring darkness as easily as man flips a light switch. One of the puzzling questions of science is, “When you turn off a light switch, where does the light go?” Man doesn't know the answer to that question, but God has the power to take all that light and make it disappear, whether through the turning of the earth on its axis or through clouds that block the sun or through nothing more than His will (38:19-20).

God controls the weather and causes it to do His bidding. Snow and hail and wind and other features of the weather are simply tools in God's hand that He commands at will, and they fight His battles for Him (38:22-24). God uses floods of water and thunderbolts (38:25). God's control of the weather is independent from man’s desires and even from the presence of man; God controls these aspects of weather even when there are no people to desire or appreciate what He has done (38:25-27). Man has studied the water cycle, but God makes the rain. He squeezes the drops of rain out of the clouds, and He pops the drops of dew out on the blades of grass (38:28). God causes the temperature of the earth and the atmosphere to change so that what once was water, flowing and free and even soaking into the earth, turns into blocks of ice that can be picked up or walked upon, and the dew that glistened on the grass becomes frost (38:29-30).

God controls the constellations. He has the power to arrange each star exactly where He wants it and to maintain the stars in those positions relative to one another. He can arrange stars into patterns, so that they look like a figure that man will later be able to identify. God guides the stars in their paths (38:31-33).

Not only does God create each element of weather, but He gives them orders so that they play their parts at the times and in the ways that He desires. God can decide whether clouds have so little water that is not enough to precipitate or whether the clouds are so saturated that they pour forth abundance. God controls the path of the lightning so that it goes just where He wants it to go, and God sends rain that takes blowing dust and converts it into muddy clouds (38:34-38).

At best, man struggles to understand these aspects of weather. Not only does God understand them, but God has absolute control over them. Man often labors in a laboratory in artificial conditions, attempting to create some of the things that God does easily with just His voice and on a global scale. Man is unable to predict the weather, but God controls its every detail. Man worries about trying to take steps to change the environment and prevent environmental disasters and damage, but God completely controls the environment with His voice and command. He could easily accomplish any of the things that man desires to do; if man thinks he even is able to create change, he estimates that it will take decades to accomplish, but God can do it instantaneously.

For a God with this level of control, a disease like Job faced is not a challenge. In fact, none of the disasters that came to Job were unstoppable for God. If God allows something to happen, it is only because that event serves His purposes. When God desires to reverse a situation, He can do so easily.

God “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). “For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37). Our circumstances in life may not be what we want them to be, but they are undoubtedly under God’s control, and they are subject to His power. When God decides to change them, nothing will stop His hand.

As you walk with God this week, may you see His hand work solutions that you have longed to see and wonders you have not anticipated.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA 

05152021 God's Wisdom

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of our supremely wise God. God always understands everything perfectly, and He has entire comprehension of that which boggles even the greatest human minds.

Lesson #38. God declares His own wisdom. Job waited a long time to hear directly from God, but when God answered, the answers were incredible. God gives Job four chapters full of answers, and those answers revolve around God Himself. This book enters a marvelous section when “the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said” (38:1). How Job's heart must have rejoiced to hear God's voice. As God spoke, He worked through a series of characteristics about Himself. The first of those was His wisdom.

God introduced the topic of wisdom by contrasting His great wisdom with Job's lack thereof. God confronted Job with his lack of wisdom: “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?” (38:2). God challenged Job with questions he could not answer: “Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me” (38:3). The difference in wisdom between deity and humanity will become quite clear, as Job has no clue about these answers, but God knows them fully.

God asked, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (38:4-7).

In order to show His great wisdom, God focuses on the creation of the world. He does not fully develop this display of His wisdom; rather, He really gives just the most basic foundation. God focuses on the actual moment of the earth’s creation, on the act of creating the globe itself. There are many incredible details in creation upon which we can focus, but none of those details can exist without the initial step of the earth’s formation. In order to start the creative process, God first had to lay the foundation of the earth. He had to determine its size. He had to determine how it would hang in the atmosphere. He had to determine what would hold it up. The rest of creation followed only after these fundamental provisions were made.

These are important questions. God had to wisely and carefully plan the construction of the planet earth. Why did He make earth different from the other planets? Some planets are not even solid, but are made up mostly of gases, but earth has a solid iron core and a firm surface, along with a life-sustaining atmosphere.

God had to know how big to make the earth. As God’s final step, He created just two people, but 6,000 years later, there are 7.9 billion people. God had to make an earth big enough to sustain the future population and to provide for all of its needs. He had to make it large enough that the earth’s spin wouldn’t cause dizziness to people or damage to vegetation.

God had to determine the shape of the earth. For millennia, man believed the earth was flat like a pancake, but God knew that wouldn't work. God created a sphere that could spin on its axis to create day and night and that could revolve through space to create years. A cube couldn't do that, and a triangle wouldn't work either. Imagine the difficulty if man had to deal with those harsh geographic structures rather than the gradual curvature of the earth, or the danger if he really could fall off the edge.

God had to determine how to suspend the earth in open space. Man might imagine doing that with a helium balloon or with the tiny puff of a dandelion seed, neither of which will stay suspended indefinitely. Man has no way of suspending anything except very briefly and with special scientific mechanisms. In general, though, gravity works against him. Nothing hangs on nothing. Everything needs support. The earth weighs 13 billion trillion tons. (Actually, scientists don't know how much it weighs. They can only guess.) How could something so large even be measured? It seems impossible that such a massive body could be suspended in space, but God figured out exactly how to do that.

God knew how to make creation, and He knew without needing anyone else's help or input. In these verses God merely scratches the surface of what was involved. Space would fail us to explore and describe all the intricacies of God's creation. There are animals with characteristics so unique and body systems so cleverly designed that they leave us in amazement. The system whereby plants grow and provide the oxygen needed for the earth is incredible. The great variety in creation is enough to astound us; there are so many varieties of trees, flowers, birds, insects, animals, and geographic structures. God's wisdom designed all of those.

In future chapters God will refer to some of that diversity, but in this section which focuses on His wisdom, He offers just the foundation of earth's creation. With just the questions about how the earth itself was formed and suspended, man is left in awe of God's wisdom. The reality of God’s immense wisdom is so astronomical that God could effectively prove His point with this aspect alone. He did not need to proceed with additional proofs, of which there are many. A God with that kind of wisdom surely knows what He is doing in the lives of the individuals that He loves.

Our wise God will make all the right decisions for you this week. May you rest completely at peace in this immense and incomprehensible provision.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

05082021 Words Without Knowledge

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of our patient God. How wonderful that He understands our weakness and that He bears long with us, all the while leading us into greater truth.

Lesson #37. Excessive speech can lead to speaking wrongly. In the midst of trouble, it is completely natural to want to talk about the trial. Talking is a helpful human tool for processing life. Talking helps people to identify what is going on, to work through their responses, and to express themselves to people that they think will care. Unfortunately, the more prolific the words, the higher the likelihood of saying something inappropriate. Job spoke much, and his words were not always right.

Elihu evaluated that men of understanding would say about Job, "Job hath spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom" (34:35). Elihu himself agreed: "Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge" (35:16).

Was Elihu too critical, or was he right? Very soon after Elihu's evaluation, God Himself demanded, "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" (38:2). But to whom was God referring? Did His question refer to Job, to Elihu, or to the three friends?

Part of the answer is declared through inspiration. The Bible declares that "the LORD answered Job" (38:1). Also, God immediately followed His question by continuing to speak directly to Job. Job was the one God focused on, as He stated many truths designed to instruct and help him.

The answer is also revealed by Job's own admission. Job later repeated God's question, "Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge?" (42:3) and then freely admitted, "Therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not" (42:3). Job had misspoken, and he knew it. So Job was deserving of this evaluation and was the primary recipient of these words.

The words also apply to the three friends. At the end of the trial, "the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath" (42:7, repeated in v. 8). Although these three were apparently godly men, and although they had said a lot of true things, there was a significant extent to which they didn't know what they were saying either. (The words do not seem to apply to Elihu, who is not included in this censure. In fact, God repeatedly reinforced what much of what Elihu had said.)

God's command to the three friends is a commentary both on them and on Job. Job came to state truth at the end. Job owned his failures and then spoke what was right about God. Job's ending words were the most important, and they clearly revealed his submission to God while eliminating all the troubling words that had filled his earlier speech. It seems that God was most interested in where the words of these men ended up. In the end, Job humbled himself for what he had said wrong, and he affirmed truth. The three friends did not do that until the final confrontation by God.

Just to clarify, God did not condemn every word that Job or his friends had spoken. There was much accuracy in Job's self-defense and in his testimony of his past life. Both Job and his friends stated some powerful truths through the process. God objected to the words that fell outside these parameters. It was okay for them to state truth that they knew; the problem was when they did not have accurate knowledge, but they stated their viewpoints anyway as if they were authoritative.

In the midst of trials, it is natural to want to talk. There is much to evaluate and assess, many responses and adjustments to be made. Those necessary adjustments take place in our thinking, and our thinking necessarily involves words. Unfortunately, we don't always know what we're talking about, and that often emerges poignantly in the midst of tragedy and chaos.

Is it better just to be quiet and wonder and wait? If we utter many words, is it not likely that some of those words will be spoken without understanding? Does God want us to be totally silent? David tried that. "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle" (Psalm 39:1). It didn't work very well for him. He thought that silence would be a safeguard, but he realized speech is a reality of life.

God definitely wants us to talk to Him, even if to no one else. "Pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us" (Psalm 62:8). Many of the Psalms exhibit the pattern of starting with trouble and confusion, but the psalmists then talk their way to truth by the end. This seems to be a good pattern to follow.

If we realize we have messed up, we have this reassurance. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (I John 1:9).

We can also pray for divine help. "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD" (Psalm 19:14). Like Job and his friends, our wrong words are often not a mark of rebellion, but simply a lack of knowledge. It would then seem appropriate to pray for wisdom (James 1:5).

As with Job, God desires a humble response in our words. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God" (I Peter 5:6). Like Jesus, our words should include this idea: "Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39).

Finally, we can be thankful. We can be thankful that God knows what we don't know. He has the answers. We can also be thankful for the character of God. "But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth" (Psalm 86:15). How wonderful that our God, who knows all things, also knows us so well. He knows our human frailty, and He sees the foundational desire of our hearts, and He responds with a loving patience that is far gentler than what we deserve. When we are willing to listen, He leads us to truth.

As we dependently seek God, may He enable us to speak what is right and honoring to Him.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA 

05012021 Incomprehensible God

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of our incomprehensibly great God. Although it can sometimes be frustrating not to be able to understand God and His work, it is also a great comfort to realize how much greater He is than what we are.

Lesson #36. God is beyond man's understanding. Probably man's most difficult challenge in trials comes because he wants to understand. He wants to understand why this is happening. He wants to understand what God is doing through it.

Being able to understand probably would help man to be able to endure. This is true in other areas such as undergoing painful operations, wearing uncomfortable braces, and pursuing demanding exercise routines. Because people understand the process and because they anticipate the benefit, they are willing to endure.

There are two issues when we try to apply this spiritually. One is that God wants us to walk by faith and to demonstrate our commitment to trust Him; many life trials are designed specifically for this purpose. The second is that it is not even possible for man to fully understand God.

"Behold, God exalteth by his power: who teacheth like Him? Who has enjoined him his way? or who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity?" (36:22-23). God's power is beyond man's comprehension. God's ability to teach through various methods is beyond man's comprehension. God's sovereignty is beyond man's comprehension. God is so far above man that very often man can't even relate. Man understands only the barest minimum of what God knows fully. Over the next chapter and a half, Elihu demonstrates this truth by using the weather as an example.

There is the water cycle (36:27-28). God evaporates moisture from the oceans, stores it up in the clouds, and then rains it down to provide for man. Man has discovered this cycle and knows the steps, but he doesn't fully comprehend how God does it or how God has the ability to control it.

There are thunderstorms (36:29-37:5, 37:15). The clouds roll in and pile up in darkness. The lightning flashes forth, and the thunder rumbles. Man has tried hard to understand and explain thunder and lightning, and he can partially do so. But man has no concept of how God can cause lightning to strike in the precise location that He determines (36:32), or how thunder booms forth the existence of God (36:33-37:5). He does not understand how God can use the same type of storm (or even the very same storm) for different purposes. A storm can be intended for judgment or for provision (36:31). The same storm that sets fire to one man's barn or batters his crop merely provides much-needed precipitation for someone else.

There is winter (37:6-10). God commands the snow to fall on the earth. The storms can be so intense that man's work and activity must cease. Animals hide out during the storm or even hibernate for the winter. God makes standing water turn to ice. Man has studied these concepts and has some understanding, but he can't fully explain them. He can't even accurately predict them. Despite his sincerest determination, he cannot always plow his way through them to continue the activities that he is set on doing.

There are the layers and layers of different types of clouds (37:16). There is the scorching and unbearable heat (37:17). There is the broad expanse of unbroken sky (37:18). There is splendid light (37:22); is this the northern lights or the glorious dawn or some other phenomenon? These are more things that man cannot fully understand.

Elihu's conclusion about thunderstorms was that "great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend" (37:5). He admonishes Job, "Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God" (37:14). God not only makes the storms that amaze us and overwhelm us, but God controls the storms. "And it is turned round about by his counsels" (37:12). "Around God is awesome majesty" (37:22). "Touching the Almighty, ... he is excellent in power" (37:23). This being the case, "Shall it be told him that I speak?" (37:20). Rather, men should "fear Him" (37:24).

Trying to understand just this one aspect of the weather stretches man's brain beyond its limits. Man tries, but he cannot comprehend all the science. God's design, power, and control are too great. But that's not the end! God is doing far more than just science. God is controlling the science and using it for His divine purposes. "That they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth" (37:12).

Elihu provides some possibilities for how God uses the weather for His purposes. "He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy" (27:13). Sometimes God uses the weather to bring correction and judgment on wicked men. Sometimes God uses the weather to demonstrate His lovingkindness for mankind in general or for individuals. And sometimes God's use of the weather has nothing whatsoever to do with man; it is merely His provision for the world He has created.

"Behold, God is great, and we do know him not" (36:26). He is so far beyond our comprehension. Why then do we strive so hard to understand the intricacies of everything that He does? Our brains are not big enough for that. Our God is too big to be fully understood and interpreted by mere humans. Sometimes we just have to trust that the God who created, controls, and uses the weather is quite capable of doing the right thing in our lives, of taking care of us, and of leading us exactly where He wants us to be.

Our great God will perform His plan for you this week. Rest in it. Take comfort in His greatness, and be at peace.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

Archived letters: www.dearmissionarylady.blogspot.com.