Biblical Shakers

  Click on Title for Video Intro Monday Job Chapter 25 Job 25 Verse 5 Tanya Ruden Verse 5:  God is more glorious than the moon; he shines brighter than the stars. THOUGHT As Heather and I were looking at the chapters in Job, I was thinking.  We have got to be getting close to the end of the book.  Maybe Heather and I can finish it, but for those of you who are better versed in the Bible than me, know that Job is long.  We will still have a couple of weeks after this week before we finish it. So today let’s focus on something I like to think of as more than my brain can comprehend. Do we really understand how bright the moon and stars are?  They are really far away, and we can still see them, same with the sun. Now I realize that was a very “technical” statement, but even if I threw in how many miles away and how bright it was and how fast the light traveled, we still wouldn’t understand what an awesome creation a star or moon is. It is so beyond our grasp. ...

  Click on Title for Video Intro Monday, John Chapter 13 John 13 Verse 7 Mindy Strayer Verse 7: “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” THOUGHT I found this statement by Jesus to be very reassuring.  It’s the kind of statement from God that is very helpful when we find ourselves in the middle of tough times.  We may need to read it again and again in order to allow the Word of God to bring us comfort, peace, and reassurance that through all the mess, God is in charge. So, in order to elaborate on this, I will place two scenarios out there: 1) All of us have had things that we have asked God for in prayer only to have nothing transpire. 2) All of us have had something happen to us or someone we love that isn’t fair and doesn’t seem to make sense causing us to want to ask the question, “Why God?”. Now, along with those scenarios, we have all seen God withhold specific answers to prayer only to have Him later provide an even greater, bett...

  Click on Title for Video Intro Monday, Job Chapter 20 Job 20  Delores Little THOUGHT This chapter informs us what Job’s buddy, Zophar, thinks of him. Verses 2 and 3 says, “My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer because I am greatly disturbed. I HEAR a REBUKE that dishonors ME, and MY understanding INSPIRES ME to reply.”  Notice the ME & MY in these verses? This guy in the following verses really tears Job down.  As I read this I thought he sounded like he was jealous of Job before this all happened. He just tears Job’s life apart in these verses. Then he ends the chapter with verse 29 which says, “Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God.”  My question is how many times in our lives have we done something like this? I was reading one of the Caring Bridge sites the other day, and this Mother was so upset as many had written on there that it was because of her son’s sin that he had cancer. I’m not saying we don’t sin. ...

  Click on Title for Video Intro Monday and Tuesday, Job Chapter 15 & 16 Job 15 & 16 Mindy Strayer THOUGHT Doesn’t Eliphaz just sound like a person who has not yet had to deal with any real hardship or loss in his life? A caring and compassionate friend should not sound arrogant, or rude, or like he is reprimanding. Job calls it right when he says in the very first sentence of chapter 16, “miserable comforters are you all.”  Why hasn’t anyone reminded Job of how much God loves and cares for him?  Why haven’t his friends offered any words of love or offered to meet some of Job’s needs? We as Christians have a big responsibility when the needs of people come before us. You can’t just say anything when real deep hard pain is being experienced by the individual. You can’t just throw out a Bible verse and expect that to make all the difference. You can’t give a band aid of an answer and expect to stop some of the bleeding. You can’t tell a person what they are feeling ...

  Click on Title for Video Intro Monday, Job Chapter 10 Job 10 Verse 1 Jane Jones Verse 1:  “I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.” THOUGHT Job has really begun to feel sorry for himself. When we face a baffling affliction, our pain lures us toward feeling sorry for ourselves. “Look what happened to me; how unfair it is!” We may feel like blaming God. Remember that life’s trials, whether allowed by God or sent by God, can be the means for development and refinement. One can’t help but think of Bart and Mindy and Alan and Tanya with all their circumstances relating to house purchases and the sale of one house in Wichita. It has been a long 14 months for the Rudens living in a state of unsettledness with both couples having to go to a second lending institution for loans. The journeys have been long and rocky. When facing trials, ask, “What can I learn, and how can I grow?” rather than “Who did this to ...