Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Thursday, March 3rd

“Ready yet?” Translation… “Is it ready yet?” My son has learned to ask this question when Mommy brings home a pineapple. He loves pineapple. I could take it or leave it. It took my son’s love for pineapple for me to learn that just because the fruit has been purchased and transported home does not necessarily mean that it is “ready.” The pineapple has to go through a process. I’m still not really sure how you know it’s ready.

As we look at Job chapter 17 you may be thinking, “What in world has this man read that made him think about pineapple?” It’s not about pineapple, or any other kind of fruit for that matter, but about the ripening or readying process. The first four words of the chapter let me know that Job’s spirit, his heart, is ripe… it is ready for God to do something awesome. How do I know that? Job says that his spirit is “broken.” Brokenness is how you know the human spirit is “ready.”

Along those same lines slide down and look at verse 11. Job’s plans are undone. The things he wanted to do have been tossed into the proverbial trash. This is another marker of a person primed to be used by God in a great way.

In chapter 18 I imagine that Bildad is doing what I have done far too many times. When Job started speaking Bildad stopped listening and starting thinking about his “come back.” Ever done that… or is it just me? Bildad has the opportunity to see that Job is poised for blessing from the Lord. However I believe he didn’t even hear a word that Job just said. Nearly everything that Bildad says in the following verses is absolutely true. So what’s the problem? Timing; God will judge unrighteousness. Wickedness will be punished; in his timing. Meanwhile the godly may (will) suffer and the wicked may prosper. We are not to look at the circumstances surrounding a person’s life and assume to know what God is doing.

So what about your heart? What about your spirit? Is it ready? Could God be in the process of readying you through brokenness? His methods are greater than ours; may we be a people willing to seek the benefits of brokenness.

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