The tragedy of the wicked

    But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.4 They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.5 They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills. 6 Therefore pride is their necklace. Psalm 73:2-6a

This passage is written by a man named Asaph who was a prominent priest and a chief musician at the time of King David. It is a passage that i'm sure most Christians have felt before, they are trying to live for God and barley getting by. But they see wicked people prosper and wonder why.

There are so many preachers and teacher out there who always speak of the blessings of God, especially about money, they act like money is just going to fall out of heaven and land in their bank account, well God is almighty and could do that but i don't really hear of it. Truly God does want to bless his children and those who serve Him but it might not come in the way your expecting. Remember God sees the big picture He knows what is coming down the road and we don't. We have to understand He knows what is best for us while we are on this earth.

That is easier said than done, look at Job, there was a battle going on in the spiritual world he could not see. But God knew that when it was all over He would bless Job even more than what he had before.

Something that will be a hard pill to swallow is this. This blessing may come in this life, but...it may not. Our spirits will long outlast our bodies and eternity is a long time. If God want to use you and your life as a testimony like Job and even Jesus, we have to be ready to accept that. Jesus had to suffer and die, some think that is what was expected out of Him. Jesus was just fulfilling the will of the Father which lead to His torture and death. If God expected this much out of His son could he not ask for a similar commitment from us lowly sinners?

Revelation 2:7 "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."

There are many christians who have died that were full of disease, sickness that were poor and have seen so much pain but that does not take away their blessing. As long as they are still serving Christ, believe in Him, and their sins are forgiven they have recieved their full blessing sitting in heaven worshiping the Father.

Romans 6:22-23 "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Is your paradise in turmoil?

If you ever thought you had any sort of control over your life and how it was going to go well......think again. Look at Job 1:6-7 "One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.." We see that many things from this bit of scripture, one of them is satan goes from earth to heaven looking to challenge God's creation. If you read on in Job you will see that God opens the door for satan to challenge Job by taking just about everything away from him except his wife. Satan just knew that if he took away everything that Job had even attacking his health he would curse God. Well it did not work.


We find when we look deeper at how satan works we see he uses every weapon he can think of to try to challenge God's people.
Ezekiel 28:14-17"You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. 15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. 16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. 17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings."
Isaiah 14:12-14^{"  " "   
"}How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!13 You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."

In both the Isaiah passage and the Ezekiel passage, the representation is not just of lucifer/satan as confined to his own person but also his working in and the consummating of his plans through earthly kings and rulers who want to take to themselves divine honors and who, whether they know it or not, rule in the spirit and under the aims of satan. Remember the scripture "For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12, NIV).

Satan will use people in your life to discourage you from seeing the whole picture and realizing who you are in Christ.

Remember Job did not do anything wrong to deserve the horrible things that happened to him. But he was caught up in something bigger that he could not understand. There is the spirit world that we can not see with a war constantly raging over those who want to destroy God's creation and gain power for themselves.


With all the struggles you go through will God be able to say about you what he said about Job (2:v3)"Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason."


It is not going to be easy but remember what Jesus said in Matt 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

Only a few find it ...

A Messy Faith

Don't we all wish there were a magic formula for a easy and care free life. A life where we received the promise of God that every preacher and devout christian friend ever told us about. Well forget about it! Over the next few weeks i will be spending some time on Job, no not job but Job the man and book in the bible. Job was a blessed man (Job1:1-3), he had everything he needed and more. But in just a few brief moments his life turned into the worst story you have ever heard.

He lost everything, his children and all of his possessions, gone! All he was left with was his life and his wife, and he probably did not want either of them by this time either. Ever think you had a bad day read the first two chapters of Job. But we see Job did nothing to have all of this horror thrown upon him except serve and worship God.

We read that God allowed Satan to test Job to see if after all the blessings God had given to him were taken away if Job would still serve God. Have you ever thought about that when your day starts off bad, you get into an accident or something bad happens in your family? This could be a test not one you can see with your eyes but something happening in the spiritual world.

Job just like us did not understand what was happening or why, yet somehow amazingly still served God. Sometimes people could say the wrong thing to me or i just wake up with a headache and i am not fit to be around. That is not the kind of Christ like example He has called us to live.

Remember we will practice what we believe so how are you living today?
What do your actions, habits, or reactions to painful or difficult seasons in your life reveal about your core beliefs about God or this story (of life) your in?

Genesis 4:7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it

The last question was taken from Job, a messy faith by Ron Keck.
Please leave your comments or questions.

Where is your loyalty

Many of us know the story of David one of the great kings of Israel, but i wonder how many of us know about the men who supported him before he was king and during his time as ruler. He had men like Abishai, who David considered a mighty man(2 Samuel 23:18-19). Abishai was a great warrior he had loyalty, courage, and prowess but he was lead astray a little by his bloodthirsty brother Joab. He was devoted to his uncle David, when David was fleeing Saul it was Abishai who said he will go with him into Saul's camp (1 Samuel 26:6). He also protected David's honor wanting to kill Shimei for insulting the king (2 Samuel 16). He rescued David from the Philistine Ishbi-Benob "But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David's rescue; he struck the Philistine down and killed him"  2 Samuel 21:16-17. He fought in battle against the Edomites, Arameans, and the Ammonites demonstrating his military ability.

However, Abishai was also loyal to his brother Joab who talked him into doing some rather dirty deeds. The two brothers worked together to kill Abner, another commander who they held responsible for their brother's death (2 Samuel 3:30) and also did not say anything when Joab murdered another commander Amasa (2 Samuel 20).

Many Christians can be just like Abishai, they can be great warriors for God but their relationships with their family and friends hold them up from obeying God. It could be a brother, sister, or friend who go along with and participate in sin. Or a husband and wife who do not help correct the other when they see them not living a Godly example. God wants us to love and obey Him more than any relationship we have with other people.

"Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun." Psalm 37:5-6

Please share with me your comments!

Practice what you believe

People may not always practice what they preach but they do practice what they believe. This is always a important thing to remember whenever you hear about some who fails you. But it is also important to pay attention to those who say they don’t believe in God or Jesus but when trials or test come into their life they ask for prayer or support. This normally means that some where deep down in their heart they realize God is real they are just not ready to make the commitment to Him.

I always thought it was amazing how in the Old Testament you had people like king Artaxerxes of Persia, who was king during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah who did rather strange things for a king of that time. A few decades earlier, many Jews had been sent into exile under the Babylonian Empire but then the Persians defeated the Babylonians and took over all their territory into their empire. The first one to decree that the Jews were free to return to Jerusalem was king Cyrus and rebuild the temple. Later Artaxerxes would do a similar thing and give Ezra funds to rebuild the temple and offer sacrifices to God. "Now I, King Artaxerxes, order all the treasurers of Trans-Euphrates to provide with diligence whatever Ezra the priest, a teacher of the Law of the God of heaven, may ask of you" Ezra 7:21 NIV. Why would a non-believing king do this, look at Ezra 7:23 "Everything the God-of-Heaven requires for The Temple of God must be given without hesitation. Why would the king and his sons risk stirring up his wrath?" TMV

Although the king was doing this for his own preservation not wanting to make the True and Living God angry with him, this shows us he believed in God. For today’s time with preachers making false accusations of the return of Christ and other coming up with their own version of Christianity we must show the world grace and mercy and be a living example for our friends and family and point them to the cross and show them the truth in love.

"Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man."

Proverbs 3:3-4 NIV

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