ESTHER AND JOB

I'm on my second cup of coffee today.  I finished reading in Esther and Job and slept in a little longer today.  It is our 33rd anniversary, and we are relaxing some today.  Here are just a few thoughts for the day: 1) Esther 5:13 "Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai..."  The simple truth is "Don't focus on what you don't like."  There are many things I see that I don't care for, but I cannot afford to focus on what I don't like, I must discipline myself to focus on things that I do like!  By the way, this is biblical (Phil. 4:8), and practical.  Bitterness comes when one focuses on what they do not like and eventually they turn critical and bitter! 2) Esther 9:1 "it was turned to the contrary".  God has a way of turning things around.  It was very bad for the Jews and then it turned around to be very good for the Jews.  God can do that same thing in our lives.  Wait on the Lord, call upon Him, and see what He will do!! 3) Job 1:10 - the Devil said to God about Job, "thou hast blessed the work of his hands."  I like this!  God didn't bless his laziness, but his work!!  Someone said:  "The harder I work, the luckier and luckier I get!"  Well, if we work and trust the LORD, then He will bless us! 4) PURPOSE- Four times in chapter one we see the phrase: "and I only an escaped alone to tell thee."  God has a reason for sparing our lives... to tell others something!!  AND, as a Christian, I know what God wants them to hear.... the Gospel, and words of encouragement and faith! 5) MUD- I never understood this verse until several months ago when I studied some on it and read up some about it.  The phrase in Job 8:11, "Can the rush grow up without mire?"  The mire is sticky mud, but the rush is delightful, pretty, and a blessing to the birds.  What does it all mean?  If you are alive, you are going to have some mud on you!!  Our humanity is mud, our spirituality is beauty, but you live in both!!  Don't settle for being muddy, but realize that you can't get the rush without the mire! 6) OUR HOUSE-  JOB 10:11 "Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews."  Here Job is simply stating that who I really am is covered up with skin and flesh, and bones and muscle.  The real me is not the body, it's who is in the body.  That is the real me!!  You will see the real me in Heaven!! 7) Job 12:10 "In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind."  He's got the whole world, in His hands, He's got the whole world, in His hands, He's got the whole world, in His hands, He's got the whole world in His hands!  (From this scripture, comes a song.) Well, blessings upon you this day!  Pastor Mike Mutchler