Showing posts with label affliction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label affliction. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Attention to the Needs of Others


Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Job 31:13-22 KJV

13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; 14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? 15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb? 16 If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; 17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; 18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as [with] a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) 19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; 20 If his loins have not blessed me, and [if] he were [not] warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: 22 [Then] let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) As Job continues to defend his integrity, how did he treat his servants who contended with him? Why? (v.13-15)
2) How did Job treat the poor, the widow, the hungry and the fatherless? (v.16-18)
3) What did Job do for those who did not have enough clothes to wear? (v.19-20)
4) What affliction did Job invite upon himself if he had not helped the fatherless? Why? (v.21-22)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
5) What have you done to help those  who are less fortunate than yourself?
6) Does it trouble you to think that you can do good for others and still face calamity, as Job did? If so, why?

LIFE LESSONS
7) If the Lord allows His people to suffer, despite our righteous deeds, it is because He wants to reveal another aspect of His character (nature) to us that we did not otherwise know.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

New Mercies Every Morning

Thursday, November 20, 2014
Lamentations 3:19-26 KJV

19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. 20 My soul hath [them] still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. 21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 22 [It is of] the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 [They are] new every morning: great [is] thy faithfulness. 24 The LORD [is] my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. 25 The LORD [is] good unto them that wait for him, to the soul [that] seeketh him. 26 [It is] good that [a man] should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What does the prophet remember and what effect does it have on him? (v.19-21)
2) What does Jeremiah recall about the Lord? (v.22a)
3) Why are the Lord's people not consumed? What is new every morning? (v22b-23)
4) Why does Jeremiah place his hope in God? (v.24)
5) Who (or what) is the Lord good to? (v.25)
6) What should we hope and wait quietly for? (v.26)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
7) Who, or what, do you remember when you are distressed?
8) What do you typically do during times of trouble?
9) How do you wait upon God?

PRINCIPLES
10) The Lord allows trouble in our lives to humble us
11) The faithful mercies of God give us reason to hope
12) The Lord is good to all who place their trust in Him
13) The Lord is compassionate toward those who seek Him
14) It is always good to hope in, and wait quietly on, the Lord