Bright and Morning Star

Job 6:1-10:22

“What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, visit him every morning and test him every moment?” Job 7:17-18

I latched onto this verse today like a nursing baby to its mother after a long night. GOD, the God of the universe, the creator of ALL things, GOD visits us EVERY morning. Is that not the most beautiful Truth? Drink deep from its nourishment and hope. Warm yourself with the comfort of this TRUTH. Jesus comes to visit you EVERY morning.

Lamentations 3:22-23 reads “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”

His faithfulness IS great! But when life starts to get messy it’s all too easy to forget how Awesome He is. We forget to remember the million and one things He’s done for us lately and focus on the one thing He doesn’t seem to be acting on today. We sink our teeth into that one thing and forsake all the rest. It kind of reminds me of a specific tree in a specific garden that has become the symbol of humanity’s downfall over the years. We had permission to eat from ANY tree in the entire world. The whole WORLD! That’s a LOT of trees my friend. Yet there was only one tree that Adam and Eve found themselves standing right next to and eyeing the fruit.

There is a whole world of trees out there that are pleasing to the eye and good for food, let’s try focusing on one of them instead of this tree that Satan keeps calling you over to. And he does. He beacons like a siren; calling you to come and focus your attention on one thing. It’s the one thing that God wants you to forget and stay away from; your sinful imperfection.

“As far as the east is from the west”; is how far you have been separated from your sins. Did you know that if you start going north and keep going north, once you get to the North Pole the only direction you can go is south? But if you start going east, no matter how far you go you will NEVER reach a point where you will be forced to go west. The east is so far separated from the west that no matter how far east you go you will never reach west. How far you’ve been separated from your sins? So far that no matter how far you go to try and find them again, you never will.

God says in Hebrews 8:12, “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

Tell me, if God doesn’t remember our sins anymore, should we? If God has forgiven us of our sins, shouldn’t we also forgive ourselves? If God isn’t holding them against us, then why are we holding them against ourselves (or others for that matter)?

In Exodus 16 God rained down manna on the Israelites. Each and every single morning (except the Sabbath) they would wake up, put their shoes on, and go out to their back yard to pick up the food that God had rained down for them during the night. Every day, for forty years He did this for them.

And on those Sabbath days when there was no manna to collect, it wasn’t because they had been disobedient, it was because God didn’t want them to have to go out and even bend over to pick it up! He wanted them to REST on those days. So the day before the Sabbath they were to collect twice as much and keep it over the Sabbath. And it never went bad on those Sabbath days either.

Well, in John 6:31-35 it says, “‘Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ Jesus then said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’

Jesus said to them, “‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.'”

Jesus is the daily bread, the manna from heaven. His death on the cross is to be gathered and eaten up each day; mourning by mourning. “Sufficient for today is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34) We needn’t dwell on tomorrow’s possibilities and troubles; they aren’t here yet and may never arrive – God willing.

Today, right now, there is something in your life that God has given you to cause you JOY unspeakable. Something that no matter how hard the Thief tries to steal it, he will never be able to wrangle it away from you. It’s Jesus through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Right now, if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have access to God Almighty through the power of the Holy Spirit and prayer – USE IT!