Taste and See

“If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know” (1 Cor 8:2). 

Job shifts the topic from external influences to internal ones. What happens when hope dies?

“How forceful are right words! But what does your arguing prove?” (Job 6:25). Good question! 

In French (Avise la fin), these are the wise words over the entry of Scotland's Culzean Castle. 

Weak hands and wobbly knees rob me of my doing and my going. Thank God for strengtheners! 

Are you “able to comfort those who are in any trouble”? You can if you share the comfort of God (2 Cor 1:4). 

A hedge might be called the evidence of God's sovereign care. But what if the hedge is breached? 

“My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Ps 73:26). 

Job rewinds his life back to its beginning: the baby's first cry, the parents' joy. If only it never happened! 

Times of testing test friendships, too. “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Prov 17:17). 

“Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?” (Job 11:7). 

Coming from the same mouth, curses poison blessings until you can't tell them apart (Jas 3:10-12). 

'Tis the set of the sails, And not the gales, That determines the way we go.” —Ella Wheeler Wilcox 

A bird doesn't sing out of duty or duress, but because it has a song within and must sing it. 

“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth” (Prov 27:1). That's for sure! 

Not to be confused with “running the gauntlet” (Swedish, gatlopp, meaning “loping the course”). 

The devil isn't independent. God sustains him, and, in spite of himself, he advances God's purposes. 

The believing home is a hothouse for growth, a lighthouse of truth, and a storehouse of blessings. 

Job suffers not because he's the worst of men but because he's the best: “there is none like him” (Job 1:8).

That the book of Job is superb poetry doesn't negate the fact that it is also dramatic biography. 

Job's longing for a Mediator and confident hope in a Redeemer point us surely to the coming Christ.

One fact Job will teach us: You won't really know God is all you need until God is all you have. 

God's mysterious questions are more worthwhile than man's professed answers to life. 

If the purpose of life is a life of purpose, we will need to have God's wisdom to know what it is. 

“Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other” (Isa 45:22).

Light of the pilgrim heart, Star of the coming day! Arise with morning beams, And chase our griefs away” (E. Denny). 

“Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord!” (Deut 33:29). 

“The nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined” (Isa 60:12). 

Those who would attack God's people might like to know beforehand that God is for us (Rom 8:31). 

“…and, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own” —J.R.L.

“The tongue destroys a greater horde,” The Turk asserts, “than does the sword” (P.B. Strong). 

“You are in for trouble,…if you think what you do in the dark can't be seen” (Isa 29:15, CEV). 

A man hated and slated to die—but now riding in kingly honor. This reminds me of Someone! 

Let me confess: It takes great restraint not to put exclamation points after every sentence! See!

“The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands” (Prov 14:1). 

You can't find better stories anywhere. And wait till you see the story behind the story. It's electric!

It's been said that coincidence is God's pseudonym when He wishes to remain anonymous. 

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to confront it with God's help and overcome it.

When history seems to hang by a thread, remember: “He hangs the earth on nothing” (Job 26:7). 

Conceit is a strange disease in that, when a person has it, it makes everyone else sick!

“How unsearchable are His judgments…and how unfathomable and untraceable are His ways! ” (Rom 11:33, AMP). 

Cinderella has nothing on Esther. This young woman will change the whole course of history! 

Parties and drinking and divorce and beauty contests and murder plots and…God turned it to good?

“Love is patient and kind;…it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way” (1 Cor 13:4-5, ESV).

Two drinking parties going on at the same time in the same town. They'll soon connect. What could go wrong? 

“Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face.” —William Cowper 

Nehemiah empathized with the people's needs, emended their mistakes, and encouraged their success. 

“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,…You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth!” (Ps 80:1). 

The priesthood we enjoy today, as with Christ's High Priesthood, is not according to law but by grace. 

God's good and acceptable and perfect will, believe it or not, awaits your willingness (Rom 12:1-2). 

How good to know that God promises to keep His people, and then promises to keep His promises!