DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR WEDNESDAY MAY 25:
WORD OF WISDOM
Did you ever notice: The Roman Numerals for forty (40) are XL.
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DAILY DEVOTION
I Lost My Mind But I Really Haven't Missed It
Written by Rev. James L. Snyder Discipleship Devotionals
I am notorious for losing things. I do not know what it is about me, but I
cannot keep track of anything I own. If you want to lose something and never
find it again, simply put it into my trust. I am the king of losing things.
My problem is, I do not lose the right things.
Why I am so klutzy in this area is beyond my ability to comprehend. Some of
my most treasured items have been lost for all time. Even the other day I
lost a lot of time searching for something I could not find. That is the
reason I try not to become attached to anything I own.
The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage has become frustrated many times
because of something she gave me and it is now no longer to be found
anywhere this side of the blue moon. She has given me lecture after lecture
along this line dealing with personal responsibility and as always, I take
personal responsibility for losing everything that I have.
What more can I possibly say?
A few things that I have lost I kinda wished I had back. I remember a pocket
knife I was quite attached to and headed for quite a while until one day
there was nowhere to be found. Believe me, I looked everywhere. Of course, I
could not have looked everywhere or I probably would have found it. Why is
it that when you lose something you usually find it in the last place you
look?
The one question that I ponder more than anything else is, where do things
go when they are lost? Is there a particular place where lost things gather
and have a party until someone finds them? If there is I would like to know
where that place is. Of course, with my luck, that place is lost.
Everything I have lost throughout life I have gotten over. The
aforementioned pocket knife, I have replaced at least 27 times. It would be
great one day to find all 27 of those lost knives? Then I would march my way
to eBay!
I have gotten over just about everything that I have lost and adjusted my
life to not having that particular thing. There is one thing, however, that
I still have not gotten over.
I am not exactly sure when I lost it, because I did not really use it that
much. Oh, once in a while I might have used it, but not very regularly.
The thing I am referring to is my mind. I cannot find out or remember the
exact date when I lost my mind. I am not sure where I was when I lost it.
Maybe if I knew where I was at when I lost my mind, I could go back and
search a little bit and maybe find it.
I know that I had a mind up until I got married. I do remember using my mind
up until that point. The thing is, I do not know what happened to my mind
after I got married. Where did it go?
Of course the thought is probable that I still have my mind, but I am not
using it. It would make sense in a certain regard. But what is my mind doing
while I am not using it? Is somebody else using my mind?
For instance. Some people will ask me about something and I usually respond,
"Okay, I really don't mind if you do that."
Or, "That's quite all right. I don't mind at all."
Of course that has its limit. Someone walked up to me on the street the
other day and ask if they could borrow five dollars from me. Then, I did
mind. Where my mind came from at that point I will never know, but I am
certainly glad it arrived on time.
That brought me to the place of thinking that maybe I have not lost my
mind. Maybe my mind is hiding somewhere and only appears in emergencies. If
that is the case, I really don't mind.
I remember the old saying that goes something like, "mind over matter, and
if you don't mind it don't matter."
Just the other day my wife said, "Do you mind if we go out for supper
tonight?"
Now I was in a dilemma. Where is my mind when I really need it?
I did mind, but I could not find my mind and so all I could say was, "I
don't mind if that is what you want to do."
Where in the world did that come from? I did mind, but my mind was not
available to bail me out of an activity closely linked to my wallet.
I think my mind is hiding somewhere and waiting to have a little bit of fun
with me. However, I really don't mind because if I did mind, I would be in
so much trouble and my real mind would be so confused that it probably would
never mind again.
Actually, I have not really missed my mind.
The apostle Paul had a different twist to this. He said," Let this mind be
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5).
I may have lost my mind, but my real focus in life is to lose myself in the
mind of Christ.
The Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship in Silver
Springs Shores. Call him at 352-687-4240 or e-mail jamessnyder2@xxxxxxx. The
church web site is www.whatafellowship.com
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Job 13-15Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
13 "I have seen all this before.
I have already heard everything you say.
I understand all these things.
2
I know as much as you do.
I am as smart as you are.
3
But I don't want to argue with you.
I want to speak to God All-Powerful.
I want to argue with God about my troubles.
4
But you men try to cover up your ignorance with lies.
You are like worthless doctors who cannot heal anyone.
5
I wish you would just be quiet.
That would be the wisest thing you could do.
6
"Now, listen to my argument.
Listen to what I have to say.
7
Will you speak lies for God?
Do you really believe your lies are what God wants you to say?
8
Are you trying to defend God against me?
You are not being fair.
You are choosing God's side simply because he is God.
9
If God checked you very closely,
would he see that you are right?
Do you really think you can fool God
the same as you fool people?
10
You know that God would criticize you
if you chose someone's side simply because they were important.
11
God's majesty frightens you.
You are afraid of him.
12
The wise sayings you quote are worthless.
Your arguments are as weak as clay.
13
"Be quiet and let me talk!
I accept whatever happens to me.
14
I will put myself in danger
and take my life in my own hands.
15
I will continue to trust God even if he kills me.[a]
But I will defend myself to his face.
16
And if he lets me live, it will be because I had the confidence to speak.
No guilty person would dare meet God face to face.
17
Listen carefully to what I say.
Let me explain.
18
I am ready now to defend myself.
I will carefully present my arguments.
I know I will be shown to be right.
19
If anyone can prove I am wrong,
I will shut up and wait to die.
20
"God, just give me two things,
and then I will not hide from you:
21
Stop punishing me,
and don't frighten me with your terrors.
22
Then call to me, and I will answer you.
Or let me speak, and you answer me.
23
How many sins have I committed?
What wrongs have I done?
Show me where I went wrong or how I sinned.
24
God, why do you avoid me
and treat me like your enemy?
25
Are you trying to scare me?
I am only a leaf blowing in the wind.
You are attacking a piece of straw!
26
You have a list of terrible charges against me.
Are you making me suffer for the sins I did when I was young?
27
You have put chains on my feet.
You watch every step I take.
You see every move I make.
28
So I am becoming weaker and weaker,
like a piece of wood rotting away,
like a piece of cloth eaten by moths.
14 "We are all human beings.[b]
Our life is short and full of trouble.
2
Our life is like a flower that grows quickly and then dies away.
Our life is like a shadow that is here for a short time and then is
gone.
3
God, do you need to keep an eye on something so small?
Why bother to bring charges against me?
4
"No one can make something clean from something so dirty.
5
The length of our life has been decided.
You alone know how long that is.
You have set the limits for us and nothing can change them.
6
So stop watching us; leave us alone,
and let us enjoy this hard life until we have put in our time.
7
"There is always hope for a tree.
If it is cut down, it can grow again.
It will keep sending out new branches.
8
Its roots might grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the dirt,
9
but with water, it will grow again.
It will grow branches like a new plant.
10
But when a man dies,
he becomes weak and sick, and then he is gone!
11
Like a lake that goes dry
or a river that loses its source,
12
so people lose their lives,
never to live again.
The skies will all pass away
before they rise from death.
The skies will all disappear before
anyone wakes up from that sleep!
13
"I wish you would hide me in my grave.
I wish you would hide me there, until your anger is gone.
Then you could pick a time to remember me.
14
If a man dies, will he live again?
If so, I would gladly suffer through this time waiting for my
release.[c]
15
God, you would call me,
and I would answer you.
Then I, the one you made,
would be important to you.
16
You would still watch every step I take,
but you would not remember my sins.
17
It would be as if you had sealed my sins in a bag.
It would be as if you had covered my guilt with plaster.
18
"Mountains fall and crumble away.
Large rocks break loose and fall.
19
Water flowing over stones wears them down.
Floods wash away the soil on the ground.
In the same way, God, you destroy the hope people have.
20
You defeat them completely
and then they are gone.
You change the way they look
and send them away forever to the place of death.
21
If their sons are honored, they will never know it.
If their sons do wrong, they will never see it.
22
They only feel the pain in their bodies,
and they alone cry for themselves."
Eliphaz Answers Job
15 Then Eliphaz from Teman answered Job:
2
"If you were really wise,
you would not answer with your worthless personal opinions!
A wise man would not be so full of hot air.
3
Do you think a wise man would use empty words
and meaningless speeches to win his arguments?
4
If you had your way,
no one would respect God and pray to him.
5
What you say clearly shows your sin.
Job, you are trying to hide your sin by using clever words.
6
I don't need to prove to you that you are wrong.
The words from your own mouth show that you are wrong.
Your own lips speak against you.
7
"Do you think you were the first person ever to be born?
Were you born before the hills?
8
Did you listen to God's secret plans?
Do you think you are the only wise person?
9
We know as much as you do!
We understand as well as you.
10
The old, gray-haired men agree with us.
People older than your father are on our side.
11
God tries to comfort you, but that is not enough for you.
We have spoken his message to you in a gentle way.
12
Why will you not understand?
Why can you not see the truth?
13
You are expressing your anger against God
when you say these things.
14
"People cannot really be pure.
They[d] cannot be more right than God!
15
God does not even trust his angels.[e]
He does not even think the sky is pure.
16
People are even worse.
They are disgusting and dirty.
They drink up evil like water.
17
"Listen to me, and I will explain it to you.
Let me tell you what I have seen.
18
I will tell you what wise men would say,
things they heard from their fathers and then freely passed on.
They didn't hide any secrets from me.
19
These are important people in our country!
Everyone knows who they are.
20
And they said that an evil man suffers all his life.
A cruel man suffers all his numbered years.
21
Every noise scares him.
His enemy will attack him when he thinks he is safe.
22
An evil man has no hope of escaping the darkness.
There is a sword somewhere waiting to kill him.
23
He wanders from place to place, looking for food.
But he knows a dark day is coming, which he brought on himself.
24
He lives in fear, with worry and suffering threatening him
like a king ready to attack.
25
That is because that evil man shook his fist at God, refusing to obey.
He dared to attack God All-Powerful,
26
like a soldier with a thick, strong shield
who runs at his enemy to strike him in the neck.
27
He might be rich and fat,
28
but his town will be ruined;
his home will be destroyed;
his house will be empty.
29
He will not be rich for long.
His wealth will not last.
His crops will not grow large.
30
He will not escape the darkness.
He will be like a tree whose leaves die from disease
and are blown away by the wind.
31
That evil man should not fool himself by trusting in worthless things,
because he will keep nothing.
32
He will die before his time,
like a tree whose top branches have already begun to die.
33
He will be like a vine that loses its grapes before they ripen.
He will be like an olive tree that loses its buds.
34
That is because people without God have nothing.
Those who take bribes will have their homes destroyed by fire.
35
They are always thinking of ways to do evil and cause trouble.
They are always planning how they might cheat others."
Footnotes:
a.Job 13:15 I will . kills me Or "If he decides to kill me, I have no hope."
b.Job 14:1 human beings Literally, "born of woman."
c.Job 14:14 I would . release Or "I would wait my whole tour of duty for my
replacement to come."
d.Job 15:14 They Literally, "a man born of woman."
e.Job 15:15 angels Literally, "holy ones."
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Copyright C 2006 by Bible League International
