“Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.”–Job 23:2

Spurgeon said, “Most men cry before they are hurt, or more than they are hurt; but such was not Job’s case: he had good reason for every groan, and when he groaned most he fell short of expressing what he felt within.”

 You could say that Job’s grief was greater than he could or would express to others. It’s true that Job expressed his grief, but we should not take this as anger toward God. Although Job complained to God, he did not complain about God.

 J. R. Miller said it well: “Job does not mean that he was rebellious—but that even with his submission to the divine will, he could hardly keep his pain from             breaking out in cries. If we are God’s children, we should bear even the greatest sufferings without complaining. It may not always be possible to repress the outcries of anguish; but even if our affliction is too full of pain to be altogether repressed, we   should not have in our heart, any rebellious feeling toward God.
             
An English writer tells of two birds, and how they acted when put into a cage. One bird flew violently against the wires of its prison, in unavailing efforts to escape, only bruising its own wings in the struggle. The other bird perched itself on the bar,       and began to pour forth from its little throat, bursts of sweet song. We know well which bird was the wiser, which had learned the best way to meet hard conditions.
             
Some people are like the foolish bird—when they are in trouble they chafe, cry out, and complain. The result is, they only hurt themselves, make themselves more miserable, and do not in any sense lessen their trouble. It is wiser always, as well as more pleasing to God—for us to bear our trials patiently, singing songs of faith—rather than complaining in rebellion and discontent. Thus we take the bitterness out of trial, making it sweet.“

When speaking of our trials it is better to minimize them than to exaggerate. In other words, don’t make matters worse, even if they are worse, by trying to fully explain them. Others won’t understand anyway, and God already knows.–HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”– James 4:14-15

We express our belief in the value of human life in several ways– opposition to abortion, providing or getting medical treatment, safety devices, insurance, etc. Sometimes a single life is so highly valued that much money is spent trying to save it — such as a child trapped in a well, miners trapped in a mine, mountain climbers in danger, etc. But sometimes we fail to understand the value of our life personally– regarding how we ought to live it. We devalue our life by spending it on things that are worthless, or worth less than the main thing. We don’t want to die, but we don’t know what we’re living for. We will do anything to survive, but pay no attention as to why we should.

Life is a precious gift from God and meant to be used for His glory ( 1 Cor. 10:31) – the greatest good. Sadly most people spend it on self-gratification, on things of the earth rather than things eternal. We seen to have forgotten what Paul said in 1 Cor. 6:19-20 “.. ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s”. He alone has the right to dictate how we live.

When I was a boy mom would send me to the store with a list of the things she wanted, enough money to cover it, and instructions to return the change. It so happened that just inside the door of that little store, on the right side, there was an old-fashion candy counter! Naturally I would have loved to load up on candy, but I knew I had no right to use mom’s money as I pleased. What I wanted was secondary to what mom commanded. Even so, we have no right to spend our lives as we please. And when it comes to the manner in which we ought to spend it the Bible gives us very clear instructions. C. T. Studd said, “Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.” That was wisely spoken! The value of your life isn’t determined by what you get or give, but whether or not God is glorified. — HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”- Phil. 1:21

Jim Elliot was spot on when he said, ” He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”. Make no mistake about it, regardless of how hard you try, you cannot hang on to life forever. You are going to die. The question isn’t whether or not life will end, but how will you spend it?

Mark Twain said, ” The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find our why”. Sadly a lot of folks don’t have a clue as to why they exist. Many are bored to tears and some are even worse. Rather than seeing their God given purpose they see life as a problem and they feel overwhelmed. They exist but they aren’t living in the truest sense. They are just trying to make it through life rather than trying to make something through their life.

Before he died, Adrian Rogers left us with this challenge and counsel: “..the most dangerous thing we can do is to play it safe. You are safer out on the waves with Jesus Christ than you are in the boat without him. These are desperate days, and we need to live like it. Don’t just sit there and let life pass you by! You’re going to die anyway. You can’t save your life. You’re not going to get out of it alive. And so you might as well invest it in something important”.

Since many would debate about what’s important let me make it clear. Life is not about “me” and “now”. It is about Christ and eternity. Don’t waste it! Someone said, “The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it”. Indeed, that is tragic. The truth is that we don’t really begin to live until we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior. Then we are to live for Him by living like Him. That alone makes life good and death gain. – HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”– John 9:4

I love to watch the sun rise and set. But as beautiful as they are, they always comes to an end – and it’s seems so fast. Such is life. Things are always changing and coming to a consummation. The mightiest oak will someday succumb to the elements and fall. The most beautiful and fragrant flowers eventually wither and die. So it is with our labor and life. Like the roses, we are here only for a season. And just as sun rises, runs it’s course and goes down, some of us are in the sunset of life. We have far fewer days ahead than behind. Let’s make them count. Rather than thinking about what we’ve done, let’s think about what needs to be done – what we can do.

Today we labor in the vineyard of the Lord, tomorrow we might be in our heavenly home. We are coming to the end and none of us know exactly how much time we have left. Death is an appointment we all must keep. We are fools to think it will never come.  For some it’s just a few steps more till the journey ends. We dare not get distracted! Some are more concerned about their “bucket list” than they are about the spiritual condition of their family and friends. They are majoring on minors. May God help us to not wander away out of the path of duty and waste our opportunities to serve.

Nor should we get discouraged. Sometimes the road is rough and the days are difficult, but the work must go on. Our text is associated with Jesus giving sight to the blind. While we can’t work miracles, we have a message that can. We are to sow the seed of God’s word so that others can have their eyes opened to the gospel and be saved. Without the sowing there will be no reaping. As servants of the Lord our work is so important that we dare not quit before the appointed time arrives. To finish well we must keep our hands on the plow and our eyes on the prize. Having done so we have no reason for regret. Let us determine to be faithful till our work is finished. We are coming to the end and one day, in a heart beat, we will have arrived. The sun will have set on our life. We will have passed from grief to glory– home at last! May we hear the Master say, “Well done!”. – HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”- Eph. 5:15-16

Life is too short to focus on anything that distracts from the main thing. And the older we get the more we realize that–you start thinking about it every day. How do I spent these waning years of my life?There are many “good causes” crying for our attention and numerous other things that divert our attention, drain our energy, and draw us away from what we should be doing. And age has a way of drawing things down to a narrow point. You don’t have time to do all the things you used to do, or all the things you would like to do, or the things others want you to do.

To make the best use of what time we have left we have to keep our focus where it should be. We can’t afford to let attractions, associates, arguments, or anything else get in the way. There are a lot of “nice people ” in the world but that doesn’t mean that we should pursue a relationship with them. Naturally we want to be friendly to everybody, but we can only be close friends with a select few. I decided many years ago that the quality of my friendships was more important than the quantity of my friends. Fifty years ago I walked away from a “fellowship” of preachers because I valued the faith more than being well-liked and popular. I don’t regret it. Now in the waning years of my life I refuse to waste my time on things of no benefit. Considering I have only so much time and energy I want to spend it on what God has called me to do. I have no desire to become embroiled in endless debates that are of no profit, to win a popularity contest, or see the wonders of the world.

It grieves me to see good people drawn into bad things. Every issue isn’t my fight. I can’t force people to “see it my way”– and to neglect what is most important to debate the issue is foolish. Others can do as they please, they have to answer to God, not to me. But considering I have only so much time I want to spend it trying to reach the lost, laboring with those of like faith, and loving my family. Therefore I want to avoid any attraction, arguments, or associates that distract me from my goal. As C. T. Studd said, “Only one life ’twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.”–HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346