“But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” — Job 2:10

An old Arab proverb says, “All sun and no rain makes a desert.” Even nature demonstrates the importance of dark clouds and wet days. Without them, life not only fails to grow but totally dries up and blows away. Nothing but sunshine would make for a barren and uninhabitable landscape.

Job realized this truth applied not only to nature but to human life as well. It would be foolish to think that God should send only those things that appear to be good without balancing them with those experiences that appear to be bad. To accept the one and refuse the other is to question God’s wisdom. As painful as it was to go through the loss of his possessions, his health and, most of all, his children, Job was unwilling to fault God. He knew it was part of God’s balance in life.

If given the option, most of us would probably choose sunshine over rain, ice cream over liver and joy over sadness. Fortunately, God doesn’t always give us a choice when it comes to things that challenge our lives. Both sorrow and gladness often come from sources over which we have no control. We can resist the trials and plead for only the “good” things, but this would be foolish. Without the balance between positives and negatives, our spiritual lives would be like the desert. The alternative is to submit to God and accept what He sends our way as part of His ultimate plan for our good.

You may not find it natural, but give thanks for the painful events that have happened in your life. Recognize them for what they are–a gift from the hand of the God who loves you. Acknowledge the truth that you need the rain as well as the sun to make your life complete. God gives you what is best for you. Trust Him and rejoice.

Without the rain, it’s hard to fully appreciate the sunshine.- Woodrow Kroll

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

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” – John 13:35

There is one unfailing mark of Christian character, wherever it is found: Love is always in it. Whatever else may be or may not be in the new life of the Christian–the scarlet thread of love is always woven into the character. God is love, and the believer in Christ, is in a measure, like God. To be a Christian is to have Christ in the heart; and Christ is love. Not to have love–is not to be a Christian.

The first effect of faith in Christ–is the springing up of love in the heart of him who believes. This love does not lie hidden–but is revealed in the life. It shows itself in love for  God; but there is no love for God–which does not also make the heart warm toward man. He who loves not his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

Christian love is not a mere beautiful sentiment, glowing like a radiant vision in the soul–but fading the moment we meet our brothers in actual life; it is a love that becomes the very mainspring of all action, the burning heart of all ambition. It is a love that makes us pitiful  toward all human sorrow, gentle toward human infirmity, helpful toward human need, patient under human unkindness and injury, and ready at every call to do and suffer and sacrifice. (J. R. Miller)

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

“…the precious blood of Christ…..” –1 Pet. 1:19

The blood of Jesus is the price of our redemption, the object of our faith, the ground of our peace, the subject of our meditation, and our constant plea at the throne of grace.

It satisfied Divine justice, and speaks peace to the humble sinner’s heart. It overcomes Satan, and cleanseth from all sin.

 It purges the conscience from dead works, and leads us to joy in God. We build on it as our foundation, flee to it as our refuge, look to it as the cure for sin, and sing of it as the joy of our heart. It has made a perfect, a satisfactory, an infinite atonement; and no sinner can perish who relies upon it, washes in it, and pleads it before God. It is indeed precious blood! It is invaluable!

Whenever you feel guilt on your conscience, fears rising in your mind, or a gloom come over your spirit; look to, meditate upon, make use of, the precious blood of Jesus. It made peace, it gives peace, and it secures peace. It cleanses, heals, and sanctifies; and we could not live happy one day without it. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. To this alone we must look as the foundation of our hope, and ground of our peace. – James Smith, 1840

Dear dying Lamb! Thy precious blood
 Shall never lose its power,
 Till all the ransom’d church of God
 Be saved to sin no more.

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