What does the current heat wave, moving the lawn, Sister Wynona Carr and the Book of Hebrews chapters 11 and 12 have in common with one another? No, there is no punch line, just my stream of consciousness and the Holy Spirit working through the mundane to speak into my spirit! According to the Dallas Morning News, Dallas-Fort Worth has seen 29 days of at least 100 degrees, (starting on June 25). Honestly, I was shocked it has been less than a month of this sweltering temperature, feels more like 290 days; but then my wife reminded me we had a day or two of 99 degrees which broke the streak. I thought this was hysterical from this morning’s weather report, take note of the headline…
“SOUTHWEST & SOUTHERN STATES ROASTING WIDESPREAD TRIPLE-DIGIT TEMPERATURES”
So, so true, there is definitely widespread roasting! Well like most people, I tried to beat the heat and get out early to get the yard work done yesterday. I grabbed my beats headphones, put on an upbeat playlist, and got to mowing. As I walked back and forth with the lawnmower, an obscure but fun song came on from Sister Wynona Carr, who in 1952 wrote and recorded what became the muse for this Thought for the Day — “The Ball Game,” is a tale of a baseball matchup between Jesus and the Devil. The storytelling is brilliant as one by one, the Giants of the Faith, both Old and New Testaments are alike, are mentioned, from Solomon to Daniel then Job to Moses and finally John (the Discipline that Jesus loved). Here are some of the lyrics for those who may not be familiar with this 71-year-old tune…
“Yes you know, Jesus standing at the home plate
He is waiting for you there
You know, the life is a ball game
But you’ve got to play it fast
The first base is temptation
You know the second base is sin
The third base tribulation
If you pass, you can make it in
Old man Solomon is the umpire
And Satan pitchin’ a game
He’ll do his best, strike you out
He playin’ just the same”
As I was listening to this, I thought about America’s favorite pastime, Baseball, and the fact that they play throughout the summertime enduring these oppressive temps! It took a lot of energy to mow my postage stamp size of a yard, I can only imagine what it is like for these players running around in this heat, what fortitude and endurance they must have to play this fast-paced game. Life is like a ball game, but as you play it fast, it requires perseverance. And boy has that been a lesson for me to relearn! For those who have been with me for a while, you know that at the beginning of each New Year I post about the “Word for the New Year” that I feel the Holy Spirit has given me for the upcoming year; in fact, today is my 8th one to post. But as you see from the lack of posts, life has continued to be really crazy for me both at work and in my personal life for the past year and 8 months. You probably can guess it but before we flipped the calendar to start 2023, I felt Him tell me to “PERSEVERE!” Something that I have been trying hard to do. Now I did a post called ★ Thought for the Day – Overcoming Adversity Through Perseverance – Part 3 ★ based on the life of the Prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel as part of a series on the ordinary men and women who Overcame Adversity so today I was inspired to pick another giant of the faith who was mentioned in the song, see if you can guess who it will be; but before I reveal him, I wanted to share some fortune cookie wisdom with you that I just got Thursday night…
I thought this was quite apropos as work has been crushing me (just about the time that the heat wave started in DFW). Though I don’t live my life through fortune cookies, I felt like God was reassuring me that I was going to “pull through” this season of adversity.
Okay rabbit trail over…Going back to the song that got me back to the keyboard…Several of the men mentioned in the song are directly or indirectly heralded in the Hebrews 11 “Hall of Faith.” That is not the Hall of FAME, like the one in Cooperstown, NY but the Hall of FAITH, (sorry for the Dad joke, I could not help myself). These are Men and women who are known because they “pulled through” and persevered in their faith as Hebrews 11:39-40 (NLT) says:
“All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.”
These Heroes of the Faith never received all that God had promised until they were on the other side of eternity, but their faith never wavered. Though he is not mentioned in Hebrews 11, Job is given an honorable mention by Sister Wynona Carr:
“Yes you know, Job is up to bat next
Satan’s struck him in every way
But Job hit a home run
And he came on in that day”
In the book that bears his name, Job is also given high praise twice in the first (8) verses of the book:
“There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil.” Job 1:1 (NLT)
“Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.”” Job 1:8 (NLT)
Wow! What a recommendation! Job 1:1 and 1:8 are two of the most amazing verses to me!! Job was an outstanding man who even God Himself thought was significant enough to go through some of the most horrible tests imaginable!! For those who know the story, the testing of Job is a difficult reality to accept. For me, I see this book as a fascinating tennis match between two opinions, BOTH of which are wrong! Job wants an answer for why he has been so afflicted even though he is blameless, and his (3) friends – Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar want Job to come clean because there definitely HAS TO BE a reason “why” all this calamity has come down on Job! We don’t have time to unpack all of this but check out chapters 4 through 31.
In Job 32, the action turns in a different direction when suddenly, a new character is revealed — a young man named Elihu who seemingly has been listening to the whole exchange between these wise older men. He then goes on for 6 chapters (Job 32 thru 37) attempting to teach true wisdom! David Guzik had this commentary on Job 32:1-5 that I thought was fascinating summarizing what the tennis match being played out between Job and his (3) friends was all about…
“We can easily understand how Elihu felt this. Yet what he did not understand was that both Job and God were right. The friends had forced themselves and Job into a false dilemma: either Job is right or God is right. They could not see or understand how both were right.”
What a mess! There’s no winner in this matchup which is why I guess God steps in and challenges Job in Chapter 38! We don’t have a third conversation between God and Satan, but I wonder if another test for God’s righteous man was through Job’s (3) friends! Each one of Job’s “friends” respond to him in ever-increasing harshness and contempt. Which is particularly vicious when you consider that Job not only lost all that he had but that also was grieving the deaths of his (10) children!
Job was a man who feared God, prayed, and offered sacrifices for his children and was an honorable man, but yet he went through adversity like no other. If ever there was a man who was a model of persevering through hardship, it was Job! Look at all he went through:
- Satan took away all of Job’s possessions (see Job 1:12-17), killed all his children (see Job 1:18-19), and afflicted his body with painful boils (see Job 2:7).
- His wife attacked Job telling him to “curse God and die” (see Job 2:8-9).
- Job’s (3) friends attacked him mercilessly over and over trying to get him to confess his sin for why all this trouble has come (see 4, 5, 8, 11, 15, 18, 20, 22, 25).
- Then Elihu presents his case against Job (see Job 33-37).
- And finally, God challenges Job (see Job 38-41).
Going back to Job 1:1 and 1:8, when you read those verses side-by-side it is so perplexing to me that a man who “is blameless—a man of complete integrity” would be given over to be tested by Satan by God Himself. That is really hard to reason out with my finite brain. That is why I need to pray for wisdom and search the scriptures for direction. The Bible is God’s instruction manual for life and as we spend time in it, we get encouraged and see that we are not unique in the problems we face. In fact, Romans 15:4 (NASB 1995) gives this insight:
“For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
Another way to say it, the Bible was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. So, as I see a Godly man go through hardships and be attacked by the people closest to him and overcome, I can draw strength to face the challenges before me. I started talking about how hard life has been and how I have been trying to persevere through it but let me be clear, my stress and pressure I am under at work pales in comparison to what Job went through! That is why it is good to stop and reflect on the goodness of God because at the end of the day, it goes back to trust and faith that God is good regardless of the adversity we go through. I pray that I too can persevere and responded to tragedy and verbal assaults as Job did:
“Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!” In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.” Job 1:20-22 (NLT)
“Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.” Job 2:10b (NLT)
What perspective!! Not to blame God and to accept that sometimes we must go through pain and suffering in life which we may never understand why this side of heaven. But praise God that we have these heroes of the faith to read about. Praise God that He sent His Son Jesus to be the ultimate example to show us how to persevere and handle anything that came His way without sinning! I will close with this final passage from Hebrews 12:1-3 (MSG); I love how the Message translates it:
“Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins.
Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.
When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!”
I pray this post ministered to you as much as it did for me. When you find yourself flagging or dwindling in your faith, look to those who came before us for encouragement and perseverance in your walk! Hope you stay cool!
★ ★ ★ DIG DEEPER ★ ★ ★
If you are interested here are the Past Words or phrases that I have received from the Lord and share:
Daily Dependence 