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WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY TO YOU?
Are you losing your home, possessions?
One day when his sons and daughters were
eating and drinking wine in the eldest brother's house, a messenger came to Job and said,
"The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell
on them and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone
have escaped to tell you." While he was still speaking, another came and said,
"The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and
consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell you." While he was still speaking,
another came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three columns, made a raid on the camels
and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have
escaped to tell you." While he was still speaking, another came and said, "Your
sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house, and
suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house, and it
fell on the young people, and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you."
Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and
worshiped. He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return
there; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.
Job 1:13-22
After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to
Eliphaz the Temanite: "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends;
for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore take
seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt
offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal
with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my
servant Job has done." So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the
Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.
And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for
his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then there came to him
all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him
in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD
had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. The LORD
blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand
sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. He also had
seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the
third Keren-happuch. In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters;
and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this Job lived
one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children's children, four
generations. And Job died, old and full of days.
Job 42:7-17
Truly, O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep
no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he
will answer you. Though the LORD may give you the bread of adversity and the water of
affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your
Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear
a word behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." Then you will defile
your silver-covered idols and your gold-plated images. You will scatter them like filthy
rags; you will say to them, "Away with you!"
He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and
grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. On that day your
cattle will graze in broad pastures; and the oxen and donkeys that till the ground will
eat silage, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. On every lofty mountain and
every high hill there will be brooks running with water — on a day of the great
slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of
the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the
day when the LORD binds up the injuries of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by
his blow.
Isaiah 30:19-26
When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the LORD will answer them,
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
so that all may see and know,
all may consider and understand,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Isaiah 41:17-20
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth
comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager
longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to
futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that
the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom
of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in
labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first
fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our
bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for
what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know
how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.
And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit
intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love
God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the
firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those
whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who
is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he
not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God's elect?
It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was
raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate
us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,
"For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him
who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else
in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
Romans 8:18-39
LORD, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Psalm 90:1,2
For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD —
and their descendants as well.
Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent — its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
says the LORD.
Isaiah 65:17-25
The thought of my affliction and my homelessness
is wormwood and gall!
My soul continually thinks of it
and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in him."
Lamentations 3:19-24
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I
will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and
birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To
another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury
my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for
you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you,
Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No
one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."
Luke 9:57-62
Then Jesus said, "There was a man who had two sons. The
younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will
belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son
gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his
property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place
throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to
one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would
gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him
anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have
bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my
father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;
I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."
' So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him
and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then
the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer
worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a
robe — the best one — and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on
his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son
of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to
celebrate.
Luke 15:11-24
After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on
ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to
them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of
the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you
out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no
one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' And if anyone
is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will
return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for
the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter
a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are
there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter
a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of
your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the
kingdom of God has come near.'
Luke 10:1-11
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and
the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away."
Revelation 21:1-4
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