A Note from Michael Gossett
“Consider the Storm”
I knew that when dark clouds moved over the horizon, a storm was coming. There were telling signs that almost guaranteed a storm was moving in. You could feel a change in temperature, a greater pace of the wind, and see the sky darken. Being able to detect an approaching storm gives you the opportunity to move indoors and take cover. It would be nice if there was a way to know when a storm in your life was moving in. In the beginning of the book of Job, the storm was sudden and gave no signs ahead of the impending disaster. There are times when life’s storms hit without any warning signs.
Saint Jerome once compared interpreting Job to trying to catch an eel barehanded, saying, “If you close your hand to hold an eel or a little Muraena, the more you squeeze it the sooner it escapes.” Job is difficult to grasp. It seems that Job moves swiftly from everything being great in his life. He is considered as blameless and blessed and then everything changes in one moment. One messenger after another comes and tells him of the tragedies that happened. It is easy to see the integrity and faithfulness of Job, but understanding the tragedy is a different story. It is hard to imagine the storms of life, the tragedies of life, or the challenges of life as a means of anything good. However, because they are from God, we can know that it is good, right?
Every storm has a purpose according to God’s plan for your life. When the world seems to be crashing around you, it is good to know that God is for you, loves you, and always does what is best for you. Job learns through his unfolding story that we were never meant to understand everything nor understand the reasoning behind it. But we can always understand that God is in control. This doesn’t bring us much comfort, but we can be certain that every storm of this world makes us yearn for the sunny skies of eternity. Every life storm is a reminder to not hold the things of this world tightly and to grip the hope of Heaven with greater intention and strength.
No matter what you are facing, what you will face, or what you have faced in life, you can know that God sees, remembers, loves, and cares for your eternal good. Deuteronomy 31:8 says, “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
This Sunday, we will jump back into Hebrews. We will study Hebrews 8:1-13 to examine the Greater Covenant of Christ. Begin reading and preparing now. Hebrews 8:1-13 says, “Now the main point of what is being said is this: We have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that was set up by the Lord and not man.3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; therefore, it was necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he wouldn’t be a priest, since there are those offering the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle. For God said, Be careful that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain. 6 But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one. 8 But finding fault with his people, he says: See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 9 not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. I showed no concern for them, says the Lord, because they did not continue in my covenant. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 And each person will not teach his fellow citizen, and each his brother or sister, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them. 12 For I will forgive their wrongdoing, and I will never again remember their sins.13 By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is about to pass away.”
I cannot wait to worship with you this Sunday!
You are loved and prayed for!
Michael Gossett