"All These Things Are Against Me" (Gen. 42:36)

Read Genesis 42:36.

How one-sided life can easily become! 

Though there was much hardship, Jacob seems to have forgotten how blessed he was in spite of the pressure. 

That's what pressure does:  it puts your focus on what's wrong not on what's right; it puts your focus on the sacrifice, not the opportunity; it causes you to assume the worst (re: Benjamin, Simeon) about open-ended situations.

You are more blessed than you realize right now.

When It Seems That You are Losing The Battle (Psa. 94:16-19)

Read Psalm 94:16-19.

When it seems that you are losing the battle spiritually, here are three things to remember and confess.

1. The Lord's help is sufficient when I'm overwhelmed (94:17).
2. The Lord's mercy is stabilizing when I'm slipping (94:18).
3. The Lord's comfort is soothing when I'm worried (94:19).

Poisoned Yet Pardoned ( Kin. 4:38-41) (Part 6)

WHY DOES THIS SON OF THE PROPHETS HAVE TO GATHER HERBS ANYWAY?

“When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land.” (2 Kin. 4:38)

• PERHAPS WE SHOULD CUT OUR BIBLE SCHOOL STUDENT SOME SLACK.
• Consider the pressure he is up against.
• In a time of famine Elisha, the senior prophet, asks him to make stew for everybody – to serve food when there is no food.
• “As the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, “ Put on the large pot and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.” (2 Kin. 4:38)
• Verse 43 suggests there are 100 men in the Bible school.
• LESSON: It is when you are stressed or under great pressure that you are more likely to alter your assignment, compromise your convictions or wander into worldliness.

In tomorrow's post: When do the sons of the prophets realize the stew is poisonous?