Sreedhar's Journey

Job 3:11, “Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? Wow! What anguish. Do you feel that way? You wonder why you are alive. This man Job has experienced first the loss of his children and his wealth. Then now he loses his health. As you read chapter 3 you can see how depressed Job was. He is totally distraught. Given up. He wishes that no one rejoiced at his birth. The chapter ends not so well. Job 3:26, I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.” If you are experiencing this, the God of the universe is waiting to hear from you. He is ready to grab you and say "Yes, my son or my daughter". Don't let the misery catch you. Instead, let God catch you. Father, so many around me feel so hopeless. I pray your peace over them in spite of their circumstances.

Have you been sick before? Did you ever fall accidentally and hurt yourself? Did someone knock into you while driving? I have experienced all these things. Why do they happen? We can never understand why specifically, but we know that God is still in control. Job had a strong perspective that we should have good and adverse experiences. Job 2:10, But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. I am reminded that with the fall of man we live in an imperfect world that will constantly challenge us physically, emotionally and spiritually. The evil around us never ceases as long as Satan prowls the earth. But God has a destination for Satan, and He does not want us there. The adversities we experience are a reminder of the sin, and our need for God. Job 2:13, So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spok...

Would you like to be the richest person in the world? You may say yes, but you are easily picked out, and you may operate with great fear from possible attacks. You also may have great difficulty helping your children grow with the right attitudes towards authority, work and money. There was once a man who was the richest in the East, he was a Godly man and his name is Job. He had these problems. Job 1:1, There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. I am reminded, yet again like yesterday, that I control very little. But one thing I do control is "doing the right thing". But you cannot do it without the influence and power of God. Your flesh is not capable. You need the power of the Holy Spirit. How do you receive this power? By abiding in Him. You see so many "religious" acting violently to the point of making life threatening statements. Are they abiding in God? Impossible...

Are you remembered in history? In the old days you would have to be of significant prominence to be worth being written about. It took time to write and sometimes copied into multiple copies. When the printing press came, the bible was printed in large quantities. This was the exception. History books were few. Now with the digital age, everyone publishes. History is recorded on the web for virtually nothing and completely searchable. However, in ancient times, when book writing was limited, there was one man that was recorded in the history of the Persian empire, Mordecai (chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia). He became great. Esther 10:3, For Mordecai the Jew was second to King Ahasuerus, and was great among the Jews and well received by the multitude of his brethren, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen. His success is due to being in the "right place" at the "right time" with the "right people". How do you ...

Most cultures love to celebrate and it is usually over a meal. In ancient times much of the celebration centers around the end of the harvest, start of a season or year. Some cultures include celebrations during a new moon. There are others that celebrate a great deliverance, and this is what happened when a new celebration, called Purim, was instituted about a month before Passover. Esther 9:28, that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, and that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants. Tens of thousands of the enemies of the Jews were killed in these days in reverse to the scheme of Haman. It stopped possibly the biggest slaughter of Jewish people in history before the holocaust during World War 2. The Persian king gave complete liberty to Queen Esther. She was highly favored, even though she is a Jew. Her cousi...

When you read stories of successful people, you read about how many of them came from simple and humble backgrounds to be successful. They became somebody from nobody. Similarly, Mordecai came from being nobody to somebody. He was only recognized for his loyalty some time later. And now he is writing an edict with the full authority of the king. Esther 8:9, So the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and it was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the princes of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all, to every province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language. In 9 months the Jews were going to be killed. That law cannot be reversed. They had little choice but to formulate a new law that says on the same day the Jews can attack those w...

There is so much going in the world today in the name of race and religion. Even my own country is caught up by this need to protect the preferential treatment of one race and people of a certain faith. On the surface it all looks good for those provided this preference, but it really does not. They are actually worse off. In another context, the Jews were picked on to be annihilated. Esther 7:4, For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. Had we been sold as male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king’s loss.” No preference treatment here. They were going to be removed from the face of the earth. How can anybody want to do that? It is inhuman. Only the devil could scheme such things. I believe Haman was possessed by the evil one. In the end he died a tragic death. As Christians we need to look to the Lord for wisdom when affected by preferential treatment or p...