Hardship was healthy; most people did not enjoy enough of it for their own good.”
              –Elmer Kelton (Stand Proud)

    “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
              –2 Timothy 2:3 (NKJV)
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If my Mom had been alive she would have exclaimed that last week was “colder than the dickens!”  I had an inkling of what the “dickens” was as once in a while she would say that she was going to “slap the dickens out of me.”  But it wasn’t until I had good, old trusty “google” that I found out I was right.  “Colder than the devil,” but to my mind that didn’t make sense for I had always thought of things being hot around the devil.  However, there is the curse of the White Witch on Narnia forcing the Long Winter.
    I know for a fact that the Lord is the Creator; that the winds and waves obey Him.  I had never thought before of the devil being able to control nature.  My mind jumped to Job, “then suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead…” (Job 1:19, NKJV)  I recalled that the magicians of Pharaoh’s court were able to duplicate in some manner the first few plagues.
    Could it be that Satan has gone to the Lord, in mockery, saying that if He removed His hand from protecting the United States that they would not recognize Him?  Think of the hurricanes, the forest fires, and now this extreme cold that has hit our country (and I know that it has happened to other countries as well).  I thought perhaps it was allowed as a warning, but could it be from the devil himself?  I do know that the Antichrist will be able to perform miracles, do signs and wonders.  And what is a miracle?  It is “interfering” with the ordinary laws and course of nature.  Does the devil have the power to make a normal storm into a whirlwind?  Can he make something “extreme”?  
    Honestly, I really do not have an answer.  But I do believe that whenever something out of the ordinary happens we should look to God–what is He trying to tell us?  Is repentance needed?  Are we missing something?  Or is it just nature groaning under the curse?
    I said all of that to say that one of our issues is that we do not take time to be thankful for the keeping hand of the Lord and for His blessings.  This past Sunday I thought it was very appropriate that the hymns sung at church were songs of thanksgiving and gratefulness:  “Wonderful Words of Life”, “Count Your Blessings”, Showers of Blessing.”  Blessing in the midst of a hurricane such as Harvey?  Blessing in the midst of severe cold, lack of power, frozen pipes, and flooding?  Absolutely!  God is working!  We finished the singing with an old chorus from my Sunday School days:  “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy down in my heart!”

         “Rejoice always!” — 1 Thessalonians 5:16 (NKJV)
         “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” — Philippians 4:4 (NKJV)

    Get out of the mully-grubs.  God is at work.  We may not understand, but He is working in our lives.  In fact, it might be a good week to read the Book of Philippians, a book of rejoicing.

Standing before the mirror I looked at myself, seeing the old scars, marks of old wounds…”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Mojave Crossing)

    “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”
              –Colossians 2:6 (NKJV)
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There are so many lessons in the Word of God.  Many things we cannot understand, many things we do not want to understand.  There are things hidden to us and will not be revealed until eternity.  But there are things that we ignore, things taken to heart, and things that open up to us throughout our lives.
    Take time to read Mark 2:1-12.  I have read this several times, have heard dozens upon dozens of sermons from this passage.  There are many aspects to this story, but it wasn’t until recently that something new was brought to me.  After you have read the complete passage focus on the following:

         “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
                 –Mark 2:11 (NKJV)

I had never paid attention to the fact that the man who had been paralyzed was told to pick up his bed.  Think of that!  Most of the sermons deal with the reaction of the Pharisees or the faith of the man’s friends.  But the newly healed man was told to pick up his bed.  We are not precisely told how old the man was, or how long he had been laying on his bed–paralyzed.  
    That bed must have been full of lice and bedbugs.  Dirty, soiled, smelly, yet he was told to pick it up and walk away with it.  He most likely wanted to burn it, much less look at it.  D.I. Telbat says that, “God left scars…to remind us how God brings us through the fires of life.”  
    Are you “carrying a bed”?  It is no longer a “sick bed” but a testimony bed.  People can see the change in you whether it is salvation and the old man becoming new, or a specific healing, or a specific miracle.  It was only after the Pharisees challenged him was the man told by Jesus to pick up his bed.  It was now a testimony to the Pharisees.  
    Life can be a struggle, you may have a bed of affliction, you may have a virus, you may have a house torn by ravages of cold or storm.  Listen to the Lord, look at your bed and realize that it may become a testimony.  Notice the next verse,

         “Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We never saw anything like this!'”
                 –Mark 2:12 (NKJV)

Be ready to obey.  When the Lord speaks to you, take up your bed and walk.  Lift it high, show it to those around, speak words that glorify the Lord.  
    (I need to thank Gary Wilkerson for the inspiration for these thoughts.  The sermon I gathered some of these thoughts came from “A Way When There Is No Way,” April 20, 2020)

The lives of men are dictated to an extent far greater than most men wish to admit, by events beyond their control.  Man rides the ocean of history and does what he can to weather its storms.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Under the Sweetwater Rim)

    “So the men marveled, saying, ‘Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?'”
              –Matthew 8:27 (NKJV)
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         “Well, I left my soul out in the rain
          Lord, what a price, I’ve had to pay
          The storms of life are washin’ me away.”
                   –Randy Travis

I finished reading a book last week that depicted a storm in the middle of the second half of the 19th century.  This storm, a hurricane, wiped out the thriving city of Indianola.  The city at the time was one of the leading ports in Texas, but it laid in ruins only to be hit again a decade later.  Twice, and the city never recovered, though it did cause men to warn Galveston to build a seawall–the warning wasn’t heeded.
    There are all kinds of storms, and they come in different sizes.  I’ve been through hurricanes, tornadoes, hailstorms, snowstorms, blizzards, thunderstorms, windstorms, duststorms, and add to that a storm of a different kind, drought.  There is a key words I used–through.  I’m still here, I wasn’t maimed or killed.
    Then there are the storms of another sort.  I’m speaking of the storms of sickness, sorrow, suffering, depression, despair, finances and debt, marriage, kids and their personal storms, death, and a myriad of other types.  Currently we are in the midst of a virus storm.  We wonder will it ever go away, will like return to normal?
    Right now, stop–listen as I ask you–what about your next storm?  Don’t shake your head for one will surely come.  It may be minor, or it may be major.  It may be sickness or it may be a terror attack.  Storms are coming; storms are here; storms have always come.  How will you prepare yourself?  Let me take you to two men who prepared for the coming storm.

         “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
         “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
                   –Matthew 7:24-27 (NKJV)

    Two men, both build houses.  Both sought shelter and safety from the outside, a place where they could come home and real safe.  Both faced the same storm.  One held firm through the storm, the other collapsed.  There was a major difference in the two houses–the foundation.  That also showed a character flaw.  One depended upon a foundation built upon the sand–false ideologies, lies, cults, perhaps his own wisdom and because of this foundation when the storm it the house collapsed, and “great was its fall.”  We are not told if anyone was injured or if anyone was killed, just that it was a “great fall.”  The other man, not leaning on his own understanding, but built his house on the firm foundation.  The rock–the Word of God and Jesus Christ.
    One of my favorites stories in the Bible is about a storm.  You might recall it.  Jesus got in a boat and His disciples followed Him.  He must have been very tired for He went to sleep, and while He was sleeping a massive storm arose.  The waves rocked the boat and even covered the boat.  Jesus slept on.  Let’s continue reading,

         “Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ But He said to them, ‘Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?’ Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.”
                   –Matthew 8:25-26 (NKJV)

Fear struck the disciples because of the storm.  Terror arose in their hearts.  The Master didn’t care about them.  I like the way Jesus handled the situation.  First, He rebuked the disciples for their fear and little faith.  Then, He rebuked the storm bring about a “great calm.”  Who is this man?  He is the rock upon whom you can build your house!
    I don’t know your storm, or the ones you have been through.  I do know that often we do not learn the lessons of the storm.  We want this victory, or we want this to happen, but we often do not see what the Lord is doing.  “Sometimes he works on our inside before he works on our outside.  In doing this, he prepares our hearts for deliverance.  You see, when we’re stuck, our only thought is, “I just want to walk again.’  Jesus’ thought is, ‘I want you to live.’  We think, ‘I want to run.’  Jesus’ thought is, ‘I want you to be whole in body, soul and spirit.'” (David Wilkerson)  
    Build upon the solid rock.  Learn the lessons of the storm.  Perhaps if the people of Galveston would have heeded the warning from Indianola there would not have been 8,000 (or more) people dead in the catastrophe of 1900.

It’s a dangerous thing when a man’s stubbornness makes him act like a fool.”
              –Stephen Bly (Stay Away From That City)

    “I have seen the foolish taking root, But suddenly I cursed his dwelling place.”
              –Job 5:3 (NKJV
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Do you get tired of the antics of the bureaucrats?  I’m sure there are a few that do, but most do not have a fear of God.  Most serve themselves, and will do anything to get power, get more power, and along with that financial gain.  Do they not think that God is watching?  Today, contemplate Psalm 53.  It is a powerful warning to those who have no fear of God.

         1 – The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”  They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none who does good.
         2 – God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
         3 – Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.
         4 – Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call upon God?
         5 – There they are in great fear Where no fear was, For God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you;
You have put them to shame, Because God has despised them.
         6 – Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!  When God brings back the captivity of His people,
Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad. (NKJV)

    This psalm is for the “fool.”  By that I mean the person who does not believe in God, the person has an external religion while acting as if God does not exist, and those who have replaced God in their heart and mind with themselves.  These people are corrupt.  Look at verse 1, they have “done abominable iniquity.”  This would be equivalent to the gay agenda and abortion–abominable.  They may say they are deeply religious yet they practice abominations in the sight of God.  They are fools.
    “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23) and here we see that all are “corrupt.”  None does good.  Both notice also that God makes a distinction between “workers of iniquity” and “My people”.  Will evildoers never learn?  The answer is a resounding “NO” unless they come to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Evil will continue to devour God’s people and God’s ways.  They have no fear of God.
    These people think they are brilliant.  They are the enlightened or in modern language, they are the “woke”.  “Professing to be wise, they became fools.” (Romans 1:22, NKJV)  To see the abominable practices of a fool read the rest of Romans 1.  I like what George Wood says about this Psalm, “This psalm asserts that the real reason persons do not believe in God lies in moral disobedience rather than mental brilliance.”
    Don’t trust the wise for the answer.  Don’t trust the new culture and those who are woke with the answer.  Don’t fear the bureaucrats and become anxious with their threats.  Fear the Lord and rejoice in Him.

         “Are all the foes of Zion fools,
          Who thus devour her saints?
          Do they not know her Savior rules
          And pities her complaints?”
                 –Isaac Watts