Have you , like me,ever studied various Bible stories for years, only to
find someone speaks on the topic and you think of something in a way you
never thought of it before?

Here are two that come to my mind...

The first one is in the book of Job....Job loses everything dear to
him....and his friends come to him. Did you notice they sat with him for
SEVEN days? And "no one spoke a word because they saw his grief was
great". Therein lieth the lesson. I learned this one first hand. The
next time a friend is in the throws of major grief, go, hug, sit, don't
offer things like "he's better off than we are" or "God needed another
angel". Although those things are of great comfort later, in raw grief,
they make us want to scream. Go...your presence says it all.

The other is in the book of Esther...when she learns of the plot of
Haman to kill Mordecai. She sits on it for 3 days...prayfully. She
doesn't act quickly in haste. Also, another one from Esther is "who
knows whether thou are come to the kindgom for such a time as this?" We
studied this in my ladies Bible class. It was a wonderful workbook that
studied this and how application can be made today. Who knows, in the
circumstances we often have to face, if we weren't prepared for "such a
time...."

Where is the book of Ester. I could not find it. Course I am not real
familiar with the book but I could not find it.

AB,

it's in the O. T. just before Job. It's a short book and a great read.

Okay, I heard someone teaching about this, so it's not a personal
observation...

Exodus 3:1-4
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Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the
priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the
wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the
LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he
looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not
consumed. So Moses said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous
sight, why the bush is not burned up." When the LORD saw that he turned
aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said,
"Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am."
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God waited for Moses to turn from his everyday life, before God spoke to
him. It is when we turn away from our life and spend time with God,
that we can most clearly hear God speaking.

Way good point spider.

And when we turn back to our lives, as we must, God will stay with us
for He is in us as He is in all things.

Another one I thought of today was about Peter. How he begged and
begged to know who would betray Christ...and continuely said he would
never! Yet, we know he did...three times, getting progressively more
angry each time he was accused of knowing or being with Christ to the
point that he cursed at the person on the final denial.

What I heard in a sermon once, and I knew this, yet I had never really
made the connection, was later when Christ asked Peter if he loved
Him..and then to "feed my Sheep", He asked Peter that three times....He
made Peter answer Him three times. Some symetry to that I think

Peter did not betray Christ as did Judas.

He denied him which is a different thing alltogether.

The one was done for gain. The other was done for fear of consequences.

His actions after more than made up for his lack of faith at that
moment.

From that moment he never denied Christ but upheld him even when
derided, reviled and beaten.

Perhaps Christ new that Peter had a small weakness in Faith and used
this as a lesson to burn that weakness out of him knowing what Peter
would face in the future would need strong Faith.

GOOD POINT AB

CHRIST WANTS TO TAKE OUR WEAKNESSES AND TURN THEM INTO OUR STRENGHTS.