The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States "When Bad Things Happen" for Sunday, January 24, 2016

The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States "When Bad Things Happen" for Sunday, January 24, 2016

And he (Job) said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the Name of the LORD."[Job 1:21]
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
The salvation story of Jesus Christ reaches around the world. So that the readers of our Daily Devotion may see the power of the Savior on a global scale, we have asked the volunteers of our international ministry centers to write our Sunday devotions. We pray that the Spirit may touch your day through their words.
In Christ, I remain, His servant and yours,
Kenneth R. Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
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These were Job's words when he lost all he had: his children, his business, and his health.
He, like many of us who have lived through hard situations, asked "Why do bad things happen to me?" While there are many answers to that question, the most frequent explanation has people blaming the Lord for having allowed bad things to happen to them. Indeed, it is easy for them to see the Lord as being angry, capricious and vengeful.
Still, that is hardly an answer, and it most certainly does not describe our gracious God.
So, why do bad things happen? Here is at least one answer from our own ministry in Turkey. Walid, a committed Bible student and a volunteer of our ministry, informed us about his neighbor Omar. As Walid told us, Omar had been despondent since the death of his youngest son Samir. Knowing that, we decided to put Omar on our visitation schedule.
Two days later we visited him. Omar's wife, Mirna, welcomed us with a smiley, inviting face. We sat down in the living room where Omar sat drooped over. His sad, quiet face was unresponsive as we started talking about Jesus. When we asked Mirna about his impassive reaction, she said, "Omar has been like this since the death of our youngest child, Samir."
Omar interrupted her, murmuring, "Why did God allow this to happen? Why didn't He intervene to prevent the crazy driver from running over my innocent child?" As he spoke, Omar cried.
At the end of our visit we left him a pamphlet with the schedule of our weekly Bible study and a small synopsis of the Gospel of John. As we left, we saw the wife holding her husband's hand. Knowing the cross Omar was carrying, we prayed and asked the Lord to lift the man's burden.
When we were having our next Bible Study, Walid's arrival, with Omar and his wife, surprised us.
We noticed a slight difference in Omar's attitude. As we were starting the session, Omar spoke: "Can we study the 11th chapter of the Gospel of John? I was reading it and it spoke to me. I want to know more about the spiritual reality of the eternal life. I do not know a lot about it; it is a revelation for me."
Today Omar is a member in our Bible study. He is also a changed man. He has experienced the joy of salvation. Echoing King David, Omar has said, "I will join the Lord one day and then I will see my son again. Meanwhile, I am living here with the knowledge that not even death can take away my eternal fellowship with Jesus who is the true life."
Why do bad things happen? In Omar's case, his son's death was the tragedy that allowed the Holy Spirit to bring this man to salvation. For this we give God credit -- and not the blame.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, we thank You for the good and bad situations that happen in our lives as we know You can turn everything and make it become a blessing. As You promised in Your Word: "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). Teach us to surrender everything to you! In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.
Biography of Author: Today's international devotion was written by Fadi E. Khairallah. Mr. Khairallah is director for Middle East Lutheran Ministry (MELM) in Lebanon, a position which he has held since December 2001. He joined the ministry in 1999. Mr. Khairallah was born into a Christian family in Baabda, Lebanon. He attended graduate courses in communications and Lutheran theology at Concordia University, Seward, Nebraska, during academic year 2000-2001. He is currently writing his thesis to receive a master's degree in Islamic studies. Mr. Khairallah is married to Lara and has two sons. He resides in Beirut, Lebanon.
Launched in 1950 in Beirut, Middle East Lutheran Ministry -- also known as LHM-Lebanon -- uses radio broadcasts to reach people in at least ten Arabic-speaking countries with the Good News. Assisting individuals in their Christian faith and practice in places as far away as Libya, Iraq and Egypt, this ministry center teaches people about Jesus with its Arabic-language Bible Correspondence Course (BCC). Through its Equipping the Saints (ETS) workshops, lay people are trained in how to convey God's love in their everyday lives. Many of this program's participants are students and young adults who are eager to share Jesus with their families and peers. Using the Internet (a website, text messaging, etc.), TV programming, and other video production, God's love and hope are shared with people throughout a region torn by war and other desperate circumstances. Holistic assistance is provided to many Muslim families and Bedouin communities through vacation Bible schools and programs that deliver clothing and school supplies to children. Emergency care is also given to Syrian and Iraqi families who have come to Lebanon as they flee various conflicts in their homelands.
Check out in words and many pictures how the Christmas season is still going on at LHM-Lebanon where the ministry center participated in a special program dedicated to about 100 refugee children. Christmas songs, the LHM program -- Red Boots for Christmas -- sketches, fun and games marked the event. You can see it all by clicking here to access LHM-Lebanon's blog.
To learn more about our International Ministries, click here or visit www.lhm.org/international.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Job 38:1 Then Adonai answered Iyov out of the storm:

2 “Who is this, darkening my plans

with his ignorant words?

3 Stand up like a man, and brace yourself;

I will ask questions; and you, give the answers!

4 “Where were you when I founded the earth?

Tell me, if you know so much.

5 Do you know who determined its dimensions

or who stretched the measuring line across it?

6 On what were its bases sunk,

or who laid its cornerstone,

7 when the morning stars sang together,

and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 “Who shut up the sea behind closed doors

when it gushed forth from the womb,

9 when I made the clouds its blanket

and dense fog its swaddling cloth,

10 when I made the breakers its boundary

set its gates and bars,

11 and said, ‘You may come this far, but no farther;

here your proud waves must stop’?

12 “Have you ever in your life called up the dawn

and made the morning know its place,

13 so that it could take hold of the edges of the earth

and shake the wicked out of it?

14 Then the earth is changed like clay under a seal,

until its colors are fixed like those of a garment.

15 But from the wicked the light is withheld,

and the arm raised [to strike] is broken.

16 “Have you gone down to the springs of the sea

or explored the limits of the deep?

17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you,

the gates of death-like darkness?

18 Have you surveyed the full extent of the earth?

Say so, if you know it all!

19 “Which way leads to where light has its home?

and darkness, where does it dwell?

20 If you knew, you could take each to its place

and set it on its homeward path.

21 You know, of course, because you were born then;

by now you must be very old!

22 “Have you gone into the storehouses for snow

or seen the storehouses for hail,

23 which I save for times of trouble,

for days of battle and war?

24 “By what path is light dispersed,

or the east wind poured out on the land?

25 Who cut a channel for the downpours,

or a way for the lightning and thunder,

26 causing it to rain where no one is,

in a desert without anyone there,

27 drenching the waste and desolate [ground],

till the tender grass sprouts?

28 Does the rain have a father?

Who is the father of dewdrops?

29 From whose womb does ice come?

Who gives birth to the frost of heaven,

30 when water becomes as hard as stone,

and the surface of the deep freezes solid?

31 “Can you tie up the cords of the Pleiades

or loosen the belt of Orion?

32 Can you lead out the constellations of the zodiac in their season

or guide the Great Bear and its cubs?

33 Do you know the laws of the sky?

Can you determine how they affect the earth?

34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds

and make them cover you with a flood of rain?

35 Can you send lightning bolts on their way?

Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?

36 “Who put wisdom in people’s inner parts?

Who gave understanding to the mind?

37 Who, by wisdom, can number the clouds?

Who can tilt the water-skins of heaven,

38 so that the dust becomes a mass [of mud],

and its clods stick together?

39 “Can you hunt prey for a lioness

or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

40 when they crouch in their dens

or lie in ambush in their lairs?

41 Who provides food for the raven

when his young cry out to God

and wander about for lack of food?

39:1 “Do you know when mountain goats give birth?

Have you seen deer in labor?

2 Can you tell how many months they carry their young?

Do you know when they give birth,

3 when they crouch down and bring forth their young,

when they deliver their fawns?

4 Their young become strong, growing up in the open;

they leave and never return.

5 “Who lets the wild donkey roam freely?

Who sets the wild donkey loose from its shackles?

6 I made the ‘Aravah its home,

the salty desert its place to live.

7 It scorns the noise of the city

and hears no driver’s shouts.

8 It ranges over the hills for its pasture,

searching for anything green.

9 “Would a wild ox be willing to serve you?

Would it stay by your stall?

10 Could you tie a rope around its neck

and make it plow furrows for you?

11 Would you trust its great strength enough

to let it do your heavy work,

12 or rely on it to bring home your seed

and gather the grain from your threshing-floor?

13 “An ostrich’s wings beat wildly,

although its pinions lack plumage.

14 It leaves its eggs on the ground

and lets them be warmed by the sand,

15 forgetting that a foot may crush them

or a wild animal trample on them.

16 It treats its chicks heartlessly,

as if they were not its own;

even if her labor is in vain,

it really doesn’t care;

17 because God has deprived it of wisdom

and given it no share in understanding.

18 When the time comes, it flaps its wings,

scorning both horse and rider.

19 “Did you give the horse its strength?

Did you clothe its neck with a mane?

20 Did you make him able to leap like a locust?

Its majestic snorting is frightening!

21 It paws with force and exults with vigor,

then charges into the battle;

22 mocking at fear, unafraid,

it does not shy away from the sword.

23 The [rider’s] quiver rattles over it,

[his] gleaming spear and javelin.

24 Frenzied and eager, it devours the ground,

scarcely believing the shofar has sounded.

25 At the sound of the shofar it whinnies;

as from afar it scents the battle,

the roar of the chiefs and the shouting.

26 “Is it your wisdom that sets the hawk soaring,

spreading its wings toward the south?

27 Does the eagle fly up when you say so,

to build its nest in the heights?

28 It lives and spends its nights on the cliffs;

a rocky crag is its fortress.

29 From there it spots its prey,

its eyes see it far off.

30 Its young ones suck up blood;

wherever the slain are, there it is.”

40:1 Continuing to address Iyov, Adonai said:

2 “Does the critic still want to dispute Shaddai?

Let him who wants to correct God give an answer!”

3 Then Iyov replied to Adonai:

4 “I am too ashamed; I have nothing to say.

I lay my hand over my mouth.

5 Yes, I spoke once, but I won’t answer more;

all right, twice, but I won’t go on.”

6 Adonai answered Iyov out of the storm:

7 “Stand up like a man, and brace yourself;

I will ask questions; and you, give the answers!

8 “Are you impugning my justice?

Putting me in the wrong to prove yourself right?

9 Do you have an arm like God’s?

Can you thunder with a voice like his?

10 Come on, deck yourself with majesty and dignity,

robe yourself in glory and splendor.

11 Let loose your furious anger,

look at all who are proud, and humble them.

12 Look at all who are proud, and bring them down;

tread down the wicked where they stand.

13 Bury them in the ground together,

bind their faces in the hidden world.

14 If you do this, then I will confess to you

that your own power can save you.

15 “Now consider Behemot, whom I made along with you.

He eats grass like an ox.

16 What strength he has in his loins!

What power in his stomach muscles!

17 He can make his tail as stiff as a cedar,

the muscles in his thighs are like cables,

18 his bones are like bronze pipes,

his limbs like iron bars.

19 “He ranks first among God’s works.

Only his maker can approach him with his sword.

20 The mountains produce food for him there,

where all the wild animals play.

21 He lies down under the thorny lotus bushes

and is hidden by the reeds in the swamp;

22 the lotus bushes cover him with their shade,

and the willows by the stream surround him.

23 If the river overflows, it doesn’t worry him;

he is confident even if the Yarden rushes by his mouth.

24 Can anyone catch him by his eyes

or pierce his nose with a hook?

25 (41:1) “And Livyatan! Can you catch him with a fishhook

or hold his tongue down with a rope?

26 (41:2) Can you put a ring in his nose

or pierce his jaw with a barb?

27 (41:3) Will he entreat you at length?

Will he speak with you softly?

28 (41:4) Will he agree with you

to be your slave forever?

29 (41:5) Will you play with him as you would with a bird

or keep him on a string to amuse your little girls?

30 (41:6) Will a group of fishermen turn him into a banquet?

Will they divide him among the merchants?

31 (41:7) Can you fill his skin with darts

or his head with fish-spears?

32 (41:8) If you lay your hand on him,

you won’t forget the fight, and you’ll never do it again!

Matthew 15:21 Yeshua left that place and went off to the region of Tzor and Tzidon. 22 A woman from Kena‘an who was living there came to him, pleading, “Sir, have pity on me. Son of David! My daughter is cruelly held under the power of demons!” 23 But Yeshua did not say a word to her. Then his talmidim came to him and urged him, “Send her away, because she is following us and keeps pestering us with her crying.” 24 He said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Isra’el.” 25 But she came, fell at his feet and said, “Sir, help me!” 26 He answered, “It is not right to take the children’s food and toss it to their pet dogs.” 27 She said, “That is true, sir, but even the dogs eat the leftovers that fall from their master’s table.” 28 Then Yeshua answered her, “Lady, you are a person of great trust. Let your desire be granted.” And her daughter was healed at that very moment.

29 Yeshua left there and went along the shore of Lake Kinneret. He climbed a hill and sat down; 30 and large crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 The people were amazed as they saw mute people speaking, crippled people cured, lame people walking and blind people seeing; and they said a b’rakhah to the God of Isra’el.

32 Yeshua called his talmidim to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me three days, and now they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, because they might collapse on the way home.” 33 The talmidim said to him, “Where will we find enough loaves of bread in this remote place to satisfy so big a crowd?” 34 Yeshua asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few fish.” 35 After telling the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, made a b’rakhah, broke the loaves and gave them to the talmidim, who gave them to the people. 37 Everyone ate his fill, and they took seven large baskets full of the leftover pieces. 38 Those eating numbered four thousand men, plus women and children. 39 After sending the crowd away, he got in the boat and went off to the region of Magadan.

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The Lutheran Hour

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Saint Louis, Missouri 63141, United States
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www.lhm.org
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