Day 6/25 – Seeking God’s Kingdom

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
Seeking God’s Kingdom
Day One Hundred Seventy-six

“Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on….But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:25, 33

Our Lord makes an audacious claim: If we will seek His interests He will assume responsibility for providing for our daily needs. The reason He promises to provide is found in His desire that we seek His kingdom and righteousness. As He noted in v. 24, you cannot serve two masters. If you perceive your vocation as the means whereby you earn your living, Jesus says you will not be able to adequately seek His kingdom.

Christ wants all of His followers to seek His kingdom and righteousness. In this sense all are in the minist, for the kingdom of God consists in the rulership of God in the lives of people. 252 To seek His kingdom means you seek His rulership first in your own life and then in the lives of others. The only difference between a vocational Christian worker and the laity is how the ministry is funded. The secular is spiritual if the focus of your life is the eternal; the man on the lathe is doing spiritual work if he sees his vocation through the lens of Matthew 6:33. The spiritual is secular if the focus of your life is the temporal; the man on the mission field is in secular work if his focus is trying to become president of the mission.

If you are unhappy with your vocation because God wants you elsewhere, you should change jobs and do the will of God. If you are discontent with your vocation, but believe that is where God wants you, then you need to repent.

252 Luke 17:20-21

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Job 3-4 Acts 7:44-60 (New King James Version)

Job 3-4
Job Deplores His Birth
3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job [a]spoke, and said:
3
“May the day perish on which I was born,
And the night in which it was said,
‘A male child is conceived.’
4
May that day be darkness;
May God above not seek it,
Nor the light shine upon it.
5
May darkness and the shadow of death claim it;
May a cloud settle on it;
May the blackness of the day terrify it.
6
As for that night, may darkness seize it;
May it not [b]rejoice among the days of the year,
May it not come into the number of the months.
7
Oh, may that night be barren!
May no joyful shout come into it!
8
May those curse it who curse the day,
Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan.
9
May the stars of its morning be dark;
May it look for light, but have none,
And not see the [c]dawning of the day;
10
Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb,
Nor hide sorrow from my eyes.
11
“Why did I not die at birth?
Why did I not [d]perish when I came from the womb?
12
Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
13
For now I would have lain still and been quiet,
I would have been asleep;
Then I would have been at rest
14
With kings and counselors of the earth,
Who built ruins for themselves,
15
Or with princes who had gold,
Who filled their houses with silver;
16
Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child,
Like infants who never saw light?
17
There the wicked cease from troubling,
And there the [e]weary are at rest.
18
There the prisoners [f]rest together;
They do not hear the voice of the oppressor.
19
The small and great are there,
And the servant is free from his master.
20
“Why is light given to him who is in misery,
And life to the bitter of soul,
21
Who long[g] for death, but it does not come,
And search for it more than hidden treasures;
22
Who rejoice exceedingly,
And are glad when they can find the grave?
23
Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
And whom God has hedged in?
24
For my sighing comes before [h]I eat,
And my groanings pour out like water.
25
For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me,
And what I dreaded has happened to me.
26
I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, for trouble comes.”
Eliphaz: Job Has Sinned
4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2
“If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary?
But who can withhold himself from speaking?
3
Surely you have instructed many,
And you have strengthened weak hands.
4
Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
And you have strengthened the [i]feeble knees;
5
But now it comes upon you, and you are weary;
It touches you, and you are troubled.
6
Is not your reverence your confidence?
And the integrity of your ways your hope?
7
“Remember now, who ever perished being innocent?
Or where were the upright ever cut off?
8
Even as I have seen,
Those who plow iniquity
And sow trouble reap the same.
9
By the blast of God they perish,
And by the breath of His anger they are consumed.
10
The roaring of the lion,
The voice of the fierce lion,
And the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11
The old lion perishes for lack of prey,
And the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12
“Now a word was secretly brought to me,
And my ear received a whisper of it.
13
In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night,
When deep sleep falls on men,
14
Fear came upon me, and trembling,
Which made all my bones shake.
15
Then a spirit passed before my face;
The hair on my body stood up.
16
It stood still,
But I could not discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes;
There was silence;
Then I heard a voice saying:
17
‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God?
Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
18
If He puts no trust in His servants,
If He charges His angels with error,
19
How much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
Whose foundation is in the dust,
Who are crushed before a moth?
20
They are broken in pieces from morning till evening;
They perish forever, with no one regarding.
21
Does not their own excellence go away?
They die, even without wisdom.’
Footnotes:
• Job 3:2 Lit. answered
• Job 3:6 LXX, Syr., Tg., Vg. be joined
• Job 3:9 eyelids of the dawn
• Job 3:11 expire
• Job 3:17 Lit. weary of strength
• Job 3:18 are at ease
• Job 3:21 Lit. wait
• Job 3:24 Lit. my bread
• Job 4:4 Lit. bending

Acts 7:44-60
God’s True Tabernacle
44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, 46 who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house.
48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:
49
‘Heaven is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
Or what is the place of My rest?
50
Has My hand not made all these things?’
Israel Resists the Holy Spirit
51 “You stiff-necked[a] and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
Stephen the Martyr
54 When they heard these things they were [b]cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Footnotes:
• Acts 7:51 stubborn
• Acts 7:54 furious