#even him finding joy through father brian — i could give you 10 different scenarios where eddie could have ended up at the same conclusion

[daniclaytcn]

Your tags on that post are so me. Like I loved the weston call so much and it just. Amounted to nothing (for now caveat I guess but I dont have hope for much more lol). And even if it led into eddie’s 806 plot like it was supposed to it still wouldn’t have been great? And it would have been sooooooooo easy to, instead of zoom in on eddie’s face, have him pull out his phone and be like “hey chris. Miss you. Love you” in a text and then see chris like. Thumbs up it. Or in masks he could have been like “chris told me he isnt doing halloween” during the hen/chim convo and then they could have been like oh hes talking to you again? And eddie could have said sometimes I can get a text reply from him now. Like it did not even have to be a whole resolution of the eddie/chris plot if they preferred to drag it out for some reason still unknown to me. just some sort of movement in a direction where the audience knows where the plot is going to go and can feel hopeful about it would have been much better writing. Because honestly I think that is part of the general issue with the eddie plot right now, everyone is (fairly) annoyed and/or freaking out because going into the 8th episode of the season we have no idea if/how/when the eddie chris stuff will be addressed and quite frankly we have had two (2) scenes addressing it directly beyond the surface level in the whole season: bday party scene and confessional scene and at this point it is not enough for us as fans but also its not even enough to keep non-fandom fans engaged and anticipating eddie and chris’s reunion imo

^^^ yeah, pretty much everything you said! even if having chris on-screen is an issue right now because gavin isn't available (though, as always, i firmly maintain that they had no business doing a storyline like this in the first place if gavin's availability was in question to begin with — as it clearly was in s7, with how little he was on-screen even then), there are still a million ways to handle it better and indicate to the audience that it's at least progressing! it would still be sloppy and would suffer from being the result of an incredibly stupid storyline to begin with; but it would be better than us being six months into chris being gone with him barely talking to eddie even now, if the show is any indication on that front! frankly it's making me wonder if the writers have no clue how to actually resolve this, so they're just tossing it to the side and kinda ignoring it for all intents and purposes. which. idk what to even say about that. it just makes me so mad.

[dailyaudiobible]

07/27/2020 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 19:1-20:37, Romans 10:14-11:12, Psalms 21:1-13, Proverbs 20:4-6

Today is the 27th day of July welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is a joy and a pleasure to be here with you today as we…as we get going in this new week of ours, this last week of this 7th month of the year. So, let's live into it fully and take the next step forward for today allowing God's word to speak into our lives. We’re reading through the book of second Chronicles, which we will continue to do throughout this week. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. Second Chronicles chapters 19 and 20 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, as we’re moving through the book of second Chronicles we come to the story of King Jehoshaphat and a part of that story today is a story we probably pretty much can all relate to, maybe even more so like in these…in this particular strange year than ever before. It's like what was happening was that Jehoshaphat, the king, was a reforming king and…and he had…was like a second-generation leading people back to God but three armies from the other side of the Dead Sea decided to become allies to destroy Israel, And, so, they cross over the Dead Sea and kinda gather at En-gedi, which is an oasis in the desert where freshwater is and prepare to like, you know, attack and destroy Jerusalem. So, word gets to the king and the king realizes, “like this is pretty grave. Like, there's no way that we can defend ourselves against this or like three nations against us with a vast army”, right? And, so, we feel that way at times, like just the way the circumstances have aligned themselves, a bunch of stuff is flying at us all at the same time. And like if it were just one thing, maybe we could try to handle it while keeping life going. But all these things coming down at the same time, it's like overwhelming, right? So, that's kind of how they're feeling, as a nation and that's how we can feel at times. So, king Jehoshaphat getting this news these armies are coming against him, he's horrified by it. But when we’re facing similar circumstances, maybe not on a national level, but, you know, when it’s like everything is imploding in our lives and there’s so many things flying at us that we cannot maintain any of them, we feel the same hopelessness, like this…we’re just terrified by it all, we’re panicking. We’re running in every direction, wasting all of our precious energy just trying to figure out what to do, but not actually really getting anywhere. And that's kind where the story may be diverges because Jehoshaphat didn't do that. Like, he didn't just get frantic and start building makeshift walls and defensive positions and getting all the Army together and figuring out whether he needed to surrender or figure out like what kind of treasures they needed amass and give to this vast horde to get them to go away, some kind of negotiation for peace. Instead, he basically got down on his knees and begged the Lord to tell him what to do. And he called all the people together for a fast before God so that they could seek the direction of the Lord, “what do we do?” This is like the first response not the last response. And, so, often in our lives, like getting down on our knees before God and asking Him for guidance and what to do in this situation, like that's the last-ditch effort, throw our hands up and say I have exhausted myself, I don't want to do. But in this case, the king starts there even in a worshipful attitude. He’s like, “we can cry out to You to save us, and You will hear us and rescue us. O our God, won't You stop them? We are powerless against this mighty army that's about to attack us. We don't know what to do. We’re looking to You for help.” And, so, kind of in this posture where the king has humbled himself and called the people together to seek God, and everyone is humbling themselves before the Lord, then this….the…the word of the Lord comes through Levite and he's like, “listen. Listen, this is what the Lord says, ‘don't be afraid. Don’t be discouraged by all this…this mighty army. The battle isn't yours. The battle’s God. So, march out and take your positions and watch the Lord fight His battle. This isn’t your battle. Watch what He will do.’” And we read what happened. They marched out and they started to sing worship to God and the next thing that they knew all the armies that had marched in unity toward the destruction of Jerusalem decided to go to war with each other and they destroyed each other while the armies of Israel watched. So, in our own lives, I mean, there are times where we feel pretty surrounded by it all and pretty overwhelmed by it all and there's no way out. And all these feelings that are described in this story we can understand on an individual basis. And, you know, we can…we can exhaust ourselves trying to fight our own battle even though we know it's a losing battle or we’re gonna realize that we’re going to have to surrender, but not the enemy, to God. And part of surrendering to God is letting go of the expectations of what's supposed to happen. We can exhaust ourselves trying to fight these battles. And we have an outcome in mind that we can't achieve. And, so, we throw our hands up and surrender to God so that He will achieve what we could not, what we want Him to do. That's not surrender though. Surrendering is saying, “I am nothing. I have nothing. I am powerless. I surrender to you, which means I surrender what I think is supposed to happen. I surrender to your guidance, your leadership and your will. I’m letting go. Wherever you're going I'm going.” And it’s pretty remarkable what can happen when we surrender those expectations. In the case of Jehoshaphat and Israel, they just became spectators and watched the enemy destroy itself.

Prayer:

Father, we certainly invite You into that because we can relate. All of us can relate on some level. And some of us are in that position right now. And, so, Your word is speaking like volumes right now. And, so, Father, we invite You into all the things that are going on. Surrender is something that we must master but it is hard to master. And, so, Holy Spirit help us. Help us to see. Help us to turn to You first before we exhaust ourselves and have come into a place of complete panic and we turn to You first before all of that frantic use of energy is wasted. Instead, may we worship You, may we press into You, may we surrender to You with all of our energy, with all of our hearts and watch what You will do. Come Holy Spirit into this we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here in our Global Campfire community on our journey through the Bible this year. So, stay…stay tuned and stay connected there.

Check out the Community section. That's where there are different links to get connected, including the Daily Audio Bible woman’s group. If you're a woman and you’re not part of that group, you should probably be. You’d be very encouraged. If you are as we take the journey through the Bible, Jill, my wife leads that. And, so, yeah, get connected there. There’s DAB friends, you can get connected there. That…the links are there. The links are in the Community section at dailyaudiobible.com. So…so, get connected.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There's a link that just lives on the homepage. And I am humbled and grateful for those who have pressed that link. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button and that's in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if that's your preference, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can reach out by pressing the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button at the top, or there are numbers that you can dial depending where you are in the world. If it's the Americas 877-942-4253 is number to dial. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078. If you are in Australia or that part of the world you can dial 61-3-8820-5459.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

H family this is His Little Cherry in Canada and I had to call. I just had to because Brian read in Romans 8, one of my favorite verses about the spirit of adoption by which we cry, Abba Father and Brian explained that that means poppa, daddy, it’s just a very intimate childlike word. And that has come to mean so much to me. At the beginning of this year when my health just tanked and I began to have really serious symptoms of MS I was scared to death and I just felt like I was having my own little personal pandemic because it was confusing, it was chaos, I didn’t know what was going to happen. The worst-case scenarios were going through my mind and fear gripped me. And all of my words were stripped away, and I found myself praying, I found myself praying one word, daddy, daddy. And it came from just a naked vulnerable desperate place. And I think in some ways that was a really good thing. I mean I’m all about words, I love poetry, I’ve always loved language and I’ve loved to connect to God through articulate prayers. I’ve loved reading other people’s profound thoughts and…but when I got sick and still to this day all of that is gone. All of it is gone and what I have left is what really matters. Daddy.

This is Mike from Redding California I’d like you all to pray for my daughter Annie. She’s a heroin addict and today’s her birthday. She’s 30 years old. She’s pregnant, six months I believe. Been praying for her for a long time. She’s already lost three children. She told me that if she loses this kid that she’s gonna kill herself. And I’m just praying for…like you all to join me in praying for her to…for God to change her heart and for her to go into recovery and start a new chapter of her life. It’s heartbreaking. She came to my house a couple days ago crying and wanting help. So, I took her in and unfortunately, I had to go out of town for work and she left. And I’m just so heartbroken. It’s…it’s like having a child that’s passed on that is a ghost somewhere and you don’t get to see or communicate with. It’s horrible. Please pray for her. God bless you all. I thank God for the Daily Audio Bible. I thank this community Lord. I just ask you to bless all the DABbers. God thank you so much for Your Word, and Your presence, your Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hello family, Drew from the Bay Area. Hey, I was trying to call in, but I knew the road noise was just gonna be bad. I’m running into work here. I live in the East Bay and I’m calling in today to tell you that I live in a world of confusion over here. The Oakland outlaws, the unrest, the homelessness. And mainly this call’s for Byron. Byron, praying for you brother. I’m praying for you, your mom, your brother and I’m throwing you a rope of faith my brother. I want you to imagine those ropes that we climbed and where we had to do a physical education test. I wanted you to imagine coming all the way for the Bay Area to you in Florida and beyond. It just wraps around the world and everybody can grab a hold of it. Remember that God is a God of love of faith, grace, and he’ll provide everything you need and the endurance. He says that all things work together for good. All! That’s everything. So, I want you to imagine that for our life and this life here, our days here in the Daily Audio Bible. I want you to imagine a piece of tape over here in Oakland and the rest of it, that rope going around and around the world, that’s eternity. So, one little piece of tape like an inch wide that’s our life here. Byron I’m praying for your brother and your mother but I’m also praying for their spiritual needs. Our God is not a God of confusion and fear. He loves us more than you know, more than I know but I know that His grace is all we need. So, hang on to that rope my brother the rope of faith. And everybody else who’s around the world grab the rope in faith and realize…

Hello, my Daily audible Bible family this is Carmen from Germany and I hope you’re doing well. I have a prayer request for myself actually today and it seems really trival…trivial…small compared to so many of the things that so many of you are going through I listen to daily and I feel like I know each and every one of you. So, that’s why I am reaching out to you because I really do feel like a part of this community even though I don’t call that often. Anyway, my husband started having an affair about three years ago with somebody 28 years my junior. So, I’m 59. He filed for divorce on Thursday. I haven’t seen him in over 2 ½ years and I think the whole time I’ve been praying every day hoping that God would somehow restore our marriage and open to his eyes to him, restore his soul. Regardless, this looks like it’s final now and it just really…oh gosh…it was just really hard. It put me back on an emotional roller coaster, trying to accept that this must be the way God has allowed it to happen because I am trusting in Him. A little bit of fear is there thinking that I probably will be getting old alone because Christian men at my age are really hard to find especially here in Germany. I am American. I’m originally from California but I’ve been here since after high school. So, anyway I would just ask that you all support me, especially the ones of you who have been in the situation and help me to get through this with dignity and grow closer to God in the process. Thank you so much. I love you all.

Hi this is Stephen from Alabama and I just wanted to read a little expert from the God of Your Story, the book that Brian published at the end of last year, what he calls his best of the best of the Daily Audio Bible. And I want to just read this to give you a taste of…of…of how good this book is and how great of a companion it is. This is from July 23rd and it’s in reference to Romans 8:17-18. I encourage you to read that before you read this. He says, “essentially Paul was telling us that our struggles are normal and suffering is a part of life as it was for Jesus but the larger story is that God’s Holy Spirit is within us and He will care for us as a loving father in and through it all. We are in the process of inheriting God’s glorious freedom from the power of sin and death. This good news is hard to encapsulate or contain within such few words. It could fill all the pages of this book and it would be only scratching the surface. Turn it over and over in your mind and heart as You enter this day. Understand that the same spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is also sustaining your life. Allow yourself to be fathered by God today. You’re not alone and you will never be abandoned. You may be facing difficulties, but they are normal and temporary. The longing for restoration that you feel in the depths of your soul is pulling you forward like all of creation toward that very thing. Everything is going to be okay. You’re going to make it and the joy that awaits you is beyond any words in any book.” Amen and amen. Thank you, Brian. That is so fitting for 2020. God bless.

Hi I’m anonymous. I’ve been a listener faithfully since 2015. I called in late November early December to ask for prayer and I’m asking desperately for prayer again. Please pray that the truth would be revealed and that all truths will be found out and I would be exonerated and removed…and remain free. My husband and I are divorced after 57 years but he continues to deny and lie. Please let all the truth be told soon. And I so appreciate the prayers of all the saints. I could name you that I know, and I just ask you to just please pray that the truth would be told. Thank you so much for your prayers and again I’m anonymous. Bye.

[dailyaudiobible]

10/28/2019 DAB Transcript

Jeremiah 51:54-52:34, Titus 3:1-15, Psalms 100:1-5, Proverbs 26:18-19

Today is the 28th day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian and what a joy it is to be here with you as we…as we get going into this workweek, start taking steps forward toward the new month that is a few days away. It's great to be here with you. What a journey this year has been so far and we have some of the most beautiful territory in the Scriptures out in front of us still. So, what a journey it has been. We’re reading from the Amplified Bible this week. Today we’re gonna finish Old and New Testament writings. I don’t mean we’re like at the end of Bible. We’re gonna finish the book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament. We’re gonna finish the letter, the pastoral letter to Titus in the New Testament and we’re reading from the Amplified Bible this week. Did I already say that? We’re reading from the Amplified Bible this week. Jeremiah 51:54 through 52:34 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, yesterday in our Proverbs reading we were…we were counseled about staying out of business that has nothing to do with us, like not inserting ourselves uninvited into someone else's issues or matters or business. So, today the Proverbs is kind of continuing with that thought and is inviting us to…to consider basically lying and then saying you were just joking. And you may have seen this, you may even do this, you may like…only you would know inside yourself, but you may berate a person, you may be harsh to a person and then, you know, if they have finally have had enough and they start pushing back you’re like, “it’s just a…it’s just a joke, I was just joking.” And usually that kind of a person,  they do…they don't just…I mean…they do it a lot and they just walk around nicking and cutting these little wounds into people but then the second somebody's had enough and steps up to it, “like, you’re not gonna bully me” basically and it’s all flipped around and they’re…they were “just joking” and they never really meant anything by it and then they try to flip it around so that it's you’re…like…if you're on the receiving end and it’s your fault because you can't joke you don't and you don’t know the difference. So, it’s like a no win situation because…because the person who spoke out with these little nicks and cuts with these words, they meant what they said…like they meant to be hurtful, but it's done in such a way that they could deny that, which simply lets the lie, the falseness, remain. It's a lie, but it's twisted up. So, interestingly enough, the proverb is thousands of years old. So, this has been going on for thousands of years. And the proverb says, “like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, was I not joking?” Another translation I think puts it the most starkly because every year when we come by here by this particular territory it just stops me my tracks. So, “just as damaging as a madman shooting a deadly weapon is someone who lies to a friend and then says, I was only joking.” So…so, the idea of a madman shooting a firebrand or a deadly weapon, right? That's…that's a pretty…that’s a pretty current image these days. And the proverb is basically saying, “when you…when you say…when you cut somebody with your words and then kind of sidestep your wrongdoing and not owning it and trying to deceive the other person that they’re the crazy one because they didn't understand you”, when you’re trying to insult somebody, tear them down and then injure them again by trying to make them believe it was a joke. The proverb says that's like a madman shooting a deadly weapon. So…so, that's pretty stark. And, so, if that's something that's maybe been a part of your story, that's been happening to you for a long time, then you can probably exhale and stop feeling like you're the one that's going crazy. You’re actually in an unhealthy situation and maybe…maybe some counsel is what you need or maybe you need to name what it is and bring it into the light. But on the other side of that coin, if you're feeling like convicted because you do this all the time and get some of your identity by trying to make yourself superior somebody else then name it and face it, because the implications from the Scriptures, the description of what that actually like is not something that any of us, I don't think, that any of us want to be. So, let's steward what we’re saying out of our mouths today because we have a choice with our words. Often, we’re saying them before we’re not thinking about what we’re saying, but that's…that's simply because we’re not paying attention. Our words can and should, and actually must align themselves with Gods kingdom. But the alternative in this particular scenario is that we can align our words with God's kingdom and be uplifting, lift everyone around us up, build them up and encourage them in their day or we can walk around like a dangerous madman shooting a deadly weapon with that same mouth. So…so, what are you gonna choose today.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You in that…into that because it is true. We find ourselves saying things that we wouldn't say, had we thought about that. And in retrospect and reflection later on, we regret having said what we said. We feel awful about it. And the Scriptures have given us a visual today that helps us understand why. And, so we don't want to be dangerous. We don’t want to be like a madman shooting a weapon. We want to be fully aligned with Your kingdom and Your will in our lives, and in this world, on earth as it is in heaven. So, Holy Spirit we invite You into that. We will not succeed without You. We will not. And You are ever present. It's not like we have to summon You to help us with our mouths. It's rather that we must become aware that You are present and are guiding us if we would submit. And, so, we surrender. We’ve all, everyone, we've all said things that we wish we hadn't said. Some of us are habitual about it. And we need Your help. Help us to bridle our tongues to get them under control. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website and it is certainly where you keep up with what's going on around here. So, be sure to check that out.

Check out the Initiatives section of the website to see the different things that are going, like the God of Your Story. Like Israel 2020. Just…I mean…that trip was sold out. Couple cancellations have made a couple spots available. So, they won’t last, but if it's been on your bucket list you check out that Initiative, Israel 2020 in the Initiatives section.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are a number of resources that have been created for the journey that we take in a year through the Bible. So, check those…those things out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible. If…if God's word being read fresh every day and brought to you brings good news and light and life and encouragement into your life then thank you. Thank you for your partnership. We wouldn't be here at all if we were not in this together. So, there's a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you're using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer the mail, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial, or you can press the red outline button right inside the Daily Audio Bible app at the top and just start talking, sharing your story.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey guys, this is Mike Greenberg and I am a 10-year listener and maybe a first-time caller. I kind of made it an internal policy to not call in because of favoritism as I get to serve the team here at Daily Audio Bible in various ways, but a friend of mine, a dear friend of mine, David, his 18-year-old daughter took her life just a couple days ago and I don’t know how to pray for he and his family - his wife and his 14-year-old daughter. But if we can join hands together and pray for David and his family, his wife, and his 14-year-old daughter as they go through this process, I appreciate it. Love you guys. I listen to your prayer requests and no you intimately and appreciate you and appreciate you praying for David and for me to be able to help and serve them in any way I can. Blessings.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible brothers and sisters, Brian and family. My name is Norma and I just wanted to…I just felt like I needed to call and share a testimony about my son. He’s 37. He was just 37 yesterday and for like about 20 years my son was really angry and bitter and verbally abusive. And I knew that, you know, it…it…a lot of it came from a really nasty divorce from domestic violence but I kept praying and praying for like 20 years and finally yesterday on his birthday he told me that his father used to beat him. And I never knew that, he never told me when he used to go visit his dad. But somehow prayers, 20 years of prayers, finally…just…my prayers were answered, and I believe that my son and I are on the path of healing. And I just want to encourage all of you that are dealing with loved ones that are hurting and really angry and bitter, there’s a root, there’s a root that’s coming from somewhere. Don’t give up on them. Don’t give up on them because they’re hurting. And I pray that this testimony will help you all out there, prayers are answered. God will answer your prayers eventually. Just hang in there…

This is Holly from Glendale Arizona. I just ask for prayer for my brother Chris. It’s the 23rd of October. He’s going into rehab for alcohol today at 10 o’clock. This is my first time calling. I’ve been listening for about a year and I just want to thank you all for your prayers.

Hey DAB family it’s Shanda from Aberdeen South Dakota and I’m calling in because I am in need of prayer desperately. I called in yesterday in reference to somebody else’s need for prayer about kind of like displaced anger and I had a situation with it last night. I was arguing with my 17-year-old son. Instead of being the adult I entertained the argument over his disrespectful attitude and behavior of going into my room and just taking things without asking when all he’d have to do is ask. And then I yelled that my two younger children kind of out of context and I apologized after, but I just can’t get away from the shame of feeling like I’m not growing. And I’m at this point where I’m not really sure. I keep praying and __ but my anger…I just don’t know how to…I don’t know. I feel lost at this point and I’m just asking that you guys can lift me up in prayer please. Thank you. Bye.

Morning Daily Audio Bible community this is Natasha from Brooklyn. I’d called a while ago, probably back in September to ask for prayer regarding my work situation and some other things that was going on in my life. I just wanted to give a praise report to the community that I have started working and the Lord has blessed me with a really great job that is paying me extremely well. And my point in giving this praise report is to let everyone in the community know that prayer works. Stay strong people. Keep praying. The Lord answers us. He answers our requests and he is faithful. Stay strong. Keep praying. Keep asking Him to resolve the…the…the…the problems that occur in your life, the setbacks that come up. Keep asking Him to move those mountains out of your way and He will answer because He is faithful, and He is…He’s awesome and He loves us. And this is my testimony, that all the time that I was out of work the Lord was setting something up for me, a perfect job and more salary that I could even ask for, that I could even think about. It was a huge miracle and I thank Him and thank you guys. Thank you, Brian for this community and thank you everyone. Have a blessed and wonderful day in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hey Max, this is Denise and the rest of the Daily Audio Bible community. Max, I almost fell off the treadmill when I heard you talking when I was listening to the podcast. And buddy, just stay with us and I’ve never called in before, but I heard the pain and I love you and I don’t even know you and I don’t want to lose you. So, stay with us. So, I’m gonna read Psalm 121 over you. Max will lift eyes up to the hills and from whence comes his help. His help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not allow Max’s foot to be moved. He who keeps Max will not slumber. Behold he who keeps Max shall neither sleep nor slumber. The Lord is Max’s keeper. The Lord is Max’s shad at his right hand. The son shall not strike Max by day nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve Max from all evil. He shall preserve his very soul. The Lord shall preserve Max’s coming in this time forth and forever more. Stay with us buddy. We love you.

[dailyaudiobible]

01/22/2019 DAB Transcript

Genesis 44:1-45:28, Matthew 14:13–36, Psalms 18:37-50, Proverbs 4:11-13

Today is the 22nd day of January. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian and it's always a pleasure to come back around the global campfire and come in out of the dark and come in out of the cold and just sit and let God's word wash over us. It's always a joy. So, let's take that next step. We’ve been tracking along with the story of Joseph and we’ll pick up where we left off. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Genesis chapter 44 and 45 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we are nearing the end of our time with Joseph and we've been following his story and we have a lot of the detail of his story, so we can really get into the texture of it. And we see in the story of Joseph, a young man whose life, in a lot of ways was stolen from him, a young man who has or would've had every right to be bitter, every right to be angry. I mean, at every turn Joseph was doing the right thing and then receiving, essentially, the repercussions of doing the wrong thing. So, he's doing right but he's reaping the reward of doing wrong at every turn. So, if there's anybody in the Bible thus far that we have encountered that would have the right to bitterness, right, that would have the right to angst and paranoia and just fear, it would be Joseph because what happened to him is unbelievably life altering and in traumatic, but that's not the Joseph story. Somehow at every turn Joseph did not lose his faith and trust in God. Like, he held onto the one thing that would be his only hope and he held onto it tightly and everywhere that he went, even though bad went to worse he was shortly leading the scenario, which was not only about making life tolerable for him it was making life better for everyone else who was in the same circumstance. God was with him and we can only imagine what Joseph observed and learned through these trials that equipped him to take charge and command the moment Pharaoh appointed him. So, Joseph's revealing himself to his brothers, and the weeping, yes, it’s a very, very dramatic scene, but Joseph's words to his brothers are riveting because he essentially tells them after testing them, like after observing them and seeing that they understood the weight of what they had done to him he reveals himself and tells them to not fight each other, not blame each other, not be sad about this anymore because it was God who had sent him ahead to save their lives and the lives of the future generations and all of the land of Egypt. That is quite a perspective, wouldn’t you agree? And the only way Joseph could keep this kind of perspective, because we’re not talking about a couple weeks of hardship or even a couple of months of hardship, we’re talking about a year after year after year with Joseph toiling away in a dungeon with no way out. So, there's no way Joseph could have navigated this without having a long view, without him continually waking up every morning and being able to tell himself honestly this is not the end of the story, this is not all that's going on, I don't know what's happening here and I don't know why this is happening, but this is not the end of the story, there's more going on here and I will keep my faith in God alone. That perspective is a bit of a game changer because it invites us to approach the times of difficulty and hardship differently. I mean, we can look at a time of hardship that we enter into and trace our steps back and there are times that we can say, “I am here entirely because of my own doing”, right? Like, “I literally walked off the narrow path that leads to life and walked over here and I am over here in this mess because I did this”. That would be right and true and then we can walk back onto the narrow path that leads to life and own it. A lot of times when we choose we get off into the darkness and blame God for leading us off the narrow path that leads to life and into the darkness, which is absurd, but we blame God for all kinds of things He has nothing to do with. Or we could take a third approach and, you know, if we are facing times of hardship, but we have not navigated into them, then we can understand that there must be more going on than I understand and I have a role to play in this and embrace the process because we may be paving the way for those who are coming behind us and it could be vital and important, a critical mission for our family tree for generations to come. I mean, it’s easy enough to go, “well, not so much, that's not my life story” but then we’re reading the story of Joseph in the Bible and it really wasn't his life story either and yet he was able to acquire and maintain a perspective that kept him believing that there was more going on and if you would keep taking one step and putting it in front of the other one day things might start making sense, and they certainly did.

Payer:

Father, we invite You into that, our times of trials and hardships and difficulties, and how it is that we interpret those times because how we interpret those times dictates how we feel about You, how we feel about the world around us, how we feel about our fellow brothers and sisters navigating the planet Earth at this point in history, it affects everything, and yet these times of trials are never purposeless. So, come Holy Spirit we pray and give us the long view, change our perspective we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello everybody, this is Asia from Chicago. I love you guys so much. I’m literally moved to tears right now because it’s just so beautiful that we have this community with each other and I’ve felt so encouraged from this. Thank you, Brian and Jill and China and everybody on the team. China, congratulations again on your engagement. So, beautiful. I wanted to call for Asia in Germany. I think about you all the time and I think about how your heart has been doing after your miscarriage and how your husband and you are doing and how all of it and just my heart breaks for you every time I think about you and I just want you to know that I’m praying for you and you are loved all the way here from Chicago. I wanted to also lift up Jonathan and Crystal, they’re living in Louisiana and you guys called a couple weeks ago because you were living in your car. Praying for you all the time and also, praying for…a mother called in for Matt, her son, who left a suicide note. I’m praying for him, praying for your heart, praying for your family. Lord, we just lift up all of these things. There’s so much going on but Lord we thank You that You care so much, every single thing that we think and feel and that You love us so…You love us so much, that You care about the birds of the air and You…You give them life Lord and we just want to trust you Lord. Thank You for your love Jesus. Woooo, wow, emotional. Love you guys. Keep your heads up, thank you guys for your prayers, everybody the thinks about me. Love you all. Bye.

Hi everybody, it’s Margo from Australia, currently in the UK. So, we have left Australia and to be honest this is not what I had planned for my first call to DAB after I left Australia, but honestly, I need to be honest and say I am really, really…I am so overwhelmed, I’m overwhelmed, I guess I would say crushing grief. I feel so sad at all that I’ve left behind and I didn’t realize the intensity of my feelings that I knew I would be sad and I knew it would be hard but I think I really underestimated what the cost would be and I…I’m still jet lagged too, so that doesn’t help, but I know that this will pass, I know that mourning has a beginning and an end. But right now, I’m in the hardest time. So, yeah, please, can you pray for me? I’m kind of assuming everyone knows my story. I should say I’m moving from Brisbane Australia to Liberia with my husband to be missionaries there and I know, 100%, this is the call of God on my life but that doesn’t mean that following Jesus is not going to be painful at times. I’ve been having trouble eating obviously sleeping and now I kind of feel weak and shaky but…gosh now I feel like I’m just going on and on and on about all my problems, but anyway I would be so grateful for your prayer. Love you all. Bye.

Hi DAB family, this is Lisa from Knoxville. I wanted to first say hello to all of the family reunion attendees that we were able to meet, my family and I. Jay from Nashville, Becky, Laura, and all the families from New York area, Danielle and his brother, just everyone that we were blessed to have the opportunity to meet and fellowship with during those days. Pelham, great to see you all, and Annette Allison. But what I was calling for today was a prayer request that was mentioned on the podcast from the 17th, January 17th, it was from a lady named Steph from Canada who was waiting on some immigration needs as far as trying to get a permanent residency here in the United States. Steph, I am Canadian myself and I have been in the United States since 1996 and I’ve been through the immigration process. I’m a permanent resident now and this year will plan to get my citizenship hopefully. But I just wanted to let you know that I’m praying for you and if you would like to connect, my email address is the word cleverlisat@yahoo.com and I’ll keep you in my prayers, girl. I understand exactly what you’re going through and how stressful that situation can be. Lifting you up. Have a great day.

Hi DAB family it’s James here from the UK, long time no speak, I hope you’re all good. I know some of you are good, which is why I hesitated then because there’s so many prayer requests recently that have come through and people have shared their pain. And I just want to know that, you know, as many say, I’m thinking of a them, those who are leaving those prayer requests and I’m praying, even if some people leave they request and don’t think that they’ve been heard. Please know that there are many, many people out there that don’t always call in but are praying for you. And I just wanted to ask for your prayers for a certain person. He currently struggling at the moment. His name is Ben and he’s in a mental health ward at the moment here in the UK. And he’s going through some really dark stuff, which I’m not gonna get into detail on. But I would just lift him up to you guys and ask for your prayers for him. He’s recent with Scripture and expressing a real interest in a Christian faith. And it’s just amazing to watch this turnaround in his life, but he needs lots of prayer cover. There’s so many things that are bringing him back into the dark stuff that’s happened in his life and he has got mental illness that he’s working through and having support for, but Jesus is really making an inroad into his life in an incredible way. And I just pray that you would hold up Ben in your prayers over the next week, over the next month because there’s a very good chance he’s going to be released from hospital soon. He’s still not 100% well in the way he can live back in society. We just need to really cover Ben in prayer and ask that he have the right support network around him so that the Holy Spirit will just continue to do that work in his life and that…

Hi this is Jazz from New York City. I’m calling for a prayer request. I’m a medical student, I’m in my last year and I just ranked my residency options. So, I’m just asking that you’d join me in faith just in believing that God will lead me to the hospital, to the residency program He has chosen for me. I very much want to get into a radiology residency. That’s kind of where my heart is and I also like oncology. So, just keep these in mind, but I’d really like a radiology residency. Also, I’m waiting to hear back about my scores for one of my board exams, Step2CS. If you could just join me in believing that I did well, and I passed. I certainly studied very, very, very hard and I’m just praying for God’s best throughout this process. My academic transcript isn’t the best. There were some challenges that I faced with respect to my family. My parents had cancer and I took care of them. They’re doing wonderful by the grace of God, but med school was challenging for that reason, but I’m praying and believing for the best throughout this time and just accepting what God has for me. Thank you and God, bless. Thank you so much.