Job 1:20-Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped.

A Sunday school teacher was giving an object lesson on reactions. She placed a glass on a small table and carefully filled it to the brim with water. Then she gave the table a slight shake and some of the water sloshed out. “Oh, my,” she said, “I spilled some grape juice.” A hand shot up. “But that’s water,” said a little boy. “That’s right,” she replied. “That’s like our reactions. We might want to react a certain way to the things that shake our lives, but only what we’ve put in can come out.”

Job’s life was severely shaken. He first lost his wealth and his servants (Job 1:14-17). If that were not enough, he then lost his children (vv. 18-19). He later lost his health (2:7-8) and, finally, even his wife seemed to turn against him (v. 9). This series of blows caused two reactions to spill out of him. One was grief. He tore his robe and shaved his head. But the other was total submission to God. He fell to the ground and worshiped. It was obvious that what filled him most was love for and trust in the God of heaven.

Life is full of events that shake us. What spills out of us depends on what we’ve put in us. If you’ve been prone to harbor grudges and bitterness, you can guess what will gush out–anger and hatred. If you’ve sought to be filled with the Holy Spirit and the things of God, that also will be obvious by your reactions. No matter how you might wish otherwise, only those things that are in you can spill out.

If your life were reduced to a rubble heap and all that you hold dear were gone, how would you respond? Seek now to fill yourself with God’s peace and love so you won’t be ashamed at what comes spilling out of your life in hard times.

WHAT WE PUT IN OUR LIVES WILL SURELY ONE DAY COME OUT.

WOODROW KROLL
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