My family has had a tough couple of weeks. As the Christmas season approaches it seems like more things around the house are breaking. We have had electronics fail, car problems, and a slew of other random things break. What is up with that?
We have had moments of frustration and even a few temper tantrums as we trudged through the last two weeks. But we have also had the chance to test prayer and God's promises in the scriptures. My husband has felt the most pressure during these last few weeks and it was beginning to show. Then just when I thought he was going to explode he prepared a wonderful FHE lesson on perseverance. It was awesome to see him searching through his scriptures looking for the right verses to use to teach us what he was learning about God and persevering.
All the headaches of the last two weeks was worth it to see him turn to God and then teach his family to do the same. I was very proud of him and extremely grateful to Heavenly Father for such a great blessing. That is what I prayed about this morning.
Job 1
There are some that think that Job is an unlikely candidate for the suffering that he goes through. They believe that when bad things happen to a person it is because they have sinned and God is punishing them. Job was a good guy, so why did he have to suffer?
While it is true that sometimes we do suffer because of our sins and foolish decisions, we also suffer because others sin and make foolish decisions. Sometimes God will send suffering to test and grow our faith, He allows it to come to sanctify us. But the greatest reason we suffer is for the glory of God. Remember the story of the blind man:
"And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." (John 9:1-3)
or how about Lazarus:
"When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." (John 11:4)
I think this is the case for Job too. And for this cause he is well suited:
Job was a man of purity, integrity, and holiness. He was a man who lived his life in the fear of the Lord. He was a man against whom no one could make an accusation that would stick. (v 1)
He was wealthy and he was blessed. The Lord had honored Job by giving him great riches and a large, loving family. The blessings of God were clearly apparent in his life. (vv 2-4)
Job served as the family priest. He loved his children and he prayed for them, offering sacrifices to temporarily atone for their sins. Job was a man committed to the Lord and to his family. (vv 5-6)
Job wasn’t a part time believer. He lived this way every day of his life. Every day was spent in holy living, in avoiding sin, in seeking God for others and in living out his relationship with his Lord. (v 6)
What confidence God must have had in Job! In just this chapter Job will face the theft and destruction of everything he has worked his whole life to accumulate (vv 14-17) and the loss of all his children (vv 13, 18-19). These are devastating losses. Yet the Lord knew that Job could take it. He has promised us that He will never give us more than we can bear (1 Cor 10:13). He knew Job's faithfulness and limitations.
Job did not disappoint. In the aftermath of devastation, destruction, and death, Job still had a testimony for the Lord. That testimony served to glorify the Lord more than anything Job had done previously. The few moments of Job’s life that are captured in these last verses did more to glorify the Lord than every sacrifice he had ever offered.
Job offers praise to the Lord for the blessings he has enjoyed. There are no words of condemnation, only words of exaltation. He praises God for being God and trusts Him to do right. His response is to submit to the will of God for his life. He chooses to trust the Lord regardless of what his eyes see and his hearts feels. He chooses to keep walking in the bad times with the same God he served in the good times.
What a lesson for us! Instead of griping, complaining and even quitting on the Lord because things do not go our way, maybe we should follow in Job's footsteps and bow to God's authority and simply trust Him to do what's right. Maybe we should merely keep on walking, even when the way is dark and the problems of life seem to be piling up.
Far too often we are casualties of these hard times and we are not even aware of it. Satan attacks us in many ways, but his ultimate goal is always the same. He wants to undermine our faith so that he can attack the glory of God.
I never really thought of it that way before. I usually focus on the growth I can get by overcoming the obstacles in my life. The reality of it is that how I react affects the way people see God. Each trial He gives me shows His confidence in me that I will react to the challenge in a way that shows my love for Him and glorifies Him. What a powerful teaching tool this is! Imagine how it could affect the people who are watching your situation to see that when life seems to make absolutely no sense you praise God instead of turn on Him. What a great opportunity we have to show how faithfulness can glorify God!
Our trials are a chance to recognize that God has confidence in us and for us to show that we have confidence in Him. It is not our own strength that will get us through the trials of life, but the strength that God blesses us with. Knowing that God has confidence in me and that He believes in me, even when I might not, changes my perspective on facing the challenges of life. It is more than just my reputation that is at stake, God's reputation is at stake too. It makes me want to live my life in such a way that I will not give God a reason to doubt His confidence in me. I just don't want to let Him down.
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