So there is a guy in the Bible by the name of Job. The Bible describes him as someone who was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. Well, in a pretty short period of time he lost his animals, and his servants and his children died. Then to top it off he had these boils from the sole of his feet to the crown of his head. The Bible says he took a potsherd to scrape himself. Then as all this was going on his wife spoke these words of encouragement to him, " Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!"
The book of Job in the Bible is 42 chapters long. All of this took place in the first two chapters. Chapter three is about him cursing the day he was born. Fom chapters 4 to 37 his so called friends basically tell him that all this must have happened because there was sin in his life. (We know there wasn't because of the first two chapters). There are always people out there who believe that if something bad happens in your life it is because you must have ticked off God somehow. During these chapters Job trys to tell his friends that he hasn't done anything wrong before God, and he wishes he could get an opportunity to talk to God and plead his case.
The amazing thing through all of this is that he doesn't give up on God. He doesn't understand why all of this is going on in his life, but He still remains faithful to God. The reason I find this amazing is because it is hard to remain faithful when you don't have an explanation as to why something is going on in your life. Not only do we like explanations, but we also like time periods. If you are sick and the docter gives you some medication and tells you that you should feel better in 24 to 48 hours, you can endure feeling bad because you have a time period as to when you should start feeling better.
Now here's the kicker... we are told why all of this is going on with Job. It is all explained to us in the first two chapters. Basically God was bragging on Job to satan. But satan basically says, "sure he is faithful to you. You never let anything bad happen to him. But let some bad things happen to him and he will curse you to your face." So God lets satan do some harm to Job. But satan can't just do what ever he wants. God does put some restrictions on the devil. God tells satan that he isn't allowed to kill Job.
Let's bring all of this to our lives. There are times when bad things happen to us because they are a result of some bad choices we have made. I think we are all mature enough to accept that. But that is not what this story is about. It's about those times we are obeying God and things go bad. And then to top it off we are not given an explanation as to why it is going on. You see, when those tough times come, if we have an explanation as to why, it helps us to endure. It also helps us to feel vindicated. If we think the reason is because God wants to see if we are faithful, then of course we will endure, because we want to show God that we are faithful. If we are told what we are going through is because of satan, then of course we remain faithful because we want to show satan that we will remain faithful to God. Let's also remember that if it is because of satan, he can't do anything he wants to us. God sets up the boundries. As Martin Luther said," even the devil is still God's devil." But there are times when we aren't given an explanation and we are called to just trust and remain faithful to God.
There are times in the midst of troubles God will reveal to us why it is happening to us. Then there are times He doesn't until years later. But there are also those times He never reveals. Maybe He will in heaven, I don't know. But no matter what the situation is we are called to be faithful. We are called to trust in His goodness. We are called to trust in His faithfulness towards us.
Here are some verses that I hope will help us to continue to trust:
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Psalm 118:29
The LORD is good,
A stronghold in the day of trouble,
And He knows those who take refuge in Him.
Nahum 1:7
... and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the LORD your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed.
Joshua 23:14
Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
1 Thessalonians 5:24
Troy
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