So I was at Bible Study yesterday and Miss Wendy was talking about being a light to the world. That the world should be able to tell that we are different. And I got to thinking... the world should be able to see our faith through our trials. When they know we are going through hard things, yet our faith in God still stands and is visible to all. Which got me thinking (I know, rabbit trials that my mind takes--bear with me) about Job. So, please take this little rabbit trial of my mind with me and I hope that it gets you thinking, as it did me.
Job is one of my favorite books of the Old Testament. I love how it shows God and His power over Satan (Job 1:8-12). I love seeing Jobs faith... though he often asks questions of God and it seems that he has lost all hope, he never once sins or blames God (Job 1:22)--he trusts God, though he does not understand.
Anyway, so I got to thinking about Job and often when we think of Job, well, we think of Job and all the trials he went through and how he responded. But yesterday I got to thinking about Jobs wife. She is always very convicting to me. Her lack of faith and how she tells Job to curse God and die (Job 2:9). I think often though, we forget that both Job AND his wife were in trial. They had both just lost all their livestock and children (Job 1:14-19). They had both just lost all their wealth and all their family... they were both suffering.
After all of that Job then loses his health and this sends his wife over the edge, "Then his wife said to him, 'Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!'" `Job 2:9 This has been very convicting to me, because Job and his wife were both in horrendous trial--Job even more so because he lost his health. Yet they both responded in very different ways. One held on with all his might to his faith in the One true God and the other lost all hope and only saw the hardship and not the light of God shining through the trial to show His awesome work. This is how Job responded to his doubting wife, "But he said to her, 'You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?' In all this Job did not sin with his lips." `Job 2:10 Job knew that everything comes from God's hand--both the good times and the hard times. And he trusted God in both.
When trials come (which they are always coming) we are being squeezed. What is going to come out of you, of me... is our faithlessness going to come out or is our unrelenting faith (by His grace) going to shine? Are we going to trust God in the good and the bad? Or do we only trust Him when He is giving us what we want?
We are all being squeezed every day of our lives. What is the world seeing from you? Are you different? Are you resting in God though life is harder than you could have ever imagined? Job knew hard... he lost everything he had on this earth. His wealth, his children, his wife (not physically, but you get what I mean), and his friends. All he had left was God and this is how he responded, "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." `Job 1:21b And, "I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted." `Job 42:2
Though Job never got the answer to why, he still held fast to God. He knew that there was a reason for it all, though he didn't know that reason. He trusted that it was the purpose of the Lord being done and that was enough. When life gets hard for you, is trusting that the purpose of God is being done enough? Are you willing to walk through life's hardest battles, with only Christ at your side, and know only that God's work is being accomplished? God is at work and we, as His bride, need to trust that and trust Him. Rely on Him and know that He will give you the strength to get through all of life's struggles. He is with you every step of the way, and He is the One giving Satan permission to do his work. Satan can do NOTHING without God's okay. That should be a great comfort to us in times of hardship.
So, today when those trials come knocking at your door, whether "big" or "small"... will you be Job or will you be his wife? Will you lift up your cares to the Lord and rest in Him knowing that He both gives and takes away or will you curse God? You are in battle... are you going to follow Christ or retreat?
~Praying that God is honored and worshiped more.
