“20 ¶ Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers: 21 Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.” (Job 8:20-21 AV)
I love the book of Job. One of
the fascinating things about this book is the nuggets of truth uttered by Job’s
friends as they totally misread the entire situation. The above words were spoken by Bildad. The truth stated above should be a source of
hope for Job. But it was not. The context of Bildad’s comment was he blamed
Job’s parenting for the death of his children and the consequent trials on Job
that followed. The verses above are a
source of encouragement. Bad things
happen. For no reason of our own
actions. Job’s issues were caused because
he did something right. He feared God
and eschewed evil. God asked Satan a
question that started this whole thing.
It was not Job’s fault these things came upon him. So, the application of Bildad’s words is
wrong-headed here. They were meant to
motivate Job to confess and forsake sin of which he was not guilty, for the
sake of laughing and rejoicing. Kind of
sad. What we can take away from this
verse is the simple truth of it. That
is, God does not forsake those whom He considers perfect. And we are in Christ. In the end, He is faithful that laughter and joy
might be the outcome.
Have you ever stubbed your toe?
How did you react? Did you hop
around infuriated at the sudden misfortune?
Did you find yourself thinking of words you would like to blurt out but
knew saints don’t do that sort of thing?
Did you immediately try to discern whose fault it could possibly be because
it could not possibly be yours? Or, did
you laugh that laugh which said, “man, did that hurt!” What struck me about the verse above was the
little word ‘till’. That would suggest
once God fills our mouth with laughing and heart with rejoicing, then He would
forsake us. But that is not what Bildad is
saying. I did a bit of research. The Scientific American wrote a study on laughter
and pain. They wrote, “So it appears
that laughter elevates pain thresholds. The authors hypothesize that laughter
triggers release of endorphins like beta-endorphin, and elevates pain
thresholds through this mechanism, though of course without measures of
beta-endorphin you can’t REALLY be sure. These painkilling effects may also be
pro-social, helping us to bond socially. But it occurs to me that these effects
might be useful in the clinic, that comedy videos and things that make us laugh
could be used to help people tolerate pain a little better (if it does indeed
work this way).” In reading the
entire article, one is left with the understanding laughing reduces our
perceived tolerance to pain. Laughter
does a body good; especially in times of deep loss or pain.
Bildad was right! God will not forsake
the perfect man while he is suffering his deepest loss or pain. He will minister to the heart and soul to
restore joy and laughter. We all go
through very difficult times in life.
Times when the sun seems to never rise or the clouds always seem the
darkest. This misery is not what God
intends for the His children. He intends
a life of joy. This does not mean the
absence of trouble. What this does mean is
if we walk in righteousness with God and confess and forsake when we don’t, God
promises to remain faithfully by our side and provide the laughter and joy to
endure the hardest of times. My mother
was this way. She could find something
to laugh at no matter the circumstances in life. What a true angle! If only we all had the spirit of my
mother. Life would be far easier to
navigate if we simply allow ourselves to see the funny side of trouble. If we could only see the joy. Instead of musing over what we have lost,
maybe we should muse over God’s benevolence from what we’ve had. Like Jonah and the gourd, we weep over the
loss of grace rather than rejoice over the fact we had it in the first place. So, laugh!
Rejoice! This is what God promises!
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