“But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” (Job 2:10 AV)
I deeply admire Job. For someone to lose as much as he did and respond as seen above takes character and faith known to only a few. He lost all his material wealth. He lost all his sons. And he lost his health. The only remaining part of his life he had remaining was a wife that wanted him to curse God and die. The response above was from Job to his wife. To say the above and mean it with one’s whole heart takes more faith than I can understand. There is absolute surrender behind those words. There is a resolute spirit to accept whatever God has in store, good or bad, as more than one deserves. The underlying truth of the statement is what I wish to ponder this morning. For Job to utter those words took tremendous maturity. For the most part, we are glad when God blesses us. But if God were to allow just the opposite, we throw temper tantrums. If we have a stretch of glorious weather, then a few days of rain appear, and we begin to complain. Like Jonah who complained when the gourd dried up, we happily accept the good at God’s hand. When the unfortunate happens, we react like the immature children we are.
Last week, we had weather in the 80s. This was shortly after a freak snow storm. No gradual warm-up. It was like we went from winter to summer. Now, the weather is going back down into the forties. Last Saturday, the temperature was in the low 80s. Sunday, it barely got to fifty. I remember this so well because I greeted a church attender and we talked a bit while waiting on others to show. Weather is always a good thing to talk about. It is something we all experience. The conversation was along the lines of the unseasonably warm weather we were having. Looking at the ten-day forecast, we knew it wouldn’t last. Oddly enough, we were not complaining about the hot weather. For this time of year, it is hard to live with. It is still too cold to put the air conditioners in the windows. So the house gets a bit warm. No complaints, though. We knew it would not last long. As soon as we get used to short-sleeved shirts, the weatherman would predict a wintry mix. Life is like the weather. There are good days and bad days. Most are average. We cannot complain about the bad days while we enjoy the good days. They are all of the LORD. God has made the day and we should rejoice in it.
It is hard sometimes to live with the reality that God knows what He is doing. Job certainly had a hard time with it. His statement above did not keep him from grief. In fact, the last verse in chapter two of Job tells us his friends sat silently with Job for a week because he was in deep grief. This tells me even though Job remarked above, and meant it, he didn’t fully appreciate the truth of it until God met with him in a very obvious way. The maturity to utter such a phrase may not match the ability to live it. Job knew he had no standing to complain. He knew God was just and right. He knew he deserved nothing of God’s grace. He knew all that. Processing it was something different. Starting where Job started is a good place to start. Accepting the circumstances of life as from God knowing He has a purpose for them is a good place to be. It is the beginning and not the end of the process of dealing with the evil times of the LORD.
P.S. Only nine days left! If you could use a $20 gift card, then get your friends to sign up as a follower of this blog. Have them click the blue 'follow' button to the right. If they are using a mobile device, have them go to the bottom and click on 'view web version' and then find and click the blue 'follow' button. Then have them leave a comment and mention your name! Winner will be announced at the end of the month.
No comments:
Post a Comment