Feeling a little like Job?

Dear friends in Christ,

I praise God for another opportunity to share some thoughts with you and I am thankful for being able to glorify our Heavenly Father in doing so.

What do you say to fellow Christians who want to know why their lives seems to be just one bad experience after another and why God is just not answering their prayers? Or have you ever been the one asking that question about your own life? How do we keep our faith in times of unanswered prayers, great challenges and disappointments and how do we motivate others to do the same?

When we look at the book of Job we learn about a man who did everything he was supposed to do, he lived right, he served God right, he was an example of a solid, faithful Christian and yet he suffered more than anyone I have ever met. I wonder how Job felt in his heart while sitting in the ashes and scraping his wounds with a broken piece of pottery, having nothing left to live for. I cannot imagine losing everything that has meaning in my life, especially when I do everything God expects of me and when I have faith in the promises He gives me in His word. Can you? Yet Job managed to do something we as children of God could all learn from. He managed to look past his emotions, past his pain and losses; past his perception of fair- and focus on the one thing we tend to look away from the moment we get hurt- the fact that God is God.

Dear friends, God is GOOD. God is FAIR and God is LOVE. Ps 34:8- 10: “Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him…. those who fear Him lack nothing.”

Job had faith in his God and even when he lost everything and more, he chose to keep believing that God is good and he chose to keep on doing the one thing that we want to stop doing the moment things get tough- praise God. We have to remember that God knows what He is doing, and even when we don’t see what it is, He has a plan and a purpose and a reason for every single thing that happens in your life. I am not saying that God plans for bad things to happen to you- He DOESN’T! God is good and there is NOTHING bad that comes from Him.

He loved you and me so much that He allowed Himself to go through the worst pain anyone could- the pain of losing a child, so that we could be saved! But, through the choices we, not God, make and through the decisions of other people who share this fallen world with us, we can end up getting hurt and losing everything we hold dear, yet God has a plan even in those situations, a plan to make us reach the other side as conquerors- if only we can focus on this truth DURING our hard and difficult times!

Job’s situation seemed like nothing could ever get better again, but Job kept on praising God because he knew that through it all God IS Good and God came through for him and miraculously gave back to Job so much more than he had lost. Job, in the end received blessing upon blessing, AND he walked away as a conqueror! He made God proud, He proved to God that he was a true believer and he caused satan to turn away defeated and proven wrong once again! Good for Job and AMEN to God for being true to His Word which states that if we believe, He will come through for us!

The next time you face challenge upon challenge and you pray but nothing seems to happen, remember Psalm 46:10 : “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations.”

If we can just remember to exalt God despite our own pain, during the times when we feel like He has forgotten us, not because we deserve to have our prayers answered, but simply because God IS good, we, like Job, will see the righteousness of God come through for us and He will answer our prayers. Not when WE want Him to, but when He decides it is time! When it will bless us most and when, at the same time, it will prove to the world that He is faithful in every way!

Dear Lord, help us to remember that You are Good and Your righteousness will last forever. Help us to know that if we can see that, remember that and truly believe in that, even when our lives don’t make sense, You will lift us up and shower us with Your heavenly blessings because Your Word tells us that You reward faith. May we be like Job and show the world that nothing can make us deny the truth- that You are Good and worthy to be praised! Blessed be Your Name! You are everything and You are all to me.

Expect the unexpected and be fearless in Christ.

Lizz