Meditations on Job: What I DO know
What do I do when my circumstances seem to contradict what I know to be true about God? When life goes sideways. When circumstances don't get better, they get worse. When the prayed for healing never comes. When I beg God for relief and the trial just keeps going on and on. What do I do? Where do I go in my mind?
Jeff Purswell, one of my favorite preachers, taught from Job 19 this morning. And Job has a bit to say on the subject. He faced unfathomable loss. Unfathomable suffering. And yet, he didn't curse God. However, he did wrestle with God. With God. What a simple, yet life-changing difference this little prepositional phrase makes. With God.
Oh in my heartache, I want to ache with God. In my vulnerability, I want to turn to God. In my questioning, oh may I do it with God. Not turning to other things I think will placate me. Not finding my comfort in the latest movie or album. Not finding my solace in the counsel of loved ones. No! Doing it all, even wrestling with the hard mysteries of life, with God.
As Jeff preached this morning, "When I trust God and cherish Him in my suffering, I show his value, his worth and his glory." Oh God is worth it. That is so faith-building and somewhat easy to joyfully say, especially while I'm listening to such a soul-stirring message on Job. Oh but it is quite another to live this truth. When tomorrow begins, and my trial has somehow become more painful or more complicated, what will I say then? When the phone rings, and I find out even more bad news, how will my heart respond? Oh by the grace of God, may my heart cherish my Savior more. When I cling to Him as all else crumbles around me, I am showing those around me what is supremely important. What matters most. Oh may it be Christ.
And then as Job 19 ends, Job so poignantly proclaims -- For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. Oh there was plenty Job didn't know - why was he being tortured? When would it end? Oh the questions abounded. But he KNEW this. He KNEW what was true about God. I find myself in this account. The things I don't know have been plaguing me lately. "Should I really take this step?" "Or should I go this route instead?" "Is this really what God has for me?" Or what I've said about 50 times in the past three days - "I just DON'T KNOW!" Agonizing that if I just could see ahead a little bit, I would know which route to take. These words silenced me this morning as I soaked in every word of this sermon. They took hold of me, as if shaking me back to my senses. Almost speaking audibly to me - "Oh you're right - you don't know the answers to these countless questions. But you know what? There is something you DO know. Your redeemer lives. He won't let you go. He is forever for you." Oh there is so much I DO know. My redeemer lives. And that is enough. That is more than enough.
Jeff Purswell, one of my favorite preachers, taught from Job 19 this morning. And Job has a bit to say on the subject. He faced unfathomable loss. Unfathomable suffering. And yet, he didn't curse God. However, he did wrestle with God. With God. What a simple, yet life-changing difference this little prepositional phrase makes. With God.
Oh in my heartache, I want to ache with God. In my vulnerability, I want to turn to God. In my questioning, oh may I do it with God. Not turning to other things I think will placate me. Not finding my comfort in the latest movie or album. Not finding my solace in the counsel of loved ones. No! Doing it all, even wrestling with the hard mysteries of life, with God.
As Jeff preached this morning, "When I trust God and cherish Him in my suffering, I show his value, his worth and his glory." Oh God is worth it. That is so faith-building and somewhat easy to joyfully say, especially while I'm listening to such a soul-stirring message on Job. Oh but it is quite another to live this truth. When tomorrow begins, and my trial has somehow become more painful or more complicated, what will I say then? When the phone rings, and I find out even more bad news, how will my heart respond? Oh by the grace of God, may my heart cherish my Savior more. When I cling to Him as all else crumbles around me, I am showing those around me what is supremely important. What matters most. Oh may it be Christ.
And then as Job 19 ends, Job so poignantly proclaims -- For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. Oh there was plenty Job didn't know - why was he being tortured? When would it end? Oh the questions abounded. But he KNEW this. He KNEW what was true about God. I find myself in this account. The things I don't know have been plaguing me lately. "Should I really take this step?" "Or should I go this route instead?" "Is this really what God has for me?" Or what I've said about 50 times in the past three days - "I just DON'T KNOW!" Agonizing that if I just could see ahead a little bit, I would know which route to take. These words silenced me this morning as I soaked in every word of this sermon. They took hold of me, as if shaking me back to my senses. Almost speaking audibly to me - "Oh you're right - you don't know the answers to these countless questions. But you know what? There is something you DO know. Your redeemer lives. He won't let you go. He is forever for you." Oh there is so much I DO know. My redeemer lives. And that is enough. That is more than enough.
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