August 21
Job 1:1-3:26 | PS 37:12-29 | Prov 21:25-26 | 1 Cor 14:1-17
The truth is none of us have answers to life's most troubling questions. We can give generic answers when asked in a philosophical sense, but these answers can sound hollow to the individual who is asking these questions specifically. These questions encompass ones like this: "I don't believe in God because when I experienced my mother dying of cancer, I lost all of my faith", "Where was God when I couldn't have children?", "If God is a loving God, why did He allow my husband to leave me?" These are "why God" questions, and only God can answer them specifically. But here are a few things that we do know. God never left you in the midst of your suffering. The truth is many of us seek God for the first time in the midst of suffering, as we tend to look up when in the valleys of life. When on the mountaintops we look down and often don't seek or desire the God of the universe. This world that we know and everything that we know in it have to go. Illness and death are unfortunately parts of life, though unpleasant parts. Though it is hard to realize at times, we were made to live for eternity and not to place all of our hopes on the present. The tests, trials, hardships, and disappointments show us how temporary earthly things really are.
In one of the most revealing portions of God's throne room in Scripture, God allows the author a glimpse into the interaction of God and Satan. For those who assume Satan has more power than he does, notice that he is only allowed to do that which God allows. If any were honest, few lost as much in life as Job did in this very brief period of time. As we go through his losses in Job 1-2, he lost all of his belongings, all of his children, and his health. Though we know why this is happening, Job has no such understanding. In fact, though at the end of the book, Job is restored to his previous life of blessing, and more than he had previously, there is no indication that he was offered the truth to his predicament this side of eternity. Job's faith in God was not based on his circumstances, but on who God is. Notice his first response to his losses in Job 1:20-21, "Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!”" Job did not blame or curse God, but decided to worship God in the midst of his trial. After Job is on the city's ash heap in physical agony, his wife recommends that he curse God, to which we see his response in Job 2:10, "But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong."
Pastor Chuck Smith said, "When we suffer through the circumstances of our life, it's so important to have faith and confidence that God loves us and is at work. Pain, suffering, and grief are often the chisels God uses to carve the image that He desires. They are tools by which our character is developed, as God brings us to the end of ourselves so that we completely rely on Him." Why does God allow certain trials in my life? I don't know. Why do certain people seem to have it harder than others? I don't know. Better than the "why God" questions which we will not have answers to, is the "Who is God" reality. He is all loving, all good, all capable, always watching, etc. We don't have to understand why God allows certain things other than to know the perfect character of God. Just as our hope in salvation is not based on our actions but on what Jesus did, our faith in God is not based on our comprehension but on who God is. When we are suffering keep looking up towards Him. When others are suffering, we should do what Job's friends did initially, they sat quietly, listened and mourned with their friend. It is only after some time of quiet reflection that we should move forward and speak. When we do so, may we never speak at, speak over, but lovingly speak to as we allow ourselves to be mere vessels in which God can use to apply the balm of His healing.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: