By
Allen White
His
wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God
and die!" Job 2:9
The
difference between Job and us is that Job lost everything all at once: his
family, his wealth, his health. You and I will also lose all of these things,
but over a longer period of time. (This gets better. Don’t stop reading now.)
Suffering
is not a fun topic, but it’s certainly a part of life. In fact, suffering is so
costly to us, we need to grow from our suffering rather than just suffer for no
good reason at all.
Life
is a series of loses. We start out with great expectations, but often we lose
some of those dreams. We suffer. We begin life with parents who love us, care
for us, and meet our needs. Over time, we care for our parents, and then we
lose them. These aren’t happy thoughts, but they are real.
In
fact, out of everything that we have and everyone we know there is only one
relationship that endures – our relationship with God. God is always with us.
God shares in the “fellowship of suffering” (Philippians 3:10).
The
Bible tells us, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are
suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that
you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when
his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:12-13). At this point, you may be thinking
that this is not what you signed up for. But, here’s the reality, with Christ
or without Christ, everyone suffers. If we can learn to suffer well, then we
will develop Christ-like character and a sensitivity to others that we’ve never
had before.
This
is not a popular message, but it is a necessary message. So often when people
suffer, they think that God is mad at them or that they are being punished for
something that they’ve done. If you have trusted Christ for your salvation,
then all of the punishment for your sin has been erased (Romans 4:7-8). That’s
not what suffering is about.
Here’s
the big question: If you lost everything except for God, would He be enough?
Job had plenty of reasons to curse. He was under an unreasonable amount of
pressure. There was little reason to be happy. Maybe there was little reason to
trust God at that point. Yet, Job chose to trust. The end result was “The LORD
blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first” (Job 42:12-17). The
reward, however, was not only material.
I
believe that Job’s greatest blessing was the realization that sometimes things
happen without a logical explanation. No one is at fault. There is no one to
blame. Forty chapters of the book of Job exhaust every possible explanation.
Job concludes, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too
wonderful for me to know” (Job 42:3).
How
are you suffering today? How is God working to develop your character? How are
you learning to trust God more deeply?
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