How Job’s heart must have been pained within him! He was in the midst of a manifold, blazingly intense trial. He had suffered losses to an extreme most of us can’t even relate to. What is it like to lose ALL of your children – seven sons... and three daughters – in one fell swoop? What is it like to be the greatest of all the people of the East, a man before whom princes and kings fall silent, and then suddenly become their taunt and mocking song? What is it like to be healthy, energetic, and in your prime one day, and covered in excruciating boils the next? What is it like to possess great wealth one moment, and be impoverished a moment later? What is it like to be treacherously accused and browbeaten by your friends, and to have your very breath be hateful to your wife?
Worse – what is it like to have all these things happen simultaneously?
Yet in all these things Job did not charge God with wrong. He did not curse God and die (as his wife urged him to do). He did not lash out at his friends. He did not rant and rage. He held fast to his integrity and remained faithful to his beloved Lord, even though that Lord had caused his distress and seemed far, far away.
However, Job did mourn for his losses. He longed for months past, when he could SEE the Lord’s good hand upon him for good, and SEE the light in the darkness. Now those days were gone and Job was surrounded by night.
Psalm 139:7-12, “Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’
Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.”
Our circumstances change. Our moods change. Our thoughts change. God does not. What we perceive as darkness is light to the Lord, because He sees the whole picture. He does not send His children evil or darkness. Even our blackest, most painful situations – such as Job’s – are ultimately good. The Lord did not send Job affliction carelessly or without purpose! He was intimately acquainted with Job’s every tear, every cry, and every hurt. He bore them all. (Isaiah 53:4) But, as a loving Father, the Lord cared more for Job’s character than his comfort. He was using Job’s temporary affliction to work for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, and the very things Job sorrowed over now would later become reasons to dance!
No matter how fiery the trial, how painful the situation, how black the night, or how seemingly irrevocable the loss, a child of God has no reason to sorrow as those who have no hope. Even the darkness is light to him!
Do you fear loss? Is your heart broken? Do you long for days gone past? Do you despair of ever seeing the dawn? Don’t! You are cradled in the hands of the Living, Loving God, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Didn’t He die for you? Didn’t He bear your sins in His body while you were yet His enemy? Didn’t He endure unfathomable suffering for your sake? He has not changed! He causes even the night to be light about you. The thorns that pierce your flesh and the sorrows that break your heart are simply refiner’s fire, purifying something precious and beloved. He sees the truth even when you don’t. And even you can’t take yourself out of His hand.
Isaiah 49:15-16, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.”
Worse – what is it like to have all these things happen simultaneously?
Yet in all these things Job did not charge God with wrong. He did not curse God and die (as his wife urged him to do). He did not lash out at his friends. He did not rant and rage. He held fast to his integrity and remained faithful to his beloved Lord, even though that Lord had caused his distress and seemed far, far away.
However, Job did mourn for his losses. He longed for months past, when he could SEE the Lord’s good hand upon him for good, and SEE the light in the darkness. Now those days were gone and Job was surrounded by night.
Psalm 139:7-12, “Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’
Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.”
Our circumstances change. Our moods change. Our thoughts change. God does not. What we perceive as darkness is light to the Lord, because He sees the whole picture. He does not send His children evil or darkness. Even our blackest, most painful situations – such as Job’s – are ultimately good. The Lord did not send Job affliction carelessly or without purpose! He was intimately acquainted with Job’s every tear, every cry, and every hurt. He bore them all. (Isaiah 53:4) But, as a loving Father, the Lord cared more for Job’s character than his comfort. He was using Job’s temporary affliction to work for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, and the very things Job sorrowed over now would later become reasons to dance!
No matter how fiery the trial, how painful the situation, how black the night, or how seemingly irrevocable the loss, a child of God has no reason to sorrow as those who have no hope. Even the darkness is light to him!
Do you fear loss? Is your heart broken? Do you long for days gone past? Do you despair of ever seeing the dawn? Don’t! You are cradled in the hands of the Living, Loving God, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Didn’t He die for you? Didn’t He bear your sins in His body while you were yet His enemy? Didn’t He endure unfathomable suffering for your sake? He has not changed! He causes even the night to be light about you. The thorns that pierce your flesh and the sorrows that break your heart are simply refiner’s fire, purifying something precious and beloved. He sees the truth even when you don’t. And even you can’t take yourself out of His hand.
Isaiah 49:15-16, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.”
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