BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!

Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped.  And he said:

      “ Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
      And naked shall I return there.
      The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
      Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.--Job 1:20-22

To My Daughters,


Did you catch what Job did immediately after he was told he had not only lost all his possessions but his children also?  Now, you or I might be screaming at God, ranting, raving and/or making foolish charges.  Not Job...He took it all to the Lord and released his emotion through worship!  WOW!

Take the opportunity to do just what Job did when you are facing your own dark time...when you feel like everything is against you or when someone you loved has been taken away.  Pray and ask the Lord to put the truth of His word in your heart at the very hour you need it.  Worship Him because you know that His will for you comes from His heart of love.  Worship Him because He works all things together in your life for your good and His glory.  Worship Him because He is God and He is in control and He truly knows what is best for you.  Worship Him because He sent His Son to die for you when you were still His enemy.  Worship Him because He now lives to make intercession for you. 

Job did not have the benefit of reading Chapter 1 like we all do.  He had no idea what was happening behind the scenes.  We know this was a test that God was allowing in his life.  We know what God really thought of him.   Job has been an example for countless through time. His story reminds us that even though it seems like God has forsaken us there is a lot going on that we do not see.   These verses remind me of all that Job went through.  No one was tested like Job.  And yet he endured and was able to say this:

But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.  

Here is what James says about Job:

My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.


If Job endured, then I can too and so can you!  Job's choosing to worship the Lord at a time of such deep sorrow and loss is and has always been such a comfort to me as I face my own grief and sorrow.  I can wait on the Lord who is compassionate and merciful.  I can wait on Him who loved me enough to die for me.  I can wait on Him because my hope is sure and certain in Heaven.  I can wait because like Moses I choose to see the "invisible" by faith.



By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.


Love
Mom