JOB

The Lord knows my heart, but I ask that you will pray with me on a big unspoken. I am really torn in a lot of different ways right now. Life has finally gotten around to being what it was before, and by that I mean in lots of different ways and things, but yet still not quite the same. Hard to explain, and without sounding too frazzled, I'll just leave it at that. Just please pray for me if you will.

I am enjoying my time at home with Savannah, but with gas and everything else rising now, I am contemplating a lot of different things and trying not to worry about them all at the same time. While going through everything with Tori, we realized all the things that we thought were so important before or worth stressing over were actually very trivial. However, our "demons" tend to come back around so to speak once there's not anything bigger or better pressing at the time. Hope that makes some sense.....basically, Satan knows how to attack us at just the right time and what tactics to use. The saying, "You're either about to go through a storm, or you're in the midst of a storm, or you're coming out of a storm," is truer than I realized. I learned what it meant to fully trust and not worry when Tori was so sick, but will I still cling tight to that in other, everyday things? Will you?

We had Graduates Day yesterday at church, and I was very moved by what several of the youth and various people said and spoke on. I was challenged and refreshed. I then go "out into the world," back into my everyday run of the mill kind of days, and Satan challenges me on what I heard and prayed about. We heard yesterday how Satan wants to steal, kill and destroy us. He wants to steal our joy. He wants to destroy our lives, our testimony, what we believe in and stand for.

I must admit it's very difficult to live a victorious Christian life everyday, and if you can't relate to that statement, I am happy for you that life is so easy for you! :) Seriously though, there are so many things thrown at us everyday that we are constantly having to choose a right attitude, a right response, a right decision, and I could go on. So many times I fail, but I desire to strive to do what the seniors were challenged to do yesterday....and that is to live godly, Christian lives everyday, putting Him first, seeking Him and His righteousness first, letting all other things be added unto me. He promises to bless my life if I put Him first. I may not think any blessings are going to ever possibly come out of all the bad things, all the problems, all the worries, but did Job know that everything was going to be okay? He asked "WHY?" but God didn't answer him directly. It's somewhat disturbing that God didn't seem to answer, but He didn't condemn Job for asking why either. Sometimes He will answer; sometimes He won't. Do we need a clause that says everything is going to be okay and then we will trust Him? If so, that's not true faith.

In reading a devotion about Job, it said it perfectly, "We live in a broken world full of sinful people. It is a planet of rebellion against its Creator; it should hardly surprise us that believers are caught in the crossfire." Does that mean that the Lord won't bless us, though? NO! I've said it before, but we live in a sinful world, and all the evil, hard, difficult, sorrowful things in this life are results of our sin. Striving to be more Christlike and committed to Him and trusting that the Lord will come through for us like we say we believe, though, makes this life all worthwhile.

The devotion also said, "When you are tempted to blame God for your suffering, think of it like this: It's like giving a fragile, priceless, family heirloom to a child. He looks over it and then smashes it to the floor. As he stands there in the midst of the shattered pieces of what you gave him, he shakes his clenched fists in your face and says, "Look what you've done! Look at this piece of junk you gave me!" The child is wrong; you gave him a wonderful, treasured possesion and he ruined it. God gave us a perfect world, but we've turned it into the chaos that it is today." This puts it into perspective perfectly that we live in a sinful world and how it's ultimately our fault and just because we're Christians and good people doesn't mean we are exempt from suffering or hard times. We just have the hope that we will overcome it all because He overcame the world! Job was a good person, doing what he should when all of his trials started.

I am reminded that "It's easy to serve God when life is sunny; the test is how we respond when the storm washes over us. And if you're serious about following Jesus, brace yourself; storms will come." My friend whom I am studying Job with pointed out that the Lord was the one who said to Satan, "Have you considered MY servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." He allows storms in our lives, no doubt, and some people might doubt His authority or even His existence because of that. They say "If God is good, He must not be all powerful, or He wouldn't allow evil in our lives."

The bottom line pointed out in this same devotion is that "GOD DOESN'T PROMISE HIS CHILDREN HAPPINESS. He's much more concerned with our holiness- and often that involves pain and sacrifice. Worthwhile things seldom come without great cost. Following Jesus is no exception." Everyday, people reject Christ because of this. They don't see that what He did for us, which was dying at calvary, makes us so unworthy and that following Him, being His servant, enduring trials and yet praising Him through them, is what we are supposed to do. It's what we are called to do. They confuse themselves by thinking that God enjoys making us suffer, but truly, he doesn't get anything out of watching us hurt. It hurts him, too. He's our Father, and He hurts when His children hurt. He just wants us to be like His Son (who came to suffer and die for us)- even when life isn't all rosey.

So back to my unspoken, this blog was a challenge to me, not just you. I am trying to put all this into practice when it comes to things I'm praying about and what goes on in my own life. I pray that the Lord reveals Himself in a mighty, powerful way in my life and that I will be ready for it. If I'm not in the hour of waiting, expecting or anticipating hearing from Him or seeing Him work, I might miss it. Wouldn't that be awful? He wants to use His servants who are willing and able....sometimes in the most unexpected ways. Will you let Him use you? Are you going through a storm or coming out of one or possibly entering one? I'd love to hear from others about your experience with this subject, your thoughts and/or opinions. It is encouraging to me and I welcome your comments. You don't have to be a blogger member to leave a comment. Let me know what you think....