Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my
supplications! If you, O LORD, should
mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you, so that
you may be revered.
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in
his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the
morning, more than those who watch for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and
with him is great power to redeem. It is
he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities. Psalm
130:1-8 (NRSV)
Therefore, to keep me from being too
elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me,
to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave
me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of
my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am content with weaknesses,
insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for
whenever I am weak, then I am strong. 2
Corinthians 12:7 - 10 (NRSV)
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still
persist in your integrity? Curse God,
and die.” But he said to her, “You speak
as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God,
and not receive the bad?” In all this
Job did not sin with his lips.
For
I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the
earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my
flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes
shall behold, and not another. My heart
faints within me!
Job
2:9 – 10, 19:25-27 (NRSV)
A cartoonist drew a picture
supposedly representing God. He is
sitting at his computer perusing “knee-mail,” all the prayers that have come in
that day. In a sadistic twist the
cartoonist has God’s right index finger hitting the DELETE button…prayer after
prayer heads for the dumpster.
Have you ever felt like you've
been unceremoniously tossed-aside, and your prayers wind up in God’s recycle
bin? Friends and family cut their ties
with you suddenly, the doctor says cancer, or the CPA mentions bankruptcy!
Have your plans been put on a
side-rail? Have you ever awakened to a
new day BLAMED by everybody, BUSTED by circumstances, and just plain BUMMED-OUT
by life in general? You've asked God to
help...and it seems like He’s either on vacation or keeps His hand on the
delete button
The millionaire from Uz, Job
had a day like that! Job's wife only
speaks two sentences in the whole recorded account of Job's trouble. But we mustn’t overlook the reality that it
was her trouble as well. Mrs. Job was
the wife of a wealthy, healthy, influential business tycoon. She had a family that was wonderfully
successful and happy. And then, for no
apparent reasons, the plug is pulled, and her happy, healthy family is
devastated! Her children are gone, her
friends have pulled her membership in the Junior League, the rent is due, and
her previously powerful and in-control husband is sitting on the town garbage
heap, saying "blessed be the name of the Lord." "Hello! Will someone please pinch me, and end this
nightmare?"
What lessons can we learn from
Mrs. Job?
Mrs. Job had decided that God
had forgotten the Job's address. Her
husband had messed-up somewhere, and it was so bad nothing could ever fix
it! The only choice left was
suicide. We run afoul of common sense
when we attempt to interpret for others what God intends. He is God, and able to speak for Himself. Human beings seldom know God's reasoning for
why things happen. Job himself
complained about God's program, and demanded an answer. Later (38:1ff) Job is humbled by God's
answers.
It is wrong to judge tragedy,
sickness and loss as ALWAYS a mark of God's disapproval. God's ways are indeed higher than ours. Job's friends thought they had it all figured
out. They did a friendly thing in coming
to sit with Job for three days. But when
they started opening their mouths, they stuck their collective feet in
them. With their judgments on what was
wrong in Job's life they offered their own version of Mrs. Job's "curse
God and die."
Be careful not to speak for
God...you don't have the credentials.
God may be using tragedy in your life, or the life of someone you know
to bring about some very holy things. Remember
the prodigal son? He was a lot closer to
success when he was learning in the pigpen, than when he'd first arrived as a
rich kid, with all the trimmings.
So often we are tempted to
offer quick solutions, based on so-called wisdom. It is fine to offer solutions, but they must
be based on what God says if it is to be a wise solution. The prophet Zechariah warned (2:13), "Be
still before the Lord, all mankind.."
God has the last word (no matter
what), and we are wise to hear it BEFORE we make our plans firm, or our
speeches heard. David had a wonderful
intention to build the Lord a temple. He
only wanted to honor the God who had been so faithful to him. The only problem was it was not God's plan
for David to build that temple. Don't
speak for God, or before God speaks.
Whatever God has for you is
better than whatever you could plan or do.
I have seen it often when trouble or difficulty comes, the very last
thing people want is to be around the church.
Some of that has to do with pride....we don't want the brethren to see
us at our weakest. But some of that is
because we begin to blame God for being unfair.
The trouble is hard, and we feel like if God really cared, He would've
prevented it. So our trouble is God's
fault.
This is the essence of Job's
statement to his wife..."Remember, dear heart, God knows how much
sunshine, and how much rain this family needs." Rather than hide from God, it is much better
to struggle with Him. Jacob did! He wrestled with God's claim on him, and his
troubles and fears. Jacob somehow knew that
in grappling with what God was pushing him to do, that he would find answers
that were higher than his own ability to handle life's toughest questions. This is what the Psalmist meant when he said,
"My flesh and my heart may fail, but
God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (73:26) Don't hide from God, worship Him.
As Job analyzes the situation,
and all that has happened, he knows that the circumstances are pretty
bleak. It's been a tough week. He's lost everything he worked so hard to accumulate,
including his health, and the respect of his friends and even his wife. And yet he makes a dramatic and strange
statement that hardly seems to fit the moment to all who hear it, I know that my Redeemer lives....I will see
God.
The circumstances say that Job
is going down for the third time. His life
is in the dumpster. His family is dead,
and his wife is looking to collect his insurance money. Job's friends are heaping on the insult that
the very God Job has been serving is at fault.
And the ulcers of ancient leprosy are oozing his very life's blood. And Job has church, singing about how his
heart "yearns within." What
gives?
The secret of Job's faith is
that he knew that pain and suffering are not altogether inconsistent with the
love of God. How did he know that? God had placed the reality within Job years
before when Job gave his life to the Lord.
A story is told of a sculptor who was working on a bust of Lincoln. Day by day he would only make a few carefully
planned strokes with the chisel. Each
night the cleaning lady would sweep up the debris, and complain to herself
about the "...mess this ol' rock makes."
Finally, one night, as the bust
was nearing completion, the cleaning lady saw it for the first time, that it
was the much respected Abraham Lincoln.
She got so excited she came back during the day to watch the sculptor
work on it. She couldn't wait to see the
final product. She asked the artist,
"How did you know Ol' Mister Lincoln was in there?" The artist smiled and said, "Oh, I
didn't really, I just started chiseling-away what just didn't seem to
belong."
In a lot of ways, that is what
happens to a person when he gives his life to Jesus. He is like a block of uncut rock with a
masterpiece inside, just waiting to be worked-on. Mrs. Job didn't see it. She felt the pain of the Master's
chisel....she never trusted the Redeemer's stroke to bring out her beauty.
Have you been "on
hold"? Are your prayers
unanswered? What shall you do while
you're waiting? Don't speak for, or
before God....See what His word will say; search it, milk it, digest it. Don't hide from God....struggle with him as
He chisels-away the rubble. And don't
forget that He loves you...So much that He died for you. That kind of love will eventually give you
answers. Answers like,
"I am the resurrection and
the life; he that believeth in Me though he were dead, yet shall he live; and
whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die."
What is your choice…Mrs. Job's curse
God and die? Or Mr. Job...I
know MY Redeemer lives..."
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