So Satan left the Lord’s
presence, and he struck Job with terrible boils from head to foot. Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken
pottery as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to
maintain your integrity? Curse God and
die.” But Job replied, “You talk
like a foolish woman. Should we accept
only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong. Job
2:7-10 (NLT)
Gary Larson's "Far
Side" cartoon appeals to the weird-side.
In a cartoon he pictures several demons gathered around a desk in an
office. As you look through the door you
see people in the flames; it’s a picture of Hell. The demons, while looking at the contents of
an opened suggestion box, are laughing like hyenas. The black humor is that the people in the
flames are really up-against-it; all they have is the suggestion box to cling to,
yet the demons simply toss aside their only hope with derision.
This depicts frustration,
futility, and hopelessness. It is
humorous in a comic strip designed to present the ironic view of life; in real
lives it presents an accurate picture of the tragedy and hellishness of
separation from God.
·
Have you ever felt like you've been unceremoniously
tossed aside, and your prayers have been put in the hands of laughing demons?
·
Have friends and/or family cut their ties with you
suddenly?
·
Has the doctor ever said "cancer"?
·
Has bankruptcy presented a real threat?
·
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?
And you've asked God to
help.....and it seems like even He is on vacation?
Job was the millionaire from
Uz; Job had a day like that! And, for
him, it seemed like the only response he was hearing wasn’t from above; it was
the demons laughing!
Job's wife only speaks two
sentences in the whole account of Job's trouble. But we must not overlook the reality that it
was Mrs. Job’s trouble as well. She 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?
Can we learn anything from
Mrs. Job? When the dear lady was going
through her pain she didn't want questions answered, she wanted survival, and
relief from her pain.
And so, perhaps, do you.
It’s easy for us, several
thousand years after this all happened, to look at the end of Job’s story and
see how God stepped in and answered it all.
But what comfort is somebody else’s “happy ending” when you’re going
through pain?
In the next several
days we will explore what Job and his wife learned through this
experience. We will learn several
lessons about what to do while you’re waiting for God to respond to your
prayers.
In the meantime…
For You, Today…
Stay tuned.
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