Wednesday,
February 10, 2021
“If my misery
could be weighed and my troubles be put on the scales, they would
outweigh all the sands of the sea. That
is why I spoke impulsively. For
the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows. Their poison infects my spirit. God’s terrors are lined up against me. Don’t I have a right to complain? Don’t wild donkeys bray when they find no
grass, and oxen bellow when they have no food? Don’t people complain about unsalted
food? Does anyone want the tasteless
white of an egg? My appetite
disappears when I look at it; I gag at the thought of eating it! “Oh, that I might have my request, that
God would grant my desire. I
wish he would crush me. I wish he would
reach out his hand and kill me. At
least I can take comfort in this:
Despite the pain, I have not denied the words of the Holy One. But I don’t have the strength to
endure. I have nothing to live for. Do I have the strength of a stone? Is my body made of bronze? No, I am utterly helpless, without any
chance of success. Job 6:2-13
As Job
analyzes the situation and all that has happened, he knows that the
circumstances are bleak. It's been a
tough week. He's lost everything he
worked so hard to accumulate, including his health, the respect of his friends
and even his wife. And yet, later in his
ramblings, Job makes a dramatic (and oddly-strange) statement that hardly seems
to fit the moment to all who hear it; he proclaims, I know that my Redeemer lives....I will see God.
Job 19:25
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 God Job has been serving is at fault. 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.
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 when people give their lives to Jesus. Before, like a block of uncut rock with a
masterpiece inside, he or she is just waiting to be worked-on.
But Mrs.
Job didn't see that. She felt the pain
of the Master's chisel....she never trusted the Redeemer's stroke to bring out
her beauty.
For You Today
Have you been "on hold"? Are your prayers unanswered?
What shall you do while you're waiting? Here are a few suggestions:
· 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. John
11:25 (KJV)
You
chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
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