Autumn is here in all its glory, an array of colors to send off the warmer temperatures. I'm learning to appreciate each season, I'm not a fan of winter because the cold makes my joints ache, but even winter has it's beauty.
I decided to read my old bible, a New American Standard bible that I got from my mom back in 86 or 87. This poor thing is dog eared and worn, has that smell, the one that makes me want to hug an old book just a little tighter.
I had been reading the book of Job.
Everyone knows the story of Job. Lost everything because the devil told God that the only reason Job loved him is because God was blessing and protecting him.
Couple of things stood out to me, and ironically the next day I heard a pastor preach on this same topic.
First, how did the devil know that God was protecting him unless he'd been trying to get to Job?
Second, it seems like a game, God telling the devil to test Job. In fact it's a compliment. God knew Job wouldn't falter. Just as God knew that he would bless Job double, that in the big picture Job didn't suffer a loss, but a gain. Job had to pray for his children every day because they weren't following God like they should. In the end Job ends up with ten more children who follow God's law.
Third, Job's wife. She is only mentioned because she tells Job to curse God and die. Harsh. But. She lost everything too. She lost her wealth, her farm, her servants (some of whom she was probably close to), and she lost all of her children. Now her husband is sick. She's grieving, stressed, worried, depressed, angry, and frightened....yet here is her husband, losing just as much as she has and deathly sick to boot talking about how good God is. She's not feeling that. She's not seeing that. She only sees how she feels. And she lashes out, telling Job exactly what the devil told God was his goal for Job, that Job would curse God and die. Not a coincidence.
And I realized that the lesson personally for me is that no matter how I feel or how things appear, I shouldn't forget that God is already on the other side of it. He's already solved the problem, he's already provided the reprieve, he's prepared the blessing.
It's a hard thing to thank God for answers you don't have yet. To praise Jesus for relief you don't feel.
But that's the central point of Job's entire story isn't it?
Job trusted God.
Job was miserable, he wanted to die, he wished he'd never been born. Job wasn't extra special, he didn't skip through his troubles with puppies and rainbows.
He just knew, despite everything, that God was good. He knew God wasn't the problem but the answer.
That is what faith is about.
We act like to have faith is to be impervious to the emotional, mental, and physical strain of trials and tribulations.
Faith is being down in all those areas and still loving God, still trusting him to take care of you despite everything else around you.
It's a beautiful thing. To know that God can look at the mess around you, the mess inside of you, the tornadic turmoil that you and your life have become and he's still there, seeing the beautiful landscape that all this turmoil is going to bring you down the road. And all he wants is for us to remember that there is beauty in him, and it's waiting on the other side of what we're going through. Even if we can't see it.
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