One of the
things I have been thinking about these last few days has been God’s friend,
Job. God talks highly of him. “Have you noticed my friend Job?”
He’s talking
to Satan...I really don’t want God talking to Satan about me. “Have you noticed my friend Judy?” Maybe
He already has talked to Satan about me...would He speak highly of me?
Job was a
friend for the long haul... t h e l o n g
h a u l...I love that. He was not about to give any credit to Satan
for his suffering, he endured, he waited for God.
James says, “You have heard of Job’s endurance...” Not that I have nearly begun to suffer the
way Job did, but would someone say that of me, “you have heard of Judy’s endurance...”
Endurance
means perseverance, not giving up, having patience, waiting it out, in it for
the long haul. Job had it, God could
count on him, and God trusted him. It’s
one thing to have patience in the suffering but to be trusted through it, I
love that.
I hope my
friends can trust me. I’ve had a few
friends that have fallen off along the way, our friendship did not endure. I think they were never meant to be there for
the long haul. They were friends for the
season, that’s okay; I have loved these friends in their season.
But God, He
trusted Job to endure, to not give up on Him, no matter what and well, you have
heard of Jobs endurance. On Tuesday we
talked a bit about Job, how after all of his suffering, he still chose to
believe that God was in charge of all things.
And Job suffered. After suffering
so much, would you be able to claim these same words of God...
“I’m convinced;
You can do anything and everything.
Nothing and no one can upset your plans.”
Or is it
more likely to be words like... “My complaint is legitimate. God has no right to treat me like this, it
isn’t fair!”
These were
Job’s words too. Later came God’s answer,
“Do you
presume to tell me what I am doing wrong?
Are you calling me a sinner so you can be a saint...I’ll gladly step
aside and hand things over to you, You can surely save yourself with no help
from me!”
Wow, that’s
pretty clear, take care of it myself? I
suppose I try to do that often enough. I have tried to stop the suffering myself,
that has never worked out for me, it has always been better to have patience,
to wait, to trust. That is hard. Lament.
Job suffered
much and then he suffered more. Job didn’t just accept it, he didn’t just lie
down and take it, he fought it, he questioned, and he called out for help. He says “I expected good but evil showed up,
I looked for light but darkness fell.”
His wife told him to give up and curse God! Job called
out for his rights, his friends condemned him. He called out for his defence, but
that just made him sound worse, “even
though innocent, anything I say incriminates me, blameless as I am, my defence
just makes me sound worse.”
I have
certainly been in that position, where I felt the need to clear my name, from
whatever I thought I was being accused of, even though innocent I made myself look
worse. When will I learn that I do not
need to defend myself...God already knows me.
I have
lamented and I have questioned, but this I know, the bible is full of laments. Sometimes He loves those better than a
hallelujah, I have learned it, experienced it, felt it...God loves to hear my
cries too.
I have
lamented, I have called out for my defence, I have endured and I have persevered,
I have waited, I have known suffering and loss... yet I know that God
lives.
I may keep
on lamenting, stating my case to God, but I will not deny trust in Him. There is absolutely nothing Satan can do to
cause me to stop trusting God.
Nothing. No one. I am convinced,
God can do anything, I believe it and He can trust me in t h e l
o n g h a u l.
That’s how I
see it...and I love that.
