Today's Inspiration: The Lord disciplines those he loves as a father the son he delights in. Proverbs 3:12. No one would like to be in the position as Job where he was stripped off everything he values. This story drives home a powerful truth.
God has the right to do what He does. God has a reason for what He does. He has a goal. He is gracious and loving. In times like this, we stand at the cross and wonder at the depth of His love. God has the right to do what He does. We need to fill our mind with thoughts of God that are worthy of Him. All unworthy imaginations get us dangerously off course. At the heart of his ordeal he still can say his Redeemer lives in Job 19:25-27.
Like Job, we need to trust in the character of God. Job finally meets God and is overpowered by His wisdom, His power, His grace and care. Job 42:5-6. God did not answer any of his questions nor defend His actions. The Lord is more concerned to enlarge Job's trust than to satisfy his curiosity. God can always be trusted even if we don't understand. He is unchanging in His character.
Suffering is not always the result of sin but the result of a fallen world. None of us are exempt from effects of brokenness. Suffering may be undeserved but it is never purposeless. Job says this in Job 23:10 about this test. It is to refine his character and and produce growing likeness to Jesus for the glory of God and for the good of others. Job's friends see his problem as something to be solved but Job sees that it is a mystery that must be surrendered to an all wise powerful God. He is reduced to silence.
Perhaps you are going through storms right now which seem unfair to you. May you still remain confident in God's promise for you and have the staying power to endure the testing period and emerge as gold. God be praised
Prayer: In times like this, the righteous live by faith. Grant me the endurance and staying power to withstand your testing. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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