Day 24: God will always have your back!
Day 24: God will always have your back!
Read: Job 1:1 - 2:10; Psalm 31; Lamentations 3:31-33; Matthew 4:1 - 11
This morning, I pray you will join me in a place few of us ever get to
see. That place is behind the scenes, what goes on in the places we are
seldom aware of and seldom get to go to. If you have been fortunate
enough to know that somebody who knows somebody else, you have gotten a
backstage pass to the show about to play out. You see the players
rehearsing their parts, tuning their instruments, talking with the ones
who set up the stage for the performance that is about to take place. An
even larger WOW factor would be if you had the opportunity to talk with
the performers who are participating in the event. Even bigger than
that is to meet the very star of the show.
For myself, I am
content to wait in my seat for the show to begin or more likely, just
stay home and wait for the show to appear on DVD or the highlights to be
posted on You Tube or broadcast on some television show I might ask, seek and maybe find
later only by accident.
This is where we find Job. Doing what
he does each and every day. He is seen being a loving father to his many
children, a dutiful husband to his wife and paying careful attention to
overseeing the day to day matters of his incredibly large estate. Life
is good in the House of Job - materially and spiritually. Job is living
large alongside God. But what Job does not know, is that behind the
scenes there is a plot to bring him down. Satan has appeared with other
heavenly beings into the presence of the Lord. God declares before all
the righteousness of Job. However, Satan desires to bargain with God
that given the right opportunity, Job would completely dump his faith in
God.
God gives Satan permission to test Job the only condition is that Satan cannot kill him.
Suddenly Job first loses all his children and much of his property.
Seemingly with out warning, everything that Job valued is violently
stripped from him. In the face of such horrific and catastrophic news
this is how Job responded: (Job 1:20 - 22)
20 'Then Job arose,
tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21
He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return
there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name
of the Lord.’ 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with
wrongdoing.'
When afflicted the second time with 'loathsome
sores from head to toe' the question came up: "Why do you persist in
your integrity", "Curse God and die". But Job sternly responded: 'Shall
we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?’ In all
this Job did not sin with his lips. In and through all this catastrophe
trying to take control of his life, Job was unshakable in his
belief that God is, was, always shall be in ultimate control of his
life. What an awesome port in the very worst of life's storms.
In the best of times in the most catastrophic of times and all points
in between, we could feel greatly blessed or we could suffer
immeasurably. In all these times there is one inescapable truth: God
will always and forever be in total control. Over the course of our
lives, faith will be severely tested, faith may falter and for a time
even seem to fade away to nothing. God may be relegated to the
background of our minds but it can never change the absolute fact that God will always remain alongside of you.
Asking yourself the questions: "Why should I persist in my integrity?"
"Why should I persist in my faith?" "Why shouldn't I just curse God and
move on?" is a normal and to be expected part of growing and maturing in
your faith. Take your time, ask all of your questions, seek the answers that will quiet your heart and bring comfort to your spirit. Take the time you need and remember that God will always be there waiting for you. God will never ever give up on you!
Pray: Wherever you may find yourself at this moment, in the very best
of times in the most catastrophic of times or somewhere in between, pray
that God will enlighten your mind and spirit with the truth that, since
He chose you for His very own, that whatever blessing or perfect storm
comes your way, He is there is the midst of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN6v6whg2lk
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