Romans 8: 38 For I am persuaded , that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present , nor things to come. 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Dear John
ReplyDeleteThanks again for sharing your journey on your blog.
Our thoughts again turn to Job and the lessons we can learn from him going trough difficult times. Trials teach us to be patient. In Job 2, in his answer to his wife, Job demonstrates his patience. He does not scold her or rebuke her; instead, he reasons with her and tries to help her see God through his eyes. In the only mention of Job in the New Testament, Almighty God gives us a clue as to His purpose for Job’s suffering: “Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11). When going through tough times, one of the things we need more than anything else is patience. What God most often uses to teach us patience is tribulation. James 1:2–3: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”
Trials also teach us perspective. Job realized that he had been the recipient of many undeserved blessings from God. So before we ask why so many die in natural disasters, we should ask a different question: “Why are so many people— ourselves included—still living?…We should be grateful for the times when the earth is firm, when the tornadoes do not blow, and when the floods do not come. Before we charge God with not caring, we must thank Him for those times when His care is very evident. We are ever surrounded by undeserved blessings. The Book of Job teaches us that when things are good, we can praise God. And when things are tough, we can still praise Him because God is good and He never changes. He is worthy of our trust no matter what is happening.
Trials also teach us persistence. Job proves that it is possible to worship God in difficult times, even if God chooses not to explain to us what is going on. We need to understand that we have a choice. We can get bitter or we can get better. It’s all up to us. We can’t change the circumstances. We don’t have the power to do that, but we are in charge of our response and attitude to them. And what Job teaches us more than anything else is that the circumstances of life do not have to alter our commitment and our faith in Almighty God. Job stood in the midst of it all with everything that was dear to him falling apart, and the Bible says he blessed God; and so can we. And John, you are truly an example to us of that. Bless God!
Love
Gerrit & Connie