“Oh my goodness. You must feel like Job.”
This sentence was uttered by a nice woman in the boot camp
class I was trying out. We’d talked a few times before but today’s class had
found us next to each other as we made the circuit. Soon talk turned to kids.
Aren’t they the great conversation starter? I was upbeat talking about my full
nest and my little blessings. Her’s were older. There came a point when something
came up and it needed to be said—my husband had died in September. I was
managing all of this thanks to amazing friends.
She was shocked. She, of course, asked what happened. Heart
attack, very sudden, but God is taking care of us, came my reply. Then she
uttered the comment with a shake of her head, “Oh my goodness. You must feel like
Job.” Before I could reply the instructor was talking and we moved on. I had to
duck out of class early to get home to the kids and errands. I never got to
answer her statement, but as I drove, her words echoed in my mind.
Job, huh? This Bible hero means a lot of things to many
people—suffering, questioning God, poor friends and advisers, God’s absence or
presence in our trials, and so on. All of these things are included in this
story. But one of my favorite Bible verses comes from Job 13:15a: “Though He
slay me, yet will I trust in Him….”
Oh that I could be compared to Job! Oh that my faith would
be so rock-solid in the God worthy of my trust. Through the pain and the trials,
oh that I could cling confidently to the truth that no matter what happens, He
is still trustworthy!
A friend once told me she wrestled with this verse. God will
not slay us so Job seems to be off the mark here, she thought. But I see it as
Job popping a gasket, losing his temper, and finally blowing up at the nay-sayers
in his life who do not see where his faith was anchored. I see it as him
telling them that no matter what circumstances appear to be, he will stand firm
in his faith.
Oh that I would be like Job! Oh that no matter how much this
journey has hurt or how long it seems to be, oh that I would keep coming back
to the truth that I trust Jesus! I trust the God who sees a big picture that I
cannot see. I trust Him for my provision. I trust Him for my children’s wounded
hearts. I trust Him when bad news arrives in the mailbox. I trust Him for
wisdom in the next steps even when fear makes me take my eyes off that truth. I
can always come back to the truth that He is trustworthy. He is faithful. He is
good.
Job even did what some cannot grasp is OK – he questioned God.
When he finally had more than he felt he could take, he pitched a fit and
railed against the unfairness of it all. His shouts at the heavens reached God
and God answered. The reply makes me laugh. God put Job right in his place. “Who
is this who darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself
like a man; I will question you and you shall answer me.” Job 38:2-3
God goes on to describe just how worthy He is to figure out
what’s good, just, and fair and just how small Job is. And after listening to
God’s response, Job is appropriately set back on the right path. He repents,
humbled, and returns to the faith he always knew to be true.
A friend told me long ago that God can take our anger. He
can take it when we tell him how unfair this is and how upset we are things
aren’t going like we thought they should. As a mom, I now imagine one of
my kids as toddlers throwing a fit when I say no. It’s almost amusing. No
matter how frustrating the fit might be (or embarrassing in the middle of the
mall) it doesn’t change that I love them. I will take the time to discipline
them and help them learn better.
God loves me. He will strengthen me and walk with me even if
I pitch a fit like a tired toddler. He isn’t going anywhere. He is faithful.
Oh that I will stand through this trial confident in the
fact that He loves me. He wants the best for me. Even when I cannot see what
the final outcome is going to be, I can trust him absolutely. The story of Job even
has a happy ending in chapter 42, verse 12: “The Lord blessed the latter part
of Job’s life more than the first.” There is promise that our faithful trust in
God leads to good things—either in this life or in heaven.
Oh, to be like Job.
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