Job, A Righteous Man

In the story of Job, a righteous man loses his children, his livestock, and all his servants. But someone else in the story lost all of that too—Job's wife.

Job 2:9: “Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!’”

Job made the decision to not sin with his lips and to entrust himself to God, while his wife allowed their suffering to infect both her heart and her trust in God.

Our suffering and distresses will undoubtedly put us in a similar point of decision. When we are at this crossroads, will we trust God based on what we are confident to be true of Him when faced with distresses that are unexplainable to us, or will we distrust Him in the face of those unexplainable events?

How do we embrace God’s call? How do we embrace God’s comfort?

How do we embrace God’s call?

Emerson’s friends Mark and Kim, whose daughter was born with a genetic defect that would confine her to a wheelchair, asked God, “Why?” and for two years wanted nothing to do with Him. Kim even felt Christ’s presence with her in a room once asking her, “Are you ready to open your heart to Me?” and she firmly yelled out, “No!” Christ had stood at the door of her heart and knocked (Revelation 3:20), and she did not invite Him in for the sweet communion she had enjoyed in the past. But not soon after, she could no longer remain hardened and she learned to pray, “Lord, not my will, but Your will be done.”

In order to embrace God’s call, we must come to a point where we can accept unanswered questions.

There are some questions we simply aren’t going to get an answer to. But though we won’t get the question in the box answered, we can still see God working all around the box.

We have to come to the moment when we simply let go and decide to embrace God’s call.

We must revisit what it is that we know to be true of God.

Do You Believe?

Do you believe the following to be true?

• In spite of the adversity, I believe God is for me and not against me.
• Though the misfortune is real, I still believe God is all-loving and all-powerful.
• Though some people ask, “Why me?” I ask, “Why not me?”
• I don’t know why this misfortune came to me, but I do know I live in a fallen world with trouble, and it happened to me.
• It is okay to ask, “Why?” since Christ on the cross asked, “Why?” Yet on earth I may never receive an answer.
• Though there is a box with an unanswered “Why?” within it, I keep my heart humble and open to allowing God to work outside the box even though He never answers the unanswered “Why?”
• I’m committed to being an example to those around me about how to trust God and receive His help when feeling life has treated me unfairly.
• I believe the Holy Spirit, who Jesus calls the Helper, is here to help me in my time of need.
• I do not expect my spouse to fully understand and empathize with the pain that I feel within my own gender in the face of this adversity.
• The best evidence of my trust in Christ is that I give Him thanks, which the Bible calls a sacrifice of praise, even though I do not understand why this has happened to me.
• I trust Christ based on what I understand about Him from the Gospels in the face of what I don’t understand about my sufferings.
• I refuse to distrust what I understand about Christ from the Gospels even though it appears at this time He refuses to tell me why I have encountered this misfortune.
• Though life threw me an unfair curveball, I will surrender to Him regardless of the outcome.

Do You Still Believe?

Do you still believe these to be true even in distress?

The distresses that come our way can derail us. They can cause us to doubt these things we know to be true. And yet, they are still true, and we need to remind ourselves of all of them.

Reflect on and discuss these reminders. Which ones do you need to be reminded of more often than others?