AND YOU THINK YOU HAVE PROBLEMS
Job
1:21 Naked I came from
my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken
away; may the name of the Lord be praised.
The
story of Job is one that touches so much in human life. Success as measured by
this world had come to Job. Wealth and family had grown to such a measure that
servants attended to his every need. He was well known in his community and
well respected for his charity to the poor and fatherless. Job was a man of the
century for his day and time. But, like many whom he helped, he fell into
poverty and despair. How could such a reversal of fortune have occurred? Would
such a fall be reversed? How could Job recover from such depths of grief and
abandonment?
We forget that our struggle in this world is not against
mere humans and institutions created by men. Our battle goes beyond this world
into the unseen and often misunderstood realm of spirits, powers and
principalities beyond our senses. Satan is battling against God himself. In
spite of the victory won by Christ, Satan continues to battle against the
winners in heaven. Our struggles many times are the results of those battles
and skirmishes in heaven. But we are never without help. God remains on our
side and continues to defeat Satan at his every turn through God’s people.
Job would not allow death, destruction, his wife or
friends or his own painful situation to move him out of his faith into despair
and cursing of God. Job battled the rational impulses that were ignited by
Satan and fueled by his friends and wife. He refused to abandon the truth he
knew of God’s goodness, providence and grace. Job refused to give into the
temptation to curse God and die. That would have been the easy way out of his
anguish and despair. But God had provided him sufficient faith for every event
that occurred. God was true to his promise and Job knew it.
When times are dark, painful
and seemingly without hope, may the Holy Spirit support your faith and belief
in God’s goodness and presence. May the darkness of despair never cause you to
turn from you.
Jericho Road Ministries Chapel, by Rev. Bruce W.
Gimbel, 2007.