The Holy One calls to me this morning. Today is Sunday. The day to celebrate rest and to worship the Lord.
The battle rages and the trials continue, yet in the midst we are permitted and actually commanded to rest and worship. As I lay the trials down for a while, Holiness reminds me of a man named Job.
For those who know God's Word, much is revealed in the book of Job. We are given a glimpse into the unseen world beginning with Job 1:6. God's created beings called angels, came to present themselves to their Creator and Lord.
One such celestial being is called by the name, Satan. He turns out to be man's arch enemy and the one who brought all the grief into Job's life.
The rest of the book that bears his name, is the story of Job's season of trials. We are privy to the disasters Satan brought to him, the counsel he received from his friends and the ultimate connection he made with the Sovereign God of all Creation.
If we take God out of the equation, we can certainly become fearful in the epic contest between good and evil, light and dark. Our trials can become hopeless and resign us to bitter defeat by the unseen forces that we cannot control.
While Job's trial are intense to read about and his sufferings almost unbearable, there is much to learn and apply in this ancient account of the man and his encounter with God.
In the historic time period of Job's life and trials, he lived before the Savior was sent into the world, and before the Holy Spirit took up residency in the being of men.
We now live in an informed era, where the Son of Holiness, Jesus the Christ, has come and left us with a legacy of hope that Job was not aware of before His trials.
The Holy One has a point to make to me today, so I am all ears.
He speaks to the trials we are all facing on earth today. We all have a taste of what Job went through. Some have physical infirmities, some have financial losses, some have relational heartaches and some are struggling with separation of the hardest sort through death of a loved one.
All have some and some have all of these trials hitting their life today and The Holy One directs me to read the end of Job's story.
While we can all so relate to Job's life as the days of our suffering seem endless, if we skip to the end of Job's story we will see purpose and in purpose we will see hope. If we can see that Job was being persecuted for his righteousness before God and tested in his loyalty toward his Benefactor, we can gain a better grasp of our own trials.
Job was a man just living out a relationship with his Creator to the best of his ability and understanding at the time. Satan, the accuser brought a charge against Job that required he be tested so that God, as well as Job could be vindicated.
Who would dare speak evil of the Maker? Only the one who wants to rule in His place. Only a being with free will not unlike our own.
As we progress through our trials and suffering does it ever occur to us that evil is the voice that challenges our loyalty to our Lord? Do we stop to realize that our love response to our Lord and God is tested as the trials hit our lives? Can we allow our reaction to the heat we feel in our lives to become a vindication of God's great love and wisdom in His creation of mankind rather than an inferno of self pity?
The enemy made his accusation about the man: The only reason Job was loyal to God was because his life was protected , blessed and easy on earth. Hidden therein is a patronizing suggestion that man, created in God's glorious image would betray him when suffering was permitted; that man, just like Satan himself, would rebel and thus prove the worthlessness of God's Beloved. While the rebel angel was tested and failed through power and privileged authority, Job was tested through sorrow and suffering on earth.
In the free will all of us were given at birth to choose relationship with our Maker, there must come some heartburn that tests our loyalty to the One who created us to live eternally with Himself.
I am thankful to have Job's testimony of courage to stand in the heat of adversity. I am blessed to see the source of our trials and the ultimate reason for them. I am relieved to read the end of Job's story and how once the Divine purpose was accomplished in the testing of his faith, he was restored in the earth realm, and reconciled through repentance in his relationship with God.
Job's trial ended with a greater understanding of the mystery of the Lord's Sovereignty. He is quoted as saying, "My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You, therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." Job 42:5
The hope we can glean from the life of Job is that after he suffered, "The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first". Job 42:12
We can gain the same comfort from I Peter 5:10, "And the God of all grace who called you to His eternal glory in Christ after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power forever and ever. Amen".
In an odd kind of way, the trial of Job also tested Satan's power of influence. Could Job be convinced to betray the One he knew to be God? Some have buckled over the course of history to join the ranks of the rebel forces and we can read about their fate as well as Job's. Judas failed the test as did King Saul.
Into each of our lives will come the day of reckoning when circumstances present difficulty and groaning and but also great opportunity. Our loyalty to our Lord will be tested, of that we can be sure. When that day comes will we stand firm and trust that our God is ultimately good?
Job's story is not unlike our own. Into a swirling saga of hard circumstances, faithless (but well-meaning) friends and oppressive evil, God spoke to Job about Himself.
And when God spoke, Job listened.
Job's end was a bountiful restoration of his earthly life, but even more important than that, Job's end was a personal encounter with the Sovereign and Majestic God of all creation.
As I look at Job's life, I may recoil at his suffering, but when I read of the end, I can rejoice for what it teaches me about my God.
Today I find that rest is possible and even in the day of trial, worship of the Holy One is my delight for He is worthy.
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
The battle rages and the trials continue, yet in the midst we are permitted and actually commanded to rest and worship. As I lay the trials down for a while, Holiness reminds me of a man named Job.
For those who know God's Word, much is revealed in the book of Job. We are given a glimpse into the unseen world beginning with Job 1:6. God's created beings called angels, came to present themselves to their Creator and Lord.
One such celestial being is called by the name, Satan. He turns out to be man's arch enemy and the one who brought all the grief into Job's life.
The rest of the book that bears his name, is the story of Job's season of trials. We are privy to the disasters Satan brought to him, the counsel he received from his friends and the ultimate connection he made with the Sovereign God of all Creation.
If we take God out of the equation, we can certainly become fearful in the epic contest between good and evil, light and dark. Our trials can become hopeless and resign us to bitter defeat by the unseen forces that we cannot control.
While Job's trial are intense to read about and his sufferings almost unbearable, there is much to learn and apply in this ancient account of the man and his encounter with God.
In the historic time period of Job's life and trials, he lived before the Savior was sent into the world, and before the Holy Spirit took up residency in the being of men.
We now live in an informed era, where the Son of Holiness, Jesus the Christ, has come and left us with a legacy of hope that Job was not aware of before His trials.
The Holy One has a point to make to me today, so I am all ears.
He speaks to the trials we are all facing on earth today. We all have a taste of what Job went through. Some have physical infirmities, some have financial losses, some have relational heartaches and some are struggling with separation of the hardest sort through death of a loved one.
All have some and some have all of these trials hitting their life today and The Holy One directs me to read the end of Job's story.
While we can all so relate to Job's life as the days of our suffering seem endless, if we skip to the end of Job's story we will see purpose and in purpose we will see hope. If we can see that Job was being persecuted for his righteousness before God and tested in his loyalty toward his Benefactor, we can gain a better grasp of our own trials.
Job was a man just living out a relationship with his Creator to the best of his ability and understanding at the time. Satan, the accuser brought a charge against Job that required he be tested so that God, as well as Job could be vindicated.
Who would dare speak evil of the Maker? Only the one who wants to rule in His place. Only a being with free will not unlike our own.
As we progress through our trials and suffering does it ever occur to us that evil is the voice that challenges our loyalty to our Lord? Do we stop to realize that our love response to our Lord and God is tested as the trials hit our lives? Can we allow our reaction to the heat we feel in our lives to become a vindication of God's great love and wisdom in His creation of mankind rather than an inferno of self pity?
The enemy made his accusation about the man: The only reason Job was loyal to God was because his life was protected , blessed and easy on earth. Hidden therein is a patronizing suggestion that man, created in God's glorious image would betray him when suffering was permitted; that man, just like Satan himself, would rebel and thus prove the worthlessness of God's Beloved. While the rebel angel was tested and failed through power and privileged authority, Job was tested through sorrow and suffering on earth.
In the free will all of us were given at birth to choose relationship with our Maker, there must come some heartburn that tests our loyalty to the One who created us to live eternally with Himself.
I am thankful to have Job's testimony of courage to stand in the heat of adversity. I am blessed to see the source of our trials and the ultimate reason for them. I am relieved to read the end of Job's story and how once the Divine purpose was accomplished in the testing of his faith, he was restored in the earth realm, and reconciled through repentance in his relationship with God.
Job's trial ended with a greater understanding of the mystery of the Lord's Sovereignty. He is quoted as saying, "My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You, therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." Job 42:5
The hope we can glean from the life of Job is that after he suffered, "The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first". Job 42:12
We can gain the same comfort from I Peter 5:10, "And the God of all grace who called you to His eternal glory in Christ after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power forever and ever. Amen".
In an odd kind of way, the trial of Job also tested Satan's power of influence. Could Job be convinced to betray the One he knew to be God? Some have buckled over the course of history to join the ranks of the rebel forces and we can read about their fate as well as Job's. Judas failed the test as did King Saul.
Into each of our lives will come the day of reckoning when circumstances present difficulty and groaning and but also great opportunity. Our loyalty to our Lord will be tested, of that we can be sure. When that day comes will we stand firm and trust that our God is ultimately good?
Job's story is not unlike our own. Into a swirling saga of hard circumstances, faithless (but well-meaning) friends and oppressive evil, God spoke to Job about Himself.
And when God spoke, Job listened.
Job's end was a bountiful restoration of his earthly life, but even more important than that, Job's end was a personal encounter with the Sovereign and Majestic God of all creation.
As I look at Job's life, I may recoil at his suffering, but when I read of the end, I can rejoice for what it teaches me about my God.
Today I find that rest is possible and even in the day of trial, worship of the Holy One is my delight for He is worthy.
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
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