Job 28-32

Job continues pleading his case with all his heart, both to his friends and to God in Job 28-32.  Job is really struggling today.  He's looking back on how good life used to be, and he desperately wants God to give him some relief from the pain he is in.

Job tells us and God how he really feels.

I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer;

    I stand up, but you merely look at me.

Job 30:20

And as I read his words, my heart breaks for him.  

His entire story is still so hard to read.  And overall, I feel like two really big moral points are unfolding.

First, as believers, when we are in pain and suffering beyond imagination, physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually, what does God call us to do as faithful followers?

And second, when we see someone else in need, suffering beyond our understanding, how can we be the hands and feet of Christ?

I think there's a one word answer for both of these questions-

LOVE.

Even in times of my own suffering, I can love God and trust his faithfulness to me.  Jesus is my ultimate human example of this.  

We can reach for God and cry out to Him and know that even when nothing seems to be happening or going our way, God is at work.  He is holding us in His loving arms with His big plan for us all figured out.

And when I see others suffering, my judgements are irrelevant to my call to love.  There's no way I will ever know a person's whole story, but God does.   

We can talk to God about how to love others in the way He needs us to.

How might things be different if Job's friends had focused on loving him?  What might they have done?  

We have the privilege of hindsight as we read God's Word.  But what about now?

Today's reading reminds me what our Lord and Savior says about the things we face in this world... 

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

These words were true for everything Job was going through (as we'll see in days ahead), and they are true for us.  In Christ, we always have hope and a future.  

A prayer for today-

Dear God,

Thank You for knowing me and the perfect plans You have for me.  Forgive me for getting caught up in my own plans and my own judgements.

Open my heart to the people You need me to love each day and the ways You need me to love them.  Help me focus on Your blessings and presence with a grateful heart.

At the end of the day, I can rest in the knowledge that You have everything under control. 

Give me the ears to hear Your call and the will to live in Your purpose, seeing Christ in others and being the hands and feet of Christ for others.

In Jesus' name I pray,

Amen

Love of Christ,

*This post is part of A Mind-Maker-Upper's Everyday Reading Project.  Click here to read more.