Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We’ve all had some bad days in our lives. When it happens, question is, how do we react in those bad days? Do we play the blame game? It was so-and-so’s fault. Do we figure we deserve it? It’s all karma or whatever. Or do we think it’s something else? No matter what it is, it’s part of our human nature to figure out why. 

Job seemed like he had it all together. (Job 1:1) Then Job had a very bad day. (Job 1:13-2:10) Job went through the questions you and I often go through. In the end, Job denies any wrongdoing deserving of his fate. But he acknowledges that if has done anything wrong, he’s willing to accept the consequences. (Job 31)

Eventually God comes to Job to answer, not Job’s questions of “why me?” but to let Job know who he is relative to God – his Creator and the giver of all he had.

God’s tough love in Job 38:1-18 seems like a royal smackdown! “Job! Where were you when …?” But reading more deeply, we see God’s “velvet glove” helping Job, and us, see that even when things aren’t going the way we envision, He is in control. He has carefully created us and all things. There are no accidents. As we endure trial and tribulation, He is ensuring chaos stays within boundaries He has set. He reassures us that evil and wickedness will be destroyed in the end. And finally, He reminds us that He has been at the gates of death and deep darkness. He’s been – and is – where we are. 

Jesus faced death and darkness to lead us through it into the “dwelling of light” – not physical light, but the eternal light of life in the kingdom of heaven. So let us let God be God, trusting Him to forgive us and to lead us into the reality of His promise of eternal life with Job and all the faithful, whom God has declared to be righteous, living lives of faith in Him!

In Christ’s Love,

Pastor Jim