Today, you may be going through something you are finding hard to understand. I want to do my best to encourage you. Scholars agree that the book of Job is the oldest book of the bible, and I believe it is significant that this most ancient book deals with the issue of ‘no easy answer’ situations.
Job lost his family, his business and wealth, his health, he lost everything. He was involved in a situation with no easy answer. In fact most of the book is dedicated to Job discussing the whole situation with his friends – Job’s comforters.
Now, Job’s friend’s were well meaning and they felt his situation had to have an explanation. They suggested maybe there was some hidden sin in his life, and yet God had said in Job 1:8 “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
Job was going through a terrible test. Covered in boils from head to foot, left bereft of all he held dear, yet in the midst of it all Job held a secret, he said “Even though he (God) kills me, I’ll continue to trust in him. At least then I’ll be able to argue my case to his face!” (Job 1:8) Job didn’t understand all he was going through but in spite of it all he continued to trust the heart of God.
Of course in time Job had a tremendous encounter with God, and God restored double to Job everything he had lost. Job trusted God’s heart in the toughest time of his life and God revealed the depths of who He was to Job. Job was left speechless, humbled, standing in awe of the presence of Majesty.
“It Is Well with My Soul” is a very influential hymn penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss. This hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871 at the age of four, shortly followed by the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer).
Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford’s daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, “Saved alone.” Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.
A couple of verses of the song go:
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet,
though trials should come, let this blest assurance control,
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and hath shed his own blood for my soul.
Sometimes in life there are just no easy answers. I’m not going to be the one to say ‘well, brother / sister, obviously you didn’t have enough faith’ or ‘do you have any unconfessed sin?’ or ‘have you been spending time in the Word?’ or ‘Have you been doing / not doing this, that or the other thing?’ the list is endless! Now some of these things may actually be the problem, but what I’m trying to say is that there are times where there is just no easy answer.
Sometimes people just need to know we care, that we love them and that God loves them. People don’t always want to know how much we know, until they know how much we care. The Bible says a bruised reed, He will not break and a smoking flax He will not quench (Matthew 12:20). God understands we can be so broken by life that mere words will not suffice, we need the healing love and power of Christ to touch our lives.
Sometimes the circumstances of life are a mystery, and we don’t always understand them. We need to be people who embrace the mystery. God has so many plans and things He is doing as we walk through life with Him. He is building character, He is making us more Christlike, He is making us more compassionate towards others who may be going through something similar. God wants our wounds and the things we suffer with to bring healing to others. He wants us to be like Jesus; He wants us to be wounded healers.
Now I don’t want to detract for a moment from the finished work of Christ. Jesus has paid in full for every believer to walk free from sin, sickness and all the oppression of the enemy. But there are times when God may call us to share in the sufferings of Christ (Philippians 3:10). We need to have a theology that is a little deeper and embraces the mysterious aspects of God. We need to have a faith that survives the strongest storm and says with Job ‘though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!
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