If we are not experiencing suffering and loss at the moment, we all know someone who is. What do we do when a friend, neighbor or acquaintance is going through a difficult time? Do we stay away because we don’t know what to say? Or do we babble nonsense because we need to say something? Or do we seek to understand God’s wisdom and heart and encourage them for the journey? As many times as I have read Job, I don’t remember ever distinguishing so clearly between man’s wisdom and God’s wisdom as on this read through.
I wonder how often readers read Bildad’s words, Zophar’s words, or Eliphaz’s words thinking, “They are in the Bible, so any verse here is God’s truth.” After all, they make sense to our impoverished minds as we read them. But, they come totally from human wisdom and not from God’s wisdom. While Job continues to confront them throughout the whole book, we don’t hear from God until the end of the book of Job. After God has dealt with Job, He addresses Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has… My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly.” Job 42:7-8
Keeping that in mind, as I read the book of Job, I know pay better attention to who is speaking and what they are saying. This book now begs me to think about how I speak to those who are suffering – to be careful to not spout off platitudes of my own understanding, but rather to prayerfully and humbly speak to the person who is suffering.
The mistake I see in Job’s friends as they speak is that they look at what is happening and, trying to make sense of it, pronounce judgment on the one suffering. Essentially they are saying, “Why would all this bad happen to you if God were not judging you for something?” And then they proceed to make up the things they believe God is judging Job for. Job must have cheated people, stole from them, disregarded people’s needs, etc. in order for God to be so angry with him as to treat him so badly because they are sure that is how God works.
Job defends himself saying that he has always cared for others. His friends don’t believe him because all the evidence (God’s judgments in their minds) point to the opposite. In the end, God vindicates Job and replaces all he lost with even more and humbles his judging friends saying that He will forgive them when Job prays for them.
“Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18. Chris Tiegreen writes, “At a practical level, that means that hardships you endure today are pointing toward a purpose. They will give Him occasion to demonstrate Himself, and they will give you occasion to demonstrate your faith. Both occasions lead to a glory that far outweighs the pain. In the end, it will all be worth it. The God who endured the Cross gives you His guarantee.” January 21 in ‘Wonder of the Cross Devotional’
My hope and prayer is that I will prayerfully and humbly approach those who are currently suffering and that I will offer them the encouragement of God’s compassion, comfort, and love and together we can watch for God to demonstrate Himself and use this opportunity to grow in faith. That He is to be honored and glorified is not selfishness on God’s part and disregard for our suffering, but rather a demonstration of His caring intimately for us as He continually rescues us, comforts us, and opens our eyes to see Him for who He really is! Our God is worthy of our praise!
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
And Lot Went With Him
“God doesn’t have grandchildren – only children.” I’ve heard that phrase countless times in many different settings. We all know that it means each one of us must make a personal commitment to accept God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ because we won’t be able to ride to heaven on the coattails of our parents.
Many times I have looked at the story of Abram and Lot and noticed that Lot’s life was not nearly as fulfilling as Abram’s. Today, as I was reading the story of their journey again, something stood out to me that helps me understand more why that might be. In the beginning, Terah ‘took’ Abram, Sarai, and Lot with him when he left Ur. After Terah died, Abram was called by the Lord to “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you… so Abram left as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him.” Genesis 12:1-4 Later, “Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him.” Genesis 13:1.
We don’t see Lot talking with the Lord or committing to obeying the Lord. We only see him going along for the ride with Abram. Maybe he liked adventure. Maybe he saw something in Abram that he liked and was drawn to but didn’t see the need to purpose his life to obeying the Lord. For a time, at least, he was enjoying the blessings by hanging out with Abram.
But when their servants began to fight over pasture and water for their herds, Abram suggested they split ways. He gave Lot the first choice which way to go. And Lot (like many of us would) chose what he perceived to be the best. “Lot looked up and saw the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar.” Genesis 13:10
Now Lot is on his own. And when trouble comes to the land he is living in, he and all his family and possessions are taken as plunder by the conquering kings. When Abram hears about it, he takes 318 of the trained men born in his household and pursues them. They successfully recover the plunder including Lot and his family and return them to their home in Sodom. Abram is still looking out for Lot even though Lot is no longer ‘his responsibility’. God blessed Abram and his men with the strength to overcome the kings who had overcome Sodom. Lot once again benefits from Abram’s relationship with the Lord and seems to be content with that and not motivated to have his own relationship with the Lord.
Years later, when the Lord has made a covenant with Abram and renamed him Abraham, Lot is once more in trouble because the Lord is planning to destroy Sodom because of the great sin there. Abraham pleads with the Lord to not destroy Lot. And the Lord sends angels to remove Lot and his family before destroying the city. In that action, Lot loses everything – even his wife who seemed more attracted to what was left behind and not able to focus on what was ahead. Lot and two of his daughters survived and lived in a cave because they were afraid to stay in Zoar. So Lot has escaped with his life, but the ‘good life’ he had in Sodom is a thing of the past. Lot doesn’t ever seam to recover from that because he has never sought his own relationship with the Lord. Even in his distress, he didn’t seem to understand that it was the Lord leading and protecting Abraham and that he could experience that too if he were to be obedient to the Lord. He was content to ‘take care of himself’ and not ‘need the Lord’.
I wonder how often I am content to ‘take care of myself’ and ‘not need the Lord’ and how many blessings I walk away from because I am too busy to listen and be obedient to what the Lord is calling me to do. It is so very easy to get caught up in the daily living things, to develop ‘comfort habits’, to take the easy way that looks inviting, and to ignore the voice of God speaking into my life. When I look at the outcomes between Abraham and Lot, there is no comparison! Being obedient to God has a much, much better outcome than following my own desires.
Lord, please open my eyes to see and my ears to hear You. I desire to obey you, serving you with my whole life, holding nothing back. I know Abraham had to do a lot of hard things and I will too, but in the end, those hard things bring me closer to You and that is where I want to be. Thank You for Your great love and awesome grace through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Many times I have looked at the story of Abram and Lot and noticed that Lot’s life was not nearly as fulfilling as Abram’s. Today, as I was reading the story of their journey again, something stood out to me that helps me understand more why that might be. In the beginning, Terah ‘took’ Abram, Sarai, and Lot with him when he left Ur. After Terah died, Abram was called by the Lord to “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you… so Abram left as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him.” Genesis 12:1-4 Later, “Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him.” Genesis 13:1.
We don’t see Lot talking with the Lord or committing to obeying the Lord. We only see him going along for the ride with Abram. Maybe he liked adventure. Maybe he saw something in Abram that he liked and was drawn to but didn’t see the need to purpose his life to obeying the Lord. For a time, at least, he was enjoying the blessings by hanging out with Abram.
But when their servants began to fight over pasture and water for their herds, Abram suggested they split ways. He gave Lot the first choice which way to go. And Lot (like many of us would) chose what he perceived to be the best. “Lot looked up and saw the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar.” Genesis 13:10
Now Lot is on his own. And when trouble comes to the land he is living in, he and all his family and possessions are taken as plunder by the conquering kings. When Abram hears about it, he takes 318 of the trained men born in his household and pursues them. They successfully recover the plunder including Lot and his family and return them to their home in Sodom. Abram is still looking out for Lot even though Lot is no longer ‘his responsibility’. God blessed Abram and his men with the strength to overcome the kings who had overcome Sodom. Lot once again benefits from Abram’s relationship with the Lord and seems to be content with that and not motivated to have his own relationship with the Lord.
Years later, when the Lord has made a covenant with Abram and renamed him Abraham, Lot is once more in trouble because the Lord is planning to destroy Sodom because of the great sin there. Abraham pleads with the Lord to not destroy Lot. And the Lord sends angels to remove Lot and his family before destroying the city. In that action, Lot loses everything – even his wife who seemed more attracted to what was left behind and not able to focus on what was ahead. Lot and two of his daughters survived and lived in a cave because they were afraid to stay in Zoar. So Lot has escaped with his life, but the ‘good life’ he had in Sodom is a thing of the past. Lot doesn’t ever seam to recover from that because he has never sought his own relationship with the Lord. Even in his distress, he didn’t seem to understand that it was the Lord leading and protecting Abraham and that he could experience that too if he were to be obedient to the Lord. He was content to ‘take care of himself’ and not ‘need the Lord’.
I wonder how often I am content to ‘take care of myself’ and ‘not need the Lord’ and how many blessings I walk away from because I am too busy to listen and be obedient to what the Lord is calling me to do. It is so very easy to get caught up in the daily living things, to develop ‘comfort habits’, to take the easy way that looks inviting, and to ignore the voice of God speaking into my life. When I look at the outcomes between Abraham and Lot, there is no comparison! Being obedient to God has a much, much better outcome than following my own desires.
Lord, please open my eyes to see and my ears to hear You. I desire to obey you, serving you with my whole life, holding nothing back. I know Abraham had to do a lot of hard things and I will too, but in the end, those hard things bring me closer to You and that is where I want to be. Thank You for Your great love and awesome grace through Jesus Christ. Amen.
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