Lately I’ve been living a “grit my teeth” kinda faith. You know the kind, where you don’t see it, don’t feel it but you are going to believe it and walk in it any ways faith. Not to put myself in the same faith class as Job, but I have found myself wondering this week – How did Job do it???? HOW DID HE DO IT? H O W D I D H E DO IT?!
When you are hard pressed and cannot find any relief, when you feel like it’s you standing alone against everything… When your spiritual endurance has reached its end… When the attacks are coming so fast and so furious that you feel like you are being slapped in the face left and right, back and forth…
Times when you are soooooooo weary of it all that you just want to yell out, “That’s it!” Get up and push your chair into the table and declare, “No more Jello pudding for ME, MA!!!!”
And that is for those of us who are Christians and trying to “walk out” our faith. I honestly have no idea how those who aren’t believers don’t lose their absolute mind. Sometimes I feel as though my sanity is hanging by a thread of faith.
Here is the one thing that keeps me hanging on, no matter how I feel, no matter what my situation is, God is on His throne. He’s still in control, regardless of my feelings. I will admit that there are times when I want to rage and have a full blown childlike temper tantrum. There are times when ol’ slewfoot whispers in my ear, “Yeah, well if God cared SOOOOOO much about you, why are you struggling so hard?” Or he whispers other taunts to discourage me. Even when I’m in situations where I am laying prostrate with my face down and I don’t have the energy, strength or answers to say. I simply utter one of my “please God” prayers. There are times when I feel defeated by my circumstances, there are times when I really DO want to give up, but here is the thing. I know that this is when I am being tested. This is where the rubber hits the road, in spite of my faults and the things that God is working on within me, I know that there go I BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD. It’s ONLY His grace. If there is one thing that I am sure of, that I know from the 32 years I have been a Christian, it is that I am totally dependent upon Him. I recognize that I am weak, that I make mistakes that most of the situations I get into are of my own doing. Nothing comes as a surprise to God. He knows you intimately. He knows your mind, He knows your heart, He knows the desires of your heart, He knows what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are. He knows it ALL. And even more so, He sees the FULL picture. We only see part of it. The struggle is REAL. It’s what you do during that time of struggle that determines where your faith lies.
Satan went before the throne room of God and taunted him about his servant, Job.
On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. And the LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” Then the LORD said to Satan, “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. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.” (Job 2:2-2:6)
If Satan could go before God and taunt him about Job, there is a very good chance that he does the same with us.
What are you struggling with? What is your response to that struggle? Are you blaming God? Your reaction to your situation is being noted. It could very well be a test to determine if your faith lies within yourself or if your faith is in God. Sometimes your strength is so low that all you can say is, “I trust you Lord.”
Maybe that is when God steps in and says, “Okay – I’ve got this! TRUST ME. I’m bigger than your situation (even if it is a mess you yourself has made.) Maybe He just wants us to recognize that He is our provider, the lifter of our heads. We have promises that He has made us. I think God has given them to us for times to reflect on such as the above, so that when we are at our lowest of low moments, we can hold on to His words and trust that He is not a God that He would lie.
“I’ve got plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29)
“I have made you the head and not the tail.” (Deuteronomy 28:13)
“I have come so that you can have life and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
“Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not to your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.” (Psalm 3:5)
“If you being evil give good gifts to your children, how much more so will your Heavenly Father bless you, oh you of little faith?” (Matthew 7:11)
These are JUST a small portion of promises and words of encouragement that God has given us through His Word. It is during those times when ALL else has failed that we turn to what He has told us.
My hat is off to Job. I love the Lord, I cannot ever imagine “cursing God and dying” as Job’s wife instructed him to do. (Hence the saying: “with friends like that who needs enemies?”) I think this is one of the reasons why God encourages us to fellowship with other believers’, people who will encourage you and commiserate with you, so that when you are feeling like your strength is depleted they can strengthen you with prayer, the Word of God and with love.
One of the last things Jesus said before He rose to Heaven was:
“I will never leave for forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
Whatever we experience in life, He is right there with us, upholding us – whether we “feel it or not.” It is what He said. And if He said it, He meant it, and if He meant it – we can believe it. Just simply believe.
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