Job

I heard a great message delivered by David Platt to his congregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Their area has been ravaged by the tornadoes that we've seen on the news recently. What a difficult message that must have been to deliver or even to come up with since so many in their faith family were hurting and experiencing devastating loss.

His message was on Job, the ultimate example of the sufferer. Job - the man who never knew about that conversation between God and Satan that resulted in his loss of so much. From Job's perspective, he loses everything and is given no purpose in it. There's no indication that Job ever knows about that conversation between God and Satan. He loses loved ones and property and even his health and then the loss of support from his wife and his friends. Those calling him friends go on and on for endless chapters doubting that he is faultless in his pain. Then in chapter 40 God speaks. He is poised to answer the question of why we humans must suffer and why bad things happen to good people and ...................... God proceeds to respond by asking 60-some questions of Job. He doesn't answer. The answer is this - He is God and He was with Job through all of it. The supreme God of the Universe who omnisciently knows all the answers, does not answer with the kind of answers we want. He answers with Himself.

And that got me thinking. My whole spiritual journey has led to that same point. I sought concrete answers for so long. I want to know exactly the answer to this theological controversy or that. Why did I have to go through this hardship or that one? And then not so long ago, I stopped needing answers in the way I once imagined an answer. What I longed for more than anything was His Power and His Presence in my world and in me. At first I thought I might be compromising in some way - maybe I was broken. But the longer this goes, the more REAL answers I get. The peace that He is giving me is far beyond anything I had when I got the answers. I am so grateful that He knows better than I do PRECISELY what I need. His Power, Presence and Grace are more than enough.