When God feels absent

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Job 20-23; Psalm 140

TO CHEW ON: "Look, I go forward, but He is not there,
And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him;
When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.
But He knows the way that I take,
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold." - Job 23:8-10





We left Job sitting in the ash heap, scraping his itchy, painful boils, mourning the loss of his children and possessions, and confused about why all this has happened. After sitting with him in silence for seven days, his three friends try to answer his question.

His friend Eliphaz thinks Job is suffering because he has sinned.

Bildad thinks he is a hypocrite.

Zophar condemns him for being verbose and presumptuous in his attempts to answer their accusations. *

Our reading today is one of Job's responses to his accusing friends. He, in effect, ignores all their finger-pointing and pleads his integrity. If only he could find God, God would "take note of" him. But God feels absent.

Still Job doesn't give up. Instead he puts into words his unswerving faith: "But He knows the way I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold" - Job 23:10.

Job does a number of things that we would do well to copy when we're going through trials:

1. He restates his belief that God is fair and is for him, even though it doesn't feel that way (Job 23:1-6).

2. He expresses the belief that God has a purpose for what is going on in his life even though He feels absent (Job 23:8-10).

3. He honours God with his statements of respect, trust and awe (Job 23:13-17).

The attitude he displays reminds me of the advice Jerry Bridges gives in his book Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts:

"Again, let me emphasize that trusting God does not mean we do not experience pain. It means we believe that God is at work through the occasion of our pain for our ultimate good. It means we work back through the Scriptures regarding His sovereignty, wisdom, and goodness, and ask Him to use those Scriptures to bring peace and comfort to our hearts. It means above all, that we do not sin against God by allowing distrustful and hard thoughts about Him to hold sway in our minds. It will often mean that we may have to say, 'God I don't understand, but I trust You'" - Jerry Bridges,  Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts, Kindle edition p. 214 (emphasis added)

I sure have far to go in this department! What about you?

PRAYER: Dear God, I can't tell how I would react in a tough situation like Job's—neither do I want to have to find out.  Please engrave Job's faith and confidence in You into my spirit so that I will be as solid as he was when troubles come to me, as I know they will. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 140


* Job summarized with help from "Introduction to Job," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, pp. 644, 645.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Calamities and spiritual warfare

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Job 4-7; Psalm 136

TO CHEW ON: "'Oh that I might have my request,
That God would grant me the thing that I long for!
That it would please God to crush me,
that He would loose His hand and cut me off!'" Job 6:8,9

Does Job sound depressed or what?

You will recall the beginning of the story, how in one day Job's life falls apart when calamity strikes from all directions. And then he gets sick (Job 1-2:10). His friends come to comfort him. Here he responds to the speech of his friend Eliphaz.

Job sounds like he feels betrayed, double-crossed, and attacked by the God he has been trying to please: "'For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; My spirit drinks their poison; The terrors of God are arrayed against me'" - Job 6:4.

He feels physically unable to bear the agony: "'Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh bronze?'" - Job 6:12.

He begs to die: "'Oh that I would have my request … That it would please God to crush me, That He would loose HIs hand and cut me off.'" - Job 6:8,9.

Is there a reply to what Job has said that isn't shallow and trite? Job's friends certainly don't have it for they keep insisting Job is responsible for the horrible scenario. We, however, have information that Job and his friends didn't have about what was happening behind the scenes. Charles E. Blair, my Bible's commenter on Job says:

"Job's criticisms of God that appear in chapters 6 and 7 as well as in his other responses to his friends can best be understood as a man's feeble attempts to make sense of a scenario for which he is missing an essential piece of information, namely that there is something happening between God and Satan—that there are spiritual purposes overriding earthly circumstances. Because he is unaware of this dimension of the spiritual realm, his understanding is severely impaired" - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 652.

Could unseen spiritual battles also be a part of the troubles, illnesses, calamities, and disasters that come to us? I believe they could. When we feel puzzled, let down, even betrayed by God, let's remember this aspect of Job's story. Let's pray over and into the activities in the spiritual realm, of which we're unaware, and let's keep despair and bitterness toward God from creeping into our hearts.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to see troubles that come to me and those around me with insight into spiritual warfare. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 136

The Bible Project - VIDEO: Job (Wisdom Series)




 

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Liquid prayer

Image: AndersAndersen / pixabay.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 126:1-6

TO CHEW ON: "Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy." Psalm 126:5


We could call the crying in this psalm the "ministry of tears" or "liquid prayer" (C. H. Spurgeon). In a sidebar article in my Bible, Dick Eastman has identified six aspects of the ministry of tears that are pictured in the Bible ("Tears and Brokenness in Victorious Warfare," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 787):

1. Tears of sorrow or suffering:
King Hezekiah was at death's door. He pleaded with God for a longer life. God's answer:

" ' I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold I am healing you…" - 2 Kings 20:5 (AMP).

2. Tears of joy:
Twin brothers Jacob and Esau had been estranged for years following Jacob's deceiving their father over the birthright. Now Jacob needed to pass through Esau's territory with his family and possessions. Did Esau still want to kill him? How would their meeting go? Jacob spent the night before, wrestling with a heavenly Being. In the morning they met this way:

"But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and hugged his neck and kissed him, and they wept [for joy]" - Genesis 33:4 (AMP).

3. Tears of compassion:
Jesus' friend Lazarus had died. As Jesus approached the home of his friend he was met by Mary and friends, all weeping. Even though he knew what He was going to do, in the moment Jesus was overcome by emotion—empathy, compassion:

"Jesus wept" - John 11:35.

4. Tears of desperation:
Haman had convinced King Ahasuerus that it was a good idea to wipe out the Jews. The reaction of Mordecai (Queen Esther's relative) and other Jews in Shushan and throughout the land:

"… He cried out with a loud and bitter cry … And in every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews with fasting, weeping and wailing" - Esther 4:1,3.

5. Tears of travail:
In Isaiah 42, the LORD promises to again provide help to His people. He describes the breakthrough as the the tears a mother cries when in the throes of labour pains:

"I have held My peace a long time. / I have been still and restrained Myself. / Now I will cry like a woman in labor" - Isaiah 42:14.

6. Tears of repentance:
Turning from our sin to God is often accompanied by tears:

"“Even now,” says the Lord,
“Turn and come to Me with all your heart [in genuine repentance],
With fasting and weeping and mourning [until every barrier is removed and the broken fellowship is restored]" - Joel 2:12 (AMP).

Whatever kind tears we are shedding right now, we know that God sees, cares, and takes notice. In our times of weeping, we are comforted, for:

"You number my wanderings;
Put my tears into Your bottle;
Are they not in Your book?
When I cry out to You,
Then my enemies will turn back;
This I know, because God is for me" - Psalm 56:8,9

PRAYER: Dear Father, help me in my times of weeping to turn to You for ultimate help.
Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

The horror of darkness

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 15:1-21

TO CHEW ON: "Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold horror and great darkness fell upon him.
Then He said to Abram: Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years." Genesis 15:12,13

Have you ever had a dream from which you awoke with pounding heart, in a sweat of fear, about to scream? Abram's dream of darkness here may have been of that type. It seems the horror and darkness he felt were connected to the content of the dream itself—a prophecy of Israel's years in Egypt.

Remind you of anything? What about the ninth plague where God told Moses He would send "...darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt" and it came about - Exodus 10:21-22.

Such supernatural darkness came on the earth another time too—in the middle of the day of Jesus' crucifixion: "Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over the land" - Matthew 24:45.

Darkness is mentioned a lot in Scripture.

• It is figurative of punishment.

* Israel was threatened with darkness for ignoring the prophets - Micah 3:6.
* Jesus said the faithless Jews of His day would be "cast into outer darkness" - Matthew 8:12.
* Peter talks of a place of punishment that is made of "...the blackness of darkness forever" - 2 Peter 2:17.

• It often describes the actions and lifestyle of the spiritually lost and confused - Matthew 6:23.

• But God's light dispels it - John 1:5.

• Though our natural inclination is to prefer darkness... - John 3:19.

• ... it is something we can choose to come out of - Romans 13:12; Ephesians 5:8

• and live in light - 1 Thessalonians 5:4,5.

If there is anything that ties all of these thoughts together, it is the idea that darkness is a picture of life without God. No wonder God was so hurt and disappointed when the Israelites, en-route to Canaan, repeatedly wanted to turn around and return to Egypt. Unfortunately, all too often they are a picture of us, wanting to go back to the old ways of darkness, not realizing that that place is, finally, a place of total horror and godforsakeness.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for dispelling the darkness of our spiritual condition and destiny by sending Jesus. Help me to resist the lure of darkness whenever it tempts me. Amen.

MORE: The world's light

"Then Jesus spoke to them again saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life" John 8:12.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

When distressed, be dressed—with praise!

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 61:1-11

TO CHEW ON: "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord
My soul will be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with jewels. Isaiah 61:10


What is your favorite outfit? A beautiful dress that you wore as mother of the bride? A shirt-tie-jacket-pants ensemble that makes you feel natty and invincible?

Why do you like it? Because of its comfort and warmth? Because of the way its colors and fit flatter your appearance, drawing attention to your best features while glossing over parts you'd rather not emphasize? Because of the way it brings back memories of the good times spent in it?

Our reading today compares praise to a garment (Isaiah 61:3). A sidebar article in my Bible delves into how this is so:

"The Hebrew word for garment (atah) shows praise as more than a piece of clothing casually thrown over our shoulders. It literally teaches us 'to wrap' or 'cover' ourselves—that garment of praise is to have no openings through which hostile elements can penetrate. This garment of praise repels and replaces the heavy spirit" - "The Glorious Garment of Praise, Charles Green, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 946.

Our favorite physical outfit can never do what it does for us, however, by hanging in the closet. We must put it on.

In the same way, a heavy spirit of doom, doubt, hopelessness, and discouragement will never be lifted by simply knowing about the garment of praise. We must put it on by praising, by letting praise take our attention off us and our situation and wrapping us in truths about God—what He is to us, what He has done for us.

• Praise warms and protects us. 

• It makes us attractive as it changes the attire:

"… beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness" - Isaiah 61:3.

We're more than just attractive, in fact, but dazzling—an ornamented bridegroom and a bejewelled bride (Isaiah 61:10).

• Finally, it reminds us of our spiritual heritage and give us memories to to pass on to our kids and grand-kids.

The article above ends with this catchy phrase. Let's take it into our day:

"When distressed, be dressed—with praise!"

PRAYER: Dear God, please remind me of the garment of praise the next time I feel heavy and pessimistic. May it become my go-to outfit! Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

No More!

"... New Jerusalem ... prepared as a bride..." Rev. 21:2

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Revelation 21:1-7

TO CHEW ON: "'And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.'" Revelation 21:4


Our reading today is so rich, it's hard to pick out one idea on which to focus. But the "no more"s listed here have their hands up and are waving wildly, so let's take a minute to ponder them and a few more found in Revelation. These are things that will have no place, that are no more in the "new heaven and a new earth" that God has prepared.

No more sea - Revelation 21:1

Hmm, interesting. But I love the sea—from a place of safety, of course, when on land looking at its beauty and appreciating its place in the water cycle. Of course the sea is also the source of much heartache, taking the lives of sailors, sweeping coastal communities away in its storm surges and tsunamis. In God's wisdom our new home, that 'holy city," will have no more sea.

No sorrow. No crying - Revelation 21:4

"Sorrow" and "crying" stand in for a host of experiences and emotions from disappointment to devastation, having hurt feelings to experiencing the pain of abuse and separation. All the things that would make us sorrowful and cause us to cry will someday be NO MORE!

No pain - Revelation 21:4

No more physical pain that makes us grit our teeth to go on, or confines us to beds or wheelchairs. There will be no more psychological and emotional pain either—that pain that drives people to depression or to seek the bitterest of relief in addictions or obsessions.

No curse - Revelation 22:3.

What curse? The curse spoken of in Genesis 3:17-19, of obstacle-filled yet necessary work that seems so pointless when it leads, in the end, to us joining the ground we spent our whole lives tilling.

No night - Revelation 22:5

No dark to stumble around in, a cover for evil. Perhaps no more need to sleep.

No death - Revelation 21:4

No more untimely separations from those we love.

What a future to contemplate!

PRAYER: Dear God, it's hard to even imagine a future without things like sorrow, pain, crying, obstacles, death. I love Your guarantee: "I make all things new." Help me to remember this when events in my life cause me to become disheartened and weary, even distraught and panicked. Amen.

MORE: No More Night sung by David Phelps

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New King James Version (NKJV) Used with permission. The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Template for trouble

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 30:1-12

TO CHEW ON: "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness." Psalm 30:11

I remember when my kids were little and how often they got sick. It seems all it took was  one little exposure to the church nursery or a friend's visit for one of my little ones to come down with the virus du jour. That meant a week to ten days of sitting at home nursing cranky babies--and sometimes hubby or myself--while the bug made its rounds. The ceiling seemed low, the walls tight and confining, the days ahead long and uninviting during such a bout.

David may have written Psalm 30 under such a cloud, only worse. Several times he even recalls being at death's door. What does he do in the middle of his dark time?

He doesn't pretend it isn't happening or that it isn't hard. He cries to God for healing (vs. 3), weeps (vs. 5), is troubled (vs. 7). But in each instance he also reminds himself of Who he trusts above all. And he recalls how God helped him in the past: "You healed me…" (vs. 2); "…joy comes in the morning" (vs. 5); "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing" (vs. 11).

Whatever circumstance is causing the pall you are under today, let this psalm be a template for how to react. Give vent to your emotions, yes, but don't stay in despair. Remember God's help to you in the past and let those memories boost your faith. Trust in God's goodness and love toward you for the future. And express thanks for the outcome you hope for in a prayer of faith.

PRAYER: Thank You, God, that You will turn my mourning into dancing; You will put off my sackcloth (for us moderns, black clothes signifying grief) and clothe me with gladness. I will praise and give thanks to You forever. Amen.

MORE: "His Eye is on the Sparrow" by Lauryn Hill and Tanya Blount (from the movie "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit")

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

Template for trouble

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 30:1-12

TO CHEW ON: "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness." Psalm 30:11

Last week my daughter's little family was sick -- again! It seems all it takes this year is one little exposure to the church nursery or a friend's visit for one of her little ones to come down with the virus du jour. That means a week to ten days of sitting at home nursing cranky babies -- and sometimes hubby or herself -- while the bug makes its rounds. The ceiling can seem pretty low, the days stretch ahead long and uninviting, during such a bout.

It seems that David may have written Psalm 30 under such a cloud, only worse. Several times he even recalls being at death's door. What does he do in the middle of his dark time?

He doesn't pretend it isn't happening or that it isn't hard. He cries to God for healing (vs. 3), weeps (vs. 5), is troubled (vs. 7). But in each instance he also reminds himself of Who he trusts above all. And he recalls how God helped him in the past: "You healed me…" (vs. 2); "…joy comes in the morning" (vs. 5); "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing" (vs. 11).

Whatever circumstance is causing the pall you are under today, let this psalm be a template for how to react. Give vent to your emotions, yes, but don't stay in despair. Remember God's help to you in the past and let those memories boost your faith. Trust in God's goodness and love toward you for the future. And express thanks for the outcome you hope for in a prayer of faith.

PRAYER: Thank You, God, that You will turn my mourning into dancing; You will put off my sackcloth (for us moderns, black clothes signifying grief) and clothe me with gladness. I will praise and give thanks to You forever. Amen.

MORE: "His Eye is on the Sparrow" by Lauryn Hill and Tanya Blount (from the movie "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit"

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