Job 8:21
I’ve been thinking about this verse a lot lately. Personally I have been blessed with happiness in my life and there hasn’t been much sorrow. But unfortunately, there are people close to me that are filled with great sorrow. Maybe to the point that their sorrow is unbearable at times. Since I personally haven’t experienced great sorrow I have no way to comprehend what a person is going through during these difficult times.
Which makes me think of Job’s friends. Here is Job, a good and righteous Godly man, who is having his life stripped away from him. He loses his entire family, his fortune is taken away and his health deteriorates. However, he still praises God. His friends keep asking him why he still praises God when he is in such misery (after all, didn’t God do this to you?) But Job ignores his friends and continues to give God glory and praise.
Most people hear the story of Job and they see the undeniable faith of a man, no matter how bad it got. Most people gain strength from his story and try to model their own life in his direction. But for me, I am not Job but I am just a friend.
I pray that I am not like Job’s friends when my own friends are faced with sadness. I want to be like Job and always give God glory and praise. I don’t want to turn my back on Him. Maybe this is easier said then done since I haven’t been faced with such sadness. But I pray that God continues to give me guidance and strength in my life. I need it, daily. And unlike Job’s friends, I pray that I continuously see God’s will in our lives.
I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. Even the real bad things in life serve some type of purpose. Finding the purpose can be the hard part sometimes. But with God’s help, I think we can eventually overcome our sadness and weakness and become a much stronger, faithful person.
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For those that don’t know the story of Job-it does have a happy ending. God rewards him for his faithfulness and he is blessed with more children, double the wealth and his health is restored. Truly he laughed and rejoiced again.
