“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.”
Job 13:15
We don’t always understand the ways of the Lord, nor do we comprehend all that He does. The way that He moves in this world and the ways that He works in this world, it remains a profound mystery unto us as we search for answers amidst this temporal existence. We believe that for evil to happen in our lives, for evil to run its course through our lives God had to have a part in this. It is why the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people”, seems to always be so prevalent on our lips. We want to believe that there is a reason for all of this and that there is a just cause that occurs, weaving its way amidst this corporeal plane.
Even Job, now in the throes of his despair, the burden and the weight of his trials now weighing on him, finds himself believing that somehow God wills this wickedness to occur in his life. He hopes in the Lord, he trusts in the Lord, believing that it is all part of His divine plan, yet still his words are unmistakable. After all, “the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. (Job 1:21)
Yet the answers that we seek amidst the wickedness and the evil in this world, amidst the darkness that seems to afflict our souls, it’s not that simple of an answer. Yes God is alive and God is all powerful, He exists within a natural order of things, weaving all things together as He knits together the innermost being of people. (Psalm 139:3) Yet the pain and the suffer, the sorrow and the agony, the anguish and the torture that occurs amidst the torment of this world, it does not occur because God wants it to occur or even because He wants us to be tempted or to be tested amidst the fires of darkness that would seek to so encompass us in the captivity that is forged by the old Adversary.
Evil occurs because the prince of this world still has a hold over it. He moves freely through it in the corrupted image of sin and iniquity of mans transgressions as they forsake the love and the light of the Lord amidst their own actions and deeds. He works through the unrighteousness that he seeks to hold us all prisoner to in the deep and abiding struggles of this world as the challenges come to bear on our spirits and our souls, robbing us of our peace and our comfort. There is no solace amidst this world then, no rest in it as long as he comes like a roaring lion to devour us.
Still, with the whole armor of God, (Ephesians 6:10-18) we are given all that we may need to stand against the wiles of the Devil, and slay him, that while we stand triumphant amidst the Lord love, dwelling in His compassion and His mercy, Satan shall fall and his unrighteousness shall be exposed for the pale, weak imitation of authority that it truly is. Here we know that God then does not burden us with more than we can bear. After all “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
But then this is the triumphant message of Job, and it is a message unto all believers, unto all of the faithful children of the Lord, who, in their heart, in their soul, that their “Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.” There then they know that though the grave may eventually claim them and worms may destroy the body, in the flesh they shall behold the glories and the majesty of God’s magnificence. (Job 19:25-26) It is a transcending, and encompassing truth that comes to bear in all of our lives through all of our lives.
When we put this hope and this trust, this glorious faith in the Lord, knowing that He will give us strength and courage, He shall walk beside us, letting none stand against us all the days of our lives, as He abides in that faithful assurance that He shall never fail us or forsake us (Joshua 1:5) we always and forever shall know that we have built ourselves on a solid foundation, one that will always and forever withstand the pressures of this world and the burdens of it. This is what Job knew, and this is what the Lord, in preserving His Word and the ancient lessons of that righteous man of Uz wanted all of us to know amidst our own lives, in our own lives. Come what may, come what must, when we build our hope in the Lord, there is no bondage, there is no slavery, there is no captivity that cannot be broken as He ransoms His people by His authority for His name sake.
He washes us all pure in the precious blood of the Lamb, that we may be as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18) and here, He moves through our lives, by the power of the Spirit, to bring us to liberty, to the blessed air of freedom, (2 Corinthians 3:17) that we may forever and always dwell in His glory.
Yes we may feel the challenges of this age, we may feel the authority of the ancient Adversary coming to bear in our lives, we may feel the deep and abiding captivity of the spirit and the soul that he wages against us that He may seek our demise, our fall from grace, as he tries so desperately to win another soul for his war against the Lord. Yet his power is fleeting, and with a word his authority over us is gone as we find our hope and our faith built on the solid rock of God’s great and encompassing love. When it comes to bear in our lives and our expectations, our anticipation exalts Him above all else we may come to know the Devil will not be able to bind us, he will not be able to chain us in his slavery, for we have come to know the grace and the peace, the comfort and the love of the Lord in all things, through all things.
This must always and forever be the solid rock in which we stand upon and build our faith and our trust in. It is then that we know, come what may, come what must we shall see the victory of the spirit amidst the triumph of the soul as we rest in the house of the Lord forever, amidst the glorious conquest of Christ, who put to flight the power of sin, death and the Devil, setting captivity captive and ransoming a lost and fallen race.
Trust in this promise, in this hope, building your faith on it all of the days of your life and know that there will never be a moment or a time when you are let down, even amidst the greatest of challenges that comes to bear in your life, through all the days of your life. There is more than just the wickedness and the unrighteousness of the dark forces in this world and the love of the Lord shall always and forever show that, in grace, mercy and love in your life, even as the burdens are heavy and the trials of this worldly tribulations are great. It is then that we can always abide in the promise of Christ as he tells unto us, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
Lord, grant this unto us all…
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.
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