| Job 1:1-3:26, I Corinthians 14:1-17, Psalm 37:12-29, Proverbs 21:25-26
“‘Skin for skin,’ Satan replied, ‘A man will give anything to save his life. Touch his body with sickness and he will curse You to Your face.’ So, Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with a terrible case of boils from head to foot. Then Job took a broken piece of pottery to scrape himself and sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, ‘Are you still trying to be godly when God has done all this to you? Curse Him and die.’ But he replied, ‘You talk like some heathen woman. What? Shall we receive only pleasant things from the hand of God and never anything unpleasant?’ So, in all this Job said nothing wrong.” Job 2:6-10
Lord, help us all. I appreciate Job’s heart and attitude toward God. Satan is familiar with the nature of people; he’s been around a long time. When Satan came before God, He actually presented Job. Satan said, “Yeah, I know the guy. Take everything away and he’ll turn on You.” So, as we read, Job lost his wealth, his ability to get wealth, all of his employees, and all of his children. Then Satan requested his health.
God had a hedge of protection around Job. We all need to be grateful for that hedge, even if it does get lowered occasionally. God has so much confidence in Job and in us, so much so, that He has entrusted us with our particular walk. God is watching our lives and our response to hardships. No matter how things are going, or how alone we may feel, we can see through Job that God is consistently with us and everything is filtering through His hands. He has not forgotten you. In our Psalm reading today, it states that even though the godly go through hard things, God is rewarding us with eternal treasure. Eternal is enduring my friend; it is far more valuable than anything here has to offer. The Apostle Paul phrased it like this: “For this light and momentary affliction is working in us an eternal weight of glory.” (Read II Corinthians 4!) I know it doesn’t feel good, take courage, the Lord will see you through. And when it’s time, He will dry our eyes and we will dwell in the comfort of His presence for eternity. Love you…
PRAYER: Lord, I ask that You comfort my friends today. Reach out to those who are hurting and provide strength and solutions. Lord, lift the burdens that are so great and give them hope, beauty for their ashes. Restore all the enemy has stolen in Jesus’ name. We decree and declare it – amen, so be it. |
