“At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” Job 1:20-22 (NIV)
What is our reaction when catastrophe strikes? It matters. Crisis is the great revealer of the heart, Amen? When things are going swimmingly well, we are rarely squeezed. We can put on our happy faces and do the next right thing. But when the full toilet overflows or the septic tank backs up or the call from the ER arrives it’s not so easy. We forget all the good and find ourselves questioning and dwelling on the hard. It is God’s desire for His children to keep their eyes on Who is in control of all things and seek to discover what He is bringing about in our lives through this - even this. He desires for us to trust Him in all matters of our life – particularly the most difficult ones. We are His and He loves us with an everlasting love. He desires for us to remain in perfect peace as we keep our eyes fixed on Him – whether we readily understand what He allows or not.
God can take His children from the sunshine of prosperity to the midnight of adversity in a moment’s time (as He did with His servant Job) – from calm to crisis in a mere blink of an eye. The sun will not always be shining down upon us and we would do well to expect the absence of former joys and seek our Lord Jesus in our hour of darkness. Remember what the Apostle Paul wrote to his son in the faith timid Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” We must learn to discipline our emotions and do the next right thing. Our feelings are the caboose of the train not the engine. It behooves us to be content with the divine order of our Lord and like Job, be willing to receive the hard as well as the good from His Hand. We, like Job, are to praise Him in all things. We must believe that the night is as useful in our lives as the day. God is conforming us into the image of His Son and it takes both. It is hard to readily appreciate the light rightly when there has been no darkness. Indeed, a good painting has both. Remember as well that the stars of His promises shine the brightest amid the darkness of our grief. And grief will not always be so – soon the light of day approaches.
“For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Psalms 30:5 (NIV)
“You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.” Psalms 30:11-12 (NIV)