These last years I have felt very akin with Job from the Bible. I have thought of him often and wondered what he was thinking when he was sitting in the ashes scraping himself with a piece of broken pottery, his whole body full of sores, all his children dead, all his possessions gone, and his wife telling him to curse God and die!
Job didn’t know he was a spiritual battle, that he was being a vivid testimony before all the hosts of the heavens of what it means to be blameless before God. “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10), he asked. But in all that happened to him he did not sin against God.
Job was not only misunderstood by his wife; even the friends that came to console him were judgmental. They were sure there was something Job must have done wrong to cause all this pain. I’m sure God looked down on his servant, proud as a father whose child has graduated high school with honors, saying maybe “Son, if you only knew! Sorry, I can’t tell you the reason, but you are making me proud. Just hang in there.”
The story of Job inspires me with hope. Every morning when I wake up with such pain in my feet I can barely step on the floor, I brace myself and I just say “Thank you, Jesus. I love you.” I know he could just say a word and the pain would be gone. He must have a reason for not doing it. I just need to be patient and keep on keeping on in faith. Whatever my circumstances I want to serve the Lord with gladness.
Last week I saw my doctor. She gave me a new medication to see if we can keep the pain at bay. It’s long-lasting. I take one pill every 12 hours. I’ve just started with it and it seems to be working. Less pain but I get drowsy. I guess you got to take the good with the bad.
Here is the confidence Job had in the midst of all his troubles:
Job 19:23-27
Oh, that my words were recorded,
that they were written on a scroll,
that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead,
or engraved in rock forever!
I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see him
with my own eyes–I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!
I know that my Redeemer lives! That’s the hope that kept Job confident. His heart yearned for the day he would see God. That is a hope like no other! It makes me want to shout.
Job held out. He listened to his “friends” chastising him; very sure as they were that he must have done something wrong. None of them knew it was a spiritual battle. Job won and then God blessed the latter part of his life more than the first.
Whatever your situation is right now, if you’re in a spiritual battle (even if you don’t know it!), hang on to the assurance that your Redeemer lives. That’s the hope that keeps me going. It’s the hope beyond all hopes. Jesus lives! With him whatever battle can be won. Don’t give up! Like the song goes: Don’t give up on the brink of a miracle!
Si vida no sólo es un ejemplo, es también un aliento y un consuelo.