“Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.”
(Isaiah 53:10, NIV)
The Bible teaches us that God does not despise a contrite and humbled heart; however, although it seems that sometimes God is distant and the circumstances we are going through are averse to such an extent that we feel that the world is falling on us and that we cry out to God and He does not respond to help us, God is present in every stage of our lives and does not forget His children.
God knows our hearts and is pleased when we follow His commandments, ordinances, and instructions. However, our life in this world is made up of stages. Ecclesiastes tells us that everything has its time. What does this refer to? There are times when God allows us to go through difficult times; moments in which our faith is tested, just as those men and women of God were tested in ancient times.
The Scriptures present us with the example of Job, a righteous man who afflicted his soul before God for his family, that if they had sinned before God, they might obtain mercy. Although the Bible refers to Job as righteous, God wanted to test Job by allowing him to go through various trials and adversities, including sickness, death of his children, losses, his friends turned against him, and even his wife urged him to curse God and die.
I imagine Job felt lonely and abandoned, not knowing what to do or how to respond to the situation; so he came to the point of questioning God. Despite all that he experienced; God says that Job remained faithful. Amid his circumstances, he had a personal encounter with God and came to express: "I spoke what I did not understand..."
In our circumstances, we say things we don't understand, and we don't realize that we are losing focus on God's purpose in our lives and perhaps we are offending God.
We all have a purpose in this world and we're part of a much bigger plan than we are. It's all about God and what He wants to do in and through us for His glory. If you do not understand why you are going through what you are experiencing, remember that you are part of a plan.
God allowed Job to come to his senses and after the whole process he was able to say, "My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you." (NIV) Job was able to have a clear vision of what God wanted. God saw Job's heart and rewarded him with much more than he had lost, and took him to a new level in God.
When the enemy whispers to us that God forgot about us, causing us to question God's care for us so that we will turn back and forsake the ways of the Lord; it's the time when we have to rebuke Him with authority with God's Word, wipe away our tears, refocus, and move on. Just as God did not abandon Job, neither will He abandon His children.
In conclusion, the verse at the beginning tells us about Jesus, our Master, whom Jehovah wanted to break and suffer for your sake and mine. It was through His death that He bore the sin of mankind and paid the price of our salvation. Yet, after all the suffering, He rose incorruptible, overcoming death, and death on a cross, so that you and I might have eternal life.
Like Jesus, who prayed for his transgressors, Job, being led by God, prayed for his friends. They had judged and criticized Job in his trial, but after he had prayed for them, God blessed Job and gave him more than he lost.
Just as the photo at the beginning of this thought projects a rose in a broken glass, you and I carry something beautiful, but perhaps, like the glass, we are broken. God wants to heal us and take us to a new level of blessing and above all we know Him more closely, but this will only happen when we go to God in repentant prayer asking forgiveness and mercy for those who hurt us along the way. After all, we are human beings with feelings and are prone to fail each other. However, God forgives us and forgives those who have wronged us.
Today is the day to draw near to God confident that His forgiveness envelops us, and His grace sustains us.
Don't be discouraged if you're going through a stage of brokenness. God is taking you to a new stage of glory and blessing. He is with you. Fear not!
Song:
Elevation Worship – Trust In God (feat. Chris Brown)