Daily Devotion, January 26, 2022

 

Devotion:

Read Job 42:1-6.

Job is a person of great faith. Until the time of Job the basic belief was that spiritual piety would produce prosperity and a life full of sin would produce suffering. God was perceived to be distant. Job was faithful in every way and yet he still suffered. His friends offered misguided advice about God.

Job suffered with the loss of his wealth, his family and his own health. Job remained faithful. Job called out to God. And God answered. Chapters 38-41 of Job record some of the most beautiful, powerful and descriptive words about God. And in many of the verses of these chapters, it is God who is asking the questions. And for God’s questions, Job has no answers.

Job 42 is Job’s confession out of his encounter with the Living God. In verse 5, Job speaks to God. “My ears have heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Job’s experience of the presence of the Living God put everything in perspective and far outweighed anything his friends had told him. It was all Job needed to continue in faithfulness unto God.

In its own way, the Old Testament Book of Job helps to give voice to some of our deepest questions. These questions and especially questions we might describe as “wrestling with God” come when we are going through seasons of suffering.

Dr. Ralph L. Smith writes, “Sufferers find in the book of Job a word of encouragement. Suffering may come upon one suddenly, mercilessly, and inexplicably. We, like Job, may never know why we are suffering. We may never receive the explanation we need, but we can be sure that God hears all of our prayers and will understand our heartaches. God can receive and be understanding with our questions and will be with us through it all.”

Personal Worship Option:

God’s question to Job in 38:11 which in essence asks “Can you hold the oceans back at its shorelines?” invites us to the higher ground of truly seeing that God is God and we are not. And yet, God is always gracious to work with us through our questions until we can see and experience God in new ways, which allows us to grow in our faith and trust God with our futures.