"When no one else sees you. But you and God alone. The moment when there is no time to pretend, to please."
Life is a journey. Cliche. But it really is right? One day you see the sun, can’t barely look at its bright circle linings while its rays penetrating your skin. The other day, gray, clouds covered the entire sky, rain pouring down, can’t barely count each circle it creates on the ground. The thing is: you have to live the life as it is.
In the Bible, there was once a man named Job, who had almost everything because the Lord loved him and blessed him. A perfect life to live. Job never experienced drought in his life because he has all the resources. Never he experienced pain, but love and prosperity. Praise God isn’t? For us, that’s the picture of L I F E, no burden, no struggle, no problem. We would praise God all day for blessing us like Job. Why not? God hears our prayer. That’s how he is. He will give us everything we want. All we need. But one day in the story Job had lost it. Everything. And God allowed it. I wonder if it’ll still be the same story, praising God, worshiping him, even if you had nothing and no one else anymore. Would you still be the same?
Yes Job had lost every thing that he had. From material things to the person that he loves, his entire family. My question is that: why would God allow someone to be hurt? to experience pain? I hate being in trouble. We all do, and that is why we follow rules. But rules will never protect us from being hurt. It will still happen that way it should be. Job 1:7 revealed to me that we feel troubled because of Satan. Satan wants you to be hurt. Satan wants to hurt God but he can never do this because God is so powerful and above him and so his back up plan? to hurt God’s children. To hurt us. Job 1:12 revealed to me then, that God allows us to experience challenges and struggles because he knows us. Yes he knows you that is why you encounter problems everyday. But one thing is for sure, God will never let you harm. He never let us in trouble but promised not even a touch of harm. Jeremiah 29:11 this is his promise. It is Satan who gave us trouble. God gave us challenges because He knows in the first place we can overcome it. Overcome it with Him.
I want that feeling, knowing that God is so proud of you that he even point you out of everybody because you have done so good in his eyes. Job 1:8 I want that distinction like Job. I want to be like Job, who in spite of his losses, his painful experience and it seems like God is not with him, he still able to humble himself before God, and praise Him even more. You, in those times that you felt like the Lord is so distant. You have no one else to tell and nothing left. The more we should connect ourselves to God. The problem is that, we just remember Him when situations are sweet and heaven. But when circumstance failed on the way we wanted it, we forget Him. Others do the opposite, they just remember God when situations are gray, broken glass like hopeless and so distressing. But when the sun rises again, dark shades are on and forgot that the world was once dark literally in his eyes.
One point: the Lord wants to be praised at all times. At all cost no matter what the reason is. He wants to be remembered not just in situations that your comfortable with but in situations in which faith matters the most. You have challenges. Yes. You struggles. Yes and he knows that. He knows you more than anybody else. That is why He will never leave you.
If I ask you again, would you still be the same? The same hand, raised as a sign of surrendering to him. Raised as a sign of reaching out to him, praising him, worshiping him. Or the hand, that will just be used in sins, violence and would bring harm. The same eyes who see all the reason to be hurt and just so as to hurt other people. The eyes that see first weaknesses and insecurities. Or the eyes, who see first the name of God, and second see the cross because he knows that God is above all. Greater than all of our problems. The eyes who see vision. The same ears who hear truth and promises. Or the ears who just hear all the lies and deceits. All judgements thrown. Who hear the voice of the enemy louder than the voice of God. The same mouth who speaks praises, who shouts joy and happiness, who speaks wisdom, vision, and kind words. Or the mouth who will just speaks judgement, lies, and curses. The mouth who stayed shut or worst, speaks praises, not in the glory of God but in the glory of his own banner.
My prayer is to be like Job. Who chose to live the life. Who will choose to seek the reason and purpose, will continue to run, will choose to fight. That even when he has all the reason to curse the one true God, he chose to praise. And just to praise. I want to be like him which God was so proud of. Distinct, to which God even pointed out his name, God truly honors. Formidable character, unshakable faith. Constant. I pray to have a constant reason to praise.
Tough times are really not an easy encounter, but because of this story I am assured that the Lord is there at all times. Faith really matters, and faith are boundless, at all reason you should have that faith in him. That no matter how painful the heat and drowning the flood is, you still know that he is the Lord. That even when they all left you and no one else was there help you, to lift you up, to rescue you. Rest assure that he will never leave you.
The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
