SOULJournal

28 Days - Day 13

In brokenness we are reminded us that God is sovereign and as a result we must prepare ourselves for blessing and adversity

Job says it, God is God and He can do as He pleases. 

• What we can rely on is the fact that He will use everything for His good.
• What we can count on is that He is good and compassionate even in the midst of the most painful situations.
• What we must hold fast to is that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

• Isaiah 55:9 (NIV) ⁹ "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

 

So our response in the middle of the brokenness and pain should be to draw near to God.  To say,

• God I trust you. 
• I don’t know why I am going through this. 
• If there is something I can learn from it show me.
• I believe that it will be for your glory so I will run to you. 
• Hold me close.  Deepen me.  Change me.

"Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?

 

28 Days - Day 9

Brokenness can lead us to an encounter with God but that is up to you. 

And while brokenness can lead us to an encounter with God there is another reality as well…
Any encounter with God will leave us broken and humbled.

This was the prophet Isaiah’s experience.

• Isaiah 6:1-5 (NIV) ¹  In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²  Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³  And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." ⁴  At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. ⁵  "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

Isaiah sees himself in light of God's perfection and realizes just how far he is from perfection and it humbles him and brings him to his knees. 

So whether it is the encounter that leaves you broken and humbled or that it is in your brokenness you encounter God we must respond and our response is important.

Job 39

This song came to mind as I was reading Job 39 today.  I am amazed at the greatness of our God. 

 

Job 38-41

God, whom Job has complained is beyond reach, suddenly appears. But God does not come to be questioned by Job. Instead, God poses two series of questions and challenges Job to answer.

The first series (38:1-39:30) disputes Job's knowledge of the physical universe, knowledge which God surely possesses. Job, humbled, realizes how limited his knowledge is (40:1-5). God asks Job, who cannot even master the physical universe, if he will question the Lord's command of the moral universe (vv. 6-14). Surely man's limited authority over evil, as well as nature, must teach human beings not to claim greater competence than God in the moral realm (40:15-41:34).

As we read God's words to Job we recognize the irony of His questions, but must also sense the gentleness in the Lord's voice.

God does not explain why Job is suffering. After all, it's really not Job's place to demand that God report to him! Yet the Lord never charges Job with sin. He does not even, as Elihu did, rebuke Job for going too far in questioning the divine justice. The entire monologue by God has one purpose only. The Lord informs Job that He really does know what He is doing, even though Job may not. This, after all, is the essense of relationship with God.

The strength to face difficult times is not found in knowing why we must face them, but in the confidence that our great God loves us completely and that He is still in charge.

Bible Reader's Companion.

Job 34

Chapters 32-37

Job's three friends had in their minds this concept of God: God must act to punish sin and reward good. Their conclusion was that Job had sinned and his troubles were a divine judgment.
The sad part was that Job agreed with this assessment! He could find no explanation other than sin for suffering. Yet Job knew that he had not sinned. Caught between these two opposing thoughts, Job was forced to go further and further and to question God's justice. Finally he faced the fact that in this world the evil do not always suffer. And that at times believers may have more difficulties than unbelievers!

This line of reasoning was rejected by the three friends. Job had to be forced to admit he had sinned, or they must change the picture of God they had hung in their hearts to worship.

But then a young observer broke in. Elihu had been silent as the older men talked. But Elihu had been frustrated by their circular argument. Finally, about to burst, Elihu broke in.

The three friends had reasoned syllogistically: Suffering is punishment for sin; Job was suffering; therefore Job was being punished for some sin. Job rejected the conclusion, but could not reject either premise! Now, what Elihu did was to show that the premises need not be accepted! God may use suffering to instruct as well as to punish (Job 33:19-30).

Elihu couldn't say just why God had permitted Job's suffering. But Elihu had shown that suffering is not necessarily punishment for sin.

The Teacher's Commentary.