Tag: Job

The Anticipation

~ Sowmya Gali

Job 38: 1 – 4

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and instruct Me? Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.”

1 Kings 19: 11 – 13

So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind and earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

If we have read the Bible a few times already, we are familiar with the layout of the various texts, the chronological order of the characters and stories. We look forward to the familiar stories while eagerly search for passages that we have not paid attention to in the past. If we are hungry souls, we seek out time to be in the Word. We are like little birds with our mouths open wide so our Heavenly Father would feed us with His precious Word. God, in His loving kindness, never disappoints us. He satisfies us to our hearts’ content.

And then there are instances, where if we are familiar with the passage, we know what is coming around the corner. We know the sequence of the timeline. We know the instances where God is going to speak to a man/woman. We anticipate with abated breath the words God is going to speak. However familiar they are, we are eager to read them again. We picture ourselves in the instance when God is speaking to a certain man.

Ride along with me for an imaginary journey where God spoke and we witnessed it through the Scriptures! Imagine watching God say the Word and the world and everything was created. Imagine watching God fashion man with His own hands. Imagine hearing God command Noah to build the ark. Imagine hearing God call Abraham out of Chaldea and the promise of heirs as numerous as the stars in the sky. Imagine viewing the wrestling match between Jacob and the ‘angel’ of God. Imagine being near the burning bush when God spoke to Moses. Imagine being a witness when Gideon demands a sign from God. Imagine the terror the prophets of God experienced whenever God spoke to them. Imagine seeing what John the Baptist saw after he baptized Jesus. Imagine being fearful perceiving along with the disciples Jesus walking on the water.

Job had a very special encounter with the Lord. Here he was pitying himself for all the evil that has befallen him and a few of his friends joined his pity party to console him. None could console him nor give a valid reason for the evil that visited Job. Finally, when God spoke, God challenged Job to answer His questions with good reasons. Job had no valid answers to give to God as to why God shouldn’t allow such dread to come to him. If he trusted in God Almighty, he should have trusted in His will completely without a question. Job was left speechless and surrendered to God once again.

Now imagine standing next to Elijah as he is eagerly anticipating to meet God. When God commanded him to go up on the mountain, Elijah might have thought He would hear an audible booming sound from heaven. He sought the Lord in a mountain-wrecking, rock-breaking wind but the Lord wasn’t there. Imagine the terror Elijah must have experienced as he witnessed the powerful wind. Then he experienced a powerful earthquake, followed by a fire. God wasn’t there in them either. Confused at all these, he probably hid in a cave. God then speaks to Elijah through a gentle blowing of the wind – a breeze. Elijah, unable to behold the awesomeness of God, covered his face with a mantle. The anticipation, the anxiety, and the nervousness that Elijah must have gone through knowing that God is going to speak to him and not knowing how He is going to speak to Him.

What are we going to do when we are in such a situation? We are trusting God to speak to us but we aren’t aware of how He is going to speak to us. We may not hear Him speak like He did with people in the Old Testament. Yet, our Lord speaks. He speaks to us through His Word which we hold in our hands every day. He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, who indwells us. Are we in anticipation each day that our Lord is going to speak to us through His word? Are we ready to receive the Word when He speaks? Are we willing to surrender to His will when we know for sure that He spoke?

Dear Saint of God, imagine now being raptured with the other saints when Jesus appears in mid-Heaven to be with Him for all eternity. Imagine ruling with our King Jesus for a thousand years. Imagine witnessing the annihilation of all evil from all creation. Imagine observing the new heavens and the new earth finally revealed. Imagine the eternity we will spend with our Savior Redeemer, our only true love, King of kings, Lord of Lords, the Lamb of God, the Bridegroom, the Lion of Judah. The anticipation of finally entering into the eternal Kingdom to be with our Lord is exciting beyond words. May we live in anticipation of what awaits us beyond this earthly frame!

At the Crossroads

Featured ~ Sowmya Gali

Job 23: 8 – 14

“Behold, I go forward but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him; He turns to the right, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His path; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than any necessary food. But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does. For He performs what is appointed for me, and many such decrees are with Him.

Job found himself at the crossroads of life. Until now he thought he was right in the sight of God. He diligently followed the Lord, ensuring there was no sin in him and in his family, and offering sacrifices just in case he or one of his family members sinned in their thoughts. And yet, he found himself in a quagmire from which there seems to be no way out. He recollected if there was something in his past that could have brought about these trials in his life but to his dismay there was nothing. He was willing to seek the Lord’s forgiveness for any sin in his life but God brought nothing against him. His companions reasoning also brought to naught. Job was desperate to know why God allowed such hardships.

Job knew His God. He knew the commandments of the Lord. He knew what displeased Him and what brought pleasure. And yet he found that He could not perceive his God whichever way he turned. Many of us go through life knowing that we are on the right side of God. Diligently obeying His commands, living a righteous life, busy about God’s Kingdom and yet we find ourselves at life’s crossroads. We try to analyze what went wrong and start blaming God for all the wrong going in our lives.

While bemoaning his situation, Job was confident that his God knew which direction he was headed and confessed confidently that God will bring him out as pure gold after testing him. Job was not only confident of his own faith in God but also in God’s faithfulness towards him. He was confident that no matter what situation he was going through, God will direct his paths. Furthermore, he was confident that God will fulfill every promise. Such was Job’s faith in God.

Many of us go through situations where our faith is tested. We first try to reason just like Job if God has turned against us. Then we try to see if there was some unconfessed sin in our lives that is causing the trouble. We seek again Lord’s forgiveness even though He has already forgiven and forgotten. We remind God of our past sins when He has already forgotten. Still when our situation doesn’t improve, we come to terms that it is a trial that God is allowing and we should face that challenge with boldness. In all this, we have focused on ourselves more than focusing on God. ‘What did I do?’ ‘Why did it happen to me?’ ‘What should I do?’ ‘I did everything right.’

Maybe it is time we shift our focus from ourselves, our situations and focus on Him. Just as Job realized that God has the prerogative to do with us what He wants, we too must realize that we are His creation. Our Creator has every right to do what He pleases with us. The clay has no right to question the Potter. We are in His safe hands. The Master has the authority to fashion us according to His purposes. We just must trust Him.

Let us then abandon our confusion at the crossroads. Let us return to Him who is sovereign over everything. Let us harken to the words of Jesus: “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in Him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15: 5) Let us enter in to His rest and allow Him to become the true joy of our lives. When we are confident in Him who is able, then no storm, no trial, no disease, no mountain, etc., can shake us. His confidence becomes ours. God was confident of Job’s faithfulness and knew that he will come out as gold. That is why God boasted about Job’s faith before Satan even before his trials started. Dearly beloved, let us become confident of His faithfulness. No matter the depths of our anguish, our Lord will carry us through. Such is His love for us!