This post is part of the series His Encouragement
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Welcome! Welcome, dearest friends, to His Encouragement: Biblical Inspiration for Your Thursday. Every Thursday, a few blogging friends and I will each bring you a Bible passage and a little hope-filled discussion. We pray that these Thursday posts help you end your week strong in God’s love and purpose for you.
Today’s Scripture
We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.
— James 5:11, NLT
There is a saying that some people lead a charmed life. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a charmed life means “a life unusually unaffected by dangers and difficulties”.
Looking back on my life, I believe I have lived a somewhat charmed life. None of my trials or obstacles were that significant or challenging in the grand scheme of things or in comparison to the suffering of others.
It is almost as if, for most of my life, there was this wall of protection around me. Some might say it was caused by my naivety or optimistic outlook on life. Others might say that the Lord blessed me with a hedge of protection.
However — if that hedge of protection did exist — it was battered and broken during this last year. In such a short span of time, my family and I have faced challenge after challenge, trial after trial, sorrow after sorrow…
As a result, I have begun to understand Job more clearly and personally than ever before.
Let’s look at Job
You see, Job was accused of living a charmed life, too.
Satan replied to the Lord, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!”
Job 1:9-11, NLT
For reasons we may not understand this side of heaven, the Lord allowed his faithful servant Job to be tested. Satan was given permission to do anything and everything short of taking Job’s life.
A short time later, Job began to experience tragedy after tragedy and sorrow after sorrow. The trials and pain seemed neverending. There was no time to really process and grieve. Many people, including Job’s closest friends, actually believed that Job must have committed some grave sin and so God was punishing him… because they had no other explanation for the seeming unfairness of the tragedies heaped upon this man.
At one point, his own poor wife (who, mind you, also suffered these tragedies alongside her husband) finally broke down. She felt God had abandoned them. In her pain and anguish, she cried to Job: “Curse God and die.” (Job 2:9)
Through his own pain, Job very gently corrected his poor wife. “You talk like a foolish [unbelieving, wicked, heathen] woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” (Job 2:10)
Relating to Job
Friend, are you experiencing trials and sorrows? Does your life seem to be an unfair series of challenges and sorrows? Are you overwhelmed? Do you feel broken? Do you feel abandoned?
How are you responding to your trial(s)?
- Are you Job’s friends, wondering what grave sin you are being punished for?
- Are you Job’s wife, so completely overwhelmed and broken that you feel you cannot continue on? Has your faith in the Lord been shaken?
- Or are you Job? He did not blame the Lord for his experiences (Job 1:22), but he did question why these things were happening to him. The Lord, in His mercy, spent a great deal of time speaking with Job.
Unlike Job, we know how his journey ended. We know that, despite all of the trials and sufferings he experienced, in the end the Lord blessed him greatly. Our encouragement Scripture for today reminds us: “You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.” (James 5:11)
Likewise, though you may not be able to see through your trials and challenges now, trust in the Lord’s tenderness and mercy. It may be a long, bumpy, dangerous, and painful road, but remember that the Lord has plans for you and your future. (Jeremiah 29:11)
Do not give up hope! May we each be like Job when he declared: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” (Job 13:15)
Trust in God
Why? Why shouldn’t we throw in the towel and just, as Job’s wife was on the verge of, give up? Because we serve a loving and merciful God who loves you so, so, so very much that He came to this earth in human form, suffered great sorrows beyond even what we are going through to redeem us and bring us back to Him.
I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.
Jeremiah 31:3, NLT
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Romans 5:8, NLT
This weekend both Passover and Easter are being celebrated by millions of people around the world. May you use this special time of remembrance to read the beautiful love story that is the Gospel of Christ.
No matter your trials and sorrows, trust in the Lord to give you the peace, comfort, and strength to see you through.
What verse has touched your heart this week? Share in the comments below!
Be sure to also visit my fellow bloggers and read their encouragement for your Thursday as well:
- Trisha of Joy of Reading
- Nicole of The Christian Fiction Girl
- Jessica of A Baker’s Perspective
- Becca of The Becca Files
- Gina of Stories by Gina
- Rev. Rebecca Writes
Hi there, blogger. Would you like to join us in sharing encouragement from the Word of God every Thursday? Don’t be shy! Contact Trisha or Nicole today!
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Photo by Yuris Alhumaydy on Unsplash.
Continue reading this series:
His Encouragement: Prayer is a privilege
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I wonder why some people on earth are blessed with a charmed life while others have pain throughout all of their life. Looking back, I can’t remember a time where there wasn’t pain, fear, or trouble. When I was little, we got kicked out of our home because we hit a downfall and money got really tight. Then my parents divorced, but not before some really BAD things happened. Let’s just say the divorce was the blessing. My mom met the man who raised me (my dad who just passed in January), and things seemed OK, but they weren’t really. Blending two families into one can be tough. Then the death started. I lost four friends in high school alone. I do think there is a hedge of protection around me, but for some reason God really wants me to go through rough trials. My only way of being OK with any of this is that it forces me to draw closer to Him. Maybe I’m so selfish and willful that if these things weren’t happening in my life I wouldn’t want anything to do with God. I think I understand a little better what Paul means when he says he is grateful for his weaknesses because they force him to lean on Jesus more.My #1 hope that gets me through most days is that one day Jesus will call for me, and that will be my first day of never having tears, sadness, depression, loss, etc., ever again. I truly cannot wait for the day Jesus wipes away all my tears.
My heart goes out to you! ❤
I do not know or understand why some people experience so much pain and suffering and others do not. A few years ago, I asked my mom, who had some really rough trials in her life, why she thought God allows some people to experience more trials than others. She pointed me to 2 Corinthians 1:4. “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” I am sure that one day, when the books of heaven are opened, the Lord will make all things known to us.
When I hear the personal stories of others, I am definitely humbled. In many ways, it is a reality check on my selfish ego. May the Lord help me to be more like Job, Paul, Hannah, Ruth, Daniel, and the others who demonstrated great faith amidst their sorrows and trials.
This is such an incredible post today <3 Honestly, when I think on it, there are times that I can see myself in each of the 3 scenarios above. I have acted like Job's wife, his friends, and Job himself. I tend to have a good perspective when looking back on trials, but while I'm going through them I confess I'm not very pleasant. I'm scared, anxious, angry, depressed, and a whole slew of bubbled emotions. Over the years I've learned through the trials the "tricks" that help me steady myself and look to God instead of my circumstances, but I am absolutely still a work in progress. This really is a great message to meditate on today. Thanks for sharing! <3
That is very insightful! ❤ I, too, look back and see God’s hand throughout my trials, but when I am in the middle of one, I don’t always respond the way I would like to. Instead, I react with anxiety or fear for the future… it has gotten worse since having kids because now, if I mess up or have a really rough time, I am not the only person affected. When I was single and newlywed, I had absolutely no doubts or worries even during trials because I knew no matter what we’d be ok. Now I have two (soon-to-be three) little ones to consider, and that is a heavy responsibility!