Charmed, I’m Sure

⁴ One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. ⁵ I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works.  Psalm 145:4-5

Each year, as I come to New Year’s Day, I consider resolutions and reject them, knowing I’d never properly follow through.  Even when it came to resolutions regarding faith that I made, I have been sporadic in observing them, in spite of my good intentions.  So, once again this year, I’m eschewing New Year’s resolutions.  So I won’t be writing any here.  Instead, I’ll tell you about my necklaces.

I wear two necklaces almost all of the time.  Actually I wear three, but one is simply for adornment and is worn ALL the time (because the latch is broken and it’s too hard to take off and put on), but I’m talking about the two that have meaning to me. 

One was given to me for my last birthday, so it’s a new one.  It’s a Star of David with the fish symbol for Christ in the center.  This is who I am.  I didn’t stop being Jewish when I accepted Jesus as Messiah; Judaism is a part of me and always will be, but so, too, is my Christianity.  The duality is not in conflict, but each part complements the other.  So the necklace combining the two is appropriate for me, a Messianic Jew, because that is who I am.

The other necklace consists of a gold chain with several charms.  Each charm says something to me, reminding of who I am and Whose I am.  Their order on the chain has no meaning, but I’ll tell you about them in the order in which they sit on their chain so I won’t leave any out. 

            The first charm is a key.  It reminds me that I hold the key to the Kingdom, that the Kingdom is both here and to come, and the coming Kingdom will be perfect and glorious.  But while I am here, my job for God is to help Him advance His Kingdom here. 

            Next is a safety pin.  This is a charm I bought for myself while shopping for a gift for a friend’s daughter who was about to have her first communion.  It is gold, but it’s a real safety pin.  Once when my pants popped a button at church, I took it off the chain and used it to hold them together until I could get home and sew the button back on.  Anyway, the safety pin serves to remind me that I need not fear failure because God and I can fix the mistakes I make.  God gives me the tools I need to do whatever jobs He calls me to, and when I mess up, the means to fix things until He can perfect them once again. 

            Next comes a chai.  Chai is a Hebrew letter and stands for “life.” Those familiar with Fiddler on the Roof know the song “To Life, to Life, L’Chaim.”  My chai reminds me of Who gives me life, and abundant life at that, and to Whom my life belongs.  The number associated with chai is 18, so frequently, when I make a charitable contribution, I make it in multiples of 18 in the hope that the money I am giving will serve to help give life somewhere, either physical life in the case of medical contributions, or spiritual life in the case of religious contributions. 

            Next to the chai is a South African rand.  A 14-carat frame holds the 24-carat rand.  This reminds me that, although I am not yet perfected, God is refining me.  There is good in me, but I am not totally pure; there’s other stuff in me, too.  But because Christ is in me, when God looks at me he sees the pure 24K Christ, not the amalgamation of me.  And while I remain in His hands, the refining process continues.

            After the rand comes a shamrock.  A dear friend gave it to me for my birthday one year, commenting that it would bring me luck.  I thanked her, but commented that I don’t really believe in luck, to which she responded, “That’s because you don’t have any.”  Well, I still don’t have any – the only thing I’ve ever won in my life was a turkey, and I still don’t know who entered my name in that drawing.  But the shamrock reminds me that I don’t need luck.  I have a God that wants good for me, a God who will be with me through everything I go through – the good and the bad.  He laughs with me in my joys and weeps with me in my sorrows.  I don’t need luck because I have been given so very much more – more than I can even imagine, much less see. 

            And the last charm is a heart, a reminder of Whom my heart belongs to.  My Lord and my King, my God and my Father, is the greatest love of my life.  And I know that I am loved with a far greater love than I am capable of giving or even totally comprehending.  So, as I play with the charms on my necklace, they connect me to my faith and remind me of how very blessed I am.  My charms are ornamental, but they also serve as reminders that help me meditate on His wondrous works in me and for me.   

Prayer:  Lord, I thank you for the many tools You give that help us when we meditate on Your word.  I pray, that as we look at this new year, Your blessings will abound as always, and You will give us eyes to see and recognize them.  Give us thankful hearts.  Amen.

 

Emily Montfort

Return & Revive

Thanksgiving

PRAISE THE LORD, O MY SOUL

Praise the LORD, O my soul, all my inmost being, praise his holy name.  Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.  He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel; The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.  Psalm 103:1-8

 Have you stopped to consider all that God has done for you?  Do you consider all that you have to be gifts from God?  Do you know in the depths of your innermost being that God is, that He truly cares for you, that, no matter what you may be going through at the time, you are blessed?   How many times have you narrowly avoided an accident?  Have you ever considered God’s hand in that?  How many times have you faced an important decision and made the right one?  Do you see God’s hand in that?

 When my son Alex was born, my husband and I had not come to agreement on a name for the baby.  We had discussed several, but those he liked I didn’t, and those I liked he didn’t.  But the baby didn’t wait for us to agree; he was born.  We needed to name him.  Finally, I landed on the name Alex and Ed chose the middle name Pierce (a family surname).  Whew!  We had a name.  When we announced it to the family, Ed’s aunt Alice remarked “Now I have two namesakes.”  She died of cancer when Alex was 3, still cherishing that he was named for her.  Who put the name Alex into my head?  Could it have been the Holy Spirit, who knew what I didn’t know – that she would be gone so soon after?  I lost three babies before I had Alex.  So, having successfully borne him, I quickly became pregnant again.  This time we agreed on a name.  Continuing to use surnames for middle names, we agreed on “Matthew Curran” for the baby, should it be a boy.  Well, he came a month early, but we did have a name for him.  However, as I held him, I turned to my husband and said, “I don’t know what a Matthew is supposed to look like, but this kid isn’t it.”  He laughed, shrugged and said, “Just pick a name.”  So I did.  Joshua (Yeshua, or Jesus) and Lambeth, my father-in-law’s first name and his mother’s maiden name.  My father-in-law was thrilled that we didn’t saddle the child with Lambeth as a first name, but was quite pleased that his grandson was named for him.  Eight months later my father-in-law died unexpectedly.  Who told me to change the baby’s name from Matthew?  Who had me name him for my father-in-law?  Our compassionate, gracious, loving Father in heaven does so much more for us than we can even imagine.  He even helps us pick names.

 All that we are and all that we have are gifts from His hands.  Do we praise him from our very souls for how very good He is to us?  Do we praise him for his patience with us?  He forgives us, comforts us, lifts us up when we fall and sets us again on our path, heals us in every way that we need healing (physically, mentally, and spiritually), supplies what we need and more.  We may fail Him again and again, but He doesn’t fail us.  He’s always there for us in whatever we’re going through, always there to guide us if we’re willing to follow, always there to embrace us whether in joy or sorrow.

 “Forget not all his benefits” – Have you forgotten them?  Look at the list the psalmist gives us, bury it deeply within your heart, and praise Him, praise Him.  

 Prayer:  Lord, at those times when I’m fretful, worried, wallowing, forgive me.  Forgive me for all the blessings I take for granted.  You are such an awesome loving God — let me never forget that, and let me never cease to praise you for your loving ways and all the blessings I enjoy at you hand, the most important of which is the forgiveness I’ve been given and the hope.  Amen.

The Evils That Men Do

¹Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong,  ²for like the grass, they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. 

⁵Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him and he will do this:  ⁶He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.  ⁷Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.  Psalm 37: 1-2; 5-7 

For my birthday a friend gave me a necklace with the fish symbol in the center of a Star of David.  This I wear daily because it truly represents who I am.  I have frequently given friends cross pendants as gifts, but do not wear one myself.  Someone once asked me why and I explained that to the Jewish people the cross represents prejudice and persecution; I don’t wear a cross so as not to offend my Jewish brethren.

  Today, as we look at the actions of Muslim terrorists, we are aghast at how they can do such things supposedly for Allah, for God.  But the fact is, the history of Christianity is filled with horrendous acts, supposedly done for Christ.  I refuse to believe the Inquisition was led by the Holy Spirit, that the Russian pogroms honored Christ in any way, that the cross burnings and lynchings are at all Christian.  But the perpetrators all claimed to be doing their deeds for Christ.  Evil men do evil things, even those who call themselves Christians.  Moise Rosen of Jews for Jesus quotes “A person born in a Christian home isn’t necessarily a Christian any more than a person born in bakery is a bagel.”  I think that can be carried even further to include a person who calls himself a Christian, because just saying you are one, doesn’t make you one.  Unfortunately, this is one of the great stumbling blocks to bringing someone to Christ.  “Hypocrisy in the church” keeps all too many “seekers” from finding what they seek. 

Bad things happening to good people, and seeing the bad flourish while the good suffer, makes people doubt God.  But, as you read through the Psalms and Proverbs, you see that God recognizes that bad people can prosper, at least for a time.  He knows, He cares, and He will do something about it.  We can trust in that and take comfort from it.  We don’t have to fret about evil; we do need to abstain from it ourselves and do good.

If you have faced wickedness in your own life, take hold of hope, wait on the Lord and continue to do good.  He sees the wickedness and He sees your good.  Leonardo DiVinci said “Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind.”  The fact is, what goes around, comes around.  The more good you do, the more you’ll be blessed.  And the wrongdoers will eventually face the payback for their deeds.

Prayer:  Lord, I see so much evil in the world, that it is sometimes hard t remember that you truly are in charge, you see it, too, and you hate it, too.  Lord, protect the innocent and bring the guilty to justice.  And for me, Lord, help me to remember that you are in charge; help me to follow you closely, to speak out when wrongs are done, even when supposedly done in your name; help me to be the person you have called me to be, focused on you and following your lead in all I say and all I do.

Emily Montofrt

 

Balaam’s Ass and I

Balaam said to the Lord, “I have sinned.  I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me.  Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”   Numbers 22:34

 I don’t know how familiar you are with the story of Balaam.  I think many know about the Balaam’s donkey, which was given the power of speech briefly to confront his master.  But do you know the whole story?

 Balaam was a prophet, but not a Hebrew prophet.  He was a pagan prophet, serving various gods and opposing various gods as he saw fit.  He obviously was well known throughout the region, because Balak, the son of the Moabite king sent men to bring him to Moab to curse the Israelites.

 As the Israelites traveled through the wilderness, some nations rose against them, and God gave them victories over those who did so.  Balak considered the vast numbers of the Israelites and felt his nation had no chance against them militarily, so he contacted Balaam to have them cursed.

 God told Balaam not to go with the men Balak sent, and so Balaam refused Balak’s request.  But when Balak heard that, he sent more men and offered Balaam more rewards for cursing the Israelites.  This was very tempting to Balaam, so God told him to go ahead and go with the men to Balak, but to only do what He, God, told him to do.  Yet in verse 22 it says that God’s anger was aroused because Balaam went with the men.  How can that be?  God told him to go ahead and go, so why would He be angry?  His anger was aroused because He knew that Balaam wanted to go.  He gave him permission, but He wasn’t happy about it.

 Sometimes we’re like that with our children.  We don’t want them to do something that we know they are determined to do.  Finally we say “Go ahead, but don’t come crying to me when it goes wrong.”  Well, sometimes God does that with us, too.  In my own life, when I decided I wanted to go back to teaching, I didn’t go to God looking for guidance or where He wanted me to be.  I told Him I wanted to go back to teaching, and asked Him to lead me to a teaching position—I went to Him over and over again about it, and finally He said “Yes” and I got the job.  It actually wasn’t a bad job, and I liked my principal and my fellow teachers.  But still, I hated it.  The school system had changed approaches in the years I was gone, and my philosophy of education hadn’t changed.  I worked hard, but I was frustrated by the limitations I felt the system placed on me as an educator.  I lasted one year and resigned, which obviously was the right choice because I have never regretted it for an instance. And I learned to step back and trust God.

Anyway, Balaam starts out to go to Balak, not knowing that the Angel of the Lord was planted on the roadway to oppose him.  Balaam did not see the Angel of the Lord, but his donkey did and kept veering away.  Each time the donkey turned away, Balaam beat her to turn her back.  Three times the donkey shifted to avoid the Angel of the Lord, even lying down on the road rather than continue, and each time Balaam beat her.  Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, enabling her to speak, and she asked Balaam why he was hitting her.  Balaam said he was hitting her because she was abusing him, and if he could have, he would have killed her.  And she asked if she had ever done him any such harm in all the years he’d had her, and he had to admit that she hadn’t.   Then he himself saw the Angel of the Lord and fell down before him.  The Angel told Balaam that had the donkey not turned aside, Balaam would have been slain. 

And then Balaam said to the Lord, “I have sinned.  I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me.  Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”   But, if Balaam had not seen him, what was the sin?  The sin was not just the basic perversion that brought him there, but it was also not seeing what he should have seen.  God sent Balaam on to Balak, but with a much clearer sense of the need to only do as God led, so every time Balaam opened his mouth to curse the Israelites, what came out was blessings instead. 

God sent us the Holy Spirit to teach and to guide us.  But if the Holy Spirit speaks to you, and you don’t recognize that it’s coming from the Holy Spirit and don’t respond, is that a sin?  Well, as Balaam’s story shows us, yes, it is.  If we are focused on God in everything; if we are going to Him in prayer, are looking for guidance in Scripture, and are expecting to receive guidance from His Spirit, we will recognize His voice.  The Devil will take advantage of our blindness and our selective deafness if we let him, but if we are focused on God, we will learn to recognize His voice.  I know in my own life, I am most likely to “miss” it when He’s calling me to do something I don’t particularly want to do, or don’t feel adequate for, or have something I’d rather do that conflicts.  The devil knows that and will use it.  And God knows my perverse heart, too, and it grieves Him.  So, when I confess in prayer, I have to include those times when I’ve turned a deaf ear or a blind eye to what He is doing and what He wants me to do.  But I continue to strive to see as He sees and respond as He would have me respond.  And I take comfort that we are on this road together and not in opposition.  And I thank Him that the Holy Spirit keeps working on me.  I pray the same for you.

Prayer:  Abba, Father, we know that You know what’s best.  May we always turn to You first when a decision is needed, and may we have open hearts to accept when you guide us on, even to strange or unknown places, or when you shut doors we want or expect.  Help us to hear Your voice and recognize it; help us to see as You see.  Help us to respond as You would have us respond.  Amen.

Emily Montfort

Where is God?

How long O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?  How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?  How long will my enemy triumph over me?                   Psalm 13:1-2      

             Psalm 13 is a short psalm, but its beginning and its ending really speak to me.  I would love to be able to say that my faith is so strong that nothing can move me, but that wouldn’t be true.  Too many times I’ve wrestled with life’s slings and arrows, prayed and prayed again, and wondered if God heard me.  I know in my head that God wants the best for me.  But I must admit I have problems when His answer is “no” or “not yet.”  We are told to pray without ceasing.  But when I bring an issue before him over and over again and seem to see no response, I get discouraged.  Doubts creep in.  I truly do wrestle with my thoughts and have sorrow in my heart.  The devil loves causing doubt, and I must admit to being susceptible.  I strongly suspect that King David and I are not alone in that.

One year I was teaching the adult Sunday school class at a time when I was feeling very disconnected from God.  I still prayed, but I didn’t feel connected even when praying.  I prayed one day “Please, let me hear your voice.  Let me know you’re still there.”  Nothing answered, at least at that moment.  But the next morning at Sunday school, someone shared that she had been feeling distant from God and had heard on the radio that morning the statement “If God seems distant, who moved?”  She said that really hit home.  It hit home with me, too.  I knew the answer; I knew who moved.  It changed how I was praying.  The situation that caused the disconnection hadn’t gone away, but somehow I moved closer to God anyway, and with time He and I moved through my problems.

The year my husband and I separated was a tough one.  I spent a lot of prayer time telling God He had blown it.  He had promised not to give me more than I could bear, but the situation I found myself in was more than I could bear.  Obviously, I’m still here; I did get through it; I did bear it.  But at the time I was wallowing in my misery.  That was when I began praying Scripture.  I’d take a verse (or verses) and pray it.  I would claim promises made in the Bible for myself.  I prayed Psalm 13:1-2 often.  When my husband took our sons on a weekend trip, and I found myself home alone for the first time– in reality, for the first time in my life– I was miserable.  I grew up in a family with parents, older siblings and frequent extended family in the home, left home for college dorm life, then into my marriage.  In my entire life I had never spent a night alone.  But there I was, home alone, wallowing in my misery.  And the Holy Spirit spoke to me in those depths, reminding me to count my blessings.  So I did.  I took a piece of paper and folded it in half; on the left I listed everything that was wrong in my life (and the list certainly wasn’t short), on the right everything that was good.  As the list on the right stretched far longer than that on the left, I found myself thanking God for all the blessings I did enjoy and apologized to Him for forgetting about them.  And then I could truly pray the ending of Psalm 13, too.  “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.  I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.” Psalm 13:5-6

I pray for us all that, when life becomes hard and it’s hard to see God’s hand in it, we’ll remember and pray as David did in Psalm 13, the end of the psalm as well as the beginning.  It’s okay to complain to God— He truly does understand.   But we need to remember even in the midst of our complaining that God really is good, He really does love us, He wants the best for us, and our blessings always outweigh our sorrows.  And that is cause for rejoicing, even in the pits.

Prayer:  Lord, when we’re in the depths, when we feel lost and alone, help us to remember that You are constant, that You love us, and that You are always there for us.  Grant us Your peace, so that we can rejoice even in the tough times.  Amen.

Emily Montfort

Sowing

⁶Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” 2Corinthians 9:6-8

I’ve heard televangelists use these verses to strum up dollars for their ministries.  The assumption, either implied or explicitly stated, is that the more you give them, the wealthier you’ll become.  I think that it’s true that the more-you-give the more-you-receive, but I seriously doubt if it has anything to do with money.

The more you give – of yourself, your time, your efforts, your money, etc. – the more you’ll receive.  When I donate platelets, I don’t know who will receive them, but I do know that someone will be helped because of the hours I spent there at the Red Cross on their behalf.  I know that I often fail to do the good that I should, either being oblivious of the need or selfishly choosing some other path, but that is one good thing that I do, and it pleases me to do it.  Likewise, when I walk for cancer or MS or the homeless, I don’t know who will benefit from the money I raise, but I know good will come from it and someone will benefit.  I myself get the benefit of both the aerobic exercise and the good feelings that come from doing good, but I don’t do these things to feel good or to somehow try to earn points in heaven; I do them because they are good things to do.  Nevertheless, I still get benefit from it.  The same holds true for the money I give, whether to health causes, religious causes, animal rescue or whatever – I give because the cause matters.  And it makes me feel good that my little contribution, which is likely a tiny drop in the bucket, will still make a difference.  Even if I had never met the Lord, that would make me feel good.  So I sow personal benfits, as well as sowing good for others.

Sometimes, what you give comes back in surprising ways.  When I was an at-home mom, I worked with the Bowie interfaith community, going out weekly to greet newcomers to town and introduce them to the Bowie faith community, directing them to a church or synagogue of their chosen denomination, or if they had none, inviting them to mine.  Well, when the doctor who was tracking my uterine tumor announced that it had doubled in size in 3 months and would have to come out, I first contacted my husband and then the Christian Women’s Club prayer leader.  What I didn’t know was how fast information would fly.  During the week I was in the hospital, in addition to family and friends, I was visited by most of the Bowie clergy, who told me their congregations were praying for me.  I also learned that there were prayer groups praying for me around the world, as well as here at home.  When the surgeon came in and told me that he had peeled the tumor off of several organs, was totally convinced it had to be malignant, and stunned when he learned it wasn’t, I replied that the faith community had taken it over his head and, while not denigrating his capabilities as a surgeon, had gone to the Great Healer to handle things.  But I must admit that, although I truly believe in faith healing, I was surprised to think it might apply to me.  And I was shocked at how many people, whom I considered just acquaintances, made a point of letting me know that I was in their prayers.  Talk about your cup running over….

Anyway, that which I give, of my time, effort or funds, I give because I really do believe that it matters and truly hope that somehow the world will be a little better for my being here and definitely not harmed by it.  However, I must admit I love what is promised in these verses – that because I do give of myself, God’s grace will abound in me so that I will be able to abound in good work.  You see, the more good you do, the more you want to do good.  Those first steps lead to more and more.  And God will not only meet your needs, but He will use you to meet the needs of others, and as those others respond to what they’ve received, more begets more.  So on it goes….sowing and more sowing.

What have you been doing to advance the kingdom of God, to be his voice and hands here on earth?  What more could you do for Him?

 Prayer:  Lord, I ask for your guidance, that the “good” that I do be for Your glory and according to Your will and not my own.  I thank you that you will multiply that, and I thank you for Your Word, which tells me so.  Amen.

Emily Montfort

Reflections

My fortune cookie said “The lion does not roar when stalking its prey”  That got me thinking—how often do I roar when I would do better to quietly take a hand or offer a shoulder to lean on?  In FEAST I quoted the line “What you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say.”  So I ponder, what do people see?  Do they see Christ when they see me?  I’m made in God’s own image, but does my life reflect that?

A piece in a daily devotional I received last year touched me and I saved it, so now I share it with you:

In 1953 reporters gathered at a Chicago railway station waiting to meet the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

He was a big man, well over six feet tall, with bushy hair and a large mustache.

Reporters were excited to see him and expressed what an honor it was to meet him. Cameras were flashing, compliments were being expressed when, looking beyond the adulation, the visitor saw an elderly black woman struggling to carry her two large suitcases.  (Remember, this was 1953, long before the Civil Rights movement)

“Excuse me,” he said as he went to the aid of this woman. Picking up her cases, he escorted her to a bus and then apologized to the reporters for keeping them waiting.

The man was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the famous missionary-doctor who had invested his life helping poor and sick people in Africa.

A member of the reception committee remarked to one of the reporters, “That’s the first time I ever saw a sermon walking.” The measure of any man or woman is not their name, nor their fame, nor what they say, but what they do.

When I die, people won’t talk about how efficient I was on the job or how I looked or what I said.  It’s how I lived my life and who I touched that will matter.  How I wish that someone, anyone, could say that at some time or another I was a sermon walking.  How I long to hear my Maker say “well done, faithful servant.”  I pray the same for you.

Prayer:  Lord, give me eyes to see as You see and the heart to walk with you and work with you.  May those whose lives touch mine see You in me.  May the same be true for any and all who read my words.

Emily Montfort

When Bad Things Happen to Good People

¹ Then God answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: ²Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?  ⁴Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?  Tell me if you have understanding.

³⁴Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that an abundance of water may cover you?  ³⁵Can you send out lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, “Here we are!”?  ³⁶Who has put wisdom in the mind?  Or who has given understanding to the heart?      (Selected verses from Job 38)      

The book of Job has always bothered me.  What happened to Job is just so unfair.  Granted God restored his wealth, gave him a new wife and children, but that doesn’t replace the family he mourned, nor does it make up for all the other stuff he suffered.   Plus Job’s friends, although they were mistaken in what they thought was the cause of Job’s woes, were men of faith; it seems unfair that they got blasted for their mistaken ideas, when they were just trying to help.

 However, such thoughts miss the point entirely.   Interestingly, when Job’s friends said his misfortunes must be because of sin in his life, Job knew that wasn’t true.  He never wavered.  And he continued to believe in and trust God.  In his own eyes, Job saw himself as righteous, so his friends couldn’t be right. 

All of the men in Job made mistakes.  Their mistakes were different and yet the same.  All of them put themselves in God’s place.  For some it was standing in judgment.  “Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Matt. 7:1-2)  Judgment belongs to God.  But we humans seem to have a lot of trouble with that.  We all too readily put ourselves into God’s place and claim to be doing so on His behalf.  Like Job’s friends, we judge one another all too frequently.  Job’s error was that he was righteous in his own eyes and laid out all the things he did to prove his righteousness.  But righteousness, too, belongs to God.  Yet, in spite of all that happened to him, Job’s faith never wavered, although he couldn’t understand why it was happening.  And God recognized that.  But Job also elevated himself rather than God, and God called him on that.  Job was good, but he wasn’t God.

Job listened while God questioned him, and then he responded.  He said, “I know that you can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.  You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’  Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.  Listen please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’  I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees  You.  Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”  (Job 42:2-6)

Job knew about God, but with all he went through, and with God’s questioning of him, he came to know God in a very personal way, and while he didn’t “see” God in a physical sense, he truly got to see just who God is with his spiritual eyes.   He had served God, but now he truly came to know him.  Note that Job came to truly know God by listening, not by leaning on his own wisdom, learning, or knowledge.  What he “knew” proved to fall short of the mark.  Listening, he truly learned.

I think one of the hardest things to explain is why God allows bad things to happen to good people.  The book of Job actually shows us that.  The fact is that both good people and bad may flourish; good people and bad people suffer bad things happening in their lives; good people and bad people suffer illnesses or accidents and die.  But although God allows all this, He is still in control.  He is still our maker.  He still judges rightly and justly.  We may not always understand, but we can always hang onto the fact that God is in control, and He knows what we go through and is there for us throughout it all, the good and the bad.  He sees, He knows, and He responds.

If you haven’t read the book of Job recently, I suggest you do so.  Then listen to what the Holy Spirit tells you.  It will help you better “see” yourself and better “see” God.

Prayer:  O Lord God Almighty, please help us to remain faithful no matter what may be happening in our lives.  Help us to always remember that You are in control, You know what is going on, an You are there for us always.  Thank you for Your love, forgiving and caring.  Amen.

Emily Montfort