Painful

Job’s life had been a cakewalk—layers of sweet blessings iced with a thick frosting of more blessings. Then the cake collapsed. Job had to make a choice. It’s easy to love God when life is good, but how will you respond to God when things go sour? Job had lost all his possessions and his ten children. Now, he is about to lose his health.

Sometimes, life’s windstorms hit us hard and knock us off our feet. One person likened the storms to a blizzard and wrote, “The blizzard of the world has crossed over the threshold, and it has overturned the order of the soul.” The blizzards outside make their way inside and disrupt the rhythm of our lives. That’s what happened to Job. As we have seen, he lost everything and still praised the Lord. But Satan was merciless in his attacks. He was convinced that Job was self-centered and would turn on God when he encountered personal illness.

Even when obedience is hard, even when the journey is painful, even when we don’t understand, even when the nights are dark and long, there is no one else to turn to, and there is no other place to go. Only Jesus has the words of eternal life.

Great rewards are waiting for you in heaven.

God graciously desires to bring restoration.

God loves us too much to allow us to play by the spiritual life’s equivalent of a busy highway.

We hold on to him…but really, he is the One holding on to us.

How are you doing? You, up there on the mountaintop of career. You, up there with the trophies of accomplishment. Be careful up there in the heights. The peak of victory is surrounded by a slippery slope.

The Almighty took on flesh and made His dwelling among us. His existence was for this painful purpose. Sin had separated man from God. Death was sin’s penalty. Jesus, fully God and fully man, took on death for us. The Sinless One died for sinful man. The penalty of sin was paid for in full at the cross. He sacrificed Himself for you.