By Emilie Gruben.
In the past two weeks, there have been many days where positively everything seemed to go wrong. We all have those days, don’t we? “I’m having a Monday,” is a phrase that is typically used to describe one of those unpleasant occasions. When the dishwasher doesn’t work, you’re late to class, you run out of shampoo, you crack your favorite cup, and to top it off, your necklace breaks right before an event. These incidents make us frustrated, sad, confused, overwhelmed, and altogether angry. “Why today?” we ask ourselves. “Why me?”
In the moment, we compare ourselves and our circumstances to others’ which we have deemed “better” from our point of view. We decide that others live so much better in comparison to ourselves, in our moment of misfortune. Finding good in the present becomes impossible, even if only for a few seconds. The last thing on our mind is being grateful for the blessings God has given us, or joyfully welcoming the coming future. But that is what I wanted to share with you, today. How to trust the future God has planned for you, even when all you can focus on is the now.
During the last few days of August, last summer, I had the opportunity to attend a youth and family conference with my family. It was an incredible time of encouragement and learning, for me, personally. I took many pages of notes during each session, and this past week, I reviewed them. My anticipation towards the future has not been as radiant as it usually is, lately. I found myself stuck in a rut of “What could happen? What will happen? Will I be ready for it to happen?” I cried and cried, feeling pathetic. Selfish. Tired. Miserable. I knew what I should do, and believed it. I knew what I felt wasn’t real in terms of being lost, and that I had no doubts for the future, truly. But it was almost as if my body was separate from my soul. Like sin and salvation, trying to battle for who got control over me. Going through the notes, I found relief. I found the peace that had just slightly been out of reach. Notes about finding peace in profound loss and disappointment.
I hadn’t “lost” anyone in a sense of death or otherwise. But I did miss those whom I used to be close to. I missed the younger version of myself, and I even missed things I never really had. Missed opportunities, relationships, and times of growth. But this mourning of sorts was not at all honoring or trusting God's plan. I needed peace. Not a need because I was deserving of peace, but sought it and craved it. We deserve no amount of assurance, yet our gracious God offers all. That was the beginning of my journey to peace on a random Tuesday.
Job 38:1-7 was where I began my study. “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.” (Vs. 1-3)
This was the beginning, and yet I was already filled with so many different thoughts. God does not offer gentle comfort or understanding contradiction, but speaks from a whirlwind, straight to the point. Who dares to not say things as accurately as possible, seeking knowledge from the Lord, Himself? The voice of the Lord does not wait for an answer to the first question, because He does not need one. Without hesitation, He goes on. He does not give advice or a suggestion, but a clear demand and command of action to Job. He will answer. Nothing is suggestive when it comes to believing and serving God, as a Christian. There are commands that you will either follow or reject. You are for God, or you are against God. There is no in-between. He demands full, selfless submission. Not hearers but doers of the Word (Jm. 1:22-25) Those who love God will keep His commandments, and follow them out of obedience.
Commanding Job to listen and answer, he continues on… “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
Our God is not meek or humble. He is the Master of the Universe. He is a jealous God. He is the Creator of all, and has no reason to not be treated as such. In the face of all his sufferings and trials, God does not pity Job with gentle assurances, but instead asks him the realities of life. What has Job done to rival what He has? Could he ever have a chance at even a percentage of what God does by just speaking into existence?
In this way, I find assurance. God so clearly, even humorously, states how meaningless it is to worry about the future, and what isn’t in our control. Like it is written in Luke 12:27,
“Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Mere flowers are provided for, in beauty, sustenance, and time. Matthew 10:29-31 says: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
The sparrows have assurance, life, and a plan for tomorrow. The animals and plants of the field are provided for. And yet those above all other living things, the humans made in the image of God, toil over the events of their tomorrow? Have we so little faith in God, that we can so easily doubt His goodness?
Chapters 38-42 of Job, show how splendid the reality of God’s planned providence. No matter the trials or joys, obstacles, or peaceful times He gives us; they are all for a reason which He only knows. There is nothing that has not already been known and planned by the creator of the universe. This is our assurance. Job lived a full life, plagued by trouble and hardship. But God provided, and never let His child stray from Him. Job lived to be 140 years old with generations of grandchildren from his children. Livestock, land, and family were blessings to the man in his old age. After so much time being distraught in a seemingly hopeless world, he still had hope. And that hope was not enough for the perfect God, who still commanded perfect obedience and faith from his child.
I pray that I will be the Christian to be able to serve more, no matter what. To believe that God truly has a plan for me, and to follow it as He intended. Trusting God’s plan. It’s so much easier said than done. But through our Father, anything can be accomplished. gma
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