There are 42 chapters in the book of Job.
Within the first chapter, Job is stripped of
everything. The next forty chapters
share with us his sufferings.
We are more privileged than we know, God having shared
with us not simply this suffering, but, arguably more important, Job’s
obedience through it.
Oh, obedience. Only
the strong keep this key, dressed in gold, weighted heavily in God’s eyes. Is our trust in Him enough to carry us
through obediently to His will, withstanding forty chapters of painstaking loss?
Job's trust in the Lord and obedience carried him through
his time in Satan's testing. And,
lovingly, God ended forty-one chapters of anguish with these words:
And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before...and the Lord
blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning...and after this Job
lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations. And
Job died, an old man, and full of days.
I've hesitated to write this post, because I think my
words will fail me. Or, more appropriately, fail to praise God in a way that truly explains the blessings He has bestowed upon me. I can't create a way
to describe even adequately the joy I've received from being obedient to God.
If anyone has followed along with my story, you most
likely know that it hasn't been easy.
Sacrifice, obedience, and trust. Unfortunately,
I wasn't always gushing with gratefulness.
Sanctification is rarely a walk in the park.
I did my fair share of whining during the One Year
Challenge.
I questioned the opportunity of a new career.
I cried about being single months after the Challenge.
Though while my trust may have admittedly waivered, my
obedience rarely did.
Trust and obey, for
there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
This hymn was written in 1887, and 126 years later there
remains the utmost truth in its lyrics. Like
water to a malnourished plant, witnessing God’s faithfulness draws us to be
obedience. Provision and love received
and felt from being in His will, will open the doors to desiring to be
obedient.
Which brings me to today.
Last night I just sobbed at the handiwork of the Lord,
Abba Father. How could he bless such a
treacherous person? And not just
miniscule dew drops of blessings, but a storm, where each blessing reverberates
with the strength of hail against tin rooftops—a love undeniable.
There are so many details I could share and want to share, and maybe one day soon I will, but suffice to say—as ends the
story of Job—that after several chapters, several seasons of my life spent in
sadness and despair, and as a have-not, I now have so much.
I hope to make it clear that obedience born out of
expectations of deserved blessings is much different than obedience filtered
through the trusting that God loves you, adores you, and wants to bless
you. Let obedience come from trusting
that His path is trustworthy and good, and having heart to know that He who
giveth can taketh away—but He who taketh also giveth much more. Blessed be the
name of the Lord.
