The Suffering of the Righteous
I am reading Job again right now. This time it has struck me that Job really knew he was blameless before God. He knew He was righteous. That doesn't mean that he was perfect. He knew that he trusted God by faith and that he had done everything God wanted him to do, such as thanking God and seeking forgiveness from God and others. It is a great blessing to have assurance of our salvation and our blamelessness. I hope you have those assurances in your life. It brings a great amount of peace.
However, his blamelessness is what made his trial more difficult. He wondered why God was allowing him to suffer, since he was blameless. I have felt that way before. I have humbly believed that I was right with God, and He was not convicting me of anything otherwise, but I was still experiencing some suffering. It does make it harder to understand. That is, it was harder until I realized that suffering is good for me. It is not always punishment. It is to build faith in God and character. A person who has real faith will not be driven from God by suffering. He will be drawn to God through the pain. That is why God allows it. He wants all of us to be stronger in Him. The only road to that kind of strength is through some suffering. God does not let that type of suffering last forever, but Job could not see that, and we can't see that. We just have to trust the Lord through it all like Job did. He said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." That is a grand testimony of a person of great faith. His faith was even growing when he said that. I pray that my faith is growing each day through the suffering God allows into my life.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Job 11-13 and Acts 9:1-21.
However, his blamelessness is what made his trial more difficult. He wondered why God was allowing him to suffer, since he was blameless. I have felt that way before. I have humbly believed that I was right with God, and He was not convicting me of anything otherwise, but I was still experiencing some suffering. It does make it harder to understand. That is, it was harder until I realized that suffering is good for me. It is not always punishment. It is to build faith in God and character. A person who has real faith will not be driven from God by suffering. He will be drawn to God through the pain. That is why God allows it. He wants all of us to be stronger in Him. The only road to that kind of strength is through some suffering. God does not let that type of suffering last forever, but Job could not see that, and we can't see that. We just have to trust the Lord through it all like Job did. He said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." That is a grand testimony of a person of great faith. His faith was even growing when he said that. I pray that my faith is growing each day through the suffering God allows into my life.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Job 11-13 and Acts 9:1-21.