Justify Your Faith

Job 6:8-11 -  "Oh, that I might have my request, That God would grant me the thing that I long for!  That it would please God to crush me, That He would loose His hand and cut me off!  Then I would still have comfort; Though in anguish, I would exult, He will not spare; For I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.  "What strength do I have, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?

 

Job finally responded to his friends harsh words. His heart was so heavy …he felt that death would be the only thing that brought him relief.  He could not comprehend why God had punished him so….and now his friend was blaming all his troubles on some unconfessed sin in his life. He longed for sympathy and kindness….but his friend hurled insults and accusations at him instead.

 

Amazingly…this scenario did not cause Job to doubt his faith.  He knew that he knew …that he knew that he was a righteous man…who had been careful to ask God to sanctify him …offering sacrifices as needed so that the blood of an innocent animal would cleanse his heart of any sin. His faith was holding the pieces of God that he was good…so deeply in his heart…that he just couldn’t get it to the surface to process this pain he was in.

 

Job was justified by his faith….just as it is written in Romans 5:1-5 – “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

 

I was distracted in my writing this morning….because I looked down to see that the stone in the engagement ring Mitchell gave me was gone.  My heart is devastated…I want to take the day off and search as the widow did for her lost coin till I find it.  But the present requires that I keep my commitments….and spend my morning time with God…and then go to work. Somehow I will have to keep the missing precious stone out of my mind while I teach today.  I will need to hold on to faith…that there is a reason I don’t need it any more…and God has a plan to help me release the need to still wear it. Oh how hard it is!

 

Father…thank you for this story that helps me understand how important it is to have faith…especially when I am confused…and heavy hearted. Help me to release all my worries and confusions to you this morning.  Show me how to have the faith of that mustard seed…that you told me in Matthew 17…would supply all the power I need to get through all the pain and confusion the world can throw at me. Amen.