Wait On God To Judge

Job 24;1-5 -  "Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?  Men move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen.  They drive away the orphan's donkey and take the widow's ox in pledge.  They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding.  Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children.

 

Job’s frustration with his friends brings about a string of why questions again. He wonders why God won’t come in that moment and judge him.  He wonders why God is making him wait for an answer to why he must suffer. His thoughts turn to the terrible plight of others that pray to God for help….the poor…the widows…the ones victims of horrible crimes and extortion.  He wants to know why all these people are suffering when it seems the wicked get to do whatever they please.

 

Job could just as well have been talking about our world today.  The crime rate is up…people are suffering all over the world....it is harder to make a living in an honest way every day. But the evil around us seems to be unchecked…God allowing it for some reason we just can’t fathom.

 

One reason I just know for sure in my heart is because God loved us so very much that he wanted to save us all.  He had not sent his precious son to Earth yet to live a fully human life….and suffer all the sins of every person on that cross when he died.  Jesus had not defeated satan’s hell with his perfect life...and rose to claim victory for all who will believe in his name.

 

Jesus told us it is going to get worse folks.  What we see now are just the labor pains at the beginning of the process…Matthew 24:8-12 says…. “ All these are the beginning of birth pains.  "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.  At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.  Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.”

 

I know that I do not want to be one of the “most” he talked about.  I want to stand strong and courageous like Job….and learn to wait on God to right the many things that my human eyes can see wrong with the world.  I have to trust in the bigger plan…and timing of God…just like Job had to wait on God to find the perfect time to come and explain his pain.  I peeked ahead …and there is a happy ending…of sorts…in Job’s story. 

 

Father… thank you for this story that reminds me once again that the world was not created just for me. Help me to learn to accept the things you ask me to go through and wait on your perfect timing to see the glory at the end of the story.  Hold my hand so tight that I can’t possibly let go….wrap me in your love that will protect and give me the courage to withstand any pain that comes as the world decays around me.  Show me how to withstand the persecution that will come so I can be counted in the number of the faithful that survive the end of the world…still holding onto the faith you gave me when I called you my savior at 14.  Amen.