What Are You Reading? – Hope In Him

hello friends and welcome back to our wow a moment in the word weekly devotional as megan and i shared with you last week we're going to be doing something a bit different in 2023 we have the same theme for the whole year and that's called what are you reading and we'll be doing these video devotionals along with sometimes some written devotionals so this week as i continued my journey through Job. Yes, I am still in Job because it is quite a long book. I camped out really for a while in Job 13, and I'll tell you about that in just a moment, but I want to go back and just review for a moment. Last week we saw that Job, of course, as you know, had lost everything and was sitting in sackcloth and ashes with boils on his body, covered with those, and just lamenting over his loss, pouring his heart out to the Lord, taking his emotions to him as we talked about last week. His friends have come and they have not been really helpful to be perfectly honest rather than having compassion and just sitting with Job and praying with Job and lamenting with Job. They have really accused him of some horrible things and basically told him it was his fault, that he was not blameless before the Lord, that he needed to repent. And Job is continuing to pour his heart out before the Lord. And in Job 13, verse 15, he says this, though he slay me, I will hope in him. Some versions say, though he slay me, yet I will trust in him or hope in him. And that was just the cry of Job's heart. His desire was not to be done with God by any means. His desire was to understand. His desire was to figure out why. His desire was to get some relief and asking the Lord to relent on this disaster. But never did Job do as his wife told him to do, which was to curse God. He always had hope in God, even in the midst of his lamenting, even in the midst of his emotions, he would take those before God, which is a wonderful example for us. So as he continues this disparaging, I mean, you know, he's in anguish, he's still not without hope. He still hopes in God and trusts in him. But like I said, he wants to understand why he wants to plead his case before God. you know there have been times in my life when i have sort of been where job is no i've not lost everything no i've not had boils all over my body but there have been disappointments in my life real difficult um disappointments and um i've had to learn what job um it has learned here and that is to um to take those emotions to the lord to to yes pour those out to disparage to lament but to hope in him and you know one such um time in my life uh when i when i was really um down when i was really struggling um it was actually a time in my life when my faith was increased by, you know, millions and millions of times. My faith was increased because of this particular situation, but many of you know that I have a daughter who has special needs, and when we were going through the initial stages of that, finding out about that, I struggled. I lamented before the Lord. I sat in sackcloth and ashes, if you will, and poured out my heart to my friends, the lord um to my family because i my heart was broken um i felt like life as i knew it was going to be over and that there was no turning back there was no coming back from that and what god has taught me through all of that is that only he could have taken that which i thought would destroy me and turn it into one of the greatest blessings of my life our daughter is full of joy full of compassion, full of love, full of freedom. She teaches me so much every single day and going through that has given me empathy for other moms who deal with kids with special needs. He allowed me to birth a non-profit for moms through all of that. He allowed me to start a special needs ministry here at our church, which has been one of the greatest blessings in my life. He's given me a greater compassion for people who are struggling, not with that, but just in general. like I have empathy, more empathy than I ever had before. And he's made me a better leader, a better women's minister, a better friend because I've had to cling so closely to him. And I've learned so much more about who he is through my situation. You know, we don't always see the pain of others, their disappointments and their grief, their dreams that never become a reality because God covers that with his grace. But I would just say to you today, rather than looking down at your problem, at your problem, your situation, look up. Look up and discover growth and discover joy and discover more of who God is in the midst of your challenges, in the midst of your disappointment, in the midst of those unexpected things in life our perspective renews our passion and if we can shift our focus from our situation to who God is a limitless God then that's when we can we can grow and we can even find joy in the hardest things we don't know why or what stories God's going to write in our lives. We don't get to make that choice. God only knows that. But here's what we do know and what I do know and what I want to share with you today and that is this. That which we think will destroy us, God often uses to deliver us. That which was meant to break us or we thought was meant to break us, God uses to make us more like him. That which we think will be the death of us is often God's gracious hand of providence, writing depth and detail onto the pages of our stories. The things that leave us broken and cracked make us masterpieces, treasures that God is crafting for his glory. These treasures are meant to produce holes in our exteriors so that his glory can shine through us. You know, you too may understand what it's like to be Job and to say, though he slay me, yet I will trust in him. Maybe there's someone you know today who needs to hear that, who needs to hear this message, a message of hope and a message of healing. Here's some words from 1 Peter 5, verses 10 through 11 that I believe will give you hope as well as we end today. It says, and after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be dominion forever and ever. Amen. And that is the truth. God will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. He doesn't often, always take us out of that suffering, but he does walk through it with us. He never leaves us nor forsakes us, and he promises that ultimately, in the fullness of time, he will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish. I hope you'll be blessed today. Have a great week. See you next time.

Originally published at warren.church.