Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Imagine losing everything that you've worked for. Your house, your job, or your car. In addition, you've lost a few family members. You've lost your reputation. You look at your life and all you see is loss. You have a friend that's on the way, and you expect your friend to comfort you, to be a calm presence for you, to speak some encouragement over you.
Instead of speaking encouragement, your friend actually tells you why you're suffering. In fact, your friend has the nerve to tell you that you're suffering because you're in sin. That's where we find ourselves today. Job is suffering. He has just experienced devastating loss.
A Righteous Man Still Suffers
It's interesting—the Bible tells us that Job was a righteous man. He was a blameless man. Yet, he still suffers. That's a good word for us. As believers, we're often surprised that suffering comes our way. Just because we're believers, it doesn't mean that we're going to live a life of ease. It doesn’t mean we're going to have pain-free lives. When we look at the life of Job, we see that he suffered a lot, and he was a blameless man. He was a righteous man.
Our Verse of the Day, Job chapter 8, verse 21, says, "He will once again fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy."
Job has a friend and his name is Bildad and he comes and he gives Job this message. He says, joy is coming your way. Laughter is coming your way.
When All We See Is Loss
Remember, Job is suffering. It's hard to understand that laughter is coming our way when all we see is loss. What do we do when we find ourselves in that “Job moment” where we look at our lives and we wonder, how much longer do I have to suffer? How long will I have this diagnosis? How long am I going to struggle financially?
This is what I know about suffering. Suffering will never leave us the same. It will either cause us to draw closer to the Lord, or we're going to pull away from the Lord. Suffering will either harden our hearts or soften our hearts. Suffering has the power to destroy us or develop us and mold us into the image of Jesus Christ.
The Promise of the Gospel
One thing is for sure, when we have that Job moment, we must remind ourselves of the promise of the Gospel. We have a good Shepherd that walks with us, and we have to decide when that moment comes, when we're wondering, why, Lord? or, how much longer, Lord? I'm going to determine I'm not going to give up on God. I'm not going to give up on community.
I'm going to rehearse the truths of the Gospel that God goes before me, that He is an ever-present help in my time of need, that I don't have to fear because He's with me. Bildad reminds Job, He will once again fill your mouth with laughter. There's coming a day where you will laugh again. You will have joy again. He's saying, keep your eyes on the Lord. That day is coming where the trial will expire.
I want to remind us today—the pain and suffering that you're going through has an expiration date. Joy is coming. Our job is to fix our eyes on the Lord.
