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CHRISTIAN LIVING TODAY
Psalm 139 is a wonderful resource that I find uplifting. Verse 17a says: “How precious are Thy thoughts to me, O God!”
Have you ever contemplated that God thinks of you? That He does may be reassuring or possibly intimidating.
Verse 16 tells us about our lifespan and how it was determined even before our birth. What an interesting thought, that God knows our days. Life’s challenges do not surprise our Lord.
He’s not taken off-guard by news that startles us. He knows we live in a sinful world, full of illness and disease, with accidents and situations that confound us. So much happens that we fail to understand, and some things we never will understand … and that is hard to accept for sure.
There was a season I had to trust God and accept painful, seemingly unbearable things He permitted to touch my life. During the struggles, I came to a conclusion similar to that of Job in the Old Testament.
Job was a righteous man, and yet so human. He had it all and lost it all. The ancient, trusted theology believed by him and his contemporaries, was “do good and be blessed; do bad and be cursed.”
So, when Job had awful things occur in his life, he believed he must have done evil but didn’t know what that was — in fact, he had done no wrong.
God trusted Job. He trusted Job to endure the painful circumstances. Job argued and debated with God and finally he concluded that God is sovereign and owes no man an explanation.
Many Christians think God owes us explanations or neat lessons, and once the lesson is learned, the difficulties will pass. But scripture does not teach such.
God said in Job 38: “I will ask you, and you instruct Me. Where were you (Job) when I laid the foundation of the earth? Have you commanded the morning sunrise? Does rain have a father?” And so much more, asking if Job really knew more than God.
Job concluded, “I know that Thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted … Now my eyes see Thee, and I repent in dust and ashes.”
Ultimately, Job’s life and resources were restored, but the Bible never says Job had understanding or any explanation.
Life is like that! God’s sovereignty provides security for me. Until next week, Anita
Onarecker, an Elgin resident, author of “Divine Appointment: Our Journey to the Bridge” and minister to women and adults, earned a Master of Christian Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2007.
