Written by Chuck Swindoll, these encouraging devotional thoughts are published seven days per week.
There was a time in my life when I allowed legalists to take more control of me than they should have been allowed. I'm making up for lost time now. Age has its benefits. I've learned the hard way, you need to fight fire with fire when bullies are determined to take charge.
Don't run from the hardship. Don't seek a friend who'll help you get out from under it quickly. Stay there. Stay in it. The Lord God will get you through it. As a result you'll stop skating.
Job is still struggling. Eliphaz left him cold. He has received neither comfort nor insight from Bildad. He has no mediator to present his case; therefore, he is very candid.
Job longs for an arbitrator who could serve as his go-between, communicating with this mighty and holy God. He's wishing for one who could argue his case.
There are times when God's ways only make us more confused. There, I've said it. I've been wanting to say that all through this chapter, and I finally worked up the courage. My point? Don't expect to understand everything that happens when it occurs.
Every person reading this has been the recipient of bad advice. You listened as someone gave it to you. You followed the counsel you received and then suffered the consequences. We have all benefited from someone's good advice too. We were unsure and confused, so we reached out to somebody we trusted. We received good counsel, followed the advice, and enjoyed the benefits.
There are experiences too extreme for the hurting to maintain hope. When a person drops so low due to inner pain, it's as if all hope is lost. That's why Job admits his lack of ease, his absence of peace, and his deep unrest.
I want to write to you who are reading these lines who may be in the pit, struggling to find your way back. It's possible that things have gotten so dark that you need a competent Christian psychologist (or psychiatrist) to help you find your way. The most intelligent thing you can do is locate one and go. In fact, go as long as you need to go.
We need to understand that God's "wonderful plan" is wonderful from His perspective, not yours and mine. To us, "wonderful" means comfortable, healthy, all bills paid, no debt, never sick, happily married with two well-behaved children, a fulfilling, well-paying job, and the anticipation of nothing but blessing and success and prosperity forever. That's "wonderful" to us. But God's wonderful plan is not like that.
The book of Job is not only a witness to the dignity of suffering and God's presence in our suffering, but it's also our primary biblical protest against religion that has been reduced to explanations or "answers." Many of the answers that Job's so-called friends give him are technically true. But it is the "technical" part that ruins them.
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