Pillows & Dunghills

So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!” He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. (Job 2:7-10)

I’ve known many people who struggle through such a depth of suffering you wonder how they hold onto their faith. I’ve also known many who seem to live in the lap of luxury who give up on God.

Faith in God does not depend on the situation we find ourselves in. Throughout the Bible, God lifts up the humble and lowly and casts down the high and mighty.

One of our Puritan ancestors, Thomas Watson observed -

"How soon are we broken on the soft pillow of ease! Adam in paradise was overcome, when Job on the dunghill was a conqueror."

Are you broken on a pillow of ease or conquering on a dunghill?

When God Steps Away

"Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy?" (Job 13:24)

Job was a righteous man but, for reasons known alone to God, God allowed him to be tested. For a time, God let Satan test Job’s faith by bringing on him terrible afflictions.

Sometimes God leaves us alone to struggle with inexplicable suffering. This is part of the faith journey of all who follow the One who cried out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Puritan preacher William Gurnall summed up our dilemma of faith when he said –

"The Christian must trust in a withdrawing God."

It’s easy to believe in God when He is right there with us, but what about when He chooses to step back and let us work things out for ourselves?