JOB 36:15 – He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.”
THEME OF THE DAY: HIS WAYS ARE NOT OUR WAYS. The theme of today’s nugget comes from a familiar passage in the major prophet book of Isaiah – For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). This truth will be proved over and over when God brings suffering into our lives. And yes, He brings it, not allows it, but brings it. Just read the first two chapters of the Old Testament book of Job for proof.
When the scriptures tell us And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28) that means all things to include suffering, pain, disappointments, difficult circumstances, and yes, even our sin. And here are the applications for us. If we hope to spiritually grow in these tough seasons, if we hope to know more of the joy of the Lord in those dark times, and if we want to experience the sufficiency of His grace in the most extreme of trials, then we must see all things as working for our good despite what we think, feel and see. With that is also the application from today’s scripture.
There is a gold mine of truth into the mind and workings of the Lord in the lives of His children in the Job reference. It surely proves God’s ways are not our ways. Pay attention to the flow of God’s work. First, there are those who are afflicted – He delivers the afflicted. What is identified is every child of God. We are an afflicted people. God has ordained the path to follow Jesus is hard and with pain – For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake (Philippians 1:29).
Next is the mysterious ways God uses suffering or affliction. He uses suffering to teach His children lessons they would not learn without pain – He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity. In God’s ways of growing His children into the likeness of His Son, the Lord Jesus, pain is teacher, suffering is a professor, and affliction is a tutor. And what are we to learn? Two things – obedience and the faithfulness of God. These are captured in two verses in the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm and will serve as a place to ponder and bring today’s nugget to a close.
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word – Psalm 119:67.
I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me – Psalm 119:75.
PRAYER: “Father, please forgive me when I rebel against suffering and then refuse to be open to the lessons to learn.”
QUOTE: “God doesn’t consult us about His work in us. Father knows best so trust Him to do what is best.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim