Tuesday 6 Mar 2018

March 6: Job 23:8-12

Key Verse: Job 23:10
But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

Devotion:
When Job sits down and thinks things through, his conclusion is quite amazing and a thorough example for us all to look up to and to try and follow. His so-called friends who came to give him advice thought they knew more than Job and told him so! What Job did was to try and work out what had happened and to reconcile God with those happenings. Far too often we turn around and blame someone else when things go wrong in our lives; what we need to remember is that no matter how much we don’t like to think about it, there is evil in this land…

Job has taken what has happened on the chin and realises this is not coming from God. He looks back at the things which have happened in his own life and sees how God has helped him in the past and not dished out evil things to him. How could a God who loves us give us evil things? God does not give out evil to us just because we have done evil things to Him or to our neighbours; no matter how much we pray for evil to happen to evil people, God will not do that!

Instead, Job realises God is looking out for him just as much as He has always done. He realises, partly from listening to those people who came to help him, that God is not the evil one in this world. He knows God is good and knows what God has given him in the past. He knows the evil around him has caused what has happened. He does not understand why God has not protected him fully from the evil as He has in the past, but he is willing to fully trust in God again. We need to fully trust in our God and allow Him to show us where we need to be in our own lives. Asking God for help and guidance should be our daily aim. Listening out for and obeying those instructions should be our daily task. Giving God the glory for everything happening should be our daily goal.

Points to Ponder:
Do you talk your problems through with anyone?

Have you talked things through with God?