Christian Living

Enduring the Trials with Joy

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
12/03/20
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“Rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer.” (Romans 12:12)

As we travel through this life, we find that we face trials and tribulations all along the way. Some take hard times in stride and come through them with joy in their hearts and peace in their spirits. Others suffer quietly but hold the misery within. And then some openly complain and cry aloud, “Why Lord have you allowed this to come upon me?” At the risk of upsetting some folk, I am astounded by this reaction. The hateful side of me asks why they should think that life should be good all the time for them? The practical side of me says we must buckle up and handle our share and keep on keeping on. Life is going into a storm, and coming out, it is the cycle that all must endure. But the loving side says they need to look to the light of truth and have faith in that truth. God is not passive and has an eternal plan that goes far beyond the history of humanity. We are all in it; we are all part of His story. We all have an eternal destination according to the justification of our faith in the Lord.

In the Scriptures, we read the story of Job. The story of Job is probably the oldest recorded story in the Bible. Biblical scholars generally agree that Job was written 6,000 years BC. That would mean today; the words are near 8,000 years old. Looking back that far I must say there is room for error, so I safely say in the land of Uz long ago. In the land, we learned of a man named Job. “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.” (Job 1-1)

As we read the story’s opening, we learn that Job was a man of many possessions, and today we would call him a wealthy man. Job has many herds of livestock and seven sons and three daughters. The perception that we see in the opening of the story of Job is that he was extremely blessed because of his reverent fear of God and his blameless life before God. As we read on, we see that the sons of God, including Satan, were in conference with the Almighty God in the heavens. God questioned Satan as to from where did he come. The answer was that he had been traveling from one end of the earth to the other. Surely then, Satan would know of Job, and God boasted of Job’s goodness. Satan questioned God back in his arrogance, saying that Job only served God because of the enormous blessings that God had poured upon him. Satan charged that God had in place a hedge of protection around Job. In his arrogance, Satan challenged God that if Job lost his wealth, if the hedge of protection were removed, then Job in return would curse God.

God boasts to Satan about Job’s goodness, but Satan argues that Job is only good because God has blessed him abundantly. Satan challenges God that, if permitted to punish the man, Job will turn and curse God. God accepted the challenge and allowed Satan to test Job. “Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? “Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.” (Job 1:9-10)

Soon Job lost all his possessions, lost his seven sons and three daughters, and lost all that he had built. Still, Job worshiped the Lord and kept his faith and obedience that he had in the Lord God Almighty. Job did not cry aloud in all of his heartbreaking trouble and ask God why God had brought all this upon him. He considered the goodness that God has shown to him and came to a just conclusion. “He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.” (Job 1:21-22)

Satan again, when talking to God, said that Job had not suffered enough. That all of his losses had not shaken him, and if he had suffered more, if he were in the constant misery of pain, then he would curse God to His face. “Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. “However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face.” (Job 2:4-5)

God allowed Satan to take everything from Job, only sparing his life. Soon Job suffered boils from head to toe. He spent his days scraping his skin, trying to find relief from the infections. Three of his friends came to him, but the horror was so bad that they could not even speak. Job’s wife, the one who had committed herself to stand by Job all the days of his life, told Job in frustration to forsake his love for God and die. “Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9) His friends felt sure that Job had angered God someway by sin, and his misfortune was his fault.

Many of us tend to blame God for the difficult times we face. Others cry out to God, wondering why He has allowed these bad things to happen to them. And some feel that they have done some great wrong and do know what to seek repentance for. But there are many times that our trials and tribulations have nothing to do with what we have or have not done. We have to understand what is going on in the heavens affects us, and it is not always because of what we have done. God is higher than the angels, and the angels are higher than us. The demoniac angels’ Satan demons and Satan are in a deadly spiritual war and what happens is above what we understand. Remember that it was a conversation where God had offered Satan a challenge. It is all part of the war for our souls. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

Why us, why not fight over the real estate of God’s creation? God’s creation, except for man, is a constant. God’s creation does what it was created to do. All were created to glorify God. The stars sing praises to God (Job 38:7) the trees clap their hands in praise to God. (Isaiah 55:12) Only man was created with free will, and therefore, only man has a spirit that can be ripped from God. This is Satan’s hateful purpose to rip the spirit of men from their Creator, who gave them an eternal spirit. There is nothing else that Satan can do to hurt God other than rob that which God loves. Satan can even delay a ministering angel from a soul in need to cause more suffering. (Daniel 12:12-13) We cannot understand all the plans and purposes of God because we are not as God. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor 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)

We were created to glorify God as this is our purpose; it is our chief end. For each of us who are willing and will follow, there is a working purpose for our lives. Something God has that we can be involved in that is far more significant than we. It is living according to the plan and purpose that God has for each of us. It is special to us alone, and it is His reason for giving is life. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) We find our hedge of protection when our lives are in God’s will. It is in the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) Looking at this prayer, His will is done on earth as it is in heaven when we are walking in His will. Some may ask what being in God’s will did for Job. It is not about Job; it what God did through Job. God glorified His name in Job. God restored Job for his faith and obedience here on earth, and today he lives in God’s Kingdom with peace and love. “The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold.” (Job 42:10)

As we travel through this life, we will face trials and tribulations; it is inevitable. It is not the question of why God is allowing this to happen, but how is God to use my trial to glorify His name. Does a man take it to the Lord in prayer, or does he curse God and die? In our prayers, pray in the right perspective and try to see your situation in God’s eyes. Persevere through your trials, knowing that God has a plan for you from before the beginning, and through obedience, all will work for your good. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

The story of Job gives us the question of where we are in His pain. Are we trusting God even as we cannot understand the circumstances that we are in? Job realized that God is the one who is in control of the forces that hinder us in this world; job knew that his God loved Him, and he trusted that love through all his trials, and though Job did become puzzled, he never lost his joy in the Lord. “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” (James 1:2-3)

It is our joy in the Lord that gives us strength, it is our obedience to the commandments of Jesus that we have peace with God, and it is by faith we can stand with God’s grace and find hope in the glory of our God. What then can come against us when we are a child of God? “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1-2)

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, September 4, 2018