Sometimes God will tell me to do something and it freaks me out. I start to analyze why He is asking me to do something, or that he is preparing me for some catastrophe, so I will spend more time thinking about it then actually doing it. He wants me to go through the book of Job. Excuse me God? Um... that is like the last book I'm really interested in. Doesn't a lot of crappy stuff happen, his friends give him bad advice, and Job cries and screams and whines for about 37 chapters? I have done a pretty decent job of avoiding that book, so why mess that up now?
Like most things God wants me to do, once I actually do it I am blessed beyond belief. Of course, now that I am reading through it I have more questions, which is something I think God wants. If we never ask Him things and go deeper how are we going to grow?
There is always hurt and pain around us, within us, and if it isn't happening to you now you can bet it will. I have learned some things about why I have really avoided the book of Job.
1) I don't want to see God let bad things happen to good people.
2) Job is really honest with God, and that would intrude on the act I know I sometimes put up that everything is OK all the time. Honesty hurts sometimes.
Yesterday as we made Christmas cards with our homeless friends Edwin, Ivan, and Bwanika. They told us about how the police were "cleaning" up the streets for Christmas. This basically means they go around to collect the street kids and put them in prison to make the streets more presentable. That's why when we got to church all three of the boys were sound asleep in the classroom. As we patted their backs gently to wake them up, my first thought was- "I wish I was waking them up in their own bed, in a warm and safe house to tell them breakfast was ready." I don't care that I am in a 3rd world country where that isn't normal. I want my kids to have that one day. Kids are still kids, they still require great love and care no matter where they are. As the boys talked to us about the ruff night they had, we felt pain and confusion. I thought back to when I was their age, I can't imagine going through the things they go through.
Painful stuff is happening to my friends. Sometimes we get mad about it, sometimes we look up to the sky and wonder what to do next, sometimes we cry, sometimes we just sit with them, pray, and encourage them that God has BIG plans for them and everything will be set right (even when we aren't sure HOW or WHEN they will be set right).
As I looked at the boys yesterday I saw Job. I saw a deep and honest pain. But I also saw chapter 42 verse 10.
"After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before."
Job suffered a lot. And that's real stuff. We live in a broken and fallen world. We are going to suffer. But it doesn't end there. We can't focus on the chapters of pain. God is getting to chapter 42 in their life. I found a lot of hope in that yesterday. Even as we talked about the pain happening NOW, I could see the LATER. I think they could too. Their chapter 42 is well on it's way.
I have learned that we have to be honest about our pain. It is real and God is aware of that and he feels it too. If you want to cry out, cry out. If you want to ask questions, ask them. But always have hope because your story doesn't end at chapter 37 because God will answer you and you will be restored. Our friends will be restored. We take hope in that every single day and so do they.
God is God. God is good. God has a plan for you whether you are starting out in chapter 1, you are in the middle of the book, or you have reached chapter 42. He is there in all of it. We are learning every day what real pain is, real honesty is, and real hope is. The life of Job, the lives of Ivan, Edwin, and Bwanika are stories of hope. Your life is a story of hope. Even in the midst of the pain we can remember that.
"So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth." Job 5:16
NewSpring church has a great sermon series about Job. Check it out, I'm learning lots through it :)
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