The Uninvited GuestSample

BLESSING IN SUFFERING

“God will work all things together for good.”

It’s the last thing you want to hear in the middle of suffering, but it doesn’t stop it from being true. God really can and does work all things together for good.

In Job Chapter 42:12 it says, ‘now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.’

After losing his servants, his crops, his livestock and even his children, God gave Job double what he had originally. I can’t imagine that during Job’s lowest moments he ever thought this would be the case. There is something about suffering that makes it feel permanent and unending. But it does eventually end. Suffering rarely lasts forever. We can be assured that just like in the case of Job, we will see God’s goodness and kindness manifest in ways we never imagined. Because God is true to His word and nature, He can weave something amazing from even the most horrific stories.

How many times in life have you been through a tough season and looked back on it amazed at the good that has emerged from it?

When we are going through something we can remember this incredible story from the Bible and know that the same God who blessed Job will bless us. We can also be assured when we are comforting others in their distress that there is hope for the future for them.

"Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days." - Job 42:12-17

Prayer Point: Lord help me to remember your faithfulness. That you can and will work all the suffering and pain out for my good. Thank you for your ability to weave beauty into my story and the stories of others.