StormProofPrøve

As we continue to observe Job’s life, his true heart will be revealed by the very words he speaks. God has allowed Satan to strip Job completely bare of his ten children, his wealth, and his health. The enemy—the one who roams around on planet earth seeking to devour people— has divested Job of everything he deemed precious, of whatever had any significance to him, and of all that he had achieved. Yet when Job’s life is peeled back to its core, we will observe a man of infinite value and pure gold. Although Job’s outer self is covered with ugly, crusty boils, his inner self reflects a person who is deeply right with God. In each of our lives, there comes a defining moment when we must decide that no matter what happens, no matter how others treat us, no matter how desperately difficult our circumstances may become—we will trust God. Generally, it is during a storm in one’s life that this decision is tested and refined. Job had made this resolution years earlier, but it was during the most violent portion of his life that he audibly and emphatically declared his internal belief system:Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. (Job 13:15) Have you made that determination in your life? Or have you given in emotionally to the violence and turmoil of the storm? Life’s storms have the hidden ability to reveal the strength of our character and the true belief system of our hearts. Job’s character was found to be of pure gold; his faith stood radiant and strong in the calamitous storm. As believers in God, our dilemma is real and valid: we are dealing with storms that turn everything in our life upside down, and we are bewildered by them. At the same time, we have a passionate, nearly desperate, longing for the God who makes everything right—yet we can’t understand how He is working in our lives. And so, in faith and in love, we continue to pray above the wind, to worship in the downpour, and to bow down in the midst of the devastation that the storm has created. And we lean—we lean on His great mercy and not on our own understanding.