“My foot has held fast to His path; I have kept His way and not turned aside.” – Job 23:11
I have watched several people abandon their Christian faith over the years. It is difficult to observe, of course. I firmly believe that the purpose for living revolves around perceiving who Jesus is and who we are in relation to Him.
But however grieving that observation is, I must also admit that I understand it. Many search for God, but only some end up satisfied with the results. Job himself in the verse above articulates that he has not given up living for God, even though in verse 8 he confesses, “I go forward, and He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him.”
The truth is that God is frequently elusive throughout the course of our lives. Sure, it seems like a small few have his mobile number on speed dial, but most people aren’t even sure he has a phone. We cry out for healing, but we often don’t receive it. We ask for provision or protection in a difficult period of our lives, but it seems like the plan is for us to experience more suffering for the development of our character.
And so, some walk away. Either they find too much hypocrisy in the Christian church with believers living one way and talking another, or they cannot reconcile a world where an all-powerful, benevolent God allows such atrocities to occur.
This devotional is not about how to respond to the problem of evil in the world. Nor is it about explaining God, as if such a thing could be accomplished in a few hundred words.
What this article seeks to say is that not having answers to deep questions is at the heart of what life is about. Regardless of whether someone believes in a Supreme Being (Christian or otherwise), we can all agree that life does not provide answers to all our questions. Atheists still have to wrestle with the fact that after all the millennia that have gone by, humanity is still as capable of great evil as it was as far back as the eye can see. Science asserts theories about the origins of the universe, but it has little to offer about the purpose for our existence. The point is, there is certainly far more unanswered questions in our universe than anyone would care to admit.
And so, I direct your attention back to the verse above. Here was a man (Job) whose life has just been upended. He had experienced so much blessing from God. Good family. Wealth. Happiness. And then, for no known reason, it all goes up in a puff of smoke. He loses his wealth, possessions, and even his children. He develops a skin disease, and his health seriously declines.
He has no idea that God and Satan have had a conversation. He has no idea that God has allowed Satan to take away all that God has provided. He has no idea that God has also allowed Satan to take away his health.
And understandably, Job has questions. He says, “Oh that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come to His seat! I would present my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments” (Job 23:3-4). He knows from where all his lost blessings originally came from. He knows who provides for His well being. That is why He searches for God in the midst of the ordeal he is going through.
But take note what Job remains committed to in the verse above. Even though he has no idea why God has suddenly allowed all of this, He refuses to turn away from his faith in God. He chooses to remain on the path he has always been on.
And he doesn’t make this choice flippantly. Job knows who God is. He knows that His ways are perfect. He knows that He does things that won’t always make sense to the human mind. And so, he remains steadfast to living for Him even though he has no answers about why these terrible things have happened.
That’s the tough lesson I want to leave you with. Seek God. Cry out in your need. Recognize that you don’t always understand why you go through awful experiences. But in that lack of understanding, do not lose your way. Remember who it is you gave yourself to. Jesus Christ didn’t always make sense to His disciples. Sometimes, he was a mystery. But they never gave up on Him.
Job did have all that he lost restored to him. I am not making you a promise that God will do for you exactly what He did for Job. But I am promising you that God ALWAYS has your best interests at heart. He will never leave you or forsake you. His aim is a glorious eternity with you. So stay the course.