Job 42:1-6 NLT
Then Job replied to the LORD: [2] "I know that You can do anything, and no one can stop You. [3] You asked, 'Who is this that questions My wisdom with such ignorance?' It is I-and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. [4] You said, 'Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.' [5] I had only heard about You before, but now I have seen You with my own eyes. [6] I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance."
So much mystery lies in the account of Job's trials and sufferings.
The interaction between Satan and the Lord, the permission that God gave to put Job through all that grief and loss, then personal lonely illness, seems unfair and unreasonable to my finite mind.
So much of what happens in life is incomprehensible isn't it?
It seems I'm ever learning what I can't fathom out!
The great "WHY" in the midst of suffering causes many to turn from God.
Yet Jesus, in unimaginable agony, on the Cross cried out "WHY" - yes, even God in the flesh, had to plumb the depths of undeserved desolation, desertion and desperation.
Does it help to know this when your child has been inexplicably stabbed to death at school?
This I don't know, but at least God has been there and can identify with undeserved tragedies.
We're not praying to a block of wood or a figurine nor a dead "prophet".
Job, for all his questions ends up shutting his mouth and realises he needs to repent before his Creator.
So do I, many times, God has to shut my mouth too.
Lamentations 3:31-39 NLT
For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever. [32] Though He brings grief, He also shows compassion because of the greatness of His unfailing love. [33] For He does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow. [34] If people crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land, [35] if they deprive others of their rights in defiance of the Most High, [36] if they twist justice in the courts- doesn't the Lord see all these things? [37] Who can command things to happen without the Lord's permission? [38] Does not the Most High send both calamity and good? [39] Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins?
There are times when God shuts my mouth for good reason.
Lamentations 3:20-24 NLT
I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. [21] Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: [22] The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. [23] Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning. [24] I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in Him!"
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