For being a man after God's own heart, David had some issues that made him someone we should learn from when we see his disgraceful behaviors. I'm not talking just about his sin with Bathsheba or the murder of her husband, Uriah. These were symptoms of a heart problem that went deeper than his actions. In fact, in Psalms 51, David implored God to create in him a clean heart after all the things that happened between him, Uriah, and Bathsheba:
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10 ESV).
While David was an imperfect person, in the end, he always came back to the Lord. That was because his life was characterized as a walk with God and not someone who walked his own way and put God in whenever he could. How many times have we sinned only to plead with God to create a clean heart in us? If we have a life characterized by walking with Jesus, we feel this way often. But if we fit God into our lives when it is convenient to us, we may never have a broken and contrite spirit.
How do we live our lives where we yearn to have a clean heart, a life where our spirit is broken and contrite? Let’s look at this man after God’s own heart to see the depths that he sunk to and how he let the hand of God lift him from sin and despair to soar with the wings of an eagle.
Consider this...
When David sent for Bathsheba on that fateful evening, which would change the trajectory of his life, his servants obeyed and brought this bathing woman to his chambers. This shepherd of God's people used his power and influence as king to lead his sheep into enabling his sinful behavior against God:
“So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house.” (2 Samuel 11:4 ESV).
Because he disregarded God and showed no shame before his servants, David brazenly sinned in the sight of these men. He knew he had power and could act with impunity before his servants. Yet God was watching all these things David did. We may influence others to turn a blind eye to our sins, but God sees all and is never persuaded to ignore our sins, even if everyone in our sphere of influence does.
Later, when David’s oldest son Amnon had an illicit desire for his half-sister Tamar, he was emboldened to do what he wanted, even though it was disgraceful in the eyes of the people and God. We shouldn't wonder where Amnon learned to behave this way. His father, David, provided this example. Amnon’s cousin, Jonadab, conspired with him on how to get away with his desire to have his half-sister, Tamar. The Scriptures tell us that Jonadab was a crafty man:
“But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother. And Jonadab was a very crafty man.” (2 Samuel 13:3 ESV).
We have the oldest son of David willing to act on a sinful impulse, even though he was probably expected to be the heir to the throne one day as David’s firstborn. He had no thought of restraint nor fear of consequences. What he was playing with could bring most people the death penalty.
But he was the king’s eldest son. I’m not sure how much he saw David’s flaws, but children are far more perceptive than we often realize. Could it be he had seen his father act with impunity while everyone approved or at least enabled his sinful pursuits? A bad heart in a father can lead to a child learning how to have a bad heart too.
Then we have Jonadab, Amnon’s cousin. He was also a member of the royal family. David had placed his family members in high positions in the kingdom. Sometimes we turn a blind eye to the evil in people we love. We don’t hold them accountable for their actions. We don’t call out bad behavior. Sometimes we can even find ourselves defending choices our family makes that we would never defend in others.
I’m not sure how much David knew, but it’s unlikely, in my opinion, that he was completely oblivious to the character flaws of his family. I think we will see Scripture bear this out in a bit, but now we are at the part of the story where things went downhill fast in David’s family.
“Now Absalom, David's son, had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar. And after a time Amnon, David's son, loved her.
And Amnon was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her.” (2 Samuel 13:1-2 ESV).
This is the epitome of forbidden love. Rather than leaving his desires forbidden, Amnon listened to Jonadab and crossed the line by scheming to partake in that which God had said “no” to.
“Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, 'Let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.'“ (2 Samuel 13:5 ESV).
This is what happens when we have a heart problem. We stop concerning ourselves with what God wants and start scheming to get what we want. We don’t think of consequences or how our actions will affect innocent people around us. We will always find willing accomplices to help enable our sinful pursuits. Often, those who end up enabling our sins are the very loved ones who should be helping us move back in line with our walk with Jesus.
Well, we know the story. The deed was done, and Amnon raped his sister. When it was over, his selfish desires were satisfied, and he coldly discarded his sister with no remorse for his actions or concern for how it would affect her:
“Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Get up! Go!”“ (2 Samuel 13:15 ESV).
Where was David in all of this? Certainly, the Bible teaches that the children will not bear the guilt of the father’s sin, nor will the father bear the guilt of their children’s sins (Ezekiel 18:20), but it is likely that David’s tendencies and behaviors helped shape his family’s responses to their desires. David had become the ultimate enabler, and it would cost him and his family dearly. Perhaps one of the most overlooked yet poignant passages in this whole story is in verse 21:
“When King David heard of all these things, he was very angry.” (2 Samuel 13:21 ESV).
It’s hard to hide sins from people who are close to us. Sometimes we may feel that we are getting away with things when, in reality, we are simply dealing with people who don’t want to confront our sinful behavior or, worse, people who make excuses and enable our sins.
David knew what went on between his daughter and his firstborn. It made him angry.
That’s it. He got angry.
David is never once reported as dealing with the sin. As both father and king, this responsibility rested doubly on his shoulders to defend the innocent and hold the guilty accountable. It would have been a painful thing to do for the moment, but dealing with the sin would have led to peace and trust in his family later.
Because he refused to force Amnon to answer for his sins, David opened the door for intrigue and vengeance to cut through his family. Absalom, Tamar’s brother, would eventually kill his brother Amnon for raping his sister and then ignite a coup to take the kingdom from his father. David ended up losing two sons, had a daughter who lived as a rape victim, and his family would never be the same again. The intrigue and killing between his sons would continue even after his death.
What did all this cost the man who was after God’s own heart? How did it affect his family when he let them see the example of someone who took what he wanted with little thought of God or how it would affect others? What happened when this shepherd of God’s people used the sheep to enable his own sinful desires?
People learned that they could act the same way. In the end, it brought David extreme sorrow and heartache. My heart breaks for David every time I read the words of deep mourning when he learns of Absalom’s death, even though Absalom was trying to kill him:
“ And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Samuel 18:33 ESV).
Sometimes, we think we are doing our loved ones a favor by protecting them from their sins. Sometimes we think we show love by enabling and hiding their sinful indulgences. But the truth is that we don’t even realize when we do this, it’s not love we show. We are really setting them on a course of destruction and heartache, if not in this world, then in the age to come.
We need to be careful of the lessons we are teaching our families. While they will see us sin and mess up, how we respond to that will be the greater lesson. Do they see us put ourselves and our desires before God, or do they see us respond with a broken and contrite spirit in repentance?
It’s not often that the sins we commit lead people away from God. More likely, it’s our response to the sins we commit that teach others how important God is or isn’t to us. I believe this was the problem that plagued David and his family.
While the Scriptures do not say this specifically about David, Eli had a similar problem in that he enabled his children to continue in their evil ways with little to restrain them. Here is God’s rebuke to Eli through Samuel:
“And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.” (1 Samuel 3:13 ESV).
Eli knew what his children were doing and did not restrain them. Sounds a little like David, doesn’t it? Perhaps it even sounds a little like us at times, too. In 1 Samuel 2:29, God holds no punches when He accuses Eli of “honor(ing) your sons above Me.”
In the end, this is what David did. He honored his family above God, and it cost him. When we enable our family to sin, we do the same. We honor them above God, and it will cost us too. But David did receive the clean heart he sought in Psalm 51. He was able to train Solomon to be a wise man who spent much of his life seeking God. David’s legacy as a man who walked with God helped Solomon to eventually find his way back to God after his wives had turned his heart away from God.
What legacy will we leave to our family?
Man, this has been an off week. My sleep has been disrupted, which means my day starts off disrupted.
My daily Bible reading has been impacted, which happens with life. My challenge is to keep the disruption from laying the foundation for new, less productive habits.
I have already found it easier to put off actions that used to be automatic, rationalizing that I will do it soon.
Unfortunately, soon hasn't come yet, and it's getting easier to put off reading the Bible for one more day.
You are my accountability partner today. I will jump back into my daily Bible reading by tomorrow and report when I have it done.
I've missed three readings this week, but it seems like I've missed a month's worth. I worked too hard over the last few years to develop this habit to let Satan help me destroy it in a week.
I'm sharing this to encourage us never to let our failures permanently defeat us. God knows we are just dust, and we have our weaknesses. But we know that it is through Him we can have strength in our weaknesses.
So, my weaknesses will not defeat me. Don't let yours defeat you. They won't if you let God help.
“As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:13-14 ESV).
I just finished the book of 2 Samuel in my daily Bible reading. When you take both books of Samuel together, you get a full biography of King David from the days he was anointed King toward the twilight of his reign.
If we think about it, I imagine most of us would love to have lived King David's life. Think about these wonderful benefits he experienced:
He fought lions, bears, and giants and saw God's deliverance wherever he went.
God gave him tremendous wealth and security.
God blessed him with a large family.
His people had a love for him in their hearts.
He could write some of the most beautiful songs and psalms. He was an accomplished musician.
No matter how you looked at it, David was living the dream. He was favored by God and experienced a close relationship with God. When David inquired of God, God answered him.
But not all was a bed of roses with David. This is also the life you would have lived if you were in David's shoes:
You would have been pursued for your life by the king whom you loved.
You would have lived years depressed and suicidal at times, even though you had a close relationship with God.
You would have lived with shame as an adulterer and murderer.
You would have to bury multiple children, one who tried to kill you.
You would have been the person responsible for God sending a plague on your people and killing many innocent men and women you were shepherd over.
If you were King David, your life would have been filled with high highs and low lows. Sometimes, when we look at people like David, we see only the good and think, “How amazing it would be to live the life of closeness and favor with God that he lived.”
But that is a myopic view of his life. The truth is many of us take a myopic view of our own lives as well. Instead of seeing our high highs, we focus on our low lows and equate our whole life with its lows.
This is especially tempting when our lows are extended or when we are living them at the moment. But this is why we encourage each other to count our many blessings and name them one by one.
Sometimes, it's easy to see the bad and forget the good. One exercise I occasionally do is to imagine that God granted me a magic wand to transport me back to my late teens. Everything that I chose in the past was up to me to relive. What would I do differently?
Hopefully, I would walk away from my past sins, but when I really think about the choices I made, I am not sure I would make many different life choices. These choices are what made me who I am today.
One slight change could mean I would not be married to the woman I love or have the three children that mean the world to me. I wouldn't choose anything that put them at risk of not being in my life.
The hardship and mistakes I made prepared me to work in a role that allows me to influence a large Fortune 36 company in the direction it goes within the department I work. Had I made changes in my life that made it easier on me then, I may not be well-suited for my current role.
When you really consider the dominos you would knock over, it becomes harder to walk away from what made you you. All the bad that King David endured provided the tapestry of his life that made him the man we so admire today.
When you are a child of God, life isn't about what you were yesterday; it's about who you are today and who you will be tomorrow. This is the great equalizer that lifts us all from mistakes and disappointments to a place of strength and love in God's presence.
As with David, our life isn't about who we were but who we are in Jesus. He is able to transform us, regardless of our past sins and circumstances. And this is why we can find joy in suffering, contentment in trials, and faith in lacking.
David does leave us a great example to follow, but it's not about living a life of power, wealth, or adoration. It's a life that shows us what is possible when we walk with the Lord when we are depressed, persecuted, and full of mistakes and sins.
Life isn't about the low moments. It's about the faith we develop when we let God see us through those moments. Today, we are living a snapshot of a much larger life. But God lets us see the end in crystal-clear focus through the lens of faith. This is an amazing gift we have as children of the Creator and servants of King Jesus.
“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11-13 ESV).
I am in the book of Mark in my daily Bible reading. In the fifth chapter, we read about Jesus healing the demonic man possessed by Legion.
When it was over, this tormented man had been set free:
“And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.” (Mark 5:15 ESV).
Then, as Jesus was leaving, this man didn't want to leave the side of the man who set him free:
“As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him.” (Mark 5:18 ESV).
Jesus didn't let the man go, probably because this man was a Gentile, and His mission focused on the Jews for the moment. The Gentile's time was coming, but it wasn't here yet. But Jesus did charge the man to spread the news about what He had done for him.
But there is something interesting we sometimes miss. Matthew has a slightly different version of the account:
“And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way.” (Matthew 8:28 ESV).
In Matthew's account, there were two demon-possessed men. Mark and Luke only mention one, and in the rest of his account, Matthew only focuses on one of the two. While the reason is not told, here is my observation. There were, indeed, two men, but only one seemed to turn to Jesus after being set free.
What happened to the other man?
Who knows?
Why do men accept wonderful gifts from God's hand today and then refuse to turn to Him? God answers a prayer for healing, but then the one who prayed walks their own way. God walks with someone through the valley of the shadow of death, but when the hard times pass, that person continues on his own way.
We don't know why Mark and Luke never mention the second man or why Matthew only mentions this man at the beginning. But we know that there were two, but at least one did turn to Jesus.
The truth is, I can't explain why Jesus helps many people today, but only a few will sit with Him and beg Him to let them stay with Him. After the cross, Jesus sends no one away. All who come after Him are welcome to abide with Him.
We don't want to read too much into the heart or disposition of the second man whom Matthew mentions without knowing the details, but we all need to consider our own heart and disposition to Jesus.
Do we accept good from the King of kings and then continue to live for ourselves, or do we cling to the one who shows more compassion to us than we deserve?
I am in Mark in my daily Bible reading. I love this one verse. We hear a father say to Jesus, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
It is Jesus' reaction that I love.
Let's quickly see what's going on to set up His answer. A father has a son who is possessed by a demon. I cannot imagine how terrifying this would be for a dad. How would you feel if this happened to your child?
“And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.” (Mark 9:20 ESV).
This wasn't a new thing this father had been experiencing. This had gone on for years. No one had been able to help. I imagine all hope was nearly gone for this man.
But then, he meets the disciples of Jesus, the man who was famous for doing the impossible. This Rabbi could perform miracles. If only he could bring his son to a disciple of the Teacher.
As fortune would have it, the father met with Jesus' disciples. Perhaps hope was restored as he realized his greatest need was about to be realized. His son would be released from this terrifying existence.
But the father's hope was soon dashed. The disciples of this amazing teacher tried to heal the boy, but it didn't work. Can you imagine having your hopes dashed like this, knowing your son would have to persist in this miserable existence?
But maybe the Rabbi Himself could help. It was the only glimmer of hope this father had left. As unlikely as it may have seemed to him, Jesus Himself was the father's last hope.
So, the father comes straight to Jesus for one last attempt to find healing for his son. Now, his son lay at Jesus' feet, convulsing and foaming at the mouth.
“And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.
And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” (Mark 9:21-22 ESV).
And there it is.
The hope we all have when everything else fails. Prayers that are slow to be answered. Clinging to the impossible when nothing else has worked.
Have we been there? We've had great faith when we needed deliverance, but no matter how deep our faith or how many times we've prayed, we wake up the next day living with the same trial we lived with yesterday.
Perhaps we've reached a point where we are resigned that this is our lot in life, our cross to bear. Soon, our prayers for deliverance come a little less frequently.
But we can't give up seeking relief from our God. As unlikely as it is, we still pray. We still seek relief. I think this is where this father was.
So he asks, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
If you can... what a question to ask the Creator of the universe. If only the father knew who he was standing before. But it is Jesus' response I love. I love it because it reminds me never to lose hope as long as I have a relationship with Jesus and walk with him.
“And Jesus said to him, “'If you can'! All things are possible for one who believes.” (Mark 9:23 ESV).
I can almost see Jesus shaking His head with a sigh. “If you can! Of course, I can. I am the sovereign God who has all power. I spoke everything into existence. Nothing is impossible for Me.”
Clinging to the last bit of hope he has left, the man, who has tried all the child's life to seek deliverance for his son without success, gives Jesus that last bit of hope.
“Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 ESV).
And then Jesus does the “impossible,” giving this father the relief he had all but given up on. What I would love to see more than the healing itself is the life that this family now had when Jesus did the impossible for them.
I imagine we all have those moments when we pray so hard for deliverance that never comes that we get to the point where we pray, “If you can...”
What do we do?
We keep praying. When our prayers are delayed in answer or never come in the way we want, we ask God, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.”
In the end, Jesus will always say to us, “If I can! Of course I can do all things. Nothing is impossible for Me!”
It's never a question of “if” but of “will.” And it is in the will of God that we really must find contentment and submission.
If we learn to rest in the will of God, He will give us the strength to endure any circumstance we face. This is one of our greatest gifts as servants of the Most High.
One great thing about being a servant of King Jesus is that He gives us an avenue not to let the negativity and attacks of others make us into something we shouldn't be.
While many people may be content to fight among the ants, He equips us to soar with the eagles.
“but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31 ESV).
Well, no 𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐲 today. This was a wonderful holiday weekend filled with family and work on a special project I'll share with you later.
One observation from a walk I was on with my brother, Scott Eldridge. (We talk about some interesting things on our nearly daily walks.)...
I was wondering if God had a sense of humor. My best guess is yes, and here's my reasoning:
Humor is a highly specialized thing. Since God created us, He must have created humor too. And you'd have to have humor to be able to create it.
Perhaps this is another way we are like God. There are some interesting things in the Bible where God's humor might be coming out.
For example, do you like a good prank? How about this one when the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant and placed it in the house of their god, Dagon...
“And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.
But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.” (1 Samuel 5:3-4 ESV).
Now that's funny! I bet this prank could have garnered a lot of views on YouTube.
Let me leave you with this thought. Even God knows there is a time to laugh:
“a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;” (Ecclesiastes 3:4 ESV).
I am in the book of Ruth in my daily Bible reading. Many great stories and types are found in this short book. But I love what I see in chapter 2. It's something that each of us can find great encouragement in.
In chapter 2, we see how Boaz takes care of Ruth by ensuring she and Naomi are provided for. Listen to what Boaz tells his men:
“When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.
And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.” (Ruth 2:15-16 ESV).
Looking at this through Boaz's eyes, we can appreciate the kindness and love he showed his neighbor. He serves as an example for each of us.
But looking at this through Ruth's eyes, we see God's providence for her and Naomi. God's providence in our lives doesn't often come with supernatural flair. Sometimes, it comes from others who are trying to please God.
What a wonderful story we read in Ruth. Isn't it amazing how God can create a heart of service in one person while using that person as the instrument of His providence for another?
Today, let us all spend time considering our circumstances. Is God working to make us an instrument of His providence for someone else, or is He, perhaps, extending His providence to us through the hand of someone He is working through?
What a wonderful God we serve who makes all things work together for good to those who love Him.
I am in the book of Job in my daily Bible reading. Reading the back-and-forth between Job and his friend reminds me that not much has changed in thousands of years.
Job's friends do their best to give Job wisdom and help even though we later learn they were wrong. I am sure they were wise. I am sure their heart was in the right place. I am sure that they loved Job.
In this, they gave council to Job and encouraged him to hear them:
“Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good.” (Job 5:27 ESV).
These words, as well-intentioned as they were from men who loved him, were of no comfort to Job. They tried to explain the unexplainable. They tried to “fix” Job without explaining how the “fix” would help.
This is Job's response to his friends' reproof:
“Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray.
How forceful are upright words! But what does reproof from you reprove?
Do you think that you can reprove words, when the speech of a despairing man is wind?” (Job 6:24-26 ESV).
And this is the back-and-forth for the next few chapters. Even today, wise people who love us often yearn to help. But in their grasping for meaning when meaning is hard to find, their words often set with us like the words of Job's friends set with him.
Sometimes, the best we can do for our friends who are suffering is to sit with them in silence; to offer prayers with them and for them.
Sometimes, when we grasp to explain what is beyond us to explain, though we are well-intentioned, we end up making things worse.
People will remember the comfort we provide by being with them far more than our words that never bring the comfort we intended.
Reading Job reminds us that not only do men still suffer for no fault of their own, but that we still grasp for anything to comfort them, even if our words may end up making things worse in the end.
I suppose that our elders and ministers are especially vulnerable to this. In their love, they often search for the right words to offer when people are suffering. Perhaps wisdom is more often found in the presence we have with those who suffer than in the words of explanations we often grasp to give them.
Sometimes, we see Jesus only as we want to see Him and not as He is.
The same Jesus who said, “Do not hinder the little children from coming to Me,” and “Come unto me, you who carry heavy burdens and are exhausted,”
Also said, “You brood of vipers!” and, “Depart from Me!”
Jesus wants to give us strength only found in Him, but He expects us to live a life in allegiance to Him.
The Devil will use everything in our society to help us confuse those messages.
May we all see Jesus as He is and not how we want Him to be.
Serving Jesus requires setting priorities and sacrifice.
No one can tell us what our priorities should be or which sacrifices we should make.
But I fear that these are not the questions we usually wrestle with.
Rather, we must first wrestle with the notion of priorities and sacrifice themselves before we wrestle with what they should be.
Think about everything you have going on...
Work things,
School things,
Family things,
Sports things,
Hobby things,
To-do list things,
Vacation things,
Health things,
Dating things,
Social media things,
All the things you have in your mind right now.
Are any worth missing this?
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:3 ESV).
My perspective is shifting as I see fewer people from my parent's generation passing away and more people from my generation starting to pass away.
I am learning that I am not as immortal as I was in my youth.
Thanks be to God for His grace and the patience He showed in me as I learned to secure my allegiance to His Son. Perhaps for the first time, I am at peace with my mortality.
Maybe the reason I am is that, by faith, I have learned that my mortality is what leads to my immortality. Where does this faith come from? It comes from the actions of my Lord, Who conquered death so that I could too.
I have hope because Jesus paved the way, and through Him, death has lost its sting.
I am in the book of Job in my Daily Bible reading. I am in the middle of Job's conversations with his three friends. While his friends tell Job that God punishes the wicked and rewards the righteous, Job says this isn't always so.
In fact, Job makes a sober commentary on the people of his day. What is chilling is that it can very well be a commentary on people who live in our day as well.
How the rich, secure in their wealth, found no use for God is not different from the way people view God today. Listen to Job's observation:
“They say to God, 'Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?'“ (Job 21:14-15 ESV).
Not much has changed from the days of Eden to the days of our Information Age. When men feel secure without God, they see no use for Him. Can we see how the words of Job are still a timeless commentary on the nature of man, even for the men of our day?
As we live in our land flowing with milk and honey, let us always remember Him in whom all blessings flow. If we ask, “What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?” then we have fallen for the most tragic lie Satan serves us.
May we be the people who live by Job's integrity as we remember who we are and who God is:
“as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit.
Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.” (Job 27:3-6 ESV).
Do we ever wonder where God is? We follow Him faithfully, but it seems that out of nowhere, God takes His leave from our lives and moves on, leaving us alone and confused.
Sometimes, this is how it feels. Things don't make sense. Job felt the same way. We have the luxury of knowing the whole story. Perhaps our advice to Job might have been much different if we didn't have the perspective of reading this book.
Listen to Job's heart-wrenching cries. His pain is not focused on his health, his poverty, his mourning, or his shame as much as it is on the loss of his intimate relationship with God.
“And Job again took up his discourse, and said:
“Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me,
when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,
as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent, when
the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me,” (Job 29:1-5 ESV).
Sometimes, life just doesn't make sense. But our inability to make sense of things doesn't mean God has let us down or that He has forgotten us.
Sometimes, it is through faith alone that we make it through these volatile times in life. Sometimes, the harder we try to make sense of things, the further we find ourselves from His reality in our lives. Job goes on to say,
“I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me. You have turned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you persecute me.” (Job 30:20-21 ESV).
Job is a man searching, groping for answers. And though God never gives Job the answer to the specific questions he seeks, God is still there.
He is still with Job, and He has shown grace to God by setting boundaries to Satan.
God knew what Job could handle and was actively spreading His protection over Job in all of this.
We learn from Job's speeches how his faith is in God, regardless of what God has done for him. Satan had attacked Job's integrity, and God stepped up to defend that integrity.
God hated that Job had to suffer, but His love for Job was the champion of Job in his suffering. You can hear the disgust in God's voice when all of this begins. To Satan, God said,
“And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” (Job 2:3 ESV).
“Although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”
This was not because of anything Job had done.
Unlike some have said, this was no cosmic battle between God and Satan using Job as a pawn.
This was God who gave Job the highest praise for his integrity. When Satan tarnished Job's name, God came to his defense.
Only by having everything taken from him could Job's integrity be vindicated. There would remain no doubt or accusation left against him. Satan would be silenced.
Sometimes, we don't understand why things happen to us, but when we ask the questions Job asked, let's remember that there may be more going on than we can ever imagine.
And let us remember that God has not forgotten us.
He has not moved on.
He has not made us His favorite target.
We may never have the answers we seek, but we know that regardless of what is going on, God is with us. It is during these trials that God blesses us by leading us through the fire so that we emerge as purified gold.
Satan is waiting for us to curse God and die. But God has carefully set Satan's boundaries against us, and He has faith that we will praise Him and live.
God has faith that we will have faith in Him, thus silencing the enemy's accusations against us.
We are now a generation removed from the tragedy of 9/11. Some are living who have no memory of that day. Others can tell you exactly where they were when the planes struck the towers.
For some, the events of 9/11 are almost sacred. For others, they are simply history.
This is why it's important for one generation to pass on sacred things to the next generation. The next generation will only inherit the meaning of events if the older generation helps them to remember and know.
For those who lived through 9/11, it's sad to see a generation who only knows those events as something that happened in history.
However, it's tragic when something more sacred is not passed on to the next generation. For us, our faith is sacred. Jesus is our life. He is the foundation that builds our lives.
But if we don't pass on who He is to the next generation, Jesus becomes little more than history. When a generation that only knows Jesus as history arises, we are destined to live out our twilight years watching what is sacred to us be little more than a fleeting thought to our descendants.
If Jesus is important to us, we must ensure that the next generation understands why. It is too important to assume they will inherit our faith with little influence from us to do so.
If we are not proactive with our faith, then an entire generation may miss out on Jesus until He is found by another seeking generation. And we may be forced to witness the rising of a lost generation.
“And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10 ESV).