Talk To God!

 

Praise God – Thank Him for everything and love Him in spite of all. Learn to obey and trust our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We can all learn an important lesson from Job, one of God’s most favorite and faithful servants. At some point in our lives, we will experience trauma, trials, tribulations, and difficult situations. We live in a fallen world. We are people – no different from Job.

          Job was “perfect and upright”. He “feared God, and eschewed evil.” Born unto him seven sons and three daughters. He owned three thousand camels, even thousand sheep, five hundred she asses, and a very great household. He was the greatest of all the men of the east. In chapter 1, verse 6, my Bible says “there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.” Job’s faith was tested.

          Faith pleases God: not feelings. Yes, He wants us to sense His presence, but He is more concerned that you trust Him – not “feel” Him. Faith is the key here. The situations that will stretch your faith most will be those times when life falls apart and God seems no where to be found. This happened to Job. In a single day he lost everything – his family, business, health, and everything he owned. What is most discouraging is that for thirty-seven chapters, God said nothing to Job.

          How do you praise God when you don’t understand what’s happening in your life and God is silent?

          How do you stay connected in a crisis without communication: when God is not speaking to you?

          How do you keep your eyes on Jesus when they are full of tears?

          I’ll you my brothers and sisters: we do what Job did. We continue to worship God – praise Him. “The Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:20-21.

          Tell God exactly how you feel: pour out your heart to God. Unload every emotion that you are feeling. Job did this when he said, “… I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.” Job 7:11. He cried out when God seemed distant. “As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle.”

          Brother and sister, God can handle your doubt, your anger, fear, grief, confusion, and questions.

          When Job’s life fell apart and God was silent, Job still found things he could praise God for.

          1. He’s good and loving.

          2. He’s all-powerful.

          3. He notices every detail of our lives.

          4. He’s in control.

          5. He has a plan for your life.

          6. He will save you.

          We must trust God to keep His promises during our troubles.

          1. Don’t be troubled by trouble – circumstances can not change the character of God. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

          2. God’s grace is still in full force: He is still for you, even when you don’t feel Him.

          3. In the absence of circumstances confirming God’s presence, Job held onto God’s word. “Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.” Job 23:12.

          God blessed Job and gave him twice as much as he had at the beginning. “Ande the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over the evil that the Lord had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his son’s sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days.”

          “But without faith it is impossible to please him.”

                   Marion Dobbs