I’ve been following a story on social media.
This lovely family had a daughter who suffered a freak accident.
Beforehand, just days before, she had given her life to Jesus.
Then, there she was in the audience of a Badminton Tournament and a racquet broke and a sharp portion of it went right into her brain, eventually causing her death.
You think of Job, when his children died.
God allowed this and knew that her time was short.
God let her parents know that she had chosen Jesus,
which is by far, the most important thing to any Christian.
She had made a decision to give her life to Jesus and she prayed on her own.
She had found the narrow road. Then, shortly after, she died.
Seems like such a tragedy and also that it could have been avoided.
Especially since God knew what was going to happen,
since God knows all things.
He is always good.
I once knew a family who would say ‘God is good’ whenever things good happened. They did not say this when bad things happened.
God is always good.
The father of this girl who died is a strong Christian.
He asked people to pray for him that his family may not be attacked.
When Job suffered, while he was attacked,
I am not convinced that he could have prayed it away
or changed anything that God was about to allow.
And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?
Then Satan answered the Lord, and said,
From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man,
one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
Then Satan answered the Lord, and said,
Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?
thou hast blessed the work of his hands,
and his substance is increased in the land.
But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath,
and he will curse thee to thy face.
And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power;
only upon himself put not forth thine hand.
So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. Job 1:7-12
And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold,
Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: Luke 22:31
The Lord Jesus did not tell Peter to pray or to fight against the devil.
This is what He said to Peter:
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Luke 22:32
In other words, You’re going to go through some tough times. I’ve prayed for you. You’ll be fine and strengthen the brethren when you’re finished going through it.
In our human understanding, we like to compartmentalize things, to organize things. This includes things that happen in our lives.
Some have said Job was fearful,
so that sin opened the door to his life to be attacked.
God said nothing of fear or of anything Job did to give the devil a foothold.
God was very clear to explain why He allowed it and Job’s sin was not included.
Sometimes we cannot make sense of things in our human minds.
Trusting God anyway is faith.
Jesus explained all things to us in His Word.
There is an answer for every single, solitary question we may have.
The problem is, we often answer things ourselves and then,
we consider that to be the answer.
In our frailty or our bitterness, we can become hardened to His voice,
to His word.
The answers do not always resonate with us,
are not sensible to us or may not seem to fit our situation.
Job’s comforters were examples of that.
Job accepted his lessons and his stripping from the Lord.
His friends constantly told him how he was missing God and that all of his suffering proved it.
In the end, God set things straight. God let the friends know it was not Job who missed it, but them. Job had spoken well of God.
And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job,
the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite,
My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends:
for ye have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job hath.
Job 42:7
When we think of things that are bad, we often think that we have done something wrong. That is not always the case.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Matthew 6:10