There Really is a Ton We Don't Know

S - Job 3:23-26 (NLT): "Why is life given to those with no future, those destined by God to live in distress? I cannot eat for sighing; my groans pour out like water. What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come to be. I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; instead, only trouble comes."

O - Job chapter three records the first words spoken by Job after he and his friends sit in silence for seven straight days.  Job, under the weight of the mystery and misery of his condition, begins with why was I born and why did I have to live to see this day?  Would I not have been better off to be stillborn?  He curses the day he was born.  He observes the universal nature of death and sees it as a welcome relief.  22 verses will be expressed before he mentions God and then presents his current status and self-evaluation. His reference to God includes God's will as it works out in the destiny of humans and he sees his existence as futile and his future as only pain and darkness.  While Job cannot explain his current condition in terms of why or for what purpose, neither can he predict his outcome.  The reason?  God and his will on earth.  Job feared the things which came upon him. Had he lived in stalwart refutation of these fears he would have been unable to prevent them. Equally, he cannot make God come and change it all but neither can he prevent him from so doing.  He cannot understand nor predict his future any more than he could have prevented or explained his current situation. Our lives (all human lives are always more than just cause and effect. Jesus' life proves this and intensely affirms the opposite. God is not only purposeful in everything he causes and in everything he allows … he working everything for the good of those who love him back and stay called according to his purpose. 

A - I am so very thankful for all the things the Lord has never made me do, or have to live through … each day has enough trouble of its own and so do I. I do not judge nor disregard Job and his words and feelings.  I do turn into the Lord Jesus and his character, brilliance and self-revelation by his written voice, speaking voice and his very real life on this earth. I am not better than Job.  I am not smarter or more spiritual.  I am leaning into Jesus and relying on him, the Father and the Spirit to make my way plain in this day, week and season.  I don't know all about the things Job is wondering.  I do know Jesus and he reminds us all (John 16:33) "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." 

P - Lord who is peace,

I praise you for the beginning of this day.  Lord, let your peace come into me, your life come into me, your light come into me, your very self … that I may love you back, make you glad and engage your will on earth just like they do in heaven.  Lord, I am asking, knocking, seeking you and your will … unto new wineskins, mulberry trees in the ocean and that which is too wonderful for me.  There is none like you … please shape me as you wish that I might bear that strong family resemblance as your son, brother and friend.  I yield to your awesome brilliance, limitless power and extreme goodness.
Staying near,
Steve