Job XCIX

 Job 6:11-23, “What strength do I have, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life? Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh bronze? Is my help not within me? And is success driven from me? To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook, like the streams of the brooks that pass away, which are dark because of the ice, and into which the snow vanishes. When it is warm, they cease to flow; when it is hot, they vanish from this place. The paths of their way turn aside, they go nowhere and perish. The caravans of Tema look, the travelers of Sheba hope for them. They are disappointed because they were confident; they come there and are confused. For now you are nothing, you see terror and are afraid. Did I ever say, ‘Bring something to me’? Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth’? Or, ‘Deliver me from the enemy’s hand’? Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of oppressors’?”

Save for the power of God, which sustains him, no man can hold out indefinitely. Whether in reference to physical torture, psychological torture, or suffering on a scale we can scarcely fathom, every man has a breaking point. Those who have gone through it, come out the other side, and have the scars to show for it can readily pinpoint the moment their strength and determination ended and God’s all-sustaining power took over.

There is a difference between thinking oneself invincible and possessing the knowledge that your invincibility comes from the power residing within you. It’s only men who’ve never shed a drop of blood or suffered a modicum of cruelty at the hands of others who have the temerity to beat their chest and insist that they stand in their own strength rather than God’s and what they’ve been able to accomplish had nothing to do with providence, but their keen ability to connect with people. When we acknowledge that we are walking in His strength and not our own, humility and gratitude will be constant companions on our way to eternity, giving God the glory for every victory, whether great or small.  

I even heard a very popular preacher wax poetic about how he is now a brand, and you can’t judge him based on the criteria you would use judging a country preacher. If the devil can convince you that your strength is enough, you’ve already lost; you just don’t know it yet.

Job had reached the end of his strength; he’d tapped all the reserves, drained every ounce, and now found himself in a contemplative state, concluding that to hope in his own strength would be folly. Even in the midst of his suffering, Job had enough self-awareness to understand that were he to go forward beyond this point; it would not be in his strength or might.

Even the desire to live had fled from him because everyone, including himself, could see his condition worsening, and the inevitability of his demise was so certain that prolonging his life seemed needlessly cruel to his eyes.

Medical minds and other intrepid souls have tried to suss out the malady Job was suffering from by using the symptomology outlined in the book of Job to no avail. Whatever pain cocktail Satan had brewed up was likely the worst his hateful mind could conceive of because he had a goal and wouldn’t let the pain of one man stand in the way of his trying to prove God wrong.

By Job’s own words, they’d all concluded the die had been cast, his life was nearing its terminus, and each new sunrise and sunset held no hope, only pain.

There’s nothing that will put life into perspective like a terminal diagnosis. Even though the clock is running out for all of us since we are temporal creatures in ever-degrading vessels of flesh, being presented with a stopwatch and seeing the minutes tick down makes it real and imminent.

Thankfully, what is absolute with men isn’t so with God. The world and everyone in it could write you off; as long as God hasn’t, there is hope. It’s why we pray for those who are hurting and suffering because we know the power of the God we serve to heal, deliver, and restore.

I can’t begin to count all the situations I’ve been through or been witness to where all seemed lost, and hope was nowhere to be found until God stepped in and did what He does best, which is confound the wise and work together for good what the enemy had intended for evil. There’s nothing like seeing the hand of God delivering you so clearly and undeniably that even your enemies pause to witness your deliverance.

We learn to trust God by walking with Him. Having an abstract knowledge of Him without daily seeking to know Him more is a surefire way to allow doubt to worm its way into our hearts. It’s one thing to see His faithfulness in your life day in and day out and another to hear about it secondhand. Testimonies are all well and good; they help to encourage and show what God can do, but living off the experiences of others is no way to live. What God has done before, He can do again. He is not limited in His power by time, circumstance, or severity of circumstance.

The onus is on us to desire Him above all else. He will answer the cry of our hearts and make Himself known for His desire is one of relationship with His creation. Strive to have the kind of fellowship with Him wherein He will make His presence known in your time of adversity without you having to call or cry out. Strive to have His presence in your life with such consistency that if, perchance, on a given day, it’s not as strong or vibrant, you feel His absence and press in all the more.

It’s hard to understand people who can go weeks and months without having fellowship with God, without talking to Him, being in His presence, and feeling His touch, and not miss it or think nothing is amiss, yet still insist they love God. All you have to do is replace the idea of spending that little, infrequent time with God with your wife or husband to understand how damaging it is to a relationship of any consequence. If I came home once every few weeks, said hi, rummaged through the fridge to see what I could snack on, and then left for another few weeks, it’s doubtful I’d be married for very long.

Daniel was commanded not to pray for thirty days. Many contemporary Christians would shrug their shoulders and conclude that it would not bother them to be absent from God’s presence for a month, but Daniel couldn’t go a day without it. It’s not as though he held out for a week and finally decided he couldn’t be absent from God’s presence any longer. That same day, in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt on his knees three times, prayed, and gave thanks before his God.

Posted on 20 January 2025 | 12:24 pm