May the mumbling
commence!
Get old enough and
you will discover what it is like to suffer from physical ailments. Yes, Job had not only lost most of what
humanity would recognize as wealth, Job had also lost his health. Read Job’s description of his life from
chapter seven:
Like a slave longing for evening shadows
or a hired man waiting
eagerly for his wages,
so have I been allotted months of futility,
and nights of misery
have been assigned to me.
When I lie down I think, “How long
before I get up?”
The night drags on,
and I toss till dawn.
My body is clothed with worms and
scabs,
my skin is broken and
festering.
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
and they come to an
end without hope. (Verses 2-6)
It
seems that Job would have had some experience with the modern day hospital
setting. Have you ever been recovering
in the hospital from a surgery? I
remember the days after my ruptured appendix was removed and my innards were
cleaned out. I remember the nights of
misery that were interrupted every hour on the hour by a nurse checking my
vitals. I also remember the days that
would seem to comparatively speed by with visitors and well-wishers. Days would seem to end without hope of the
pain ending. Then, there were the first
days back home when pain ruled the nights and days.
Recovery
from a serious illness is a long and difficult road. Some experiences, when we are in the midst of
them, seem to be worse than death. Yes,
there are far worse things than death – particularly when one look from a Christian
perspective. My wife heard many times
during my recovery both from my appendix episode and my more recent back
trouble episode last fall this statement: “Please kill me, and put me out of
my/your misery.” It is near impossible
to keep silent in times of physical agony.
Read verse eleven from chapter seven:
Therefore I will not keep silent;
I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit,
I will complain in the bitterness of my
soul.
In
physical, emotional and spiritual distress, it is easy to believe that the pain
is judgment against the sin of life (7:21).
But when our pain leads us into relationship with God, our pain will
lead us to the greatest wealth and success imaginable. Remember: when Job speaks in chapter seven,
he speaks to God. Job is not dead, and
the greatest hope of humanity is still firmly in his sights.
Eliphaz,
wittingly or unwittingly, underlines this very point. Read from Job chapter four:
Consider now: Who, being
innocent, has ever perished?
Where were the upright
ever destroyed?
As
I have observed, those who plow evil
and
those who sow trouble reap it.
At
the breath of God they are destroyed;
at
the blast of his anger they perish. (Verses 7-9)
Job
lives, so Job is not evil – nor does Job seek evil ways.
So,
if you are going through a desert time in your life physically or emotionally
or spiritually, do not give up hope. I
firmly believe that we learn the most about ourselves and about our Lord when
we go through desert times. This time of
testing too shall pass.
Earnestly seek
God, and do not automatically assume you have done evil to deserve this desert time. Desert times are an opportunity to draw
closer to the Lord, the source of all greatness, wealth and wisdom. Yeah, desert still leads to dessert for those
who cling to the Lord.
Enough
mumbling for now…
Peace
Out
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