He is in the Struggle

Can we talk about Job? The poor guy was just living his life, loving the Lord, his family, minding his own business, when BAM, Satan comes along and, with the permission of the Lord, takes everything from him. Then he hits him closer to home with an illness that robs him completely of his peace. At first, he is strong and doesn’t turn away from the Lord, but after a time of living with the day in and day out of suffering, it gets to him and the words of pain and abandonment come flowing out.

“Let the day perish wherein I was born…Why did I not die at birth…There the weary are at rest… For my sighing comes as my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. For the thing I fear comes upon me and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes.” Job 3

I’ve read the Book of Job many times. But not during a pandemic and political upheaval. Not during a time of personal loss and change in my own family. It hits differently now. I can truly relate to the words, “I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest.” Is anyone else having trouble sleeping because your mind is racing with things you can’t control? Anyone else feel a bit off balance? Do you feel like everywhere you turn another wave comes and hits you in the face?

This time we are living through has been filled with physical and emotional suffering. We were moving along in our daily lives, aware to some extent that there were frictions in our world, but they were not necessarily affecting us personally. Then things changed, and changed in a way that no one was left untouched. Our world got turned upside down and now we couldn’t go out, we couldn’t touch, we were losing the very things that made our lives feel safe. And the diverse reactions of those around us didn’t bring calm and order, but brought about conflict and judgement, guilt and fear, and even more confusion. We would turn on the news and see all the events of this past summer. We see continued unrest even today. It seems that the divisions are just going deeper and the chasm seems harder and harder to cross that can bring us back together. I hear it from so many voices that long for peace, that don’t feel at rest, and that just want it all to stop. But, it feels out of our control. Am I right? It can feel like we are on a roller coaster that has no brake and we are helpless to just watch it all happen.

Reading through the Gospel of Mark, I found the story of the apostles in the boat being tossed around. Then there comes Jesus, walking on the water. What struck me was that they were still afraid and unsure even after Jesus started to come to them. They didn’t trust what they were seeing. How often do we get blinded by the waves hitting us and the fear causes us to miss the signs of God’s presence in the midst of the storm? How can we be better about seeing God in the middle of our own turmoil?

Here’s the thing I’m trying to remember and plant in my heart so that I can pull it out each time a wave hits. No matter how bad the storm seems. No matter how tall the waves and how much it feels like my heart can’t find rest, God is just waiting to come to me. He’s willing to walk right in the midst of my turbulent thoughts and the circumstances that are beyond my control to show me that He is present and He is God. I have nothing, NOTHING, to fear because He IS.

At the end of the book of Job, we don’t get a reason why God allowed the suffering. But, we do see that God shows up. He comes and speaks to Job. He shows himself and talks with him in the midst of the suffering. And Job finds peace. When he hears and sees the Lord come to him in the struggle, he says, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you…” (Job 42:5)

Jesus knows suffering. Just look at his passion and the cross. It may have seemed from the outside looking in that everything being done to Him was beyond His control. But, was it? He is God and He allowed what was happening to Him to occur for a bigger purpose that those around Him couldn’t see. Maybe we need to remember that He is in control now too. He does not leave us alone in our times of struggle, not matter what they are. Let’s seek Him in our storms. Let’s allow Him to show Himself to us. And let’s find peace.

XOXO,

Barb