Still, I know that my God lives!

Job 19:21-27

21 "Oh, friends, dear friends, take pity on me. God has come down hard on me! 22 Do you have to be hard on me too? Don't you ever tire of abusing me? 23 "If only my words were written in a book, 24 better yet, chiseled in stone! 25 Still, I know that God lives, the One who gives me back my life, and eventually he'll take his stand on earth. 26 And I'll see him, even though I get skinned alive!, 27 see God myself, with my very own eyes. Oh, how I long for that day!

Food for thought!

Job is having two problems. He is suffering in two ways: inside and outside. On the inside he is suffering due to his wounds. On the outside be is suffering from his friends. Job's friends have become a problem. Job's friends are not being helpful at all. They have embarked on a mission of discouragement: "Oh, friends, dear friends, take pity on me. God has come down hard on me! Do you have to be hard on me too? Don't you ever tire of abusing me?"

What do you do when the people supposed to help you, like your friends, family or relatives become, not part of a solution but part of the problem? What do you do when the people supposed to encourage you start to discourage you in your suffering?  Job did two things very important: he turned to God, and he reminded himself of what he knows about God: "Still, I know that God lives."

This is very important. When we are going through hardships I it is very important to remind ourselves what we knew of God in good times. Never let your problems robe you of your knowledge of God; don't let problems steal from you your convictions of God. Don't let your friends distract you from God. If you friends ave telling you nonsense, tell than sensible things. Use your suffering to preach to them. There is no better moment to speak to others about God as when in suffering. In suffering we speak from experience.

You, what do you know about God? Write down your convictions about God because it is to these that you will turn, like Job, in moments of trouble and suffering. If you don't know much about the Lord, or if you don't know anything about God, you will find it hard to cope with suffering; you won't have any conviction to hold onto. Please, create personal convictions about God NOW, because you will need them THEN. When your life begin to fall apart, these personal convictions will hold you together.

"If only my words were written in a book, better yet, chiseled in stone! Still, I know that God lives, the One who gives me back my life, and eventually he'll take his stand on earth. And I'll see him, even though I get skinned alive!

1.      Abide with me; fast falls the eventide; 

        the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide. 

        When other helpers fail and comforts flee, 

        Help of the helpless, O abide with me. 

2.      Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day; 

        earth's joys grow dim; its glories pass away; 

        change and decay in all around I see; 

        O thou who changest not, abide with me. 

3.      I need thy presence every passing hour. 

        What but thy grace can foil the tempter's power? 

        Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be? 

        Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me. 

4.      I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless; 

        ills have no weight, and tears not bitterness.

        Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory? 

        I triumph still, if thou abide with me. 

5.      Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes; 

        shine through the gloom and point me to the skies. 

        Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee; 

        in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.