There is only one response to the questions God asks…
When Job was walking through a very dark season in his life, he reached a point of true brokenness. But you know what? His brokenness had nothing to do with how bad his life had become. He had lost his children, his home, his health and even his friends and his wife turned on him emotionally. And while he eventually was in so much agony that he cursed the day he was born, he never cursed God. Job broke emotionally, but he never broke spiritually. That is a faith that is challenging and inspiring even today, thousands of years later!
Our natural human response to pain isn’t to worship the Lord when we’re walking through the valley unless we were already doing it when we were walking on the mountaintop!
Job was a worshipper, first and foremost. On the worst day of his life, in Job 1, his response to his turmoil was to worship the Lord. (Job 1:20) Our natural human response to pain isn’t to worship the Lord when we’re walking through the valley unless we were already doing it when we were walking on the mountaintop! Worship is a lifestyle that is built over time and under pressure. However, while Job remained strong in his faith in the Lord, he did challenge the Lord’s ability and desire and love. He questioned God’s presence and authority and guess what? God answered. We don’t always like God’s “answers” because they don’t always come in the form we were expecting, and Job’s didn’t either! God answered Job in a series of questions that blew Job’s mind with the power of God that no man could begin to comprehend. THAT is what finally broke Job.
Job’s response was immediately submissive. He quickly backed way up from his own position and posture and humbled himself before the mighty God saying, “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You? I will lay my hand over my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will not answer; yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.” (Job 40:4-5) Then, he says, “I know that You can do everything, and that no thought can be withheld from You. ‘Who is he who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me which I did not know.” (Job 42:2-3)
Because Job was a worshipper and had a lifestyle of spending time in His presence, he understood the power of God, even though he questioned and challenged it at a low point in his life- as we all do at times! But even though he was still walking through terrible trials, when God asked Job His questions, Job immediately recognized the voice of God, even amid the hurricane, and submitted himself before the Lord. The connection Job had with the Lord through worship empowered him to hear the Lord, submit to the Lord and receive from the Lord.
Thought for today
If Job had been a weaker man, or a man without a deeply personal, spiritual connection to God through worship, he eventually would have broken emotionally and spiritually under the pressure. He would have lost faith, or given up or walked away from God, as so many do when the worst of life hits like a hurricane. Job’s spirit broke under the power and authority of the Almighty God, not from the power and authority of the enemy trying to destroy him. If you spend your life devoted to remaining connected to the Lord in worship, you will not only be able to withstand the force of the hurricane, but you’ll be able to distinguish and hear the voice of God within it as well. The natural forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12) only have the power to break you that you give them. Worship – ministry to the Lord – will give you the strength you need and if you break, it will be in His presence, as you see His mighty power on display! <3
