“I don’t understand His plan. I turned my whole life over to Him. And this happens!” Such was the message of a son to his mother when his dream to succeed as a professional athlete was temporarily derailed. Who among us hasn’t had some kind of unexpected, disappointing experience that sends our minds into overdrive with exclamations and questions? A family member cuts off communication without explanation; health gains are reversed; a company relocates unexpectedly; a life-altering accident happens.
Job 1–2 records a series of tragedies and setbacks in Job’s life. Humanly speaking, if there was anyone who qualified for a life free from trouble, it was Job. “This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1). But life doesn’t always work out the way we’d like it to—it didn’t for Job, and it doesn’t for us. When his wife counseled him to “curse God and die!” (2:9), Job’s words to her were wise, instructive, and fitting for us as well when things happen—big or small—that we’d rather not face. “ ‘Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’ In all this, Job did not sin in what he said” (v. 10).
By God’s strength, may our trust in and reverence for Him remain, even when we can’t understand how He’s at work during life’s difficult days.
By Arthur Jackson
REFLECT & PRAY
When has your faith in God been tested? What has He used during tough circumstances to help your reverence for Him to remain intact?
Father, help me to trust You and honor You when I can’t see Your hand or understand Your plan.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
In the book of Job, Job and his friends discuss the causes behind the good and the bad that befall us all. Part of the conclusion is that the God who’s in control is bigger than the systems we use to think about Him. In the end, God does indeed confirm to Job that He is, after a manner of speaking, responsible for the events in our lives. In Job 38:1–40:2, God shows that it’s His power and wisdom that run the cosmos, not Job’s.
Job seems to know this when he asks his wife, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (2:10). Though the reader knows God has given Satan permission to afflict Job (vv. 3–6), Job himself sees his troubles as originating from God (v. 10). Certain events in our lives may have an immediate cause, but they all fall under His sovereignty.
J.R. Hudberg
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