WHEN GOD CAN'T BE FOUND
By Chaplain (Capt.) Mitch Tulloss
2nd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment Chaplain
Fort Jackson, SC The Bible introduces Job as being both spiritually and financially rich. In terms of godliness, he was a role model. He lacked nothing in terms of finances. He had everything going his way. Job was sitting on top of the world. Everything was going well for Job, but suddenly came the storm. He lost cattle, servants and children. Overnight he was broke and lonely. If that was not enough, Job lost his main supporter 'Äì His wife. When he needed her the most, she lost faith and tried to get Job to curse God and die. To her, Job was better off dead. In spite of the sudden tribulations, Job felt that he would be all right because he knew God. He knew that when everybody else failed him and let hem down, he could call on God. So Job did just that. I believe that it was here that Job felt most frustrated and let down. When he needed God the most, he could not seem to find him. Job searched and searched, but could not find God. He did not see Him on the right nor the left. He found him not in front nor behind him. What do you do when you can't find God? I believe Job learned three life-changing lessons in his search for an Omnipresent God. 1. Know that God knows where you are. Realize that the most important issue is not you knowing exactly where God is and what He is doing. What is more important is knowing that God knows where you are and what you are going through. God knows about your pain. He knows about your insecurities and loneliness. He knows about your losses and the emptiness those losses have left. If He knows your problems, surely He knows the answer. 2. Know that God is working on you. Although Job did not fully understand all thing, he did understand his trials as a working process that God would use to make him better. As long as we don't give up, God will use even traumatical experiences to make us richer in faith and in understanding of Him. "So we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience, experience; and experience hope..." (Rm 5:3,4). 3. Know that God will bring you through. Job declared, "I shall come forth as gold." He knew that it would not always be dark. "Weeping may endure for a night. But joy cometh in the morning," says the Psalmist (Ps. 30:5). We must share the confidence of Job in knowing that if God allows us to get into anything, He will surely bring us out of it. When we come out, we won't be the same. So the next time you face a test, look at it as an opportunity to grow in faith and in the knowledge of your God. |
