The book of Job consists of three sections: despair, debate, and diagnosis. Even though Job and his friends try to answer the question “Why?”, God never gives a direct answer to them. Instead, He responds to Job at the end of the book with a series of 77 questions.
God is a majestic God, and His ways are beyond our understanding. When we look at His creation, we cannot even begin to understand how it all works. If, then, we cannot understand the things of this earth, how can we understand God’s ways?
As a result, we are to trust God and to obey Him. He has revealed enough so that when we struggle, we can trust that He is worthy and that His plans are good.
You are not defined by the pain of your bounded past, but by the joy of your unbounded future. The sufferings of this present world will not even compare to the glory and joy that is to come. As a result, do not let yourself fall into regret. God redeems for good what He allows in your life. Learn from your mistakes; try not to repeat them, but also do not let them bog you down.
Instead of falling into regret, transform that into a desire to live for God. You will experience pain—both as a result of your own sin and as a result of things outside of your control—but God can and will use it for good. Remember that your hope is not in this world; you are waiting for the city to come, which is not built by human hands (Hebrews 11:10).
When we look at the book of Job, we see that his suffering was transformative. Even though he struggled to retain a right perspective, he allowed God to change him. At the end of the book, he repented of the self-righteousness he had begun to experience and surrendered to God.
We cannot choose what happens to us, but we can choose what to do with the time we have. That is key here: God desires to transform us from the inside out, and we have a choice in how we respond to Him.
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