Here's my devotion from Wed. Again, God just kept giving me devotions that really coincided with what's been going on this week and the things I've been feeling...and I imagine the Hutchison family is feeling 100 times more.
God Speaks
For 37 chapters Job and his friends have grappled with the question of suffering. Why do people suffer? Is it because God isn't there? Because God doesn't care? Because the one suffering has done something to displease God? Job and his friends have gone around and around and still come up empty. Finally God "answered Job out of the storm" (Job 38:1).
God didn't deign to tell Job the reason for Job's suffering, but he did remind Job that he was the mighty God who marked the dimensions of the earth, fixed the limits of the sea and blanketed the sky with clouds. This is the God whom Job and his friends dared to question. The audacity of trying to bring God down to their level! But when God spoke, he showed them how much bigger and more magnificent were his ways than their ways.
In the midst of God's glory, Job gained a proper perspective on his suffering. The same is true for us. When we hear God speak and remember his glory, we know our suffering is not in vain. Henry Gariepy wrote, "Many who have trod the path of suffering and sensed the Presence on the road will share the sentiment of the unknown poet":
I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chatted all the way,
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow,
And ne'r a word said she,
But, oh, the thing I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me!
Have you been grappling with pain and suffering? Are you trying to figure out why God has allowed sorrow and trouble to come into your life? The best solution isn't to talk endlessly with your friends and try to figure out the reasons for your suffering. Wait for God, the one who gave "orders to the morning" (Job 38:12), to speak with you in the midst of the storm.
God Speaks
For 37 chapters Job and his friends have grappled with the question of suffering. Why do people suffer? Is it because God isn't there? Because God doesn't care? Because the one suffering has done something to displease God? Job and his friends have gone around and around and still come up empty. Finally God "answered Job out of the storm" (Job 38:1).
God didn't deign to tell Job the reason for Job's suffering, but he did remind Job that he was the mighty God who marked the dimensions of the earth, fixed the limits of the sea and blanketed the sky with clouds. This is the God whom Job and his friends dared to question. The audacity of trying to bring God down to their level! But when God spoke, he showed them how much bigger and more magnificent were his ways than their ways.
In the midst of God's glory, Job gained a proper perspective on his suffering. The same is true for us. When we hear God speak and remember his glory, we know our suffering is not in vain. Henry Gariepy wrote, "Many who have trod the path of suffering and sensed the Presence on the road will share the sentiment of the unknown poet":
I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chatted all the way,
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow,
And ne'r a word said she,
But, oh, the thing I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me!
Have you been grappling with pain and suffering? Are you trying to figure out why God has allowed sorrow and trouble to come into your life? The best solution isn't to talk endlessly with your friends and try to figure out the reasons for your suffering. Wait for God, the one who gave "orders to the morning" (Job 38:12), to speak with you in the midst of the storm.
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