Job 1:20-21 (NKJV): Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Philippians 4:10-13 (NKJV): But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ[b] who strengthens me.
I want to take a different approach with this particular passage in Job. A thought comes up every once in a while when I look at this passage Job and other passages like this one in Philippians. It makes me think about a trend that happens often in The Western Church. We tend to focus on our blessings more than we do on our Relationship with The Lord.
The previous Devotion, https://fggam.org/2018/01/stengthening/, I talked about how if we give a child everything they want, they will never learn to grow or even appreciate anything. It could also have us looking at our material things or even “Blessings” from The Lord, more than the work He is trying to accomplish in us.
Personal testimony about what He had done in my life:
In my previous marriage, my ex-wife and I really did not have a discipline to focus on our relationship with each other. In fact, the chaplain that married us, I was in the Army at the time I got married, told us that he was not sure he was comfortable with performing our ceremony because usually, he would provide pre-marital counseling. (Note: If you are planning to get married, Pre-Marital Counseling is so vital to get. You learn tools of how to grow in your relationship with each other and learn how to deal with the struggles that occur. My present wife and I made sure we would do this before we got married. What a tremendous blessing that has been for us. At the date of this writing, we have been married 12yrs and a month and are still growing together.) I don’t remember how we convinced him to proceed to marry us, but he did.
During our marriage, we never did anything to really help the other to feel supported. In fact, we did many things to make ourselves feel better. There was really no selflessness on either side. I even had no regard for others and would use them for my advantage. That is, until my youngest son was born. I did what ever I could for him. I missed out on my oldest son’s birth and really did not get to have much of a relationship with him. This due to decisions in y life I made that affected this. I did not want to miss out on another.
My ex-wife one day decided she didn’t want to be married anymore. This happened after I left the Army and we moved here to Albuquerque. She left taking my youngest son with her. It wasn’t too much after she left, I lost my apartment, my truck and almost everything I owned, except for a week’s worth of clothes. I even came close to losing my job. Even after I recovered from her leaving and taking my son, I really “Tanked” in my performance in my job. (To this day, I think my employers felt sorry for me and found a way to keep me employed) My employer moved me to a different position so that I could be watched at the Corporate office.
The advantage from this? I was given a truck I could use in my personal time, because of the type of job I was given. I had finally decided that it was time to make a change in my life.
I need to mention that prior to joining the Army, I had been attending AA, NA, and other 12 step meetings because I dealt with addictions. Also, I had found a church near where I used to live, different from the one I grew up in, that made me realize that there is more to this “God Thing” than what I was taught. I was introduced to this church through a friend from these rooms.
I also need to mention that when I arrived at permanent duty for the Army, I was invited to church the first night I was there. I told them I would only go if it was like this church I went to prior to joining. At that time, I wore earrings off duty, one was a stud and the other was a cross.
I really tried to get into the service, but it was difficult to understand the pastor. It was also difficult to get into doing what the others were doing, because, as far as I was concerned, this is what we were supposed to do when we are at church right? (Many in this service had felt led to go to a portion of the sanctuary that was cleared out, to pray and speak in tongues. Again, I didn’t understand what was going on. No one explained this to me and it was a new experience, never mind a new town for me.) At the end of this service, the pastor looked right at me and said, “The guy sitting in the back row wearing earrings, should take them off, as they are a sin of homosexuality.” (The story of what I had to deal with growing up around those who proclaimed being homosexual as well as them trying to get me to be their partner, will be for another time) This statement had driven me from attending another church, for funerals and weddings, for a little more than 4 years.
I did attend a church once, during this period of time, that was just to see what it was about. I was still in the Army when one of my grandfathers, who lived here in Albuquerque, died. When I came out for his funeral, one of my uncles started talking to me about Jesus and attending church. He knew, even though it was from a distance, I had a troubled life growing up. He wanted to be sure I knew who Jesus is. He invited me to attend a church here, that was different from others I attended, but was similar to the one in NY that I had attended just prior to leaving for the Army. I was skeptical at first and told him m experience about this church in GA that made me feel really uncomfortable. He assured me that it would be different. He was right, it was different.
Fast forward back to the time my job had changed and I had been given a truck for work that I was allowed to use for personal use off work hours. I was at a point in my life that I knew something had to change. I had not been to a 12 step meeting for some time. I decided that maybe, I needed to do this. While I was going to these meetings, I encountered more people who had a relationship with Jesus. Not to mention, that a guy I used to work with would witness to me when ever we worked together. I decided that I needed to go check this church out again that my uncle took me to.
I attended this church for 6 months and was beginning to realize that something was happening that I never experienced before. Not only was I experiencing this, but others I invited to come with me started telling me things they were experiencing. The biggest thing I experienced, I was starting to understand the Bible and what a true relationship with Jesus was about. I rededicated my life, for the 3rd time. My life changed and never has been the same since.
Why I share all of this? Over the years I realized that after my wife left, God removed all the things in my life that were distractions to get my attention. I am not saying He took her out of my life, that happened because of choices we made. I am saying He had to remove things from my life so I could see Him truly and know I needed to truly surrender to Jesus. I am not going to tell you my life has a fairy tale ending. I will tell you that it has been so much better for me since I decided to truly follow Jesus. This is what I think about when I see these passages.
Call out to Him and seek his Love and Forgiveness. It really is as hard or easy as you make it.
We should look to Him daily to seek a relationship with Him. I want to encourage you to seek Him today, if you haven’t already. If you need help, have questions or need direction in this regard, please, feel free to let me know.
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Any scripture referenced here is taken from New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted
