What's the Point? - Pt 3

Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:1-6 ESV).

Given the option while facing his trials, I’m confident Joseph would have walked off the stage of God’s story. In the middle of Job’s story, with ten children dead, his body covered in boils, apparently abandoned by God, I wonder what he might have said if he had the option to escape pain? We have some inkling of that answer because he said, “Why did I not die at birth?” (Job 3:11). However, when we finally get to the end of it all, we know their answer to whether or not it was worth it. Their answer is a resounding, “Absolutely!” That’s what Job says. And Joseph concurs emphatically. Of course, there’s no need to wonder how Jesus will respond. One day, we too will see in their larger context, with an eternal perspective, God’s severe mercies, some of which we never understood, and others we resented. We’ll wonder why we prayed to be more like Jesus but then begged God to remove what he sent to answer those prayers. The Apostle Paul says, “Therefore we do not give up. . . . For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, CSB). Faith is believing today what one day, in retrospect, we will see to have been true all along. Let’s not wait until five minutes after we die to trust that God always has a point. Let’s learn to do it here and now, eyes locked on our gracious, sovereign, and ever-purposeful Redeemer. Whatever your pain, it will be worth it. That is God’s promise guaranteed by the work of Jesus in the Cross and resurrection. Don’t grin and bear it. In your experience of bearing the pain, know the purpose is good. He will see to it!