Have you ever considered that Jesus never used his supernatural powers to punish people, but rather to heal people? 

  • Even when people asked him to do it and he had been slighted by Samaritans: Do you want us to call down fire from heaven and destroy them? (Luke 9:54)
  • Even when attacked he didn’t use his power to punish: To Peter, Put away your sward, I could have a legion of angels here in an instant if I wanted to. (Matt. 26:53)

 When you go through your Job Story, know that God understands the hurt that you are going through. Jesus felt the pain of the loss of his step father Joseph, his cousin John the Baptist, and his friend Lazarus.  He knew the sting of betrayal by Judas and the sense of abandonment by Peter and the rest of his closest friends in his most trying hour. They all fell asleep, ran away and then denied even knowing him.  He went through the agony of knowing his fate before it happened and then had to walk through and endure the shame, humiliation, false accusations, mockery, beating, whipping, and ultimately a torturous death.  He even felt abandoned by God in the midst of his suffering, My God, my God, Why have you forsaken me?

 Also you need to know that God loves you and is right there with you through it all.  God was with Joseph in his suffering, (What you meant for evil, God meant for good, Genesis 50:20). Even in situations where the suffering is an act of God’s judgment as it was with Israel and their suffering in the book of Jeremiah, God still loved them deeply and cared for them. (Jer. 29:11) 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then later on when they were unsure if God would keep his promise and were just wanting the trial to end, read Isaiah 43 to see what God says to them.

Have you ever wondered what your little ones are thinking about you when they go through a painful experience. Whether it was falling off a bike, getting in trouble, left alone with a baby sitter, put in a strange dark room to sleep when you’re visiting a friend.  My son, Jameson’s face says it all. What are you doing? I thought you loved me. I’m sure he has all the same thoughts as I do when I suffer in the presences of my heavenly father. In my eyes it only lasts a day. But to him, he’s only been around 450 days. That one day feels like forever and being alone in a dark room is a scary place that leaves him feeling forgotten about. He has no concept of what it means to be in the next room. He has no idea that his mother and I are right outside the door. In my dark times of My Job Story, it’s hard to understand that God is just outside the door, right there with me in the next room.

In your Job Story what will you hold on to? What voice will you listen to? Will you listen to the voices in your head or that of your friends telling you that God is mad at you, trying to teach you something, or that God isn’t involved or aware of what’s going on…. OR… will you trust that God knows what you are going through and loves you deeply. God’s not mad at you. Just the opposite. He loves you and is longs to comfort you.